Here’s one that keeps us miffed as to why it isn’t beloved by more people. Extra strong stems mean a sturdy skeleton keeps this shrub dramatic through winter. And in summer when it is covered in plate-sized creamy white flowers, it is the height of floriferous elegance.
Soft Serve chamaecyparis in winter.
Far more interesting and prettier than the over-used dwarf Alberta spruce, Soft Serve boasts a better habit, higher-quality foliage, and much better insect and disease resistance.
To the left is Incrediball hydrangea - not typically planted for its winter interest, but it offers more than the average perennial in the dormant season.
Fine Line buckthorn in winter.
An unusual effect in the dormant season that still provides privacy and interesting form.
Have you heard? The USDA has issued a new hardiness map, and much of the U.S. has found themselves in a warmer zone.
Wondering what this might mean for you and your garden? We’re here to help - ask us anything!
The ghost of a rose. This one is Oso Easy Cherry Pie, a hardy (to zone 4) landscape rose that clearly wants to keep blooming, never mind the 30 degree F temperatures.
Five Reasons to be Thankful you’re a Gardener
1. Gardening gives you a framework to understand the world. Gardens change tremendously from year to year, from season to season, and even from day to day. So does life. So do world events. Gardeners deal with this on a regular basis in their gardens and accept it as the natural order of things. Take the economy, for instance. Let the economists, the politicians, and the journalists freak out all they want. As a gardener, you have suffered through seasons of drought. It wasn’t fun, but you made it through. Sure, you lost some plants as a result, but others completely surprised you with the ability to withstand adverse conditions and you gained a new respect for them. You learned how to conserve water, how much difference mulch makes, and how much you took for granted when there were no water restrictions and plenty of rain. And you emerged from that season of drought a better gardener and a stronger person.
2. Gardening instills patience. Sure, so do lots of other things (parenting, cooking, knitting, to name a few) but the patience that you get from gardening is not just the ability to wait for the payoff but relishing the process of getting there. The waiting becomes, in its way, rather exquisite, as you watch a new leaf on a just-planted hosta unfurl, the buds of your daffodils show color and finally open, the green tomatoes begin to blush red, or the benefits of your careful rose pruning become apparent.
3. Gardening makes you appreciate the little things. Literally, like when you marvel at the perfect, neat curve of an emerging seedling, or a flash of white catches your eye on a walk in the woods and you discover the first trillium of spring. But you also appreciate the usually-mundane more: is there any shower or bath as delightful as that after a day spent gardening? Is there any drink more refreshing than the icy beverage taken on a quick break from the garden on a sunny day?
4. Gardening is sharing. We all have those enthusiastic multiplying plants in our gardens: daylilies, hostas, phlox, Shasta daisies. And when we dig them out after they start edging out their less-vigorous garden neighbors, we’re loathe to just compost them, so we seek to give them away to those who need them. On my way home from work, there’s a little red wagon that appears on the side of the road every couple of weeks laden with ostrich ferns and a handwritten sign that says, “Free.” But gardeners also share their experience and knowledge with other gardeners, with would-be gardeners, with the curious child from down the block who somehow appears every time you go out to the garden and asks what you’re doing. When we do any of these, we share not just our plants and experience. We share our passion for gardening.
5. Gardeners are never bored. Because we never stop learning. In the middle of winter, we have our gorgeous books and our new seed and plant catalogs to pore over and fill our heads with ideas and information. In spring, forget it, there’s always something to do or to go see. In summer, if you’re not working out in the garden, then you’re observing and enjoying your garden. And in fall, things get busy again and you take every chance you can to savor the waning warmth. At parties, you can identify the houseplants and the flowers in the arrangements. At the mall, you think about the designs of the interiorscaping. Even on a walk from here to there, you see a weed in a crack of the sidewalk and think about what kind of plant it is, perhaps how it got there, and which of your weeding tools you’d use to remove it. Because plants are everywhere and so varied and fascinating, there’s always something to learn, and one discovery leads to the next.
Wishing each and every one of you a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Sunny Boulevard hypericum in late November. Though the “singing seedheads” and bright yellow autumn foliage don’t quite compare to the amazing bright gold summer flowers, they make this neatly rounded St. John’s wort a three-season shrub for sure.
File under: Plants with surprising fall color.
This is Exochorda, aka pearl bush, because the buds of its spring flowers are perfectly round, pure white, and completely pearl-like. Surprised to see this very unique purple-blue-pinky-green fall color on its neat oval foliage.
Thank you, veterans!
Wearing a poppy on Veteran’s Day is a lovely gesture, but why not plant Flanders poppy (Papaver rhoeas) in your garden as well? This easy-to-grow annual is best sown directly on to a late season snow in early March or thereabouts. It requires light to germinate, and as the snow melts, it carries the seed down to the moist soil but doesn’t bury it. Plant in an informal area like a meadow or cottage garden and you’ll enjoy the charming but short-lived flowers year after year.
Botanical Interests offers seed in an especially lovely packet that acknowledges the almost 100 year old tradition of honoring veterans with this plant.
