AWHIFF OF SWEETNESS DRIFTED MY WAY JUST NOW, from a direction I’m not accustomed to catching one. Change of prevailing winds? No, a new shrub—the gold-leaf mock orange, or Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’—putting on the first show of its young life in its new home. Why didn’t I invite this sunny-looking, extra-fragrant thing in sooner? I had my reasons. [read more…]
deciduous
great shrub: gold-leaf mock orange
June 6, 2011 at 3:08 pm
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great shrub: koreanspice viburnum, v. carlesii
May 8, 2011 at 1:18 pm
WHEN WOODY PLANT EXPERT MICHAEL DIRR writes in his book “Viburnums” that the fragrance of the Koreanspice viburnum, Viburnum carlesii, “actually reaches out and engulfs passersby,” he is not exaggerating. This is a smell-it-a-mile-away shrub that I would not garden without, and it’s currently doing its engulfing thing here. Delicious. [read more…]
great shrub: bottlebrush buckeye
March 23, 2011 at 8:57 am
IT FELT LIKE SUCH A BIG SCORE the day many years ago when I found the bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, in a nursery in New Bedford, Massachusetts, even though the plant was just a small thing in a plastic pot at the time. Now it’s my biggest shrub, and also one of my favorites, for it hummocky shape, handsome leaves that turn gold in fall, and easy, basically disease-free disposition. [read more…]
slideshow: dogwoods, or cornus, i rely on
March 6, 2011 at 4:12 pm
ABIG, OLD CORNUS FLORIDA, or flowering native dogwood, shaded the patio of the house I grew up in, a handsome tree in multiple seasons and one under which many Nancy Drew books were read and Good Humor popsicles savored. I don’t grow C. florida in my current garden, but looking around here now as the snow recedes and making my pruning task list for the weeks ahead, I realize how many other dogwood species I do grow, and enjoy. A slideshow of some reliable favorites. [read more…]
great shrub: cornus sericea ‘silver and gold’
February 22, 2011 at 1:52 pm
IT’S ALMOST TIME TO GIVE MY WINTER FRIENDS the twig dogwoods and willows some pruning, the only care they ask in return for year-round beauty. But will I really have the nerve to cut my favorite of all, Cornus sericea ‘Silver and Gold,’ back hard? Why I love this easiest of shrubs…and how that love may have backfired just a bit. [read more…]
dreaming of: stewartia pseudocamellia
February 6, 2011 at 12:21 pm
IHAVE DECIDED TO PASS THE REST OF THIS VENGEFUL WINTER in a dream state: dreaming of plants that would make me feel better if only I could see them right now. But they’re either buried or (if they are showing any of their goodies above-ground) inaccessible to me thanks to thick ice or thigh-high snow. So today I’m dreaming of a real beauty of a tree, Stewartia pseudocamellia, whose peeling, cinnamon-colored bark probably looks smashing out there against the white carpet of my tundra, and whose white summer flowers and fiery fall foliage will shine again in their time, forces of heaven willing. Ready for its close-up?
great shrub: salix elaeagnos, rosemary willow
January 12, 2011 at 2:19 pm
IT CAME TO ME AS THE ROSEMARY WILLOW, Salix rosmarinifolia—meaning, the willow whose leaves look like rosemary’s (though on a much larger scale). And it came to me as a rooted cutting, maybe 8 inches high with a tiny branch or two developing off its pencil-sized main stem. My, how times–and both of us—have changed. Meet the renamed Salix elaeagnos, the most cooperative of shrubs, even where the ground is wet. [read more…]
the hedge as masterpiece, by master piet oudolf
December 28, 2010 at 12:15 pm
MY GARDENING LIFE STARTED with a hedge—cutting one back hard, specifically. It was the threadbare, tall old privet surrounding my childhood home, and I was determined to “rejuvenate” it, after reading about the process in a book. No artful hedge has ever been created by my hands, though—a fact that feels all the more lamentable after watching Sean Conway’s video tour (above) of designer and nurseryman Piet Oudolf’s garden in the Netherlands. What magic. [read more…]
my ‘secret’ to overwintering japanese maples
October 31, 2010 at 3:17 pm
NOT YET, BUT SOON. That’s when my Japanese maples will go back into hiding for the winter, to protect their tender twigs and beautiful bark from winter winds and ice and sunburn (and mice and voles and who knows what else rampages around outside here on the coldest days). It’s the most common question I am asked during garden tours here in spring and summer: What do you do with all those huge pots of Japanese maples come winter? This is what I do: [read more…]
