Japanese Umbrella Pine

I love the videos (and live talks) by horticulturist Carol Allen and she’s my favorite plant expert for our region.  I also consider myself a specialist, of sorts, in woodies, especially shrubs.  So, in her latest video for Behnkes, “Carol’s  Favorite Woody Plants” I assumed she’d be weighing in to confirm my choices in the shrubs department.

Turns out, not so much.  In fact, her list of favorite woody plants included exactly NONE of the plants in my own list, and only one plant I’ve ever even planted.  So of course I’m judging myself as a gardener – are my plants old-fashioned, too common, or some other form of wrongness?  Charitably I’m going to say the answer is “To each her own,” but I’m still going to check into her choices and maybe add one or two to my garden.  Here they are:

- Japanese Umbrella Pine  is a very cool-looking, slow-growing evergreen.

- Leucothoe, an evergreen native plant that I grew in my former woodland garden.  Evergreen for shade is a rarity.

- Sweetbox is a fragrant evergreen that blooms in January and February – features that are even more rare.

Daphne ‘Transatlantica’ (L) and Carolina Jasmine (R)

- Daphne ‘Transatlantica‘ is fragrant and flowers all summer but absolutely must have great drainage.

- Caroline Jasmine is a native vine that’s evergreen and fragrant.

- Calycanthus is another native and Carol likes the variety ‘Athens.’

- Hardy Gardenias are also very fragrant.  I’m concluding that Carol’s garden smells really good.

- Camelias bloom either in the spring or fall, depending on the variety, and are evergreen.  Carol noted that they’re large enough to be used as screening.

- Deciduous Azaleas lose their leaves in winter but they’re native and fabulous. 

- Loropetalum have burgundy leaves, pink flowers, and are evergreen to semi-evergreen in this area.  I’ve been coveting them for a while now.

- Upright Japanese Maple I love and inherited one here in my new Greenbelt garden.  In fact it’s the ONLY plant on the whole property I didn’t get rid of (most were badly misshapen old azaleas).   I noticed the maple leaves creating shadows on my bedroom wall over the bed and was inspired to do stencil a Japanese maple on the wall, a process that requires absolutely no skill.  Voila!  (Source:  Cutting Edge Stencils.)

Stenciled Japanese Maple.

Posted by Susan Harris.  Photo credits:  Daphne.  Carolina jasmine. Loropetalum. Japanese Umbrella Pine.

This is a special and timely opportunity, to hear an expert talk about (and SHOW) the most fought-over azaleas on the planet – the famous Glenn Dale Azaleas developed by local horticulturist Ben Morrison.

When and Where:  Wednesday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Historic Takoma Inc. headquarters, 7328 Carroll Avenue, Takoma Park, MD. (Map)

The regionally popular Glenn Dale azaleas were developed by the first director of the National Arboretum, Benjamin Y. Morrison. Beginning in the late ’20s, Dr. Morrison worked more than 25 years to develop winter-hardy azaleas with large, colorful flowers, suitable for the Washington, DC region, and they’re widely considered the best known and most popular feature of the Arboretum today. Morrison lived in the area and shared his hybrids with many Takoma Park friends.

The speaker is  Bill Miller, billed as an “ardent azalea aficionado.”  His azalea hobby began in the ’70s for this career biologist with the NIH.  Miller was active with the Azalea Society of America and served as president of the Brookside Gardens chapter in the ’80s.   He’s written many published articles about azaleas, and introduced four azalea cultivars of his own, including one called ‘Brookside’.

Doors open at 7, talk at 7:30 pm.  Plan to arrive by 7:15, so everyone can have their snack and be seated for the 7:30 start.  Bring a snack to share.  The club will provide beverages.

The event is jointly sponsored by the Takoma Horticultural Club and Historic Takoma Inc.

Photos courtesy Save the Azaleas. org.

Event banner, and Carol Allen teaching lawn care.

Out of curiosity, I counted up all the educational opportunities that Behnkes provided for its customers in 2012, each one designed to turn their customers into better (and happier) gardeners and to turn more people into gardeners.  I was surprised by the count.

152 workshops, classes, and demonstrations, most of them free, on a huge range of topics – rain gardening, growing bulbs, vegetables, orchid care, holiday decorations.  Really, everything imaginable.  Instructors included local horticulturalist and guru Carol Allen and experts on the Behnkes staff, like our woodies buyer Miri Talabac.  As the Behnkes blogger, I attended as many classes as possible, took notes, asked questions, and presented the information here on the blog.  (For example, Miri’s Favorite Shrubs and Carol on Putting the  Garden to Bed for the Winter.)

Behnkes hosted events in support of the local gardening community.  These organizations held one or more events at the Beltsville location, and not in a back room but out in the open where passing customers could enjoy the happening:

• Potomac Rose Society

• National Capital Daylily Club

• Azalea Society of America

• Potomac Rock Garden Society

• National Capital Orchid Society

Probably most fun of all was the spring Garden Party, where representatives from 21 local garden clubs and societies were in the store talking to the public about their organizations, and generally meeting and greeting.

In addition to events, Behnkes employs my services to write weekly stories here on the blog.  They range from how-to topics to updates on my new garden to book reviews and giveaways and more, always with PHOTOS.  Gardening is super-visual, so I say bring on the PHOTOS.  And have some fun.

Moving on, have you seen the Gardening Articles on the Behnkes website lately?  They’re the longer, meatier articles, all written FOR gardeners in this region, and BY experts in this region.  We have a total of 99 articles there, and more are added regularly.

Just compiling this information has made me wonder – is there any other source of so much reliable regional gardening information?  Master Gardeners are terrific but they don’t have the resources or facilities to do nearly as much.  Big Boxes?  Don’t get me started on the kind of gardening those companies are teaching – the kind that requires buying lots of products.

Any Requests?

If there’s something you’re dying to learn more about, let us know.  Classes and events are in the works already for the new year.

Posted by Susan Harris.

I’ve reported on on my favorite plants for fall color in sunny spots and as promised, here are my faves for shade.

Annuals

Coleus come in dozens of colors and patterns.  Mine are just now, in late October, losing their leaves.  They’ve looked big and bold and colorful all season, until let’s say m id-fall.

Perennials

Begonia grandis.

Begonia Grandis blooms from September through fall.  The foliage is gorgeous all season.

Japanese Anemone in mid-October.

Japanese Anemones look great here at the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden with petunias.

Hakonechloa Grass.

Hakonechloa Grass doesn’t bloom, but its gold foliage looks great all season and the dried foliage looks lovely in the winter, too.  Behind it is a shrub that’s colorful in the fall and winter, too – the  Acuba.

‘Ice Dance’ Carex.

Carex is the name of a large genus of grass-like plants (technically called sedges, not grasses) and many are evergreen, like the ‘Ice Dance’ variety above.  It’s been a primary groundcover in my shade garden for decades now.  It brightens up even the darkest spot.

Shrubs

Oakleaf Hydrangea at Brookside Gardens.

The glorious Oakleaf Hydrangea  is one of my all-time favorite shrubs and it’s famous for its four-season interest.  The photo above demonstrates its fall glory and coming up next, with no leaves in sight, is its lovely exfoliating bark.

Encore Azaleas

Encore Azalea is a repeat-blooming shrub was highly recommended to me just yesterday by a Prince George’s Master Gardener.  She told me that hers are blooming like crazy even now, in late October.

Posted by Susan Harris.  Photo credits:  Encore Azaleas.  All others by Susan Harris.

Naturally shaped boxwoods

Here’s a plant we think of as too formal, too boring, too (fill in the blank).  But I suspect our criticisms of boxwoods are based primarily on the way they’re traditionally grown – pruned to soldierly uniformity.

So I offer an alternative – the Natural Boxwood.  Here are two ‘Green Ice’  boxwoods I planted smack dab in front of my front porch, replacing the existing (and hideously misplaced) large azaleas in this brutal southwest exposure.  Here’s what the tag says: “Buxus x ‘Green Ice’ – deep glossy green foliage that maintains its color throughout winter.  A solid, semi-compact plant with vigorous new growth.  Extremely hardy.  A soft and sturdy plant.”  And it’s proven to be all of that.  Boxwoods even tolerate significant amounts of shade.  And do I need to remind the reader it’s EVERGREEN?  No, I didn’t think so.  They’re also fragrant!

On the right of the boxwoods is a Spirea ‘Goldmound’, sporting chartreuse foliage all season and brassy fuchsia flowers in June.

Pruning for Natural Shapes
The key to natural boxwood growth is to stop shearing and start thinning.  Removing some of the extra thickness keeps the plant nice and open so that more air, light and rainwater can reach the plant’s interior.  The correct pruning technique is often referred to as punching holes in the foliage but if done right, you’d never know that little green globs have been removed because the plant still looks so natural, so unpruned.  The best pruning is unnoticeable, a standard that unfortunately can’t be met when corrective pruning is finally undertaken after years of mispruning or a total lack thereof.  In those cases the natural look can’t be achieved immediately but will follow, in time.  Yet another lesson in patience.

Formal Shapes Have their Place
Still and all, for more formal settings, nothing beats uniformly sheared boxwoods for defining a space.    Love these examples!

Posted by Susan Harris