A few new woody ornamentals
I always look forward to writing about new plants. Even if I can’t try all of them in my own garden, I get to talk with other gardeners about their favorites or those they think are promising. Hopefully, these wonderfully diverse shrubs and trees will whet your appetite and make you want to try some in your own landscape. This week, the focus is on new introductions of woody ornamentals. (Next time we will highlight herbaceous plants.) In some cases, they are new selections of old favorites like hydrangeas and dogwoods, and in other cases they may be species that are less familiar. The peegee hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’, has long been popular with gardeners and considered easy to grow (it blooms on the current season’s growth, so prune it in late February, before new growth starts). Recent introductions of H. paniculata include ‘Limelight’ (see sources 1-3 below), with bright green blooms in midsummer that persist until autumn, when they turn white and develop some pink tones; ‘Little Lamb’ (1, 3), with larger flowerheads with smaller individual flowers on plants that mature at 4 to 6 feet; ‘Pinky Winky’ (1, 3), with 12- to 16-inch flowerheads and two-toned white and pink flowers (great for dried flowers); and ‘Quick Fire’ (1, 3), which blooms earlier than the other selections and produces flowers that are white to rich, deep pink.
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Pots: A world of possibilities
Garden designer Dan Cleveland’s passion for plants as well as his attention to detail are evident at every turn in his inspiring Atlanta garden. On a recent visit, we talked about creating container gardens, including window boxes. He thinks window boxes are especially effective with smaller, shorter windows, filling the space between the house and garden and creating a balanced look. One that stood out in his compact garden is a large window box that dominates the front of his house. While it may be traditional, the plantings are anything but — large Agave americana ‘Gainesville Blue’ and echeverias provide texture and drama year-round. For extra color he adds cut branches of red-fruited deciduous hollies. Dan recommends using a window box that is a minimum of 8 inches deep if you want to grow plants year-round. He cautions that many offered for sale are only 6 to 7 inches deep and a few inches wide. Ideally, designing and constructing your own window boxes is best.
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Hedge your bets and find … happiness
I still remember the amazing 30-foot-high beech hedge (if memory serves, it was a selection of European beech, Fagus sylvatica) at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Botanic Garden. Even though it was February, the smooth gray bark and golden-brown leaves made a dramatic impact. Ever since then, I have thought about hedges and the role they play in the landscape. One of the most common uses for a hedge is privacy, often as a green alternative to a structure like a fence or wall. Hedges also create enclosure, separate planting beds from pathways, provide a transition from a formal area to a woodland, and serve as a backdrop for other plantings. Formal or informal, deciduous or evergreen, they take on many roles in the landscape. Formal hedges are usually sheared to a precise size and may require trimming three or more times a year to maintain a particular shape. Although many types of plants make effective hedges, some of the best selections for formal use have small needles or leaves and dense branching.
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