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NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF HELLEBORES by Elisabeth Ginsburg

 

NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF HELLEBORES

What did gardeners ever do without hellebores, those beacons of the late winter and early spring garden that are happy in light shade, mostly impervious to deer, and offer lovely, long-lasting flowers? Fortunately, none of us have to worry about that since breeders and merchandisers are turning out new varieties every season. The hardest part now is choosing the right ones for your location.

So, what’s new under the hellebore sun? Plenty. Even if you are a hellebore fanatic, it’s highly likely that you will run out of space before you run out of hellebores.

Uncommon Commonality—Helleborus orientalis

Hellebores are low-growing members of the buttercup or Ranunculaceae family. A number of species are commercially available, but the most popular by far is generally sold as Helleborus orientalis or Lenton Rose. That species originated in Turkey and the Caucasus regions, growing about 18 inches tall and wide, with large, palmate leaves and nodding flowers in shades ranging from white through pink-purple to true purple. In time the orientalis species was crossbred with a number of other hellebores to produce Helleborus x hybridus, which dominates the market today.

Because of that popularity, breeders all over the world have worked to improve hellebores, extending the color range, creating bigger, more outward-facing flowers, and showy double blooms. Every growing season brings new developments in the world of hellebores.

All that Glitters is Gold

One of the brightest developments in hellebore breeding is gold-flowered varieties, which were developed from crosses involving green-flowered Helleborus viridis and other species.

‘Searchlight’ bears single yellow petals in a shade of greenish yellow, while showy double-flowered varieties like ‘Golden Lotus’, shine in pale gold. Gold also figures strongly in bicolors like the double-flowered ‘Sun Flare’, which is part of the Winter Jewels® series of hellebores. ‘Sun Flare’ features medium yellow petals accented by red edges. ‘Sunshine Ruffles’ features a similar double configuration with yellow petals. The red edges are much narrower than those of ‘Sun Flare’.

Double the Fun

And speaking of doubles, the current hellebore passion for double flowers is reminiscent of the Oscar Wilde quote, “Nothing exceeds like excess.” ‘Midnight Ruffles’, which is ‘Sunshine Ruffles’ opposite number, arrays itself in large black blooms with a multitude of petals. The only hint of brightness is at the center of each flower, where golden stamens hold court. ‘Painted Jewels,’ another entry in the Winter Jewels® line, boasts white petals “painted” with dark red splotches. ‘Wedding Crasher’ is spectacular with a double number of pale pink petals liberally dotted with darker red.

The double-flowered hellebores, which bloom at the same times as their single-flowered counterparts do not seem any less vigorous and certainly make a splash at a time when most flowers have not even made an entrance.

Facing Up to It

One of the holy grails in hellebore breeding has long been upward facing flowers. The downward or nodding posture of many hellebore species’ flowers was an adaptation that protected the flowers’ reproductive organs from frosts. However, even the most resolute hellebore admirers do not like getting down on all fours to appreciate the flowers. Most of the Helleborus x hybridus varieties and strains still nod in the spring breezes, but some of their

relatives, bred from a combination of species, sometimes including Helleborus niger, the “Christmas rose,” have blooms that if not upward-facing, at least turn outward towards the viewer. German hybrids, like ‘HGC® Diva’ couple white flowers, sometimes with a pinkish or greenish tinge with the outward-facing trait. For something in a darker shade, ‘HGC® Merlot’, with red wine-colored flowers and dark stems, fills the bill.

Foliage Interest

While hellebores put on a big show in the spring, some gardeners look for plants with added interest. Hellebore breeders have come up with varieties with variegated foliage, like ‘Ivory Prince’, which is known botanically as Helleborus x nigerericsmithii and toothed leaves veined in white, in addition to its ivory flowers. HGC ‘Pink Frost’ features similar leaves and dusty pink blooms. Since variegation is popular, look for more variegated-leaf plants in the future.

Hellebore Care

Whether your hellebore has yellow flowers, upward-facing blooms or variegated leaves, it needs good care to thrive. Plant in a sunny or lightly shaded location with rich soil. Amend that soil at planting time with a high-quality amendment, like Fafard® Premium Natural and Organic Compost, and water young plants regularly. Hellebores are seldom troubled by critters and, if happy, will increase in size. Be warned, a young plant may only have a few flowers in the first year but will hit its stride in years two and three.

Some self-seeding may also happen, and if you are trying to fill a large area, this may be a welcome event. However, since named varieties are produced from hand-pollinated and carefully selected parent plants, the seedlings in your garden will most likely not have the same traits as the parents.

About Elisabeth Ginsburg

Born into a gardening family, Elisabeth Ginsburg grew her first plants as a young child. Her hands-on experiences range from container gardening on a Missouri balcony to mixed borders in the New Jersey suburbs and vacation gardening in Central New York State. She has studied horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and elsewhere and has also written about gardens, landscape history and ecology for years in traditional and online publications including The New York Times Sunday “Cuttings” column, the Times Regional Weeklies, Horticulture, Garden Design, Flower & Garden, The Christian Science Monitor and many others. Her “Gardener’s Apprentice” weekly column appears in papers belonging to the Worrall chain of suburban northern and central New Jersey weekly newspapers and online at http://www.gardenersapprentice.com. She and her feline “garden supervisors” live in northern New Jersey.

Trends for the New Gardening: What’s New in the Nurseries by Elisabeth Ginsburg

Totally On-Trend

If you wanted to create the most on-trend garden for the new gardening season, what would it look like?  Leafing through shelter magazines, garden catalogs, websites, and other communications outlets, it would appear that a totally on-trend garden might exist in either in-ground or container form and contain a wide array of drought-tolerant annuals, perennials, and shrubs with jewel-toned flowers and the ability to attract an abundant number of pollinators.  Extra trend points would go to those landscapes featuring native plant varieties with excellent resistance to extreme weather. For gardener’s living in areas prone to wildfires, all of the above would happen in the context of fire-awareness, with vegetation-free shelter belts around houses and other structures.

Pollinators’ Heaven

While many garden merchandisers are offering pre-selected pollinator gardens, it is fun to pick individual varieties on your own.  Members of the mint family are much loved by butterflies, moths and other insects, and in the last few years, hummingbird mint or agastache has ridden a wave of popularity.  Many are drought tolerant as well.  New agastaches this year include colorful additions to the Maestro® Agastache series like ‘Gold’ and ‘Coral’.  Catmint, a stalwart of easy-care perennial landscapes, is newly available in a gold-leafed variety, ‘Lemon Purrfection’.

Hydrangeas Hold Court

The enduring popularity of hydrangeas, especially new varieties that bloom on both new and old wood, is on display in this season’s new offerings.  Rich color dominates in offerings like the red-flowered hydrangeas, with Hydrangea macrophylla Seaside Serenade® Hanalei Bay and Centennial Ruby™ leading the way.  Smaller hydrangea offerings, suitable for small landscapes and even large containers abound, with varieties like compact ‘Lil Annie’ oakleaf hydrangea leading the way

Coneflowers in Every Color

If coneflowers (echinacea) are not in every single garden, container and window box in America and elsewhere, it is not for lack of variety. Echinacea has been hotter than hot for more than a decade and the heat persists.  New bi-colors, like ‘White Tips’, with lavender petals edged in bright white, increase the color possibilities, while double-flowered ‘Raspberry Ripple’ adds yet another entry in the fluffy flower category. The trend for unusual petal configurations—quilled, spoon-shaped, or spidery—has resulted in echinaceas like ‘Prima Spider’, a bi-colored variety with slender spoon-shaped petals.

Cavalcade of Dashing Annuals

Breeders and merchandisers are working hard to keep up with the demand for ever more colorful annual bedding plants.  New entries into the annual array include ever brighter shades of impatiens, petunias (and their relatives the “million bells” or calibrachoa) in single and double varieties, some with extravagant stripes. Unusually colored petunias like Amazonas™ ‘Plum Cockatoo’ change the garden color scene with pale green petals swirling around purple centers.  Not to be outdone, new members of the Queeny series of lushly petalled and colored Zinnia elegans varieties includes opulent double-flowered entries like ‘Queeny Red Lime’, a bi-color with rose pink outer petals surrounding shorter, lighter inner petals. Other unusual colors include ‘Queeny Lemon Peach’ and ‘Queeny Orange’.

For color in shade, gardeners have long turned to the flashy foliage of annual coleus.  This year’s newcomers include ‘Pink Ribbons’, with toothed, near-black leaves edged and veined in bright pink.

Dahlia Resurgence—Hang Onto Your Tubers

Once reviled as common and kitschy, dahlias now take center stage everywhere, with lots of new entries for spring 2026.  One old reliable vendor lists no fewer than 16 online pages of new varieties.  New and noteworthy entries in the dahlia sweepstakes include the fluffy, exuberantly striped ‘Knight’s Armour’ and the demure ‘Halo’.  Popular introductions routinely sell out, so if growing dahlias from tubers is your thing, order now.

Houseplant Riot

For apartment dwellers and those lacking outdoor space, garden merchandisers say, “no problem”, and back that up with an amazing area of houseplants (which can be moved outside, space and climate permitting).  The world of fancy-leaf begonias has expanded with new entries including ‘Joy’s Jubilee’, an exuberant swirl of ruffled green and maroon leaves, dappled in white.  Foliage plants—restful and otherwise—are also very popular, especially in large sizes, with new introductions like the elephant-eared Alocasia ‘Variegated Freydek’, flaunting its huge green and white leaves, or white variegated monstera, with its artfully tattered foliage.  Old-fashioned parlor maples (Abutilon) have shed their Victorian image and reappeared in new forms, like ‘Red Glory’, with scarlet hollyhock-like flowers, and the pink and white ‘Wedding Day’, which celebrates its name with nodding blooms.

Drought Tolerant

With drought conditions a regular occurrence in some parts of the country, gardeners are looking for deep-rooted prairie plants like goldenrods and penstemons that need little hydration once they are established.  Where climate permits, or indoor winter quarters exist, agaves are very much in vogue, with new introductions like the variegated ‘Craziness’ or the gold and green striped ‘American Masterpiece’, an agave/mangave hybrid.

Newcomers Welcome

Garden vendors are especially interested in attracting new gardeners to the hobby.  For them, the merchants have created an increasingly wide array of pre-planned gardens, sold complete with plants and planting diagrams.  Container gardeners are not left out of this trend, and companies with provide plants, diagrams or pictures, and selected containers, making plant selection and arrangement easy and accessible.  The packages may or may not include the newest or most fashionable plants, but they are designed to encourage the novices who will buy the new introductions of the future.

About Elisabeth Ginsburg

Born into a gardening family, Elisabeth Ginsburg grew her first plants as a young child. Her hands-on experiences range from container gardening on a Missouri balcony to mixed borders in the New Jersey suburbs and vacation gardening in Central New York State. She has studied horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and elsewhere and has also written about gardens, landscape history and ecology for years in traditional and online publications including The New York Times Sunday “Cuttings” column, the Times Regional Weeklies, Horticulture, Garden Design, Flower & Garden, The Christian Science Monitor and many others. Her “Gardener’s Apprentice” weekly column appears in papers belonging to the Worrall chain of suburban northern and central New Jersey weekly newspapers and online at http://www.gardenersapprentice.com. She and her feline “garden supervisors” live in northern New Jersey.

Barking up a Tree: Tree Bark that Shines in Winter by Elisabeth Ginsburg

When you look at trees during the growing season, you see leaves and sometimes flowers or fruit.  Winter offers a different perspective.  With the leaves absent, many deciduous trees offer a lovely extra—interesting bark that provides a fourth season of interest.  It is something to think about when you are creating or adding to a landscape.

Taking a Shine

Birchbark cherry (Prunus serrula), also sometimes known as “redbark cherry,” is a small ornamental tree (20 to 30 feet tall and wide) that is rightly celebrated for its ethereal white spring blossoms.  Those blooms are followed during the growing season by slender, toothed leaves. In winter, the trees become Cinderellas, undergoing a seasonal exfoliation, or shedding of the old outer bark layer.  The young bark underneath is lustrous enough to appear polished and reddish brown like mahogany.

Birchbark cherry enjoys the same conditions as other ornamental cherry trees, preferring full sun to light shade and well-drained soil.

Snakes Alive

Snakebark maple (Acer pennsylvanicum) is a North American native tree that goes by many common names, including whistlewood, striped maple, goosefoot maple and moosewood.  The young bark is unique in its green and white vertical stripes, which in an earlier time reminded some people of snakeskin.  Perfect for smaller gardens, snakebark maple grows 15 to 25 feet tall, with a nearly equal spread, and can also be grown as a large shrub.  Like many maples, the snakebark variety features lobed leaves, with each leaf sporting a trio of lobes.  This probably gave rise to the “goosefoot” nickname.  Yellow fall foliage makes snakebark maple a year-round attraction in partly shaded conditions with consistent moisture.

Thinking Pink

Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) are widely loved for their landscape versatility, offering sculptural shapes, deeply dissected leaves, and attractive fall colors.  The ‘Sango-kaku’ or coralbark variety adds another dimension to Japanese maple allure, with winter bark that is pale pink to rosy red on young branches and stems.  Growing 20 to 25 feet tall and slightly less wide, the trees are remarkably tolerant of heavy soil and can even survive in proximity of toxic black walnut trees. Small clusters of red-purple flowers appear in spring, followed by leaves with five or seven slender lobes apiece.  As a prelude to that rosy winter show of bark, the leaves turn shades of yellow and reddish bronze in the fall, prior to their winter departure.

Like many Japanese maples, the coralbark variety is an understory tree, happiest in dappled shade.

Exfoliation Station

The American sycamore is a majestic tree, sometimes growing as large as 75 to 100 feet tall and wide—perfect for parks and other large spaces.  In earlier generations, when urban and suburban streets were narrower, and the spaces between sidewalks and streets were wider, sycamores were also sometimes used as street trees. Known botanically as Platanus occidentalis, sycamores are another species with a high tolerance for a variety of soil conditions, as well as urban and suburban pollution.  In the summer, these statuesque beauties boast large, lobed leaves.  The brown bark of the sycamore exfoliates in patches to reveal stark white bark underneath.  This feature gives the trees a distinctive camouflage-like appearance, making them recognizable even from a distance.  Older trees, with an abundance of white bark, look almost ghostly on foggy or rainy days.

Sometimes sycamores are called “buttonwood” or “buttonball” trees because their fruiting structures are clusters of seeds that when ripe leave the trees as down-covered tufts.  Preferring full sun, sycamores can also tolerate light shade.

A Camellia-Like Chamaeleon

Japanese stewartia (Stewartia pseudocamellia) is a member of the tea family, with features reminiscent of its relative, the true camellia.  Growing 20 to 40 feet tall and 15 to 30 feet wide, the trees can be kept to reasonable size with pruning after flowering.  A true four-season plant, Japanese stewartia covers itself with white, camellia-like flowers in late summer, at a time when most flowering trees have finished the floral floorshow.  The flowers are made more distinctive by the prominent golden orange anthers in the center of each one.  Fall finds the trees coloring up with leaves turning shades of orange, red, and gold.  Once the leaves are gone, it is easy to see the distinctive bark.  Like the sycamore, stewartia exfoliates, revealing multi-colored patches of young bark that may be pale gray or brown, peachy-taupe or a tawnier orange-brown shade.  It is camouflage, but extremely interesting camouflage.

Stewartia is another understory tree, thriving in partial shade.  It demands consistent moisture, but the rewards are stunning year-round.

Covered in all the Papers

North American native paper birch or Betula papyrifera, is a shade and moisture-loving tree that thrives in cooler climates.  Used by Native Americans to fashion birchbark canoes, the trees can grow 50 to 75 feet tall, with a width of 25 to 50 feet, but often do not reach those dimensions in suburban landscapes.  Showy male and female catkins appear on the trees in spring, and the female catkins eventually give way to cone-like fruiting structures.  Paper birches may develop into specimens with a single trunk, or several slightly thinner ones.  The most distinctive feature of any paper birch is the stark white bark, which peels away from the trees in curling, papery strips revealing tawny brown underbark.  The bark on older birches may show dark horizontal striations as well.

Plant to Last

Planting trees with interesting winter bark is a good landscape investment.  To get the best return on that investment, choose the right site and make sure that you consider the tree’s mature size before it goes into the ground.  Amend the soil in the planting hole with a good compost mix, like Fafard® Premium Natural and Organic Compost, and mulch, donut-fashion around the base of the new tree.  Water regularly until the roots become established, as well as later in times when there is little rain.  Add the peeled bark fragments from exfoliating species to the mulch to save on clean-up.

About Elisabeth Ginsburg

Born into a gardening family, Elisabeth Ginsburg grew her first plants as a young child. Her hands-on experiences range from container gardening on a Missouri balcony to mixed borders in the New Jersey suburbs and vacation gardening in Central New York State. She has studied horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and elsewhere and has also written about gardens, landscape history and ecology for years in traditional and online publications including The New York Times Sunday “Cuttings” column, the Times Regional Weeklies, Horticulture, Garden Design, Flower & Garden, The Christian Science Monitor and many others. Her “Gardener’s Apprentice” weekly column appears in papers belonging to the Worrall chain of suburban northern and central New Jersey weekly newspapers and online at http://www.gardenersapprentice.com. She and her feline “garden supervisors” live in northern New Jersey.

 

 

What Perennials and Shrubs To Plant in Fall

Summer perennials and potted shrubs are great to plant in fall!

“Perennials (both woody and herbaceous) are shifting energy from their tops to their roots, preparing for their fall underground growth spurt.” -Russell Stafford

Gardeners tend to do the bulk of their planting and planning in spring when the horticultural hormones are running high. For many plants and purposes, however, fall is the perfect time to get down to some serious gardening. The best time, in fact.

Fall Growing Conditions

Fall growing conditions tend to be cool and moist–just perfect for new plantings.

Consider the conditions in fall. Soil and air temperatures are typically moderate, beneficial underground microflora are active, and soils retain moisture longer (thanks to the cooler air and lengthening nights). Plants, too, are undergoing favorable changes. Perennials (both woody and herbaceous) are shifting energy from their tops to their roots, preparing for their fall underground growth spurt. Deciduous plants are shedding their leaves, removing their main source of water loss and drought stress. On all fronts, things are geared for root growth, for as long as soil temperatures remain conducive (above around 40 degrees F).

Plant a hardy tree, shrub, or herbaceous perennial now, and its roots will proliferate (as conditions allow) until spring, gathering energy and preparing for a prosperous new year. Compared to an equivalent plant installed next spring, it will have a far more extensive root system, already adapted to the conditions on (and in) the ground. It will grow faster, tolerate drought better, and in almost every other way out-perform its spring-planted kin.

Bulbs for Fall

Hardy spring bulbs must be planted in fall. (Image by Jessie Keith)

Bulbs (including the rhizomes, corms, etc. that go under this term) are a special case. Most hardy spring-blooming bulbs absolutely require at least a couple of months in chilly, moist soil to stimulate rooting and develop and extend their flower buds. These are the bulbs for fall planting–crocus, daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths are among them. Don’t worry about planting them late, especially if you find bags of bulbs on sale in late October. Bulb planting into late November is just fine as long as you can work the soil. Adding a quality bulb fertilizer at planting time will help them flourish.

On the other hand, some bulbs spend winter in a rootless quiescent state and take well to winter dry-storage and spring planting. Many of the latter are frost-tender things such as dahlias, but the winter-dormant group also includes some hardy “bulbs” such as roscoeas and crocosmias.

Plants You Should Plant in Spring

Balled and burlapped shrubs and small trees should be planted in the spring, not fall.

As with all things horticultural, a few provisos apply. Most of the above advantages are nullified in the case of bare-root or balled and burlapped (B&B) plants, which lose many of their roots during harvesting. With their reduced underground resources, they may lack the capacity to replace water lost from stems and leaves during cold windy weather. Fall-planted bare-root and B&B evergreens are especially prone to winter damage. Severely root-bound container-grown plants do relatively poorly with fall planting, for the same reasons. In contrast, container-grown plants have relatively extensive root systems, buffering them against winter weather.

Fall perennials, like Japanese anemones, prefer springtime planting. (Image by Jessie Keith)

Additionally, some plants that hit their prime in summer and autumn tend to languish if planted in fall, whatever the condition of their roots. Many warm-season grasses and fall-blooming perennials, for example, prefer spring planting. Marginally cold-hardy plants may also benefit from spring planting, which gives them more time to establish before heading into their first winter. Small perennials and shrubs in little pots may also need the headstart of spring planting to grow and set ample roots by fall.

Fall Planting Tips

Make sure that potted plants do not have any congested or girdled roots as this will limit fall root growth.

Planting at least 6 weeks before your last frost date will give perennials and shrubs plenty of time to set new roots (click here to determine your last frost date). Whatever you plant this fall, be sure to provide the conditions for optimal rooting. Dig a planting hole as deep and several times as wide as the root ball. If the soil is excessively heavy or sandy, dig an even wider hole, and generously amend the backfill with Fafard® Premium Topsoil. Tease the surface of the root ball to loosen any congested or girdling roots. After planting and watering your new prize, apply a layer of compost topped with two or three inches of a porous mulch such as oak leaves, pine needles, or shredded bark. This will blanket the roots from drought and cold, extending their season of growth. Come spring, you’ll have a well-rooted plant, ready for takeoff.

*Fall is also an ideal time to divide and plant summer perennials! (Click here to learn more about perennial division.)