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THE WORLD OF BLUE SALVIA BY ELISABETH GINSBURG

THE WORLD OF BLUE SALVIA

It is no exaggeration to say that the world is full of salvia.  The genus is home to at least 900 annual, perennial and shrub species, native to many different parts of the globe.  Hundreds of  varieties and hybrids make the salvia universe even bigger.  Some of the brightest stars in that  universe bear blue flowers and a good number of them make excellent garden plants.

Just the Basics

All salvias, sometimes known as sages, are members of the mint or labiatae family, easily recognizable by stems that are square in cross section and leaves that are opposed on the stems.  The name “salvia” is derived from “salveo”, Latin for “to save” or “heal.”  Some species have long been used for culinary or medicinal purposes.  These days, gardeners may include culinary salvia in the herb garden and ornamental salvias in beds, borders or containers. Salvia flowerheads are typically mint-like with spikes of flowers in shades of blue, blue-purple, pink and white.  Like other members of the mint family, most salvias bear blooms that are irresistible to butterflies and other pollinators and repellent to common garden varmints.

May Night

The best known “blue” salvia is ‘May Night’ (Salvia x sylvestris), also known by its original German varietal name, ‘Mainacht’.  It is not true blue, but blue purple, with dark blue stems and dark purple bracts or petal like leaves.  That combination adds up to flower spikes that look either more blue or more purple, depending on light and soil conditions.  It is an old variety, bred in 1956, by renowned German plantsman, Karl Foerster.  Still popular and easy to find today, it was named “Perennial Plant of the Year” in 1997 by the American Perennial Plant Association.  Rising to about 30 inches tall, and growing in clumps almost equally wide, the flowers appear in spring, on stems adorned with aromatic gray-green foliage.

Blue-Flowered Species

‘May Night’ is the love child of two blue-purple-flowered salvia species, Salvia nemorosa or woodland sage and Salvia pratensis or meadow sage.  Both have been used to produce other blue-flowered offspring.  The blue salvia breeding picture has also included contributions from  blue-flowered species, including mealycup sage (Salvia farinacea), azure blue sage (Salvia azurea), and bog sage (Salvia uliginosa). Some modern blue varieties are the result of generations of complex breeding efforts involving multiple species.

Best Sellers

With the number of choices expanding regularly, how can you pick the best blue sage for your garden?  The usual considerations, including USDA planting zone hardiness, sun exposure, garden or container size, water needs, individual aesthetics, and plant availability will determine your choice.  To help sort the options, it’s a good idea to start with plants that are best sellers—readily available from a variety of sources, including brick-and-mortar stores, as well as online/catalog vendors.

Black and Blue

With electric blue flowers sprouting from black calices (Petal-like structures that protect the flower bud), Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ is one of the most sought-after blue-flowered varieties.  Winter hardy to USDA Zone 7a, it is a perennial that blooms throughout the growing season.  Mature plants may be up to three feet tall and several feet wide, with stalks of one-inch long blue flowers that some have likened in appearance to snapdragons.  Unfussy about soil, ‘Black and Blue’ prefers full sun or very light shade, and can tolerate some dry conditions.  True to its nickname–anise-scented sage–the leaves are aromatic.  In USDA Zone 7a, protect the plants with a winter mulch.

Sensational Blues

Plant marketers these days often promote varieties with common parentage or traits in themed series, and this is true in the salvia universe.  One popular perennial series, bred from Salvia nemorosa or woodland sage and sold under the trademarked name “Sensation,” is segmented into groups of small, medium and larger varieties allowing gardeners to tailor selections to the available space.  Sensation Compact ‘Sky Blue’, features pastel blue flowers, and Sensation Compact ‘Deep Blue’, boasts darker flowers that tend towards blue-purple.  The Sensation Compact plants top out at about 10 to 12 inches.  Sensation Medium ‘Blue’ and ‘Deep Blue’ are somewhat taller, growing up to 15 inches. The taller Sensation Special series is home to two bi-colored blue varieties.

Blue With Cold

Perennial salvia pratensis or meadow salvia is more cold tolerant than some other ornamental sages, and is hardy in USDA plant hardiness zones 3-8.  Species plants and cultivated varieties are available. The Fashionista series, introduced by Walters Gardens, features blue meadow salvia varieties including ‘Evening Attire’ in dark blue-purple, ‘Midnight Model’, with slightly lighter blue petals and a mounding habit, and ‘Vanity Flair’, with sky blue blooms. Fashionistas are medium size plants, growing 18 to 24 inches tall and wide, suitable for either the garden or large containers.

Annual Blues

Many popular blue salvias are tender perennials that are generally grown as annuals in cold winter climates.  They too are marketed in series.  The trademarked Rockin series of guaranitica/farinacea hybrid plants features Rockin ‘Playin the Blues’, with the fragrant foliage that characterizes salvia, coupled with medium blue flowers and darker blue calices.  Rockin varieties grow two to four feet high and two to three feet wide.  For something a little smaller try ‘So Blue’, part of the Unplugged series of mealycup sage.  ‘So Blue’ tops out at two feet tall, boasts a mounding habit and blooms regularly through the growing season.

Growing the Blues

Warmth and sunshine are best for most salvias, with some supplemental water needed during dry periods. Good drainage is a must, so amend the soil with a good product like Fafard Premium Natural and Organic Compost.  Garden critters may turn up their noses at your beautiful blue salvia, but the same plants will inspire human garden visitors to sing the blues—in a good way.

 

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.

 

THE MANY FACES OF BASIL by Elisabeth Ginsburg

Just about anyone who gardens or cooks recognizes basil, one of the most popular herbs in the spice rack.  It lends its special flavor and fragrance to a host of dishes and is important in the cuisines of many cultures and countries.  But basil is much more than a fragrant green leaf, it is a plant that is equal parts flavorful and ornamental, pulling its weight in the herb or vegetable garden, as well as in purely decorative plantings.  This is especially helpful for small-space gardeners, who are always on the lookout for species that can do double or triple duty in a single planting scheme.

Basil also has a long history of medicinal usage, with certain types, including the evocatively nicknamed “holy basil” used for centuries in Indian Ayurvedic medicine.

Minty Heritage

All basils are part of the Ocimum genus, which is a member of the enormous Lamiaceae or mint family.  It is related to its frequent minty traveling companion, oregano, not to mention tarragon, anise, and many other herbs.  Native to parts of Asia, India, and North Africa, Ocimum basilicum, has been known at various times and places as Genovese basil, purple basil, Saint Joseph’s wort, sweet basil, arjaka,  luole, and Thai basil.  The species encompasses many different varieties.

A Bouquet of Flavors

And those basil varieties feature an array of taste and fragrance profiles, all determined by specific aromatic essential oil molecules within the leaves.  Some basils contain larger amounts of estragol, which also contributes to the unique tastes of fennel and tarragon.  Linalool, another molecule present in basil, can produce either floral or woody notes, depending on the makeup of the dominant linalool molecules in the leaves.  Eucalyptol, found in eucalyptus, is minty and cool, while citral provides citrusy overtones. Spiciness is determined by the present of eugenol and methyl cinnamate contributes cinnamon-like flavor notes.

Choosing Culinary Basil

Seed catalogs are full of basil offerings.  If you want to use your basil for dishes from Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean, invest in traditional “sweet basil”, with its plump rounded leaves and strong scent.  Varieties  of Italian large-leaf basil, like ‘Profumo de Genova’ stand up well in the region’s cuisines.  For pesto, try the Genovese types, like ‘Prospera’ or ‘Superbo’.

Spicy Thai dishes call for ‘Sweet Thai’ or holy basil, which is sometimes called “Tulsi”.  Cooks from many countries and cultures like the citrus-scented basils, which include varieties with a lime flavor and fragrance, and lemon-scented types like the old favorite, ‘Mrs. Burns’ Lemon’.

Many basils can also be brewed into fragrant, flavorful teas.

Decorative Value

Aside from culinary usage, Ocimum basilicum is highly decorative in the garden.  Dark-leafed varieties like ‘Aromatto’, with its near-black leaves, stems, and petal-like bracts makes a statement in container plantings, and the bracts can be used like edible flowers.  The same is true of the large-leafed ‘Amethyst’.  ‘Spicy Bush’, with its fine green leaves, can be used for culinary purposes, but can also hold down a decorative role.  It is also amenable to being shaped like topiary. ‘Blue Spice’ has lovely, light purple flowers. ‘Siam Queen’ boasts spicy taste and large flowerheads.

Aromatic Bouquets

Modern florists often use fruits, vegetables and herbs as interesting and cost-effective design elements in bouquets and arrangements.  Used as part of the florist’s arsenal, basil can make an attractive bouquet component, contributing not only good looks, but fragrance.  The lemon-scented varieties make a nice complement to roses like ‘Angel Face, that have similarly-scented flowers.  Basils, with a cinnamon fragrance, would work well with carnations or pinks, enhancing the spicy floral medley.  Persian basil, which is both spicy and citrusy, adds those notes to arrangements, coupled with purple-black leaves that add drama.

Get Growing

Like so many members of the mint family, basil is generally easy to grow.  The plants are sprout readily from seed, which is especially important if you want varieties that are not commonly sold as young plants in garden centers.  Give basil plants lots of sunshine—six hours per day is optimal–which means that they can share space and resources with other sun lovers like tomatoes and roses.  Rich, well-drained soil is a must.  If you are growing your plants in containers, use Fafard® Ultra Container Mix with Extended Feed.  Water regularly.

Harvest the leaves regularly as the plant grows, which will encourage further leaf production.  If you are growing basil for culinary use, do not let it form flowerheads, as this tends to make the leaves bitter.

One of the best ways to grow basil is in a large container right outside the kitchen door.  Great pesto, piquant pizza and savory sauces are only a few steps and snips away.

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.

 

 

Golden Leaves to Lighten Dark Places by Elisabeth Ginsburg

Golden Leaves to Lighten Dark Places

The mythic King Midas had the ability to turn everything he touched to gold.  He came to regret  that unique ability, but shade gardeners can understand the value of gold in borders and containers.  Gold-leafed plants lighten dark corners, creating life and interest, and lifting spirits.  Fortunately, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and grasses with gold or golden green leaves are readily available.  Some come by their golden good lucks naturally, others are specially bred forms of garden stalwarts.  Either way, golden garden plants are a good investment.

Bleeding Hearts of Gold

Perennials, with their ability to return year after year are great assets in the garden.  Golden leaves abound.

Start things off right in spring with ‘Golden Heart’ bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis ‘Gold Heart aka Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Golden Heart’), a golden-leafed  version of traditional bleeding heart.  The pink and white hearts on arching stems are familiar, but the leaf color is a revelation.  The closely related ‘White Gold’ bleeding heart features similar leaves but bears pristine white “hearts”.

Bleeding heart plants are ephemeral, and the leaves and stems die back in summer, but they shine as the world breaks into bloom in March and April.

Golden Coral Bells

Coral bells (Heuchera) are grown primarily for foliage, though they also bear tall wands of dainty late spring flowers.  ‘Lemon Supreme’ looks like a sunburst, with ruffled, lobed leaves in sunny yellow.  For something with a little drama and a lot of brightness, try ‘Red Lightening’, with chartreuse leaves and red veins.  Both make compact clumps and like supplemental moisture, especially during hot summers.

Sunny Spiderworts

Tradescantia or spiderwort is a longtime garden stalwart descended from the native Tradescantia virginiana.  Compact and perfect for containers, ‘Sunshine Charm’ was bred at the famed Terra Nova Nurseries.  The long, strap-like leaves are golden green, accenting three-petaled lavender-pink flowers that appear in the spring.  Its relative, Tradescantia ‘Sweet Kate’, grows about 20 inches tall, and offers chartreuse leaves paired with darker blue flowers.  Both will develop into healthy clumps with only minimal care.

Golden Ground

Creeping Jenny or gold moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia) is another longtime favorite that holds its own as a groundcover in part shade. True to its name, the ‘Aurea’ variety covers the earth with golden leaves and produces equally lovely golden flowers. Growing only about two inches tall, the tough little plants form a carpet, blooming in July. Creeping jenny is great choice for hard-to-reach places, because once established it spreads and takes care of itself. Provide the plants with consistent moisture, especially when they are getting established, and creeping jenny will furnish you with brightness and toughness all in one small package. Being petite and amenable, the plants also work in containers, if they are watered regularly.

Lotsa Hostas

Hostas or plantain lilies are also great as either shade-loving specimen plants or grouped to flank walkways.  They make excellent ground covers as well.  The garden centers are chock full of hosta varieties in all shapes, sizes and leaf configurations, but among the best gold and chartreuse-leafed varieties, ‘Fire Island’, with golden leaves that age to chartreuse over the course of the growing season and red-speckled stems is one of the best.  Relatively small at 10 to 14 inches tall, ‘Fire Island’ would also light up container arrays. ‘Maui Buttercups’ is another small cultivar with golden leaves and light purple flowers.  For a little something flashy, try ‘Siberian Tiger’, which is striped in bold yellow and green.  It is a hosta that will not only lighten dark spaces but stop garden visitors in their tracks.

Splendor in the Grass

Grass fanciers with shady space can take heart and plant with confidence if they invest in grasses like Carex ‘Bowles Golden’.  This evergreen sedge grows about 36 inches tall and wide, forming a rounded clump adorned with long golden leaves.   In moisture-retentive soil, happy clumps will slowly increase in size over the years.

Hakonechloa or Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) has become very popular in the last decade or so for its sturdiness and well-mannered good looks.  ‘All Gold’ is a gilded version of this grass that looks like miniature bamboo with yellow leaves and a clumping habit.  Like ‘Bowles Golden’, it is happiest in moisture-retentive soil.  Mature plants top out at 18 inches tall and wide and will be ignored by deer and other garden pests.

Golden Shrubs

Oak leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is a native shrub that has long proven itself to be a reliable garden performer.  ‘Little Honey’ boasts the typical oak-type lobed leaves in golden green, which set off the white, conical flowers in the last spring and early summer.  Growing about three feet tall and wide, ‘Little Honey’ works well in containers and small gardens.  The flowers fade to dusty pink and then beige, while the leaves turn a brilliant red in autumn, adding another season of interest.

Evergreens contribute great structure to any landscape, and one of the best golden-needled evergreens is Taxus cuspidata ‘Nana Aurescens’ or golden Japanese yew.  New growth stands out in brilliant yellow, while the older growth beneath it turns green, creating a striking contrast.  Growing only about three feet tall, ‘Nana Aurescens’ likes consistently moist soil.

In the broad leaf evergreen category, golden euonymus (Euonymus japonica ‘Aureo Marginatus’ shines with light green leaves generously edged in gold.  The color is most radiant in the spring. The tough, resilient plants grow about five to eight feet tall and four to eight feet wide at maturity, thriving in part shade.

Gilded Annuals

Add in extra golden color with annual foliage plants like coleus.  New varieties come on the market every year, many with either chartreuse leaves or multi-colored foliage that includes shades of yellow and yellow green. Among the best gold-leafed varieties is Color Blaze® Mini Me™ ‘Chartreuse’, with finely dissected foliage and great golden-green color.  Coleus ‘Main Street Chartres Street’ has similar coloration.

Caladiums are another great choice for instant summer color.  Many of the plants bear leaves that sing out in mixtures of green, cream, red, pink, and white, but a few also feature golden-green foliage.  One of them, ‘Limelite’ sports lime green leaves lightly speckled in red.  It tops out at 12 to 18 inches tall and works well in pots or beds.  ‘Mint Julep’ is primarily light green, with a pink central blush and darker pink veins.  Caladiums love shade and hot weather and should be watered when the soil around them feels dry.

Golden Rules

Mulch is essential for moisture loving gold-leafed varieties, and most benefit from organic soil amendments, like Fafard® Premium Natural and Organic Compost at planting time.  Too much sun may burn these beauties, so make sure to site them at least light shade. Treat your gold-leafed plants right and your garden will look as if you have the Midas touch.

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.

 

 

 

KOREAN SPICE VIBURNUM by Elisabeth Ginsburg

KOREAN SPICE VIBURNUM

A Star in Spring

In spring sweet fragrance is everywhere—wafting softly from daffodils and issuing assertively from hyacinths. The great spring fragrance drama peaks with lilacs, but even before that, Korean spice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) steps up with an absolutely intoxicating aroma.

Growing between four and six feet tall and wide at maturity, this useful deciduous shrub is part of the large viburnum genus, which is home to about 150 species.  Many of them are great garden plants, but, as English botanist Martin Rix says in The Botanical Garden, “the spring-flowering Viburnum carlesii and its hybrids are among the best-scented of all shrubs.”

Fragrant Globes

All that fragrance happens in late March or early April, depending on location and climate conditions.  Small globes (three inches wide) composed of scores of rose-pink buds appear first, and if you sniff them, your nose will register just a hint of the sweetness to come.  The buds open into round, white flowerheads composed of scores of individual blooms.  The flowerheads look like small snowballs and exude strong perfume, especially when the sun is shining, and temperatures are warm.  As with hyacinths, the fragrance is strong enough that a single “snowball” in a vase will scent a small room.

Once the flowering show is over, the shrub assumes its pleasant supporting role in the garden, sporting large green, toothed leaves.  Eventually red drupes or berries form, changing to black as they age.  In the fall, the leaves turn red before leaving the scene for winter.

The main reason to buy a Korean spice viburnum is the spring scent–but it is reason enough.

 

A Victorian Favorite    

Viburnum carlesii was named for an Englishman, William Carles, a member of the British Consular Service and amateur plant collector in the late nineteenth century.   Maggie Campbell Culver, in her wonderful book, The Origin of Plants, mentions that Carles collected plants in Korea in 1883-1885, which is when he must have obtained the plant that was named in his honor.  The species was first described by English botanist William Botting Hemsley, who had a long career at the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, ending up as Keeper of the Herbarium and Library

Anything that smells as good as this viburnum was bound to catch on fast.  By 1907, Viburnum carlesii was so popular that its portrait appeared in the well-respected Curtis’s Botanical Magazine.  If it had not made its way to the United States by that time, it was soon to do so.  A 1947 edition of the Wayside Gardens catalog refers to the shrub as “a great favorite.”

Spicy Choices

If you are looking for a Korean spice viburnum, the list of choices is large.  All offer the fragrant spring flower globes and many boast good fall color.  Varieties like ‘Sugar-n-Spice’ and ‘Spice Girl’ grow six to seven feet tall and almost equally wide.  For something a bit smaller and more compact, try ‘Spice Baby’, which tops out at three to five feet tall, or ‘Spice Island’, which has a mounding habit and grows to four or five feet.  Little ‘Compactum’ is smaller still at three to four feet tall and wide.  While most Korean spice viburnums are hardy in USDA Zones 5-8, ‘Spice Island’ is more heat tolerant and hardy through Zone 9.

For larger gardens, ‘Mohawk’, a hybrid cross between Viburnum carlesii and Viburnum burkwoodii, offers the addition of glossy foliage and good fall color on bushes that grow six to eight feet tall.  Another hybrid, ‘Cayuga’, can soar to 10 feet.

The smaller varieties will grow successfully in containers, provided that the pots are at least 24 inches in diameter with excellent drainage.

An Easy Grower

The old Wayside catalog’s  cultural information is still good today: “Hardy, easily grown and does well in light shade, as well as in full sun.”  When planning a planting site, be sure to factor in the mature height and width of the specific viburnum variety.  Plant in spring or fall in well-drained soil amended with a high-quality product like Fafard ® Garden Manure Blend. Water regularly to get the shrub established.  Once the plants have set roots they are relatively drought tolerant.

If your shrub needs to be pruning to shape, do so after it blooms.

Pollinators’ Delight

It is no surprise the Korean spice viburnum attracts butterflies and other pollinating insects as readily as it attracts human admirers. The black fruits will feed birds and small animals in the fall and early winter.  The shrubs can be used as hedges, or as the focal points of pollinator gardens.  Containerized specimens can also anchor large-scale container arrays.

After a long winter, most of us are tired of indoor odors like wet wool or damp dog.  Korean spice viburnum is the perfect olfactory refresher.

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.

 

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.)