Miri Talabac, Behnkes’ buyer of shrubs (including roses),  reminds us that now’s the perfect time to start feeding our roses.  She recommends Rose-tone, and nags us all to follow package instructions (though thankfully it’s organic, so it’s hard to overdo).   Then feed monthly through July and once again in October to promote root growth.

Roses at the Scott Arboretum

Thanks to our woody plants buyer Miri Talabac for her excellent and timely advice!

Randy Best (our newest video star) has some terrific tips for adding bits of your garden plants to your otherwise-boring wreaths and other Christmas decorations. I especially like the emphasis on different colors of evergreen foliage because it’s soooo easy to forget they come in something other than solid green.  Like this variegated holly, for instance, and for blue you might just have a juniper that’ll fit the bill.  But do you have yellow?  Randy suggests golden Hinoki cypress (love them!!)

If you’re finding this whole subject just reveals the glaring gaps in your garden, make a note to yourself for next season.   Like “Self, this year take your eyes off all those flowering plants long enough to buy some evergreens – or ever-blues, ever-yellows, ever-variegated, etc.”

Here’s Randy on Transforming your Greenery into Holiday Decorations

by Randy Best

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) ‘Tiger Eyes’
Native throughout the Eastern United States, Staghorn Sumac survives in the most inhospitable conditions in large thickets.  But unlike other Staghorn Sumacs, the selection ‘Tiger Eyes’ is compact and slow spreading, a medium-sized shrub of 6 to 8 feet tall and wide, with lacy fern-like foliage.  Leaves start out as a bright screaming yellow as they emerge in the spring and fade to a brilliant chartreuse.  Branches are angled, giving it a very oriental feel in the garden.  Beginning in mid-October, the foliage turns from yellow to a scarlet orange and then to red.   It’s even interesting in winter, with branch tips covered in brown velvet – hence the name of the native species.

Staghorn Sumac thrives in all sorts of conditions, from full sun to partial shade.  Once it is established, it is tough enough to survive incredible drought and neglect.  It’s hard to conceive of a shrub that will tolerate more abuse and still thrive.

Hardy Bitter Contorted Orange (Poncirus Trifoliata) ‘Flying Dragon’

A native of China and Korea, this orange is a deciduous shrub armed with vicious contorted spines.  It makes a spectacular small shrub or tree 8 to 12 feet tall and wide that’s an interesting curiosity any time of year.  It has white fragrant flowers in spring, dark green trifoliate foliage in summer, yellow orange golfball-sized citrus-like fruit in fall (skin has an almost pine-like bitter taste to it, very sour, fruit loaded with seeds, not considered edible although I have tried it – yuck!) and twisted and contorted branches and thorns in winter.  It is very stress-tolerant.

False Holly (Osmanthus heterophyllus) ‘Sasaba’

This is a broadleaf evergreen shrub with white fragrant flowers that bloom in October, scenting the fall garden.  Handsome, deeply cut, incised, sharp, spiny, stiff, lustrous dark green leaves whose sharp marginal and terminal spines point in all directions.  It’s a gardener’s worst nightmare, or as I usually refer to it, “razor wire.”   You will need gloves with the long gauntlets to work with this plant.   Plant in well-drained soil in sun or partial shade.  Osmanthus is native to Japan and I do believe the word ‘Sasaba’ refers to the foliage of bamboo.  It was introduced in the United States by Brookside Gardens in Maryland.  Click here for more views of this Osmanthus that looks like no other Osmanthus.

Miri Talabac, Behnke’s tree and shrub buyer, has been known to play favorites with the plants in her department, so I asked her to name her top picks for fall color.   Her answers may surprise you.

Spirea
Miri says that “Spirea has great fall foliage – varieties like ‘Goldflame’, ‘Fire Light’, ‘Magic Carpet’, ‘Snow Storm’ and others have a mix of plum-reds, red and scarlet.  They offer fantastic multi-season interest, with the spring leaf colors and long bloom period.”  Below, three spireas strut their fall colors.  From left to right they’re Spirea media ‘Snow Storm’, Spirea x bumalda ‘Magic Carpet’ (shown in spring), and Spirea x bumalda ‘Goldflame’.

Fothergilla
According to Miri, “Both Fothergilla gardenia and Fothergilla major have great colors in a mix of burgundy, red, scarlet, orange and yellow.  One or two of ours are changing now, with the ‘Blue Shadow’ variety still holding its wonderful bluish summer leaf color.   They’re native to the region (a wee bit further south or into the mountains, I think) and have great multi-season interest.”  Here you see Fothergilla ‘Blue Shadow’ at the U.S. Botanic Garden and on the right, in flower at our nursery.

Itea (Virginia Sweetspire)
Miri loves Iteas for their wonderful reds, oranges, yellows and burgundy – on both ‘Little Henry’ and ‘Henry’s Garnet’.   She gives it bonus points for being native and having multi-season interest with the spring flowers.  In the photo below is a ‘Little Henry’ in the garden of Alison Gillespie.

Heptacodium (Seven Sons Tree)
Finally, Miri names Heptacodium, something I’d never heard of.  She says it has small, fragrant white fall flowers, exfoliating bark, and rosy sepals until the leaves fall.   It’s like crape myrtle in its habit.  The photos below are of the Heptacodium miconioides, common name Seven Sons Tree.

Posted by Susan Harris