Author: Russell Stafford

Hortiholic and plant evangelist, Russell Stafford, transplanted his first perennial at age 7 and thereby began a lifelong plant addiction. He is the founder and custodian of Odyssey Bulbs (and Odyssey Perennials), an online nursery specializing in cool and uncommon plants. Russell also works as a horticultural consultant, freelance writer (Horticulture and The American Gardener magazines), and garden editor. He formerly served as Curator and Head of Horticulture at Fernwood Botanic Garden in Niles, Michigan and as the Horticultural Program Coordinator at the Center for Plant Conservation, then located at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. His academic degrees include a masters in forest science from Harvard University.

Favorite Fragrant Early Spring Flowering Shrubs

Some shrubs produce flowers that do more than draw the eye; they also delight us with their delicious scent. The most obvious examples are hybrid tea roses and common lilac (Syringa vulgaris), which owe a good deal of their renown to the legendary bouquet of their blooms. Yet many other shrubs offer equally alluring fragrance, often at seasons when lilac and rose are at a lull. Here’s a seasonal summary of a few of the best.

Asian Witch Hazels

The orange-red Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' — The orange-red *Hamamelis* x *intermedia* ‘Jelena’ is a reliable late-winter bloomer.

Asian witch hazels (Hamamelis x intermedia and H. mollis) – The ribbon-like yellow, orange, or red petals of these large shrubs unfurl on mild days in late winter (this year, they started blooming in mid-January here in balmy Rhode Island). Plant Asian witch hazels to the south of paths, doorways, and other winter viewpoints, where their gossamer petals will glow against the slanting rays of the winter sun, and where mild southern breezes will waft the flowers’ lemony scent to passersby. Witch hazels offer a bright encore in fall, their leaves assuming sunset tones that distantly echo the hues of their winter flowers. Hardy from USDA Zones 5b to 9, they succeed in full to partial sun and in just about any soil that’s not soggy or parched.

Winter Honeysuckle

Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) – A welcome sight and scent in the late winter garden, this East Asian native perfumes the air with small, white, funneled blooms that open on mild days from January to early April. A deciduous, 6-foot shrub in the colder sectors of its zone 5 to 9 hardiness range, it behaves – or rather misbehaves – as a moderately to highly invasive 8- to 12-foot evergreen in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. It’s thus best reserved for northern U.S. gardens. Its hybrid Lonicera × purpusii (including ‘Winter Beauty’) does much the same thing. All forms of winter honeysuckle favor full to partial sun and well-drained, average to fertile soil.

February Daphne

February daphne (Daphne mezereum) – Intensely fragrant mauve-pink flowers crowd the naked, erect branches of this sparse, 3- to 4-foot shrub in late winter and early spring – a bit later than its common name would suggest. White-flowered cultivars are also available. Poisonous red fruits follow the flowers, and sometimes give rise to volunteer seedlings. A long-time garden favorite in its native Eurasia as well as in the U.S. and Canada (where it’s hardy from zones 4 to 7), it does best with plenty of elbow room, humusy well-drained soil, and full to partial sun. Give it a late-spring top-dressing of Fafard® Premium Topsoil to keep its roots cool, healthy, and happy.

Spring-Flowering Viburnums

The classic Korean spice viburnum has clusters of powerfully sweet-scented spring flowers.

Korean spice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) – The searching clove-like fragrance of Korean spice viburnum’s tubular, pinkish-white blooms is a welcome and warming presence in the mid-spring garden. The domed flower clusters typically open around the first of May in USDA Zones 5 and 6. Korean spice’s hybrid Judd viburnum (Viburnum x juddii) offers similar flowers and grayer, less aphid-prone leaves, in a similar, 6- to 8-foot package. The flowers of fragrant snowball (Viburnum x carlcephalum), another carlesii hybrid, are waxier and of heavier substance, and occur in larger, denser, almost spherical clusters. For tighter spaces there’s Viburnum carlesii ‘Compactum’, which matures at about 3 feet. Most forms and hybrids of Korean spice viburnum prosper in full sun from zones 5 to 8, and turn smoky burgundy tones in fall. Fragrant snowball is slightly less hardy, to zone 6.

Korean Abelia

Korean abelia (Abelia mosanensis, aka Zabelia tyaihyonii) — An unassuming shrub most of the year, Korean abelia grabs sensory center stage in mid-spring when it envelops its branches in funnel-shaped pink flowers. The swarms of beguilingly spicy blooms draw every butterfly (and human) within sniffing distance. The flowers also attract hummingbirds, desipite the fact that these birds have little to no sense of smell. This 4- to 6-foot shrub makes a great choice for full sun and average to fertile soil in zones 5 to 9.

Caucasian Daphne

Caucasian daphne (Daphne x transatlantica) — Late spring is also when this little love begins its lengthy bloom season. Wafting a complex and seductive fragrance containing hints of clove and vanilla, the glistening white flowers flush first in May and June, repeating the performance multiple times throughout summer and early fall. No other shrub in the 3-foot range can surpass it for flower power and scent. The variegated cultivar ‘Summer Ice’ compliments the blooms with white-edged leaves. All forms of Caucasian daphne are ideally suited for planting near paths and patios and other areas where their flowers and scent can cast their spell. Full to part sun and humus-rich, well-drained soil is ideal, as is a niche protected from harsh winter wind and crushing snow loads. Plants are hardy from zone 5 to 8.

Summersweet

The pink-flowered Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice' flowers — The pink-flowered *Clethra alnifolia* ‘Ruby Spice’ flowers in early to mid-summer.

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) joins the fragrance fest in early summer. Its candles of fuzzy white or pink flowers carry a distinctive (and irresistible) scent with root beer undertones. The finely toothed, insect- (and deer-) resistant leaves of this rock-hardy eastern North American native are a lustrous dark green, turning brilliant butter-yellow in fall. Compact cultivars of summersweet (such as ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘Sixteen Candles’) make splendid shrubby ground covers for sun or shade, suckering to eventually cover considerable territory. Full-size, 6- foot varieties such as pink-flowered ‘Ruby Spice’ are among the premier shrubs for the summer garden. All forms do best in moist, humus-rich soil in zones 4 to 8.

Swamp Azalea

Swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosum) is another summer-blooming native shrub with a wonderful scent (which hints at cloves rather than root beer). It, too, loves moist soil, making it an obvious garden companion for summersweet. Also well worth planting within its zone 5 to 8 hardiness range are several swamp azalea hybrids such as pale-yellow-flowered ‘Lemon Drop’.

Glory-Bower

Glory-bower (Clerodendrom trichotomum) — For late-season fragrance there’s this large suckering shrub (which reaches arboreal stature in warmer parts of its zone 6 to 9 hardiness range). The starry pale pink flowers begin in August and continue for many weeks, eventually giving way to blue-black berries nested within showy maroon calyces. This rather rambunctious East Asian native is not for small spaces or for locations where it might invade nearby natural areas (especially in the southern portions of its zone 6 to 9 hardiness range). It tolerates some shade, but prefers full sun.

How to Plant and Site Trees and Shrubs

The key to successful gardening is to go (and grow) with what you’ve got. If your garden has acid soil and lots of shade, go with acid- and shade-loving plants. If sunny, dry, alkaline conditions dominate, then plan and plant accordingly. This also holds true for the garden’s aesthetic. For example, more “naturalistic” settings (such as a woodland edge) call for more informal, nature-evoking plantings. Beautiful and bountiful things happen when a garden is in harmony with its surroundings.

Understand Your Garden’s Site

Light, soil, space, garden-style, and other parameters must be considered before planting a new tree or shrub.

It’s especially important to keep this in mind when choosing – and planting – the trees and shrubs that will form the framework of your garden. Choose the right plants and get them off to a good start, and good things are almost sure to follow.

It all comes back to knowing the site’s conditions. What are the pH, nutrient-holding capacity, and other characteristics of your soil? If in doubt, you can get a definitive answer by sending soil samples to your state’s horticultural extension service (click here for a nationwide list of extension services). What is the site’s exposure to sun, wind, and water (e.g., rain and runoff)? How and when do you use your yard? Now, during the dormant season, it is a great time to assess these factors. Then, based on your site’s particulars and your preferences, compile lists of trees and shrubs that are a good fit.

Planting Trees and Shrubs

Creating a broad planting hole — A suitably broad planting hole should be around three times as wide as the plant’s root ball.

When you get around to planting, the same precepts remain. Trying to force an ill-chosen plant into an incompatible site is a losing prospect. If the tree or shrub is a good fit, all it needs is a good root system and a suitably broad planting hole, backfilled (to the proper depth) with unamended or lightly amended soil for best establishment. Of course, planting at the proper season and providing regular post-planting care (especially watering) are also essential.

Sizing Up the Planting Hole

Adding a light application of soil amendment, such as Fafard Premium Topsoil, will give the soil extra organic matter.

Planting width requires a “suitably broad” planting hole is at least three times as wide as the plant’s root ball, although twice as wide will do in a pinch. The texture of the excavated and refilled soil differs significantly from that of the surrounding undisturbed soil; consequently, it also differs significantly in other properties such as moistness and aeration. Adding a light application of soil amendment, such as Fafard Premium Topsoil, will give the soil additional organic matter for increased water-holding ability to help the establishing plant. This is of greatest importance in poor or sandy soils. If your soil is of good to average quality, this step is not needed. A wide planting hole gives the roots a relatively homogeneous environment in which to extend and establish. By the time they’ve reached the edge of the former planting hole, they’ll be more up to the job of worming their way into the undisturbed soil. Additionally, the refilled soil will settle over time to a texture closer to that of the surrounding soil, thereby easing the roots’ transition.

New tree in a dug out planting hole — The planting hole should be no deeper than the root ball.

Planting depth – unlike width – can be overdone. In fact, the planting hole should be no deeper than the root ball. Most of a tree’s or shrub’s feeder roots are within a few inches of the surface. A deeper hole serves only to loosen the texture of the soil below the root ball, increasing the likelihood that it will settle and pull the roots down with it. Plants generally do not thrive in air-starved sinkholes.

Pressing down soil around the plant — Work soil in around the plant and press it down to remove any unwanted air pockets.

Shallower planting may be required in heavy clay soil. Planting holes in such soils are subject to the bathtub effect, with water percolating through the relatively coarse refill soil and pooling at the bottom of the hole. Here, dig an extra-wide hole that’s significantly shallower than the root ball, sloping the base of the hole toward its edges. Mix the excess backfill with Fafard® Premium Topsoil, and mound this over the exposed root ball after planting.

Sizing Up the Tree or Shrub

Pot-bound plant roots — Make sure plant roots have not become pot-bound. If they have, work them apart to help them grow into the soil.

Potted trees and shrubs with vigorous, relatively undisturbed roots make the best planting material. Avoid pot-bound plants whose roots have long ago filled or grown beyond their containers. Before buying a containerized plant, try to knock it out of the container to check the root system. If the root ball remains stubbornly wedged in its container even when you apply force to remove it, it’s a risky prospect. Ideally, the roots should not circle the soil ball, and abundant white feeder roots should be evident at its edge. You can plant container-grown trees and shrubs just about any time the ground is workable, but be sure to keep the root ball from drying out after planting. Most potting soils are peat-moss based, making them coarser and more drought-sensitive than the surrounding soil. They also resist re-moistening once completely dry. Newly planted container-grown plants may need watering several times a week during summer droughts.

Plants in containers and heavy clay — Unlike container-grown plants, B&B plants are often grown in heavy clay, which cracks and resists water when dry.

Bare-root and balled-and-burlapped (B&B) trees and shrubs lose much of their root systems when harvested at the nursery. They thus require more kid-glove treatment. Plant them either in early spring or in late summer/early fall to give their roots ample time to regrow before summer heat or winter cold arrive. Be sure that their roots do not dry out before planting. Unlike container-grown plants, B&B plants are often grown in heavy clay, which cracks and resists water when dry.

Be careful to plant bare-root and B&B shrubs and trees at the proper depth. For bare-root plants, partially refill the planting hole with a volcano-shaped cone of soil, spreading the roots atop the cone before backfilling. The plant’s trunk/root junction (also known as the “root flare”) should be just at or slightly above the soil surface. Stems of B&B trees and shrubs are often partly buried in their root ball; if so, remove some of the soil to expose the root flare. Also, be sure to minimize disturbance to B&B root balls as you plant, and remember to unswaddle the burlap (or wire caging) from the top and sides of the root ball before refilling the hole. Either cut and discard the unwanted wrap or pull it back and bury it at the bottom of the hole.

Adding mulch layer to newly planted tree — A two- to three-inch mulch layer will hold in soil moisture and protect against weeds.

Add a good mulch layer to buffer newly planted trees and shrubs from drought, heat, and cold, apply an inch of Fafard® organic compost and a couple of inches of bark mulch to the planting area. They’ll appreciate the extra pampering, and you’ll appreciate the results!

Beautiful Indoor Begonias

*Begonia maculata* ‘Wightii’ has spectacular spotted, elongated leaves.

Begonias are so much more than summer bedding plants. This dizzyingly diverse genus encompasses more than 900 tropical and temperate species and 10,000 cultivars – most of which are not Semperflorens hybrids (the botanical name for the ubiquitous wax begonia). Growing in a wide range of forms and habits – from elfin perennials to cascading vines to large shrubs – they offer a myriad of possibilities for garden and greenhouse.
They also offer something for every season. Winter, especially, is a great time to have some begonias around the house – including those types that bear splashy evergreen leaves in a range of fanciful shapes and colors.

Cane Begonias

The cane begonia, *Begonia aconitifolia*, looks beautiful even when not in bloom.

Cane begonias, for example, are a group of shrubby species and cultivars distinguished by their thick, fleshy, bamboo-like stems and typically large, flamboyantly marked leaves, often of “angel-wing” shape.

Numerous cane varieties are available, including Begonia maculata ‘Wightii’, whose elongated, olive-green “angel wings” are decorated with silvery-white dots and maroon undersides and clusters of white flowers hover over the foliage in summer; Begonia aconitifolia ‘Metallica’, named for its shimmering deep green, purple-veined, hand-shaped leaves with red-purple reverses. Pink-flushed white flowers appear in fall; and Begonia ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’, with pleated, shiny, dark olive-green, pink-dotted leaves with maroon undersides. New leaves are suffused with copper.

Rex Begonias

Rex begonia ‘Fireworks’ has silver-washed leaves with black-purple veins and purple margin. Grow them in indoor pots or a summer garden. (Image thanks to Terra Nova)

Also noted for their flashy leaves are the prima donnas of the tribe, the Rex hybrids, which trace their lineage to the begonia species of that name (it arrived in Europe from Northeast India in the mid-nineteenth century). Most Rex begonias have heart-shaped leaves with brash silver splashings and unequal lobes that sometimes spiral at the base. Rather fussy in cultivation, they require high humidity and porous soil kept neither too wet nor too dry. Cultivars include ‘Raspberry Swirl’, with relatively jagged, red-purple, silver-edged leaves; and the award-winning, Rex-like Begonia ‘Fireworks’, which is distinguished by its crisp, silver-washed leaves with black-purple veins and purple margins.

Numerous other begonias make great winter foliage plants. Among the many possibilities are ‘Caravan’, an easy-care, shrubby cultivar thickly clad with lime-green-veined, chocolate-suffused leaves that bring elephant ear (Colocasia) to mind; ‘Connee Boswell’, whose deeply lobed, maple-shaped, heavily silvered leaves have dark green, purple-flushed veins and rims; and ‘Madame Queen’, unique for its heavily ruffled, olive-green, red-backed leaves that have the look of an ornamental kale.

Brazilian Heart Begonia

The cascading stems of the easy-to-grow *Begonia solananthera* are frothed with fragrant, white, sometimes pink-tinged flowers. (Image thanks to Logee’s)

Perhaps most desirable for winter display are the begonias that go one better by flowering during this season. The cascading stems of the easy-to-grow Begonia solananthera are frothed with fragrant, white, sometimes pink-tinged flowers from early winter into spring. Fleshy, lettuce-green, heart-shaped leaves provide a year-round display. The B. solananthera hybrid ‘Potpourri’ one-ups its parent by producing rosy-pink blooms over an even longer season, sometimes flowering into early summer. A few cane begonias add to their value by blooming on and off throughout the year (‘Paper Snowflake’ is among the best, with silver-flecked angel-wing leaves and heads of deep pink blooms). And some wax begonias excel not only for summer bedding but also as year-round, ever-blooming pot plants. For bright, easy, four-season color, few house plants can match the endless succession of salmon-red blooms brought forth by the Semperflorens hybrid ‘Cotton Candy’.

Vibrant leaf colors are the mark of many Rex begonias. (photo by Maureen Gilmer)

Most indoor begonias thrive in a warm eastern exposure or other brightly lit but not overly sunny location. They also often benefit from relatively high humidity (which can sometimes be provided by placing the pot on gravel in a saucer half-filled with water). An airy, humus-rich, soil-free potting mix high in peat (such as Fafard Professional Potting Mix with RESiLIENCE) works best. Water when the soil surface is dry, either from the top or by immersing the base of the pot in water. Then stop by the windowsill now and then to enjoy the winter show!

Begonia 'Irene Nuss' (Superba Group) — There are so many begonias to choose from for indoor color, such as this Begonia ‘Irene Nuss’ (Superba Group). (photo by Jessie Keith)

How to Map and Plan a New Garden

The cusp of the New Year is not prime gardening season in much of the United States. But, it’s often an excellent time to map and design a new garden or planting border, even in areas that experience real winter. All that is required are bare ground, a relatively mild day, and a few common household items.

Start by considering the garden’s location, size, shape, and desired plants and their growing needs. Roughly sketch out your basic plans. At this stage, don’t worry about precision or specifics. The finer details will be worked out later.

Setting the Garden Perimeter

Measuring tape in grass — A 50- to 100-foot tape measure with a tip that you can stake in place is extra-useful.

Once you have sketched basic garden perimeter designs on paper, grab a couple of tape measures and a notepad and pen (or smartphone) and head out to the new garden site. A 50- to 100-foot tape measure with a tip that you can stake in place is extra-useful. If necessary, also bring a garden hose to mark portions of the prospective border’s perimeter that aren’t already defined by paths, walls, and the like. Place stakes along any hose-defined edges so that you’ll have something to refer to after you return the hose to its winter quarters.

Page on landscape architecture — Curved garden edges have a freer feel but are more difficult to edge and map. Rectilinear bed edges look more formal and are easier to edge and map. (Image from Residential Landscape Architecture)

A border with at least one long, straight edge is a cinch to map. At regular intervals (5 feet usually works well), measure the perpendicular distance from the straight edge to the opposite side of the border. Also, measure the distances to any extant plants and features that will remain as part of the new garden. Transcribe the data to graph paper and – voila! – you have an accurate map of your soon-to-be-border.

A border with curving edges is somewhat trickier to map. In this case, extend the tape along the approximate “equator” of the border, and measure the perpendicular distances from the tape to both edges at regular intervals. Compared to the straight-sided border, a few more dots and a bit more freehand sketching are required to translate these measurements to graph paper.

Mapping the Garden

Designing a garden — After taking measurements, put your design to paper.

A landscape design template is an especially handy implement for the drawing and mapping stage. You can purchase one (as well as graph paper) from most art- and drafting-supply stores, as well as online. It also helps if you have an image of your home’s footprint and yard to sketch upon and include for perspective. This will also help ensure that your garden is placed within your yard’s boundaries.

Illustrated plant renderings — Plant renderings can be illustrated in many different ways. Have fun. Be creative.
(Image from Residential Landscape Architecture)

To map the border’s location relative to the house, measure the length of the nearest side of the house, and the distances from its corners to the ends of the border. Using graph paper and a ruler, compass, or landscape design template, lightly sketch a curve representing the distance from the one corner of the house to one end of the border. Repeat for the distance from the other corner of the house. The intersection of these curves pinpoints the end of the border. This technique also works if you’d like to map the border’s relationship to other landscape features such as property lines.

Choosing Plants for the Garden

Next comes the really fun part – choosing plants. Given the border’s conditions and surroundings, what would grow and look well there? Compile a list of candidate garden plants that would provide a pleasing mix of flowers, foliage, shapes, sizes, and textures. When you’re happy with your list, start to play around on paper, beginning with the major “keystone” perennials, shrubs, or trees that will form the backbone of the new planting. A composition of rhythmically spaced “keystone” specimens – interspersed with clumps of smaller companion plants – generally works well. Lightly pencil-in a circle for each plant, spacing the circles according to plant size and vigor. Use a complete circle to represent individual specimen plants (often trees or shrubs), and fused circles (omitting their inner portions) to depict clumps.

De-sodding the garden beds — Once the soil warms, start cutting and de-sodding your beds.

Once you have a good handle on the design of your new border, you can start planning how to execute it. It’s never too early to start sourcing and ordering plants (especially rarities that are likely to sell out early). You also need to consider how you’re going to prepare the border site. Is the site currently occupied by grass or by other plants that will need removing? Now’s the time to formulate a strategy.

Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost Blend pack

Perhaps you’ll decide to rent a sod cutter come spring to remove turf from the site. Or maybe sheet composting is the way you’d like to go. Solarization – blanketing the site with heavy plastic to fry the existing vegetation as well as the weed seeds that lurk in the soil – is another excellent approach that works particularly well if you plan to hold off on planting until fall. A soil test might also be in order, whenever as the ground is workable (most state extension offices offer soil testing at a reasonable price). Finally, what’s your mulch of choice going to be? Now’s the time to find a source.

Whatever strategy you choose, you’ll likely need compost and soil amendments to improve the soil. If so, you’ve come to the right place! Fafard offers a bevy of such products, including Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost Blend and Fafard Premium Topsoil.

Happy planning – and planting – in 2020!

Garden Journaling: How To Plan Your Dream Garden

A journal is one of the best tools for achieving the garden of your dreams. Your recorded observations of what’s happening today will give you a clearer vision of what to do tomorrow – and many years beyond.

Starting Your Garden Journal

A note pad, smartphone, and/or computer are all you need to build your journal. Use them to record the dates and details of significant garden happenings, such as the following (with photos, if desired):

Flowering and leaf-out times for key garden plants;
Impactful weather events such as freezes and storms;
Disease and pest outbreaks;
Sowing and planting (including what was planted and where);
Important maintenance activities such as mulching, shrub and tree pruning, harvesting, and major weeding;
Garden amendment, fertilization, and other soil preparation strategies;
What succeeded and what performed poorly.

Do a weekly journaling stroll around your garden. When you see something that delights or concerns you or otherwise grabs your attention, take a note or a photograph (or both). Is the perennial border up to something particularly spectacular this week? Are sawfly larvae skeletonizing the swamp hibiscus? Does the rhododendron by the front entry need to be replaced? Make a note (with the date!), along with any associated thoughts that might come to mind.

Garden Journaling Methods

Jotting down notes and smartphone on the side — A note pad and/or Smartphone are all you need to build your journal.

Traditionalists will opt for hand-written journals, but Smartphones make especially good journaling tools, especially for photos. Not only are photos automatically dated, but you can also add text to them and store them by subject. Smartphones are also good for note-taking, via apps such as Google Keep (which can link notes to photos). Then you can organize printed photos and other physical records (such as receipts and empty seed packets) in a binder with plastic pocket sleeves.

If you are one for the computer and a stickler for the details, consider creating spreadsheets to track trends in seed germination, harvests, flowering dates, pest appearance, and so forth. In time, you can create charts showing the ebbs and flows of your garden. These can be very informative.

Winter Garden Journaling

Gardening notebook with supplies — Winter is the time to organize any notes, photographs, and data from the past year that are still at loose ends. It’s also the time to record seed-starting data.

Gardening and journaling continue through winter. There are bulbs to force, catalogs to peruse, seeds to order and plant, house plants to enjoy and maintain, and any number of other winter gardening activities to complete and chronicle. It’s also the time to reflect on gardening seasons past and future. What were the garden’s highlights and successes this year? Where did it fall short? What are your visions and overall goals for next year, and beyond? Get it all down on paper (or microchip).

Finally, winter is the time to organize any notes, photographs, and data from the past year that are still at loose ends. For example, a spreadsheet of the year’s planting data – including plant/seed source and sowing/planting information – will be essential when you get around to ordering and planting next year’s seeds and plants. You can move a copy of the spreadsheet to your smartphone, to join the rest of your journal information. A well-stocked, well-organized garden journal from the previous year is just what you need to get rocking in the upcoming year.

Garden Journaling for Design

Thinking about garden design — Garden design must be planned and continuously recorded for the best success.

Journals are essential for the dynamics of garden design. Your journal will make the greatest impact have these essential planning and design materials on hand:

Documentation of the garden site’s layout and characteristics, including maps/plans, soil test results, sun and wind exposures, grades, and extant plantings;
Garden design ideas and plans, including drawings and plant lists;
An “encyclopedia” of information of special interest to you and your garden, comprising entries on plants, materials, gardening techniques, and other relevant subjects (be sure to include a file on Fafard’s outstanding lineup of potting soils and soil amendments!);
Short-term and long-term garden calendars, specifying the sequence of yearly gardening activities, and the long-term (e.g., 5-year) plans for maintaining or renovating the garden and for implementing designs.

Combine these elements with the detailed observations of your journal, and you’ll have all the ingredients to make your dream garden a reality.

Plum Yew and Japanese Holly: Better Shrubs for Shearing

Some garden settings are just made for the stylized, symmetrical look of sheared shrubs. Likewise, some shrub species take especially well to being sheared into dense, geometrical shapes

An essential ingredient of formal Japanese gardens, French parterres, English hedges, and other stylized landscape features, sheared shrubs excel at providing structure or at balancing other architectural elements (such as pillared entryways and granite walls). To fill this bill requires a special sort of shrub: one with dense, slowly expanding growth concentrated mostly at the stem tips. In contrast, many popular garden shrubs (including most roses, forsythias, spireas, and weigelas) produce vigorous, arching stems that originate from their interiors. Shrubs with this rangier growth architecture look mutilated rather than sculpted after shearing.

Traits of Shrubs for Shearing

A low hedge of dwarf Japanese holly in this parterre looks like boxwood but without the pests and disease. (Image by Jasper33)

The ideal sheared shrub also needs to tolerate heavy pruning, in case of overgrowth. This disqualifies most needle evergreens, which will not survive such treatment.

The relative lack of shrubs suitable for shearing has led to the ubiquitous use of a few species. Yews (Taxus spp.) – the knee-jerk conifers for sheared hedges and foundation plantings – have become a garden cliché. So, too, have their broadleaf counterpart, boxwoods (Buxus spp.). Moreover, these two traditional mainstays have increasingly fallen prey to pests: yews to deer, and boxwoods to aphids and fungal blight. As alternatives, you might want to consider two shrubs that provide a similar look to Taxus and Buxus without the deficiencies: plum yew and Japanese holly.

Plum Yews for Shearing

Upright plum yew can reach 10 feet but it is easy to shear to size. (Image by Daderot)

Plum yews (Cephalotaxus spp.) comprise several species from East Asia, these deer-resistant cousins of the ubiquitous yew bring a bolder texture to the garden with their large, lustrous dark-green needles. Their many other laudable features include superior heat- and shade-tolerance. Plum yews come in many forms, from sprawling ground covers (such as Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Prostrata’) to small trees. Most cultivars – including the following – are hardy from USDA Zones 6 to 9. In some cases, their foliage may bronze with excessive winter sun or cold.

Duke Gardens plum yew (C. harringtonia ‘Duke Gardens’). Forming a dense, broad, 5-foot-tall mound, this introduction from Duke University’s botanical garden is perfect for sculpting into hummocks or hedges. It’s also lovely as a feathery unpruned specimen.

Upright plum yew (C. harringtonia ‘Fastigiata’). Broom-like bundles of dark-needled stems ascend in a dense, narrow 10-foot column that broadens toward the top. It’s an ideal subject for a path- or border-side hedge.

Hedgehog plum yew (C. harringtonia ‘Hedgehog’). Essentially a scaled-down version of ‘Duke Gardens’, ‘Hedgehog’ works beautifully as a dwarf accent or hedge.

Korean Gold plum yew (C. harringtonia ‘Korean Gold’). The foliage of this variant of ‘Fastigiata’ emerges bright yellow in spring, and holds its color year-long in areas with mild summers and moderate winters.

Korean plum yew (C. koreana). Difficult to find but well worth the search, this large and exceptionally cold-hardy Korean native grows to a densely rounded 10 feet tall. It’s hardy to Zone 5b and stays dark green year-round.

Japanese Hollies for Shearing

Helleri Japanese holly forms a broad mound of finest foliage for shearing. (Image by David Stang)

Japanese holly (Ilex crenata). The small, rounded, leathery, dark-green leaves of this fine-textured broadleaf evergreen have a distinctly boxwood look – but without the peculiar boxwood odor. Small white flowers spangle the foliage in late spring, followed (on female plants) by black berry-like fruits. Numerous cultivars of Japanese holly are available, in all shapes and sizes. Most do well in USDA hardiness zones 5b to 8.

Beehive Japanese holly (Ilex crenata ‘Beehive’) slowly assumes a broad, dense, conical form similar to that of a traditional basket-woven bee skep. Use this 3- to 4-footer in low hedges or as an accent plant.

Compact Japanese holly (Ilex crenata ‘Compacta’) is also suitable as a low hedge. It earns its moniker by growing slowly into a dense 4-foot globe. Unpruned plants can reach 6 feet with age.

Well-clipped Japanese holly hedge — This well-clipped Japanese holly hedge looks clean and attractive.

Helleri Japanese holly (Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’) forms a comparable broad mound but has leaves dusted with a grayish bloom. Its offspring ‘Golden Helleri’ features chartreuse foliage and a dwarfer habit.

Cupped Japanese holly (Ilex crenata ‘Convexa’) matures relatively rapidly into a dense 6-foot mound clad with leaves that are characteristically cupped.

Sky Pencil Japanese holly (I. crenata ‘Sky Pencil’) cannot be beat for a narrow hedge or garden exclamation point. A narrow column growing to 8 feet tall but a slender 1-foot across, it’s literally a good fit for tight spaces.

Container Specimens

Highly shaped Japanese holly in green pot — This highly shaped Japanese holly specimen shows how much they can tolerate harsh shearing.

Dwarf plum yews and hollies such as Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Hedgehog’ and Ilex crenata ‘Golden Helleri’ also make excellent container plants. Use a 5-gallon or larger container, and choose a coarse potting soil, such as Fafard Ultra Outdoor Planting Mix. In areas colder than USDA Zone 7, move the plants into a protected location (such as an attached garage) for the winter.

Shearing Tips

Fafard Ultra Outdoor Planting Mix pack — The perfect mix for outdoor potted evergreens

Shear plants lightly in late spring or early summer to maintain their shape, repeating later in the growing season if necessary. Avoid shearing shrubs into shapes that are narrower at the base, causing shading and consequent thinning of lower growth. Heavier pruning – to reshape the shrub or to increase the density of sparsely branched stems – should be done in late winter or early spring, before bud-break. This is also a good time to selectively head back a few stems to allow light and air into the plant’s interior and to stimulate renewal growth.

Growing Tropical Fruits Indoors

Growing tropical fruits in Toledo (or Toronto or Trenton) may seem like the stuff of fantasy. It’s perfectly doable, though, thanks to the numerous dwarf tropical fruit trees that take well to containers and flower and fruit at a young age. A warm sunny outdoor location in summer, an equally sunny indoor niche in winter, a suitable watering and fertilizing regime, and a well-drained growing medium (such as Fafard Professional Potting Mix) will keep them happy and fruitful.

Indoor Citrus

The genus Citrus is particularly well endowed with container-friendly plants. Kumquats (Citrus japonica, aka Fortunella) are a stellar example. Visit your local supermarket during the winter holiday season, and you’re likely to find the orange-yellow, tart, bite-sized fruits of the popular kumquat variety ‘Nagami’. A number of other, lesser-known kumquats are well worth eating (and growing). The cultivar ‘Meiwa’ bears round, orange, 1¼ -inch fruits that are comparatively sweet and seed-free. Large, thin-skinned, orange kumquats deck the branches of another relatively sweet-flavored variety, ‘Fukushu’. In contrast, ‘Hong Kong’ produces numerous showy, scarlet, ¾-inch fruits with large seeds and scanty pulp. They’re great for ornament but not as good for eating.

Ripening in early winter, kumquat fruits typically remain on the branches until spring, providing decoration and snack possibilities well beyond the holidays. Small, starry white flowers perfume the air in late spring and early summer, and the lustrous, verdant, evergreen leaves are handsome year-round.

Calamondin (Citrus mitis) is what happened when a kumquat hybridized with a mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata). The result is a compact, repeat-blooming evergreen shrub that carries fragrant white flowers and small, chubby, tasty “oranges” throughout much of the year, with production peaking in winter. The fruits can be eaten fresh and make excellent preserves. Splashy cream-yellow markings adorn the leaves and immature fruit of the calamondin ‘Variegata’.

Meyer lemon (Citrus limon ‘Meyer’) is yet another citrus with admirable qualities. A small evergreen tree that can be easily maintained at 3 feet tall in a container, it produces several flushes of flowers and fruits throughout the year, peaking in winter and early spring. The 2- to 3-inch lemons have thin, golden-yellow rinds and relatively sweet, juicy, flavorful flesh that goes well in salads, stews, and preserves. They also make a zingy snack.
Among the other edible citrus for containers are Key lime (Citrus aurantifolia), myrtle leaf orange (Citrus myrtifolia), and Rangpur lime (Citrus limon ‘Otaheite’). The takeaway (particularly if you have lots of container-gardening space) is that you don’t have to live in the tropics to enjoy a year-long harvest of lemons, oranges, and kumquats.

Growing Citrus

Citrus prefer ample sunlight, medium to high humidity, 40° to 60° F minimum temperatures, and moderate watering and feeding from spring to fall (with lower amounts in winter).

Prune off unwanted growth immediately after the fruiting season, in early spring. Common indoor pests can be a problem. Watch for mealybugs, scale, whiteflies, and other common Citrus pests, particularly on stressed or over-fertilized plants. Cleaning plants up with insecticidal soap before bringing them back indoors in fall can help ward off these pests.

Indoor Guava

Pineapple guava flowers (Image by C T Johansson)

Guavas are another group of tropical New World evergreens renowned for their aromatic flowers and fruits, and several can be grown beautifully indoors.

Native to uplands of central South America, pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana, aka Acca sellowiana) works wonderfully as a container plant. Lustrous, leathery, silver-backed leaves clothe the upright, gray-barked stems of this handsome small tree. Sweet-scented, pale purple flowers with starbursts of maroon stamens open in late spring and early summer, followed by waxy, blue-green, egg-shaped fruits that cast an intoxicating fragrance as they mature in fall. Their pineapple-flavored fruits (with undertones of mint and apple) are at their best for only a few days after they fully ripen.

Pineapple guava plants require cool winter conditions (40° to 50° F minimum) and at least one cross-pollenizing companion plant for maximum flowering and fruiting. As with all the guavas described here, they appreciate a monthly application of organic fertilizer in spring and summer. Plants can be kept at 4 to 6 feet by removing overgrown stems in late summer.

Dwarf guava (Image by Logee's) — Dwarf guava (Image by Logee’s)

Common guava (Psidium guajava) also takes readily to container culture, fruiting reliably and repeatedly in warm, humid, sunny conditions (60 degrees Fahrenheit minimum). For home growing, choose the true dwarf guava (Psidium guajava var. nana). The fragrant white flowers with bottlebrush stamens recur throughout the year, giving way to pale green-skinned fruits that have delicious, musky-scented, deep pink flesh when ripe.

A vicious weed in many tropical regions outside its native Brazil, strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum) is an exemplary container plant for colder latitudes, provided it’s spared from temperatures below 50° F. Small, spherical, red-skinned fruits with tangy, pale flesh appear in late summer and continue through winter in favorable locations. The fruits are preceded by fuzzy, white, sweet-scented flowers. The variety lucidum (commonly known as lemon guava) has yellow-skinned, relatively tart flavored fruits. A small tree in the wild, Psidium cattleianum grows much more compactly in containers, typically topping out at 4 or 5 feet.

Other Indoor Tropical Fruits

Avocado 'Day' (Image by Logee's) — Avocado ‘Day’ (Image by Logee’s)

There’s a lot to explore in container-friendly tropical fruit trees beyond citrus and guavas, including loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), dwarf mango ( Mangifera ‘Pickering’), star fruit (Averrhoa carambola), and the ‘Tainung’ papaya (Carica papaya ‘Tainung’ ), which will begin fruiting on 2-foot plants. Many dwarf common-fig cultivars (Ficus carica), such as the super tiny ‘Petite Negra’ that starts fruiting on 12-inch plants, also grow well in a warm winter sunroom or conservatory. There are even mangoes, such as the golden mango ‘Nam Doc Mai’, that will grow well in large indoor pots.
Another favorite that’s easy to grow is the dwarf banana ‘Extra Dwarf Cavendish’ (Musa ‘Extra Dwarf Cavendish’). Once they reach 3-feet high, they will produce small trusses of delicious bananas year-round, if given high light, regular water, and warmth.

Then there are avocados (Persea americana). Many home growers will opt to start their own trees from pits, but this will result in large trees unfit for indoor growing. Instead, choose a dwarf tree such as the avocado ‘Day’. This compact selection and will produce small avocados from July to September. Bring them indoors in a brightly lit location through winter.

These fruits are best purchased as plants, but most are not readily available at your neighborhood nursery. To find them search for a specialty online plant source, such as Logee’s Plants for Home and Garden. Good online nurseries such as this offer a wide selection of compact tropical plants ideal for indoor container culture.

Potting Indoor Tropical Fruits

Most of these small trees sold in 4- to 6-inch pots, so plants are small at purchase time. Plant them in a slightly larger pot using Fafard Professional Potting Mix, and provide them with good light. Pots should have drainage holes and bottom saucers. Try to maintain even moisture and high humidity, and feed them with a tropical fruit tree fertilizer, as directed.
When the plants begin to outgrow their pots, upgrade them as needed for ample root growth. Those that are fruiting size, usually 4 to 5 feet, require relatively large pots.

Pot your tropical fruits now, and in a year or two, you will be harvesting your own home-grown tastes of the tropics.

Dwarf mangoes — Even mangoes come in dwarf forms!

Small Spring Bulbs with Big Impact

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When planting bulbs in fall, plant small. “Minor” bulbs can have a major impact in the spring garden. Individually, they may not measure up to bulbous divas such as Darwin tulips and large-cupped daffodils. But combine a few divas with a chorus of lesser companions, and the real magic happens. Why have a quartet when you can have the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth?

Here are five of the best “minor” bulbs for deploying in expansive, dramatic (and pest-resistant) drifts. Most are inexpensive, costing but a few pennies apiece in bulk. Additionally, many of them self-sow, proliferating into ever-expanding sweeps. They’re also a breeze to plant in fall. Stab a hole, stuff a bulb, and repeat a few hundred times (or more). You’ll be rewarded with a lavish display for many springs to come. Amend excessively heavy or sandy soil by digging in 2 to 4 inches of Fafard compost before planting and add fertilizer formulated for bulbs.

Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

Winter aconite flowers feed bees in the early springtime

The glossy yellow buttercups of this Eurasian woodlander open during the first mild days of late winter, much to the delight of awakening honeybees. The flowers are framed by collars of deeply lobed, rich-green, leaf-like bracts. Plants enter dormancy soon after blooming, dying back to knobbly underground tubers. Winter aconites that are sold in bulk by stores and catalogs are often dead from desiccation, so it pays to look for a retailer who deals in smaller quantities of properly stored tubers. Even better is to collect and sow fresh seed soon after it ripens in early to mid-spring. A friend with a colony of Eranthis hyemalis is an invaluable resource.

Snow Crocus (Crocus tommasinianus)

'Tommies' crocuses — “Tommies” are fast-spreading, early crocuses.

“Tommies” may not be the largest crocuses, but they amply compensate by being among the earliest and most prolific. They’re also some of the toughest and most adaptable, thriving in most soils in full or partial sun, and often escaping the ravages of squirrels (which have a fatal attraction to most other crocuses). The silvery-lavender flowers debut in late winter or earliest spring, continuing for several weeks. White-, pink-, and purple-flowered cultivars are also available. Whatever the color, they usually spawn seedlings, with cultivars often sowing true to type. If you’re looking for a crocus to naturalize in a woodland edge or border or lawn, this is the ideal candidate.

Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica)

No bulb is better for creating pools of blue in the early spring garden. A sweep of Siberian squill is the perfect thing for complementing the luscious waterlily blooms of saucer magnolia, or for carpeting a lawn, or for interplanting with early daffodils and tulips. Borne in small clusters atop 4-inch-tall stems, the nodding, cup-shaped blooms are typically sky-blue with darker mid-ribs, although other color forms sometimes occur (including white-flowered ‘Alba’). Siberian squill takes readily to most sunny to partly shaded garden habitats, self-sowing where happy.

Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa spp.)

Glory-of-the-snow in snow — Glory-of-the-snow and other early bulbs can withstand snowfall.

Close relatives of Siberian squill, these little bulbs are also similar in ornamental effect and bloom time, producing clusters of starry, bright blue, white-eyed flowers that face skyward in early spring. Color variants include pink, purple, and white. Most Chionodoxa are happiest in sun but will tolerate some shade. Many varieties self-sow, and some will partner with nearby Siberian squills to produce hybrid seedlings.

Grape Hyacinths (Muscari spp.)

We highlighted this delightful genus of little bulbs in our March edition (Click here to read the full article.), but it bears repeating: grape hyacinths are among the best foils for tulips, daffodils, bleeding hearts (Dicentra spp.), perennial candytuft (Iberis spp.), and just about anything else that flowers in early to mid-spring. Tight conical flower clusters that resemble bunches of miniature grapes are borne atop 4- to 6-inch stems in all shades of blue (depending on the variety), as well as white and pink. The most commonly offered species – Muscari armeniacum – is an enthusiastic naturalizer, self-sowing abundantly in sunny, well-drained sites. Most bulbs sold under the names Muscari aucheri and Muscari botryoides (many of which are actually forms of Muscari armeniacum) are equally attractive and prolific.

Invest a modest amount of time and money in fall, and you can have a symphony of color early next spring.

Good Garden Bittersweet and Bad

When it comes to garden plants gone wrong, few have gone wronger than oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). Introduced from East Asia to Western horticulture in the early eighteenth century, this twining vine was widely planted for its ornamental clusters of yellow pea-sized fruits that open in fall to reveal brilliant-red interiors. Now it’s widely reviled for its ability to seed itself everywhere by way of those showy, bird-attracting fruits. Left unchecked, these seedlings can rapidly morph into tree-consuming monsters, smothering everything in their 60-foot reach. Visit just about any garden or woodland in the eastern U.S. and there they are, lurking in the undergrowth or clambering into the canopy.

Good and Bad Bittersweet

Native bittersweet with clusters of fruit — The native bittersweet has clusters of darker fruits at the stem tips.

This black sheep of the Celastrus tribe has also sullied our attractive and relatively well-behaved native species, Celastrus scandens. The showy orange fruits of American bittersweet are darker in hue than those of its Asian relative, and they appear in elongated bunches at the stem tips rather than in small clusters in the leaf axils. It grows more sedately than Celastrus orbiculatus, self-sows less enthusiastically, and coexists more harmoniously. Ironically, its more restrained growth also puts it at a competitive disadvantage in natural areas, where it is often smothered by its mayhem-making relative. The most apropos response to the rampages of oriental bittersweet is to grow MORE of our native bittersweet – not less.

Asian bittersweet berries — The invasive Asian bittersweet has berries that appear in branch.

You can create a refuge for American bittersweet by giving it a sizeable pergola or other structure for its 20- to 30-foot stems to twine around and through. Full sun to light shade and lean or average, well-drained soil are ideal (amend heavy or sandy soils by digging in a couple of inches of Fafard Manure Blend or Premium Natural and Organic Compost). American bittersweet also functions well as a shrubby ground cover for a slope, stone wall, or woodland edge. Plants flower and fruit on the current season’s growth, so pruning is best done in late winter and early spring, before bud-break.

Bittersweet Varieties

Most bittersweet plants bear only male or female flowers, with one of each typically required for fruiting to occur. One male plant (e.g., ‘Indian Brave’) will pollenize as many 10 females (such as ‘Indian Maiden’ and ‘Diana’). Two recently introduced cultivars – ‘Autumn Revolution’ and ‘Sweet Tangerine’ – are self-fruitful, requiring no companion. You can also purchase or grow unsexed seedlings. If so, plant several to increase the chances that at least one is a female. You can remove any superfluous males after they reach flowering size.

*Celastrus orbiculatus* looks very pretty trained along a strong pergola or trellis.

Harvest the inedible fruits for holiday decorations after their husks begin to split open in late fall. They make a dramatic addition to a Thanksgiving centerpiece or a Christmas wreath. You’ll also feel considerable satisfaction and pride knowing that they come from our beleaguered and deserving native bittersweet, rather than from its roguish, woodland-consuming cousin. To double down on your sense of satisfaction, leave some fruits so that the robins, mockingbirds, flickers, yellow-rumped warblers, ruffed grouse, and other native birds can share in the delight – and distribute the seed.

Chaste Tree For Bees, Butterflies, and Summer Blooms

Think of chaste tree (Vitex agnus–castus) as an equally showy but less invasive alternative to the ubiquitous butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii). A shrub or small tree that behaves as a dieback perennial in the coldest fringes of its USDA Hardiness Zones 5b to 9 hardiness range, it bears candelabras of lavender-blue flowers from summer into fall, enticing bees, butterflies, the occasional hummingbird, and other winged visitors. Attractive, five-fingered, gray-green leaves make a nice textural compliment to the steepled blooms. Adding to chaste tree’s allure is the pleasantly pungent fragrance of all its parts (as might be expected of a member of the mint family).

Chaste Tree Hardiness and Habit

Chaste tree with purple flowers — Chaste tree literally grows as a flowering tree in warmer zones. (Image by Cilias)

Chaste tree has long been grown in warmer regions of the U.S., where it typically forms a multi-stemmed, 15- to 20-foot tree. But it’s arguably an even better fit for gardens in USDA Zones 5 and 6, where it usually remains much more compact thanks to winter dieback. Like butterfly bush, in these colder regions, it resprouts from the base in late spring, mushrooming into a rounded, 3- to 6-foot shrub that flowers on new growth. Furthermore, unlike butterfly bush, it doesn’t seed itself prolifically after flowering (although self-sowing can be a problem in the Southwest and California).

Chaste Tree Growing Needs

Another point in chaste tree’s favor is its toughness. It takes readily to just about any sunny, not-too-soggy site; tolerates drought and salt; and rarely requires special treatment. In heavy clay soil it may benefit from the addition of F afard Premium Natural & Organic Compost for increased organic matter and drainage. Yet, despite its many merits, chaste tree has received relatively little attention from gardeners, perhaps because of the scarcity of cultivars selected for growth habit, flower color, and other traits.

Chaste Tree Varieties

Vitex agnus-castus 'Pink Pinnacle' with pink flower spires — *Vitex agnus-castus* ‘Pink Pinnacle’ has lovely pink flower spires.

All this is changing. A number of recently introduced cultivars mature as small to medium shrubs rather than as bushy mini-trees, broadening its versatility in Southern gardens. Additionally, these recent introductions come in a range of colors including pink, white, and various shades of blue. Wherever you garden, the possibilities for chaste tree are greater than ever – including as a summer-blooming centerpiece for containers.

Among the smallest of the new cultivars is ‘Blue Puffball’, which forms a dense, 4-foot mound covered with deep sky-blue spires. It makes an obvious choice for containers and perennial borders, perhaps in place of Caryopteris. As with all forms of chaste tree, flowering continues from summer to fall if spent blooms are regularly deadheaded. The somewhat larger ‘Blue Diddley’ offers spikes of the typical lavender-blue on densely borne stems that top out at 6 feet or so. Larger still, ‘Delta Blues’ produces spires of rich purple-blue flowers on 8- to 10-foot plants set with elegant, relatively narrow-fingered leaves.

Compact chaste trees of another color include ‘Pink Pinnacle’, prized for its abundant mid-pink spires on compact, mounded, 4- to 6-foot plants. Paler in color and larger in growth, ‘Blushing Spires’ bears shell-pink blooms and matures at 10 to 12 feet tall and wide. Compact white cultivars – such as the 8-foot-tall ‘Dale White’ – are especially rare (grab one if you see one!).

Of course, as mentioned earlier, in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 and 6 full-size cultivars such as white ‘Silver Spire’, deep lilac-blue ‘Shoal Creek’, and sapphire-blue ‘Le Comte’ behave as small to medium shrubs due to winterkill. In milder regions, they can be treated as small trees or maintained as shrubs via an annual hard pruning in early spring.

Other Vitex Species

Vitex negundo flowers — The flowers of *Vitex negundo* are less showy. (Image by Magnus Mansk)

Another excellent summer-bloomer for Zones 5 to 9 is chaste tree’s hardier and more obscure relative, Chinese chaste tree (V. negundo). Although less showy in flower, it surpasses chaste tree in its lacy, deeply incised foliage, which in varieties such as heterophylla rivals that of a fine Japanese maple. Hybrids between Vitex negundo and other Vitex species (as well as between chaste tree and its kin) are in the works, so stay tuned! Many more summer-blooming treasures for your garden (and containers) are yet to come from the Vitex tribe.

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