July 1, 2008

hot plant: stewartia, an ideal small tree

Filed Under hot p(l)ants, trees & shrubs

I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?

The Latin specific epithet, or species name, of the Stewartia I grow is pseudocamellia, which roughly means it disguises itself as a camellia when in bloom (a nod to the look of its lovely and plentiful white June-into-July flowers, and the fact they are very distant relatives in the Tea Family).

But this Stewartia, from Japan, which gets to maybe 25 feet or so in a Northeast garden setting and is happy in part shade or sun, isn’t content to offer up just nice flowers for the privilege of living with you. It gives you peeling, lovely bark all season long (below), and hot fall color, too, as the leaves eventually change. I should warn that it grows slowly, so this is an investment piece, not instant success.

I like my stewartias to be multi-stem and breaking low from the base, instead of single-trunk, but such aesthetic considerations are up to you. A bigger cousin is S. monadelpha, also from Japan; S. koreana (from where it sounds like it’s from) is another showy choice. What I insist is that you at least agree to look at Stewartia next time you’re in a good woody plant nursery and think of this: What other garden-scale tree gives summer flowers (preceded by showy marble-size buds, bottom photo, by the way, in my pseudocamellia); hot fall foliage, plus winter interest in the form of textural bark and lovely structure?

Guess after reading this you already know the answer to today’s quiz, huh?

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Comments

47 Responses to “hot plant: stewartia, an ideal small tree”

Pru on July 1st, 2008 8:03 am

Ah - multi-stemmed! The only ones I’ve seen are all single stem, and they have seemed oddly upright and skinny, somehow. Despite this reservation, I have just put one in this season (the Koreana kind) and it’s still quite small. But it does have little branches all the way down to the base. I will definitely encourage the multi-stem thing. Thanks’1
JeanAnnVK on July 1st, 2008 8:21 am

The flowers are beautiful…see the resemblance to a camellia, but the unopened buds and flowers almost remind me of a single peony…
margaret on July 1st, 2008 8:29 am

Hi, Pru–welcome back.
And welcome, JeanAnnVK, to A Way to Garden. Yes, you are right. Aren’t they lovely? Almost don’t care if they open.
Karol on July 1st, 2008 8:41 am

I’m always tricked by the famous “part shade or sun”. In Oklahoma it’s got to be part shade since we get too much sun for too long. I love the look of the tree and will search for one.
andy on July 1st, 2008 8:55 am

What an absolute beauty! This is the tree I want to gaze at every day through the window over my kitchen sink. Thank you Margaret and Happy 3 month Blog-aversary!
diana on July 1st, 2008 9:26 am

It’s gorgeous! How do these do in alkaline soil? I do have an American Fringetree that is doing great in my yard.
margaret on July 1st, 2008 9:33 am

Welcome, Karol. The species monadelpha is far better suited to heat, I have read, so I’d inquire about it at a reputable local woody-plant resource or your nearest arboretum/botanical garden.
Thanks, Andy, for the good words…and Diana, I am no sure what to say about alkaline soil. I have not seen any specifics on that in my reading. (I grow the fringetree too here, by the way…love it!)
Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening on July 1st, 2008 10:39 am

“it grows slowly, so this is an investment piece.” I like the way you phrased that! I bought a seedling three years ago from Seneca Hill Perennials, so mine is even more of an investment piece.
Mary Lou Weaver Houser on July 1st, 2008 11:58 am

One more thing about the stewartia. It does not like wet feet! Ours struggled valiantly in a poor drainage area until we finally moved it, saw the root rot, and realized what was happening.

In its new setting it is thriving and rewarding us with all the seasonal interest described above!
margaret on July 1st, 2008 12:06 pm

Hello, Mary Lou, and welcome. Wet feet are tough on many a plant, indeed. Good this you rescued this treasure.
Jonith on July 1st, 2008 4:33 pm

Gorgeous! Would this tree do well in a large container (2 to 3 ft diameter)?
margaret on July 1st, 2008 4:56 pm

Welcome, Jonith. Even S. pseudocamellia is a good-size tree, so not a pot subject. I grow Japanese maples of smaller stature in large pots of 3 feet or thereabouts, but even those require root-pruning every few years to deal with confinement. So I’d not suggest it.
Bobster on July 1st, 2008 7:07 pm

Margaret, thanks for sharing! I happened across a well established tree on a garden tour about two weeks ago, loaded with plump buds and couldn’t wait to ask what it was. Not a single bloom at the time but it was absolutely striking, even without a single flower. I’ve had it in the back of my mind since then.
The dogwood that I’ve had pencilled in for a new bed on “the plan” might have just been replaced! What does the Fall foliage look like?
Rick on July 1st, 2008 7:23 pm

Ah, the pseudocamellia. I looked all over town when we first moved into our home four years ago. Finally found one at the most expensive garden center in town. A three foot Japanese variety set me back $125.00. For two years it was beautiful. Lovely flowers, the whole bit. Then in the spring of 2006 it warmed up very early. Sap rose, things bloomed, leaves budded. Then, on May 18th, the killing killer freeze came. In college we were taught that April 15th was the 50/50 day, (a 50% chance of a killing frost) and May 10th was frost free day. No longer. The killing freeze wiped my Japanese pseudocamellia out. Now there are none to be found, for any price.
margaret on July 1st, 2008 8:14 pm

@Bobster: Depending where you garden and the kind of fall temps and moisture you have, the fall foliage on pseudocamellia can be orangey-yellow hot or purple-red. Monadelpha is more in the deep red zone, almost wine-colored.
@Rick: I am mourning the passing. Your comment really touched me because yesterday I lost one of my oldest shrubs, and most beloved, to a freakish electrical/rain storm. A bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, at least 20 feet across and a dozen high. RIP, my darling baby. RIP. Haven’t even had the strength to go do the autopsy and take away the corpse yet.
Ted on July 1st, 2008 9:50 pm

Stewartia has been on my ‘want’ list for years, but I’m a bit too cold really. I saw one at a plant sale years ago and ran around singing a stewartia song. In the end though I passed, it was too costly and I just couldn’t picture where I would plant it. The ideal spot already had a Cornus mas in it. I still think back on that lost opportunity.

Margaret, Don’t be too quick to write off your buckeye, many suckering shrubs can regenerate quickly from the roots. If it does turn out to be gone, mourn it and start a shopping list. In the garden, every loss is also an opportunity.
diana on July 1st, 2008 11:38 pm

Rick, check forestfarm.com in Oregon. They have a great selection and reasonable prices.

diana

from Margaret: Diana is right…so I put in the link to the Stewartia page at Ray and Peg Prag’s wildly diverse catalog.
Rick on July 2nd, 2008 8:00 am

Diana and Margaret: Thanks for the great information. And the prices seem very reasonable. Another bookmarked site.
courtenay hayes on July 2nd, 2008 8:28 am

Dear Margaret, a friend sharing your site feels the same as I…so sad for you and your love, bottlebrush buckeye..and the horrible weather you’d been getting. Last night the first winds left the coast of Africa…here comes the hurricanes!!! I say if we’re goin’ down, I”M goin’ down, TROWEL-IN-HAND!!!Your site is so human, thanks Margaret for staying afloat! Much continued success.
margaret on July 2nd, 2008 8:31 am

Welcome, Courtenay. I love the image: Going down, trowel in hand. I’m there. Perfect! Thanks much for that new mantra.
courtenay hayes on July 2nd, 2008 9:13 am

You’re so welcome! Actually, the new mantra would be a hybrid to something or other that Jerry Lee Lewis said in response to his cousin, Jimmy Swaggart, the evangelist…”Well, if I’m goin’ to hell…I’m goin’ to hell playin’ the PEEEEEEEEANNA!!!(piano):]
Kathleen on July 2nd, 2008 4:26 pm

I have a Stewartia I bought 2 years ago for- brace yourself- $1000. it is about 7 feet tall- but small. I have had alot of problems with it- the from limbs keep dying off. Do you think I need to protect it in the winter- I live in upstate New York- about an hour north of the city. Its by far the most expensive tree Ive ever bought- I dont want to lose it!!It is beautiful- blooming right now- I even like it when the blooms drop off and lay on the grass- it looks beautiful.
Layanee on July 2nd, 2008 4:35 pm

Thank you for reminding me to check the Stewartia for flowers! It is blooming and mine is a single stemmed tree. I love this tree.
margaret on July 2nd, 2008 9:02 pm

Welcome, Kathleen, to A Way to Garden. Oh, my, now let me try to guess who sold it to you for that price, as I know most nurseries an hour from the city. Eek! ;-)
Actually, Stewartia pseudocamellia in particular is pricey (though not that high normally!) because it is a decidedly slow grower. It does not like to be transplanted when very big, and can be finicky in its adjustment to a new home, so smaller plants of maybe 4 to 6 feet are common and normally run in the several-hundred-dollar range to maybe five-hundred, in my experience. It is adaptable, supposedly, once settled in, but ideally wants a soil that is high in organic matter and drains well without being dry.
You are definitely not too cold for the tree; I do not think you have a winterkill issue, as an hour north of NYC is probably still Zone 6 (and it can handle Zone 5ish).
I am guessing you have a settling-in problem; again, it doesn’t love transplanting, and perhaps more roots were disturbed or damaged than is ideal, causing dieback. I assume at $1,000 someone planted it for you; that nursery or landscaper should be responsive to your concerns.
One more thought: Is it planted too low (sort of in a depression now that the soil has settled, which is slow death to many trees and shrubs) or near the road where highway salts are applied in winter or some other stressor like that? Just in case, thought I’d ask.
Kathleen on July 4th, 2008 11:29 am

Thanks so much for the advice. I got it at Pound Ridge Nurseries- which is very expensive but has quality stuff. I had just seen Martha Stewart’s magazine article about them and when I saw it jumped on it. It gets good sun, and is not too deep- the nursery dug it for me. Hopefully it’s the settling in situation . It is a slow grower- like you said. I will see how it goes and if problem persists talk to them about it. Also learned my lesson bout impulse buys-which I hardly ever do- I’m usually a bargain hunter.. Love your sight!!
margaret on July 4th, 2008 12:36 pm

I’d tell them ASAP, not when it goes farther downhill (which hopefully it won’t). Always good to register observations quickly, as soon as they begin to show themselves, especially w/really expensive things. And sometimes they will want to come check and have the chance to help if there’s something to be done.
I’d call.
But even if it’s all fine, it will be very slow to adjust, as I said.
Emilie on July 5th, 2008 6:52 pm

My Stewartia pseudocamellia, which has been growing in my garden more or less happily the last few years and is now five feet tall, was half off $99.99 when I bought it (one of our local nurseries sells pot grown plants that way). It is, I think unfortunately, single stemmed and so far obviously very slow growing. My question is, now that I’ve read all of the above, why the label stipulates that the maximum height is 40 to 60 feet. How can that be?
margaret on July 5th, 2008 7:10 pm

Hi, Emilie. In nature that is true (and the label-maker apparently just looked at the details of the plant in its native habitat, where it would get that big). In a garden setting, as they say, probably 20 feet or maybe 30. There just aren’t the number of old specimens to judge by in enough garden locations in different climate zones (other than their native Asian habitats) to be precise about how big it can/might/will get for you specifically. I think you can expect 20 feet in a decade or 15 years; not sure beyond that.
Donna Oglesby on July 6th, 2008 11:51 am

Hi Margaret,

I’ve been enjoying your blog for a few weeks. The discussion of Stewartia prompts me to share some insights gathered by attending the “Stunning Stewartia” workshop at the Polly Hill Arboratum on Martha’s Vineyard on July 2. This mother load of Stewartia was in full bloom — 70 trees planted in various groves. Polly Hill introduced several Stewartia and her successors continue to search for species in the wild and to propagate. There is an excellent pdf file on their work at the linked web site.

I gathered a few useful tips for the home gardener during the workshop: plant Stewartia to receive morning sun and afternoon shade and give the tree a long drink of water two weeks prior to the bloom cycle to lengthen the time blossoms stay on the tree. As the owner of a single Stewartia pseudocamilia, planted four years ago and thriving in the morning sun, I came home and gave my tightly budded beauty a long drink.

The multi-stemmed trees are gorgeous but there is a cosmic single trunk Stewartia pseudocamilia at PHA that will take your breath away. I posted it on the forums.
margaret on July 6th, 2008 12:20 pm

Welcome, Donna, and thanks for all the information fresh from the conference. Who knew there even was a conference? I need to leave the yard more often.
The PDF you are referring to can be found at this link on the Polly Hill Arboretum website.
If you would care to upload your photo, you can do so in our Forums. We’d LOVE to see the stunner.
Bob on July 6th, 2008 2:37 pm

Just saw this entry and wondering how much shade will Stewartia tolerate?
margaret on July 6th, 2008 2:49 pm

Welcome, Bob. Probably depends a bit where you live. As Donna, fresh from the Stewartia Conference at Polly Hill Arboretum, describes it: afternoon shade, morning sun.
Terra on July 8th, 2008 3:35 pm

What stunning flowers on this midsized tree. I will consider planting one.
I just found your blog today and enjoy it, so am going to add it to my list of blog favs, at my own blog.
Lilli on July 15th, 2008 7:31 pm

I love this dialogue–can someone help?! After researching trees 3years ago, I planted a beautiful 5/6 ft. Stewartia Pseudocamillia outside my kitchen door (in a raised bed alongside a pebble stone patio). It’s thriving right now (despite nasty japanese beetles) but I’m thinking of transplanting it — if I can. Unfortunately, it gets full afternoon sun and I’m needing much more shade and a faster growing tree. Can a transplant be done (it’s now about 8 feet)? Many thanks!
margaret on July 15th, 2008 7:41 pm

Hi, Lilli, and welcome. I vote no, don’t move it. Stewartias are finicky about transplant, anyhow, and in midsummer…bad thought. If you are OK with losing it, then go ahead…but if your desire is to have it survive for certain, leave it where it is. It has barely begun to settle in for the original move.
The Intercontinental Gardener on July 18th, 2008 10:08 pm

SO lovely - beautiful bark and all… But in Stockholm, you always have the dead, ugly flowers hanging on while the rest are just opening. Not a good sight, somehow it feels like “You never get there”. Maybe it is only a problem for the cooller climates?
fran on July 31st, 2008 6:55 pm

Planted a small stewarthia about one year ago. Alot of buds this year, and one bloom.
Went away for one week during very hot weather and came back to a sick looking stewarthia. Stems still seem to be green, but it’s lost all it’s leaves. Have give it some root stimulator and super thrive, wondering if it will come back. Suggestions
margaret on July 31st, 2008 8:54 pm

Welcome, Fran. I am so sorry to hear about your tree. So it defoliated after just one week without attention? Was it well-watered consistently before that, or was it a bit dry and just stressed out completely with the added strain of the heat? I don’t know what super thrive and root stimulator are, but I never feed sick plants or ones in shock…I first wait until I see what they are trying to tell me. Sometimes under heat or drought stress plants shed their leaves…but it’s not a great sign.
Cathy on August 25th, 2008 12:21 pm

I live in Chicago, and just had a Japanese Stewartia planted in my city garden a few weeks ago. It is about 5-6 feet high, and looked quite healthy on the day he planted it. The area is quite sunny. It has been watered daily, but the leaves are looking yellow/brown around the edges. Any thoughts?
margaret on August 25th, 2008 2:03 pm

Welcome, Cathy. If I were a recently transplanted tree in late August, I’d be stressing, too. There’s always root disturbance (more if the tree is field-dug than in a nursery pot) and this is late in the season. Don’t drown it; water thoroughly but not nonstop, so it gets good moisture all fall.
Cathy on August 25th, 2008 3:44 pm

Any thoughts on chances of survival?
Do you think the constant afternoon sun could have an effect?

There was a small dogwood and redbud tree planted at the same time, that look a little sad too. Everything else seems to be OK. Do you think they could simply be adjusting to the transplanting? I’d hate to think that they could all die in 2 weeks!
margaret on August 25th, 2008 3:54 pm

They will certainly go dormant a few weeks early, from the way you describe the state of things, which is not surprising after a late-summer transplant. Remember, they would have shed their leaves in a month anyhow, so no biggie hopefully. At this point they may just not have enough oomph to do the root-disturbance adjustment and setting in thing along w/holding onto their leaves.
Vry hard to transplant things when conditions are hot/very sunny/windy and things like that, and not have then flag a bit.
Kay Sykora on August 31st, 2008 7:04 am

I’ve read the blogs and the thoughts are helpful. We planted a stewartia last fall, it initially seemed to do well and then this summer starting early the edges of all the leaves browned and continue to do that. Leaves will open up and then begin quickly to brown. It has been a dry summer - so we have watered…our style is to water deeply, but not every day.

We are going to move it this fall to a location that I think will suit it better. But was curious about the browning….only plant we have doing that.

Thanks Kay
margaret on August 31st, 2008 7:45 am

Welcome, Kay. When you get browning tips or edges before fall it’s often a sign that the plant is reacting to a stressor (drought, excessive heat, being fertilized…). Did you fertilize? Sometimes a recent transplant, in particular, can resent it (and sometimes overfertilization can just backfire in general). Or is it in a lawn area that gets fed a lot, so the tree got lots of Nitrogen inadvertently?
I’d hesitate to move a Stewartia a second time. This is not a plant that likes being moved, and takes a long time to settle in and adjust (which may be all that is at work with your tree…that it’s not settled in yet). You don’t say why the new location would be better that the current one. Details?
Kay Sykora on August 31st, 2008 8:29 pm

Thanks for the reply - we’ve had a hot summer, with drought. I’m cautious with fertilizer. But we have done a lot of watering - tried for at least twice a week - a soaking. But we are using City tap water and I understand that the flouride sometimes tweaks plants.

Based on your comments, may not move it. The reason for moving is the sense that it might do better in another part of the yard. The area I have been thinking of moving it to is semi-shade in a bed that we are planning. The location now is somewhat constricted for the long term,

Thanks so much.

Kay
Patrick on October 7th, 2008 2:07 pm

I planted one here in SE Massachusetts on September 13 - I have it on a hillock, about 120′ from a pine, so the soil has acid, and morning sun. With all the rain, its definitely settled in, though next spring will tell. I was thinking of giving it a blanket of mulch for the winter - I want to protect it - it is going to be a beauty. Any advice on fall preparation for the first winter in the earth?
margaret on October 7th, 2008 5:10 pm

Welcome, Patrick. You chose a great plant. I would wait till there is frost in the ground, then mulch with a few inches of fine-textured mulch…but not right up against the trunk. It has been a perfect fall for planting, and I wish you every success. Come again soon.

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Who's Gardening Here?

from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.”
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Why Do You Garden?

One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, and there's great other stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
October Garden Chores

All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.

FALL IS HEATING UP, at least visually, even as temperatures begin to trend downward. Cleanup is (hopefully) under way in earnest, with time out to cook up the last bits from the vegetable garden into a batch of ‘Tomato Junk’ or soup, or local apples into applesauce. With such delicious reminders of summer and fall in the freezer, and the right plants in the garden, there’s no “end” to fear. Some of us even feel happy about the coming riches: berries, bark, new birds. Peak planting time for bulbs and for many woody things is through month’s end or so; make that work include some focus on the addition of fall and winter plants to the landscape.

TREES & SHRUBS

CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area right around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents. Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well.

BE EXTRA-VIGILANT cleaning up under fruit trees, as fallen fruit and foliage allowed to overwinter invites added troubles next season.

BE SURE TO WATER trees now through hard frost if conditions are dry, so that they enter dormancy in a well-hydrated state. Evergreens (needled ones and broadleaf types like rhododendron, too) are particularly vulnerable to desiccation and winterburn otherwise.

DON’T PANIC IF EVERGREENS continue to show some browning or yellowing of needles this month and next. The oldest, innermost needles typically shed after a few years on the tree.

ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. This is especially important before winter arrives with its harsher weather, where weaknesses left in place invite tearing and unnecessary extra damage. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.

VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS

PREPARE A SEEDBED NOW for peas and spinach for next spring, to get a headstart on such early crops. Spinach can even be sown now through Thanksgiving, for super-early spring harvest; not the peas, of course.

AS VEGETABLE PLANTS (and annual flowers) fade, pull them to get a start on garden cleanup. Before composting the remains, cut them up a bit with a pruning shears or shred, to speed decomposition.

PARSLEY AND CHIVES can be potted up and brought indoors for offseason use. A few garlic cloves in a pot will yield a supply of chive-like (but spicier) garlic greens all winter for garnish. Determined types with really sunny windowsills can sow seeds of bush basil in a pot, too. I rely on frozen pesto cubes instead.

IF NEXT YEAR’S GARDEN plans include a patch of strawberries or asparagus, do the tilling and soil preparation now so the bare-root plants ordered over the winter can be planted extra early come spring.

AS AREAS COME EMPTY from harvest, build vegetable-garden soil by sowing cover crops: winter rye can be sown through mid-fall. These “green manures” will be turned under later to improve soil tilth and fertility.

REPLANT YOUR BIGGEST CLOVES from heads of harvested garlic for best yield, or hurry and order a supply and plant now (about a month before frost is in the ground). Prepare a sunny spot, and plant each clove 1-2 inches deep and 6 inches apart in the row, with about 12 inches between rows. Green growth will happen this fall, which is great; don’t panic. It’s a hardy thing.

FLOWER GARDEN

PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION to areas around peonies, roses, irises and other flowers that are prone to fungal diseases. Cut down iris foliage and rake well under roses.

CANNAS, DAHLIAS AND OTHER tender bulb-like things including elephant ears need to be dug carefully for indoor storage. There are many methods, but the basics: Once frost blackens the foliage, cut back the tops to 6 inches and dig carefully, then brush or wash off soil and let dry for two weeks or so to cure. Stash in a dry spot like unheated basement or crawl space around 40-50 degrees, in boxes or pots filled with bark chips or peat moss. Details, here.

DON'T DEADHEAD FADED perennials, biennials and annuals if you want to collect seed (non-hybrids only) or will let them self-sow. Nicotiana, poppies, larkspur, clary sage and many others fall into this leave-alone group. So do plants with showy or bird-friendly seedheads, like coneflowers.

LAST CALL FOR BULB ORDERS (see Sources), and plant as they arrive (lilies most urgently). Remember our “early, middle, late” mantra when ordering. And think drifts, not onesies and threesies.

PREPARE NEW beds for future planting by smothering grass or weeds with layers of recycled corrugated cardboard or thick layers of newspaper, then put mulch on top.

HOUSEPLANTS

START A POT OF PAPERWHITES in potting soil or pebbles and water, and stagger forcing more every couple of weeks for a winterlong display.

REST AMARYLLIS BULBS by putting them in a dry, dark place where they will have no water at all for a couple of months. I put mine in a little-used closet.

IF HOUSEPLANTS NEED repotting, do it as they come inside (less messy than in the house!). Don’t step up more than an inch (on small pots) or a couple (on large ones). Most plants don’t like to swim in their containers.

LAWNS

KEEP MOWING TILL THE GRASS stops growing, and make the last cut a short one. Let clippings lie on the lawn to return Nitrogen to the soil.

COMPOST HEAP & MULCH

START A LEAVES-ONLY PILE alongside your other heap as a future source of soil-improving leaf mold, or when partly rotted for use as mulch.

ORDER A SUPPLY of bulk mulch, which is cheaper than the packaged kind and also eliminates the waste of all those heavyweight plastic bags. Many local nurseries deliver. Top up mulch in all garden beds as they get cleaned up gradually in fall.
Brief but Juicy

new-fashioned recipe swap
OUR SUMMER-LONG SERIES of Thursday Food Fests, a cross-blog joint venture with our friends at the Dinner Tonight blog, has been a big hit. For those of you currently awash in a sea of cuke or zukes, take heart: still time for a batch of refrigerator pickles or squash parmigiana. Up to your whatever in basil? Maybe you missed our pesto fest. We’ve talked tomatoes (red or green) and green beans (from dilly to dally), ways to savor or stash fresh corn, and ideas for the fruit harvest, too. You can find them all under the Category “Edibles” in the right sidebar on every page, or by scrolling down through the posts at will.

ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).

lose anything lately?
THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.

true love, really
LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.

hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?

more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.

can-do pruning
REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.

which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.

non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.

twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?

anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.

surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.

magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?

order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
Buried Treasure

I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.

Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).

Pick a click, and enjoy. Better yet, CHIME IN yourself. Up in the nav bar…that's right, GO FOR IT: our Q&A FORUMS.