What is Foundation Planting?

In the extended plant descriptions and advice which are a unique feature of the Tree Center website – and a great resource for our customers – we often describe a plant as being ‘suitable for foundation planting’. Experienced gardeners will know exactly what we are talking about, but new gardeners may be a little mystified. So let’s talk about this, and look at the features of plants you can choose for this important task.

In a few words, foundation planting is the plants you put immediately around your home, but why is it important, and why are some plants better suited for it than others?

Why Do You Need Foundation Planting?

First, consider your home standing on its lot – big or small. Trees and plants come in every shape, but straight lines and perfect geometry is not a feature of natural things. Your home is all about straight lines, with perhaps rounded arches and circles added. Those two things – the irregular forms of Nature and the strict geometry of architecture – don’t fit together very well. The function of the foundation planting you do is to solve that problem. A famous garden designer called Russell Page once said that close to a house the structures and plants should reflect the formal geometry of the home, and further away they should reflect the natural geometry of Nature. Wise words that are the basis of our approach to laying out any garden, and they sum up exactly what foundation planting is all about.

The foundation planting in your garden is the plants you put around the house, close to the walls, under the windows, and beside the doors. It is both the ‘foundation’ of your garden design, and it goes around the foundations of your home. Those foundations are necessarily visible. Your damp-course is above the soil level, and often homes are built on a low mound, to allow for basement windows, and to keep your house ‘high and dry’ above the surrounding soil. There are often also units like air-con, or meter systems against wall, which look ugly. Those very necessary engineering features only emphasize how ‘alien’ those straight lines and rectangular structures are when placed among trees and rounded shrubs.

The Purpose of Foundation Planting

Because of this uncomfortable fit between a house and the plants around it – already there or yet to be planted – we need to choose the plants and style of this transition area carefully, which will lead us naturally from architecture to nature, from geometry to naturalness, and from what we make to what nature makes.

The secret is to use plants with denser, more ‘formal’ shapes for the bulk of what we put around the house, keeping informal and more casual shapes for further away, so that we have a sense that architecture surrenders to Nature (as it should) once we move away from what we humans have made. By doing this our minds will be more at ease, and we will feel more comfortable in our gardens. Our houses will not stick out as obstructions (no matter how beautiful the architecture is), but instead look like they belong in the wider world, which we all have a right to feel.

We can think of foundation planting as a transition zone, and the plants in it should be neat and dense, often evergreen, and reflect the geometry of our buildings. A formal garden, with its clipped bushes and geometrical layout is really just an extension of this further away from the buildings, and mostly formal gardens do look best when they are attached to a building, rather than sitting out among natural plantings. It is in the foundation areas that our urge to clip and trim can be given free rein. If you love globe forms, narrow columns, pyramids, cones and spirals, then this is the part of your garden to have them. They will look right at home – which is exactly where they are of course!

The Features of Foundation Plants

There are also practical considerations when choosing plants for around your home, some of which are obvious. Let’s look at some limitations and features these plants need, to work well around your house, and be suitable for the long-term.

• Limited in size – the most common mistake seen in planting close to a house is planting trees that will grow too large. We have all seen the house with the enormous tree – perhaps a Blue Spruce, a Leyland Cypress or a Maple Tree – planted just a few feet from a home. It has now grown so large it branches obscure all the windows, block the doors, and it towers above the house, threatening to destroy it in a storm. When choosing these plants, look carefully at the potential size – that ‘cute’ little evergreen may be 50 feet tall and wide just 20 years from now.
• Not block windows – this is another aspect of size, and important when placing plants in your foundation planting. It may seem obvious, but a walk down any street will show you how common it can be. Rather than have to constantly trim, choose plants that naturally won’t grow above the window sills, even if they take a couple more years to get there. Speaking of windows, you can also take security precautions by planting shrubs like Barberry beneath windows, whose thorns will keep out almost any potential intruder.
• Have limited roots – most deciduous trees have large roots, and these can and do threaten the foundations of your home. They can grow against them and under them, causing lifting and developing cracks. You may be looking at expensive tree removal down the road if you make the wrong choices. Even a little further away, some trees – Willow for example – are well-known for invading drainage and sewer lines, causing blockages.
• Be mostly evergreen – Since you want to hide ugly features like concrete foundations and air-con units, you want to do it all year round, not just in spring and summer. Most of the foundation plants you choose should be evergreen, particularly when you are screening something specific. Plants like Yew Trees are easily clipped and look great all through the quiet days of winter. In areas with lots of snow there may be issues with snow and ice falling from the roof and crushing plants, so careful placement becomes important. Smaller deciduous flowering shrubs are perfect planted at the edges of your foundation areas, where the lawn or paving begins, and they make a good transition into that more natural look of the rest of your garden. Hydrangeas are great for this, since their rounded or conical heads have a neat geometry.
• Have good form and color – rather than have to clip everything into shape, begin with plants that have been selected or bred to be naturally round – Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae for example, or Skyrocket Juniper. The different forms and colors of Sawara or Hinoki Cypress are also great choices, and they have good soft mounded shapes that are not totally formal. While it looks best to have plenty of green, adding blues and golds can paint a beautiful picture around your home.

There is a wide and varied selection of plants on our website – begin under ‘Evergreens’ – to create the perfect foundation planting, and to make that essential transition from architecture to nature that will give you a great garden. Happy planting.

7 Top Tips for Spring Clean Up in the Garden

Once warmer weather returns, and the days start to grow longer, the garden tempts up back into it, after a winter of rest, perhaps buried beneath snow. The early-spring garden can look sad, and some early work will pay dividends, as well as getting you out in the fresh air and spring sunshine. Here are some tips to bring your garden back into shape effectively and set you up for a great year.

Prune summer flowering shrubs

The rule is, prune summer and fall flowering shrubs in spring, and spring flowering shrubs in fall. So spring is the time for panicle hydrangeas, buddleia, crape myrtle, roses, and any other shrubs that flower later, at the end of new shoots formed in spring. Lilac would be an example of a plant you don’t want to prune in spring, because they flower in side-shoots from last year’s branches. Spring pruning is best done when the buds are just beginning to swell, which makes it easier to see where to cut and what to take away. Start by removing all dead and spindly growth, leaving a strong, open framework. Then shorten back the shoots that grew last year, to just above a bud. How much you cut back, especially with plants like panicle hydrangeas, will control the quantity and size of the flower clusters. Cutting back hard gives big heads, but fewer of them. Light trimming gives more heads, but smaller ones. Most of the time a moderate trim, removing about one-third of the growth, is the best middle path.

Fertilize evergreens and hedges

Fertilizing the lawns is a spring tradition, but trimmed hedges are like vertical lawns – they do need nutrients to replace all that growth you cut off them last year. Other evergreens, even if they aren’t trimmed regularly, also benefit from feeding, they will grow more densely, and with rich-green foliage.

Pick up a fertilizer blended for hedges and evergreens and follow the instructions. Water-soluble is best for new plants, and granular for older ones. Newer slow-release forms only need one application a year, so once done, that’s it – a big time saver.

Add something new

Spring in the garden is a time of renewal and development. Older plants may have reached the end of their attractive life, a bed may need an overhaul, or some plants simply haven’t done what you expected of them. This is a great time to bite the bullet and remove them. Now you can have the fun of looking for something new and better for those spaces and going shopping. With on-line services, and often free delivery, you can avoid the crowds at the garden center, access the latest varieties, or old favorites, and save time. To a gardener there are few things more exciting than having a truck turn up at the door with a new tree, or a shipment of new shrubs. Go ahead – treat yourself and your garden at the same time.

Mulch your trees and shrubs

Fresh mulch in spring really makes your beds look like you care. The best materials are compost, rotted animal manures, or mushroom compost – available if you have a mushroom growing operation nearby. These richer materials rot down more quickly, but they feed your soil and plants in the process, so that over a few years you get much better soil, and your plants grow and flower so much better too. You save on fertilizers, as richer mulches replace them the natural way. Bark chips and gravels can look nice, and they conserve moisture, but they don’t do anything for your plants or soil, so save them for areas where they fit the design.

As well as mulching beds, put mulch around younger trees you have planted in the lawn. Not only does it feed them and conserve moisture, it will keep mowers and string trimmer away from the base. These very easily damage the bark, especially when trees are young, and the bark is thin. The scarring caused can seriously restrict sap flow, weaken your trees and create long term problems. Remember to keep mulch an inch or two away from the trunks of trees and the base of shrubs, as well as clear of the foliage of evergreens. Cover the root-zone, don’t bury the whole plant. (Save precious time in spring, by doing this job in late fall instead. It is just as effective, and you won’t risk breaking tender new shoots.)

Candle dwarf pine trees

Reducing the length of the new shoots on pines is called ‘candling’ by knowledgeable gardeners. It is the best and easiest way to keep plants like Mugo Pine, dense and compact, since cutting older stems usually leaves them unable to re-sprout. It easy to do. When the new shoots have grown up, but before the needles start to grow out, cut them back, or pinch them with your fingers. The hand method is quicker, and doesn’t cut any needles, but you will need to clean sticky sap from your hands when you have finished. You can take just a little off, which is useful when you still want them to grow taller, or almost the whole stem, just leaving an inch or even less of new growth. The remaining needles will lengthen normally, and several new buds will form for the next year, so you get a denser, more compact plant. On larger pines this is a great way to get a more Asian look, with spreading, flat branches and dense foliage – a sort of in-the-ground bonsai.

Rake up old leaves

If you didn’t do all your leaf raking in fall, it should be job number one in spring. Many leaf diseases, including apple scab, rust, rose black spot and mildew, are carried from one season to the next on fallen leaves. Leaves from trees and shrubs that are susceptible, such as crab apples, lilacs, roses, crape myrtle, and others you might have had problems with last summer, should be picked up, even if they are not an eye-sore.

Usually if they are properly composted the heat will destroy any spores, but if you leave them lying around, they will release spores as soon as the temperatures rise and re-infect vulnerable plants. Even if you have planted resistant varieties – and that always pays if they are available – the heavy release of spores can be enough to cause some effect, since ‘resistance’ is not ‘immunity’.

Don’t forget your planter boxes

If you have shrubs in planter boxes and pots, they will really appreciate some fresh soil. If you can slide the plant out, trim the roots a little, replace the soil, and replant. You will get much healthier growth, especially if they have been in the planters for more than two years. If you can’t take them out, scrape away all the loose soil from the top of the planter, and remove it. Replace with fresh soil, and don’t forget to add some fertilizer too – plants in pots should be fertilized regularly.

The Tough and Colorful Barberry

Would you like to have a garden with bright color for months and months, but your soil is poor, your winters cold, and you don’t really have much time available? If that sounds like you, then the Barberry is your friend. These tough shrubs grow well even in zone 4, they are resistant to dryness, they cope well with poor soils, and they are colorful from spring to fall, never turning into boring green after a few days once a year of flowers.

Few shrubs have such a wide range of leaf colors, from the every-popular purple-reds to the fashionable lime greens, with golds, yellows and oranges in between, you could easily create a whole landscape of color with just this one plant. Available too in a range of sizes, from hardly more than a foot tall to a substantial 6 feet, there are lots of places where you could slip them into your existing landscape. Did we mention hedges? Yes, there too, as a low bed edging, or a taller barrier, Barberry clips easily into great, colorful hedges.

Some gardeners can be put off Barberry because there are sharp little thorns along the branches, but this has a very positive upside. Planted beneath windows they make it a whole lot harder for an intruder to climb in – unless they are wearing cowboy chaps – and a Barberry hedge is an easy way to keep four-legged intruders out of your garden. It takes a brave cat or dog to push through Barberry just for the opportunity to dig around in your beds. And of course, if you have deer, they won’t be munching on those spiny stems either, so not much touches this plant at all.

Easy Color from Spring to Fall

If you are looking at a boring green garden, with little or no color through the seasons, an easy way to tackle it would be to order in a batch of Barberry, in a variety of colors and sizes. Stand back to get a good view and then slip them in here or there around the garden, creating splashes of season-long color in just a few minutes. Once planted there is little more to do than watch them grow, and see your garden come alive.

The Barberry, or as botanist call it, Berberis, is a large group of shrubs, but for our gardens we rely almost completely on one brought into America by plant collectors from the Arnold Arboretum, in the 19^th century. Back then there were few garden plants, and this new shrub, with yellow spring flowers, red fall leaves, and red berries in winter, soon became a big hit, and it was widely planted. That Japanese Barberry, Berberis thunbergii, had a lot of tricks up its sleeve, and since the first introduction that green plant has been transformed. Within a few decades French growers had found seedlings with rich purple-red leaves, and then the Dutch – as we might expect from such a small country – found dwarf forms too. In later years a whole palette of color exploded, until we have today’s bounty of shades.

Hardy in winters to minus 30, and easily grown in any soil that isn’t always swampy, all these shrubs ask for is a sunny spot to put down roots in. They will also take light shade for a few hours of the day, but too much shade will ‘green out’ the foliage color, which would be a shame.

Here is a quick guide to some of the best varieties of Barberry, in different colors.

Reds and Purples

Ground zero for dark red leaves – always a top favorite with gardeners – are plants derived from those early French seedlings. These are often called ‘f. atropurpurea’ (where the ‘f’. designates a form that is different from the parent), but that rather tall and leggy original is rarely grown anymore. Much more useful are smaller forms, such as ‘Concord’, which reaches no more than 2 feet tall, with a similar spread. That fat form makes hedges more economical, as you can space the plants as much as 18 inches apart and still quickly create a dense but low hedge. A similar spacing is perfect for mass planting, which fills larger sections of your beds quickly and easily.

Despite its name, ‘Crimson Pygmy’ is taller, growing to 2 to 3 feet tall, and as much as 4 feet across, with the same rich, all-season purple-red leaves. It’s a perfect choice for a slightly larger hedge, or further back in a bed, behind flowers.

If you have some concerns about Barberry spreading into local natural areas – which it has done in some parts of the country – then you can still enjoy them by planting the Royal Burgundy^® Barberry, which produces no berries, so cannot be spread around by birds. It is similar in size to ‘Crimson Pygmy’, with an attractive arching form when left untrimmed.

To add to the beauty, the dark leaves of these bushes turn rich oranges and scarlet-reds in fall, making a great showing, before dropping in time for winter.

Oranges and Pinks

If the same color all season is a little boring to you, then the ‘Rosy Glow’ barberry is for you. Starting out purple in spring, the new growth is rose-pink, mottled with bronze and purple. As the leaves mature they darken, so that the shrub has a bright, rosy exterior, with a deeper purple interior, which really brings the colors to life. A taller shrub if left unpruned, it can touch 6 feet, so it is perfect for background planting in smaller beds, and middle-ground in larger ones.

If you love orange, then bring it to your garden with ‘Orange Rocket’. This unique Barberry starts the year with an explosion of rich orange foliage. The color holds well into summer, then turns light green, before a vibrant encore of brilliant ruby-red in fall. This is truly a hard-to-beat source of rich colors season after season.

Yellows and Limes

While reds are always popular, smart gardeners use plenty of yellow foliage, while those up with garden fashions opt for lime-yellow. These colors really ‘pop’ in the garden and bring lots of life and color to your beds.

‘Aurea Nana’ is just that – a small bundle of vibrant golden leaves that hold their color from spring to fall – no summer fading into green with this beauty. 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, it is perfect for a low edging to a bed, or as specimens in smaller gardens. They are also ideal for planters, surrounded perhaps by blue and silver trailing annuals – a great display.

For a more upright form, choose ‘Golden Rocket’, which stays just a foot or two wide but it stand up proud 3, 4 and as much as 5 feet tall. It too holds that color from spring to fall, and it is ideal for building height in small beds.

For that perfect low edging, that keeps changing color in every season, plant the tiny barberry, ‘Daybreak’, which starts orange-red in spring, turns yellow all summer and then bright red in fall. It only grows 18 inches tall, so even left unclipped it is perfect along a driveway or fronting a bed.

Then, for the perfect lime-green accent, plant ‘Lime Glow’, with yellow new leaves that quickly turn the perfect bright lime, looking wonderful across the garden. It grows into a substantial 5-feet tall and 4-feet wide shrub, and makes a wonderful hedge along a boundary, that is both beautiful and impenetrable.

With all this to choose from, the simple solution is to plant a wide selection of these great plants – tough and colorful, and oh so easy to grow.

Spring Care of Houseplants

As spring returns to the outdoor world, spare a thought and a moment for your houseplants, which at this time are usually looking a little sad, after months of low light levels and dry central heating. Here are some tips and thoughts on how to bring them back to tip health and vigor:

Time to Re-pot

Just as plants tire, so does the soil they grow in. Potting soils contain components that break down over time, reducing drainage and turning an open, airy mix into a heavy sludge. Even more important, plants need new roots, because only the growing tips of roots have the root-hairs that can take up nutrients to feed your plants. So encouraging new root growth is a vital first step to re-invigorating your plants. If your houseplants have been growing in the same pot and soil for a year or more, then re-potting will work miracles. Here is how to go about it.

• If you can, move your plant into a larger pot. Choose one that is at least two inches wider, and for larger, vigorous plants, make that four to six inches wider. If you need to use the same pot, remove the plant and wash the pot thoroughly, rinsing with clean water.
• Make sure the new pot has drainage holes. Lack of flow-through when watering is the biggest single cause of houseplant problems. Water must flow out of the bottom, to draw fresh, oxygen-rich air into the soil, and to remove excess salts from water and fertilizers. Without oxygen the roots will weaken and even die.

Excess salts prevent strong water uptake, causing browning leaf tips and margins, and weakening of the growing points of your plants.

If you use a saucer or outer decorative pot to keep that water off the floor, remember to empty it shortly after watering. If you use a layer of gravel, or those brown light-weight clay pellets, in the bottom of an outer pot, excess water will collect there, so your plant is not standing in water. As that water evaporates it adds helpful humidity too.

• Use a suitable potting soil. Never use garden soil for houseplants. For most plants a general-purpose houseplant soil is fine. If your plant is one that doesn’t need a lot of water, try using a cactus soil – the results are often great, even with plants that aren’t technically succulents. For camellias and azaleas, use a lime-free soil blended for acid-loving plants.
• Remove the plant from its pot and shake or brush away any loose soil.
• If there are a lot of coiled roots in the bottom, cut through these in a couple of places with a sharp knife, to encourage new roots to spread out and explore the new soil.
• If there is a single large hole, cover it with some insect screening, or a single stone. Don’t put a layer of gravel or stones in the bottom of the pot.
• Place a layer of new soil in the bottom of the pot. So that the top of the root ball will be about an inch below where it was before and add new soil until the pot is full. Leave the top inch of the pot empty of soil to make watering easier. Don’t press the soil down hard – just gently push it into place.
• Either stand the pot in a bucket of water until it is thoroughly wet, or water from above with a fine rain of water, until plenty flows out the bottom.
• You’re done!

If you have a large plant that can’t be removed from the pot, then scrape out any loose soil from the top, and replace it with fresh, new soil. Potting soil shrinks, so there will probably be several inches of space available for this.

Time to Feed Your Plants

Fertilizer is the secret to good houseplants. Regular feeding with a water-soluble fertilizer mixed into the water is best, because it permeates throughout the soil. Time it to be part of your regular watering schedule, so that you don’t over water. The more light your plants receive, the more fertilizer they need, so in a well-lit spot you can feed every two weeks in spring, then monthly through summer and fall. In darker spots, every month or two is about right. Use a fertilizer that matches the type of plant you have, although for most plants a general-purpose food is fine.

Wash and Tidy Time

Like you, your houseplants enjoy a nice clean-up. Remove neatly any brown or dying leaves and trim out any dead twigs. If some growth is too tall, you can usually cut it back to a side-branch or a leaf and it will bush out. If you can get your plants into the shower and give them a wash with cool water, great – they will love it. If not, put a drop or two of detergent into a bowl of cool water and wash the leave with paper towel dipped in the water. This is great for plants with large leaves. Leaf shine products can be used to remove water spots, and increase the gloss, but only on the upper surfaces.

Plan a Vacation for Your Houseplants

If you have a balcony or terrace, houseplants love a holiday outdoors during the warmer weather. It may be too soon just yet, depending on where you are, but keep an eye on the night temperatures. Once they are above 50 degrees, your plants will be safe outdoors. You can even start standing them outside during the day, and bringing them in at night, if it is still too cool.

You will be amazed what some time outdoors will do. Birds and beneficial insects will clean up a lot of pests for you, and the extra light and damper air encourages lots of growth. Just be careful not to change light levels too much. If they have had a lot of light in summer, many plants will be shocked, and drop leaves, when you bring them back inside again, where light levels are a lot lower. A shady but bright spot is better than a sunny spot for most foliage plants. Plants like citrus and fig trees should get as much sun as possible during their time outdoors, to encourage flowers and blooms.

Wow, Notice the Difference!

These simple steps really make a big difference, and your plants will thank you for them. Houseplants don’t need a lot, but they sure appreciate the care we do give them.

Shrubs for Planters, Pots and Boxes

With the gardens of new homes getting smaller and smaller, and particularly with more and more of us living in town homes and apartments, there is a lot of interest in growing plants in planter boxes and larger pots. Perhaps you just have a patio, or a balcony large enough for a plant in the corner, or perhaps your garden is large enough to have a terrace or paved area that would benefit from some handsome planters, with suitable plants in them. Depending on the choice of plants, you can add neat, formal elements, or casual ones just as easily, to suit your personal style, and the overall look of your space.

Break with Tradition

Traditional planters were filled with bulbs and annual flowers, but that means regular work several times a year, plus of course the annual cost – which adds up over ten years or so. More and more smart gardeners with limited time and lots of other things to do are opting instead to use shrubs for planters – yes, the initial investment is more than some geraniums, but the saving over time in work and money makes shrubs a sound decision. You can create permanent landscapes in larger planters, adding height very effectively, and rely on them entirely, or still add some flowers for the summer and extra color – the choice is yours.

Tips on Starting Well

There are a few basic things to consider with planters and pots, to get good results and see your plants thrive and grow well, so let’s start there, before looking at some ideas for plants.

• Pots Need Drainage – number one tip for success is to always use pots with drainage holes in them. Very few plants will grow in soggy, airless soil, and the movement of water through the soil and out the drain hole makes sure your soil stays fresh and sweet, and that salts from fertilizers don’t accumulate and cause problems. Sometimes you need to use saucers, but either empty them after watering, or raise the pots on small feet so they stand above the saucer, not right in it. With larger planter boxes too, they must drain, and a layer of gravel in the bottom is not good enough in the long term. You might need to connect a pipe to the drain hole if water on your balcony is a potential problem, and then lead that pipe away to a drain. Mostly though, a little water on the floor will soon evaporate.

 

• Choose a Suitable Soil – you cannot use garden soil in planters, so bring in some good-quality potting soil, preferably one designed for outdoor planters. If you can’t find that, then mix regular potting soil half-and-half with soil for cactus and succulent plants – outdoor planters need that extra drainage for good air flow.

 

• Watering – the secret to success in planters is to water the right way. Never give ‘a little drink’ to your plants. Water thoroughly when you do water, so that at least a little water flows out the bottom. Then don’t water until the top inch or two has dried out. In winter you may not need to water very often, and obviously more in summer. If you have a tap on your terrace, you can attach a hose and long-handled spray, and watering becomes fun. If you have a lot of planters you can set up a watering system, but unless you spend a lot of time fine-tuning it, it is often better to turn it on and off manually, rather than use a timer, unless it is connected to a moisture monitor.

 

• Fertilize regularly – correction, watering is only the second secret to success, because the first one is to regularly feed your plants. Potting soils don’t contain the nutrients of garden soil, so feeding is a must. Depending on how you feel you can use traditional chemical fertilizers in liquid form, or organic ones, such as those based on fish-meal or seaweed. Today there are lots to choose from, and more important than what you use is simply using it regularly, from spring to early fall.

 

Good Plants to Grow in Planters

The best shrubs for planters are slower-growing, more unusual specimen plants, rather than common shrubs, and there is an enormous range of interesting material to choose from. One great thing about growing in planters is that you can control the soil, so if you don’t live on acid soil, you can still enjoy blue hydrangeas, azaleas and camellias, simply by using soil blended for acid-loving plants. These soils lack the trace of lime normally used in potting soil, and often they contain other natural ingredients to guarantee a low pH. Make sure you also choose suitable fertilizer for this group too, and for hydrangeas there are special ones that help make sure you get the very best blue colors.

Here are some ideas for planter shrubs – maybe not ones you might have immediately thought of. When choosing suitable plants, add a hardiness zone. If you are in zone 6, grow plants that are hardy in zone 5, and so on, because for most plants the roots are not as hardy as the top growth, and raised up in planters they can get too cold.

Japanese Maples

To add some height to your arrangement, or for cascading over the edge of a beautiful tall planter, Japanese maples are wonderful for container growing. They will always get enough water, so the leaves won’t burn, and if the pots are moveable you can control the amount of sun too. With so many different amazing varieties, choose one for form – cascading or upright, color – red or green, and size. From tiny dwarfs to larger trees for big planter boxes, this is a great way to grow these beautiful plants.

Knockout and Drift Roses

As a substitute for annual flowers, roses have no equal. You can have blooms from late spring to fall with the Knockout series of roses, in a great range of colors, or even better perhaps for pots are the Drift Roses, with masses of small flowers, blooming continuously, on plants less than 2 feet tall.

Encore Azaleas

In warmer areas these gorgeous evergreen azaleas are perfect for planters. They don’t just bloom in spring, but keep blooming again, continuously, from mid-summer right into fall. This fabulous ‘encore’ makes them ideal, because you get bloom for so long, meaning annual flowers become redundant. Use lime-free potting soil for them.

Dwarf Evergreens

For easy container growing, nothing beats the wide range of dwarf evergreens. Many are upright, or rounded, for a more formal look, and can even be clipped for perfect regularity, if that is your thing. Some, like the Chirimen Hinoki Cypress and the Tenzan Japanese Cedar are so small their ideal home is in a miniature garden planted in a beautiful dish, and others, like the David Golden Yew, make delightful, bright specimens.

Hydrangeas

Another group of plants for acid-loving soil, containers make perfect blue hydrangeas possible for everyone. But blue or pink, with their long bloom period, these are great choices. Don’t forget the smaller panicle hydrangeas either, like Bobo, or Little Quick Fire, which are much hardier, and change color as the seasons pass.

Xeric Plants

If you don’t enjoy watering, are away for long periods, or live in desert areas, then consider some of the xeric plants, which grow as well in containers as they do in the ground, without regular watering. All the Yucca plants, and the Agaves, make great container plants, and so do other drought-resistant plants like Tuscan Blue Rosemary and Texan Sage.

Design Your Garden – Part 2

A couple of weeks back we started talking about designing your garden – something people often want to do in spring. If you read that first part – and if you didn’t, you can find it here – then you already know we are not going to get out the drawing board, or buy some fancy computer program, and then spend hours thinking about the perfect garden. No, much better is to get outside and start doing the garden instead. Not crashing around without a plan, but designing on the ground, by looking around and deciding what you actually want your garden to be. Of course, you will at some point have to start measuring and laying paths and beds carefully, but first you need to get a feel for what you have, and what you want.

If you read and followed that first blog, you will by now have a list of your garden assets – trees and healthy plants you want to keep or views you don’t want to block – as well of things you do want to remove or put some screening in front of. You will also have a ‘wish-list’ of things you want in your garden – a barbecue area, space for the kids to play, a vegetable garden, curb appeal – whatever you want, to enjoy your garden more. You might also have taken a look at garden pictures you like, to see what style you want, and maybe considered how much time you have to take care of this garden – no point in taking on something you can maintain.

Garden Styles

In our thoughts last time we emphasized considering the style of your home and choosing a garden style that fits. Building a full-blown Japanese garden around a colonial home is not going to work, but if your heart says ‘Japanese’ and your house says, ‘colonial’, the solution is the other idea we talked about last time – garden rooms.

Screening and Hedges to make Garden Rooms

Hedges and screens take a while to grow, so it makes a lot of sense to get them in the ground first. They will also define the spaces you have, and when you see those areas, there is a good chance you will be inspired to do something with them. A common mistake is to put a big hedge right around your property – or at least on 3 sides, and then stare at that big, blank space. No, think instead about using screening and lower hedges to create rooms, exactly the way your house is laid out indoors. The ‘walls’ can be clipped hedges, more natural rows of upright-growing plants, or beds of shrubs and small trees.  Beds take up the most room, so while they are great for dividing spaces in larger gardens, in smaller ones they can quickly fill the whole garden, so be cautious. Consider shade too, and don’t put in taller plants where you only want a low screen. The taller the screening, the more shade it throws, and the more limited you will be on planting inside that space, so keep the heights minimal.

We can distinguish between screening that blocks a view completely – an evergreen hedge for example, but remember that even there, a 6-foot hedge will give complete privacy – you don’t need a 15-foot monster! The idea of a boundary can be created with a row of plants just a couple of feet tall, and often that is all you are going to need. If you want that Japanese garden with your colonial house, a hedge you can’t see over will be needed, so you have a private place to create a Zen retreat that won’t clash with the look of your home. On the other hand, if the ‘wall’ is around your vegetable garden, a row or raspberry plants, or thornless blackberries, attached to some wires stretched between poles, will give you visual division, while letting in plenty of light, and still showing off those beautiful rows of lettuce and cabbages.

Lay Out the Pathways

You need to get around your garden, but paths can simply be grass, if they don’t get a lot of traffic. Don’t pave everything over – it’s expensive, and mowing grass doesn’t take so long. Follow direct routes from A to B – no one wants to go the long way around for no purpose, Use straight lines for more formal gardens, and sweeping curves for a more relaxed look. Don’t put the path to the front door straight from the road – how about off the driveway, or coming in from the corner? You get the idea.

Shade and Specimen Trees

Trees give a real sense of permanence to a garden, as well as welcome shade in summer. But many grow large, and there is nothing sadder than seeing a 30-year-old tree being cut down because it has outgrown a space it should never have been planted in. Think carefully about where to plant trees, because they are going to be in that spot for a long time. As a ‘rule-of-thumb’, never plant a tree closer to a building or boundary than half its maximum width. Further away is better. Many traditional trees, like maple, oak, or southern magnolia, grow large, and with today’s shrinking lot sizes, they are simply too big. Consider instead one of the smaller varieties of these trees – the Teddy Bear Southern Magnolia for example, if you love the tree, but don’t have the room for the classic version.

A silver maple can grow over 50 feet tall and wide, and engulf a garden, leaving no room or light for much else. On the other hand, there are fast-growing Japanese maples that grow 15 to 20 feet tall, and they are often much better choices for smaller places. Birch too are fast and throw a nice area of light shade. Flowering trees have leaves too, and many make good shade trees after their flowering, and of course a fruit tree can serve triple purpose, giving flowers in spring, shade in summer, and a harvest of home-grown goodness in fall.

Start with What you Love

Many people spend a lot of time considering what to buy, but if you have some space to fill, a really simple approach is to start of with things you like the look and sound of, and then get a bunch, but for this first round, don’t get too much. Go out into the garden, and start playing around with them, as you might with your furniture indoors. Take a tape and measure how wide they are expected to grow, and just stand them around the garden, thinking about creating those ‘rooms’ for your activities.

Now, what are you missing? An accent plant in that corner over there? Some rounded bushes to soften the edge of your house? Something flowering to plant underneath that tree? Time for ‘round two’, where you now look for quite specific plants, that will complete the picture, the way you got that rocking chair to put in the empty corner of your living room, remember?

Now Start Choosing

Next time, to finish this instant guide to garden planning, we will look at some basic things to consider when making those choices, especially for that ‘second round’, where you really want to achieve a balanced look in your garden. For now, organize those basic hedges and screens we started with, to make your outdoor rooms. Choose your major trees, and start browsing the site, making a note of things you simply like the look of. Check back for Part 3 or this ‘no-plan’ approach to garden planning.

Months and Months of Camellias in Bloom – It’s Easy!

If you live in southern parts of the country, you probably know the camellia, that gorgeous evergreen bush with large, often rose-like flowers, at different times during the winter and spring. If you live in more northern areas, you probably think they are not for you, with their need for mild winters and acid soil, but in reality, if you have a cool, bright place to grow them, they are very easy to keep all year round, and even enjoy the blooms indoors. In the days of grand homes and grand balls it used to be fashionable to bring plants in bloom into the ballrooms, and for the women to wear corsages of the flowers – you probably aren’t planning to do that, but nevertheless, camellias are fabulous shrubs to grow, and with some planning you can have one or more in bloom starting in fall, and continuing into the spring – something that many people don’t realize. Not only are there different natural species that bloom at different times, but enterprising plant breeders have crossed some of them together, to create new forms. With the many different types of blooms, in every conceivable shade of palest pink to the darkest burgundy, plus white, you can enjoy a wonderful display for months and months. Let’s take a look at the basic possibilities.

Sasanqua Camellia

This is the camellia bush, called Camellia sasanqua by the botanists, which is going to start your camellia season for you. These naturally bloom in fall, and they are usually finished blooming by Christmas at the latest, and usually earlier. The reason they are not often recognized as different is that they do look almost identical to the spring blooming camellias (we will look at them in a minute), although the bushes are usually more open in shape, and arching, rather than tightly upright. They also grow faster, which is an added bonus, and because they have longer, more flexible branches they can easily be trained onto a wall or trellis, which is a great way to grow them if you have limited space available, or a small garden.

A great place to start to grow these fall and early winter bloomers is with the October Magic^® series. These newer varieties have been specially bred not just to bloom from October towards Christmas, but they are smaller than many others, so they fit perfectly in smaller spaces, and even better, they are ideal for pot growing, which means that whatever type of soil you have, or wherever you live, you can grow them. In the garden you need to have acid soil, with a pH close to 5.5, and not above 6.5, for the best growth, but if you don’t have that, then grow them in pots. Make sure the pots have drainage holes, use potting soil and fertilizer for acid-loving plants, and you can grow them easily.

If you live in zones cooler than zone 7, which is their limit for outdoor hardiness, then you can bring your pots inside once freezing temperatures are approaching. The ideal winter environment is a cool, well-lit place, with bright filtered light. A glassed-in porch is often perfect, and if it doesn’t have any heat, just add a temperature-controlled heater that will come on when the temperature drops below 35 degrees, and you will have them blooming away while the frost bites outdoors. How cool is that! A couple of great choices from the October Magic^® series are White Shi-Shi, with pristine, pure-white flowers in a formal shape of neatly arranged petals in geometric circles, and Sparkling Burgundy, with more informal flowers in a delicious shade of deep pink, and a cluster of irregular petals surrounded by a circle of outer ones, like a peony.

Japanese Camellia

This species, Camellia japonica, is the most well-known type of camellia, and it is the type most widely grown all over the world where the climate is suitable. This is the plant often called Rose of Winter, or Rose of the South. These have a very upright, dense form, and most grow between 5 and 10 feet tall, and often just as wide. They usually flower between January and March, but some varieties flower earlier or later than that.

With such a wide range of forms, there are Japanese camellias for every taste. As for color, all possible shades between pure-white, cream, pink, and the darkest reds are found. As well, there are exotic forms with white or pink petals splashed with darker pink or red, often with every flower turning out differently. Blooms last a long time in the garden, with the cooler winter weather, and they can be brought inside and dropped into a bowl of water, where they will last for days and days. Maybe another time we will go into more detail, but since we are talking about extending the camellia season beyond spring, let’s move on.

Hybrid Camellias

Some plants casually called ‘sasanqua’ are really hybrids, called Camellia x hyemalis, or Camellia x vernalis, which were created by crossing a sasanqua camellia with a Japanese camellia. As we might expect, these bloom between Christmas and late winter, filling the gap between the two main types. With these in your collection you keep the party going through what otherwise would be a few bloomless months, between the two main types.

A great plant that will usually bloom exactly for Christmas is the variety called ‘Yuletide’, which has the perfect big Christmas-red blooms, in an open form, with a brush of yellow stamens in the center. Sometimes starting in October, this great plant blooms for months, and will usually give you blossoms to decorate the Christmas table – what more could you wish for?

Another beautiful hybrid variety to look for is a Japanese original called ‘Kanjirô’. This vigorous grower is a beautiful mid-pink, and well worth waiting for if you don’t find it immediately. Unlike most other hybrids, it blooms in fall, alongside the true sasanqua varieties.

One hybrid we can’t overlook is the ‘Two Marthas’ variety. We don’t know who the two women were, but we do know what a great fall-blooming variety this is, with its unique lavender-pink blooms. It flowers mostly in October and November, and there are two other reasons to grow this variety. Zone 7, although technically a ‘camellia zone’, can be rough on varieties that bloom in winter. If there is a cold-snap, the flower buds can die, because they are already active, while those on the Japanese camellias are still sleeping, and will survive. But ‘Two Marthas’ can tough it out, and it will bloom reliably in zone 7. Amazingly, it is also a top-choice for Florida and hot areas where many varieties can succumb to the heat. Make sure you give this beauty a go in your garden.

Another great bloomer for late winter, just before the spring flowering camellias begin, is ‘Pink Icicle’, with large, gorgeous shell-pink blooms that will win your heart. Now if you live in zone 6, this one is especially interesting because it is one of the hardiest camellias around, and it will grow and bloom in a sheltered spot in zone 6. If you have it there in a pot, you can have the insurance of bringing into a protected shed or garage for a night or two if there is an extreme cold-snap, so go for it, and be the person in your neighborhood with a camellia in the garden. Depending on where you grow it, this beauty will bloom in February, March or April, long before anything else in your garden gets going.

You can see by now that with all these choices, all it takes is a little careful shopping to fill your garden with camellia blooms from fall to spring, making winter an exciting time in the garden, and filling the time until spring and summer blooms return again.