Wayside Gardens Voices

I Want To See Your Garden!

Here at Wayside Gardens, we see a lot of our plants.  Around the grounds, in the greenhouses, even in some of our offices, we've got our plants.  Most of us here have a lot of Wayside products in our own gardens, of course, as do our friends and families (what,  you think we give CDs as gifts?).  What we don't get as much chance to see, though, is our plants in your garden, out there "in the wild."  We would like to see and hear about your garden, though, since yours is the most important garden to us.

So, instead of coming to your house and knocking on your door, I'm asking you to send me pictures of your garden and tell me all about it.  You can email me at tandrews@parkseed.com.  We'll be posting some of these pictures and stories here on Wayside Gardens Voices, so send us pictures to show your garden off to your fellow gardeners around the world!

Paris Polyphylla Could Be the Most Unique Flower in Your Garden

Every time I flip through the Wayside Gardens Fall catalog (and I flip through it a lot, as I'm sure you can imagine), I'm stopped by the photo on page 13 of the Paris polyphylla flower.  With it's unusual leaf-like green petals arrayed symmetrically around ruby red stigma and long yellow anthers, it really is an arresting site.  It's not just unusual in our catalog, either.  Because this plant is very difficult to propagate (though remarkably easy to grow once you have a plant sprouted), it is a very rare plant.  Rare enough, in fact, that I know of no common name.  This rare little part-shade plant comes to us from the woodlands of Asia and is in the same family as Trillium.

Time to Divide Bearded Iris

In most of the country, now is the time to divide your Bearded Iris.  You should do this every two or three years in midsummer, after blooming but before the weather starts to turn (July or August, usually).  Regular division of the rhizomes does wonders for preventing root rot and borer damage.  Plus, it encourages the plant to grow more vigorously and to flower more.  It also gives you a great opportunity to thoroughly inspect the plant for damaged or diseased parts that can be removed.  Bearded Iris is one of the easier plants to divide (especially when it comes to lifting the plant), but as with any division, be sure to allot enough time to finish the job, so you don't have to leave your plants out and vulnerable longer than is necessary.

If you're looking for an interesting Iris to try out this coming Spring, give 'Dangerous Mood' a try.  Not only is it a stunning flower that's sure to leave an impression, it is one of my favorite plant names of all.

Lilies Make a Showstopping Garden Centerpiece

I love even, soothing plantings.  I love a garden full of small delights.  Very often, though, what a garden needs to really spice it up is something absolutely stunning, a plant that you absolutely can't ignore.  For a real centerpiece, Lilies are some of the very best.  Quality lilies feature lots of well-formed, interesting blooms in a range of colors and color patterns.  Their upright, regal habit draws the eye and easily complements other plantings.  The foliage is generally lovely and complementary, too. 

With the variety of Lilies that are available, there are many directions you can go with them.  Mass plantings create a strong effect, but so too can a single plant, or even several peppered throughout a garden.  The large, pure white of the 'Casa Blanca's' blooms add elegance, as does the much sought-after Lily 'Silk Road.'  As for me, though, I'm an absolute sucker for Tiger Lilies, and the double-flowered 'Flore Peno' Tiger Lily can't be beat for a unique, eye-catching exhibit.  I've had one of these beautiful plants adding tropical interest to my garden for years now, and it never fails to amaze me when the blooms come in late summer.

New Hostas for a Richer Garden

The popularity of most plants comes and goes and comes again as time goes on.  Some, though, are always in demand.  Hostas are one type of plant that we're always on the lookout for.  A great Hosta can make as much difference to the look and feel of your garden as any other plant, especially in the shade, where suitable plants are harder to find.  They add a lush texture that few, if any, other plant can bring.  Hostas are available in a variety of sizes and colors, from the deepest green to bright white variegation.  Some, like Hosta 'Venus,' even feature brilliant blooms.  But then, I probably don't have to tell you any of that.

What you might not know about is our new Hostas for Fall 2008.  This year we have 'Blue Ivory,' a compact Hosta with a dark blue center to its leaves.  It's quilted, giving it great tolerance to slugs and snails, and it does well in shade.  We've also got Hosta 'Great Escape,' a sport of 'Halcyon' with amazing white margins contrasting with a deep iron-blue center.  This vigorous grower is one of those rare Hostas whose flowers will be eagerly awaited, with bell-shaped lilac blooms that stand high above the plant on slender, elegant stems.  Perhaps the most exciting of our new Hostas, though, is the Hosta 'Dark Shadows,' an intense, deep blue hosta that turns toward green in summer, maintaining a lovely aquamarine tone all season.  The depth of its color is especially impressive from a Hosta that thrives in light shade.  It's one of the lower-growing Hostas I've seen, spreading wide to make for great mass plantings or ground cover.

Allium Gives your Garden Whimsy

Does your garden take itself too seriously?  The answer to a garden that needs a little playfulness could very well be to grow some onions. Not, of course, the sort of onions that you eat (though that's not a terrible idea, either).  What I'm talking about is ornamental onion plants, Allium. 

"Allium" refers to the entire onion genus, which is one of the largest plant genera.  It includes onions, chives, garlic, shallots, and leeks.  When gardeners talk about growing Allium bulbs or flowers, though, it is usually the ornamental sort that they are referring to.  These drought-resistant bulbs bloom, usually in early summer, with fun, colorful round inflorescences that look almost like balloons or something out of a children's book (these inflorescences are actually "umbels," meaning that the flower stalks are all of the same length and stem from a single point).  These whimsical blooms are sure to get curious comments from the neighbors.  They also last wonderfully in both fresh and dried arrangements, so they're great for adding an unusual touch indoors, too.  The classic ball-shaped Allium blooms range from the smaller 'Purple Sensation,' which carries flowerheads of around three inches, to the huge, 9-inch balls of the Giant Allium.  For something even more eye-catching, try the "Tumbleweed Onion," Allium schubertii.  Its flowerheads grow to as big as 18 inches with pink flowers at all lengths along the flower stalks, creating an effect not unlike a floral firework.

Gearing Up for Fall at Wayside Gardens

Today is an exciting day for us here at Wayside Gardens.  We're shifting our main website over to the fall season offerings, which means a great deal of work, but it also means that we get to start talking about all of the great new plants we've got available this year.

I have my copy of the 2008 Fall Gardening Catalog on my desk now (I promise, getting the catalogs first isn't the only reason I work here), and it is, of course, beautiful.  The cover photo is, I think, the most stunning I've ever seen on a catalog.  It is of the new Coreopsis 'Redshift.'  This Darrell Probst creation is a true improvement over previous red Coreopsis.  The flowers are a blend of a bright, rich burgundy and clean, intense yellow, starting off deep red and maturing through shades of red and yellow to finish a lovely creamy hue.  The flowers are plentiful and large enough to be truly impressive as in a vase (cut or deadhead them to stimulate new flower growth; this Coreopsis repeats heavily).  The most impressive feature of 'Redshift,' though, is that it is a genuinely hardy, vigorous red Coreopsis.  No more will red Tickseeds be grown only as annuals in much of the country; this one is hardy to zone 4!

Of course, for those of you in the Southeast, don't forget that tomorrow is Flower Day!  Come by our home here in South Carolina for guided tours of our beautiful trial gardens and a chance to meet HGTV's Paul James!

Ground Cover Plants Make Life Easier

A clean, well-maintained landscape generally takes a great deal of work.  There are always some areas that take a lot more work than others: sunny spots with plants that need to be watered every day (or more) in the summer, shady spots where grass just won't grow, slopes that make mowing a huge hassle, areas that are easy to see but hard to get to for maintenance.  All of these things can easily take a lot of the fun out of gardening, often forcing us to either pretend that those areas aren't there or obsess over them.

In many cases, though, there is a simple, elegant solution.  There are many Ground Cover Plants that are low maintenance and add great beauty to difficult areas.  Ground covers can take the place of mulch at the base of many other plants, keeping their roots cool and helping to retain moisture in the soil.  Many ground covers, such as Vinca minor, thrive in part or full shade, spreading to softly carpet difficult or out-of-the-way areas.  In many cases ground cover perennials require far less water and maintenance than grass, and they are becoming a popular substitute to save time, money, or even the environment.

Container Citrus Trees Give More Than Beauty

This weekend I bought a big bag of kumquats.  I had never actually tried one, though I've been fascinated by the little guys for years.  Not only is it one of the most fun fruit names to say, they're like tiny, perfect little oblong oranges.  I was pretty sure that you're supposed to eat the fruits whole, so I rinsed one off, popped it into my mouth and bit down, ready to savor the citrusy goodness.  Not, as it turns out, how you eat a Kumquat.  The taste of the pulp is much closer to that of a lemon than that of an orange (only even more tart), and when you just eat it like that the rind is very bitter.  To the internet I went, looking for the proper way to eat them (peeling them all seemed just too ridiculous to contemplate).  The trick, I discovered, is to roll the fruit between your fingers before eating to release the essential oils in the rind.  Then you need to chew thoroughly.  The sweetness of a kumquat is in the rind, and it needs to be chewed into the sour pulp.  Once you've got the trick down, though, it is an amazingly delicious, complex fruit.  This, I thought, is a fruit that I want to grow for myself.

It turns out that I can.  Wayside Gardens has several citrus trees that thrive in containers, so all of us can grow delicious citrus fruit almost anywhere in the country.  I might just grab up a Citrus kumquat 'Nagami,' which will produce those great little fruits that I've just discovered I love.  Plus, it's an evergreen that will, in the right indoor conditions, produce intermittently year-round.  If you're looking to grow limes for Mexican cuisine or mixing drinks, you can't go wrong with the seedless lime Citrus 'Bearss.'  You also might consider the Citrus limon 'Meyer Improved,' one of the most popular container citrus trees ever.

Festival of Flowers: Come Tour Our Gardens!

Each year, Wayside Gardens and Park Seed open up our amazing trial gardens to the public.  For one day we have our professional horticulturists give guided tours of these beautiful 9 acres of garden.  This year we will have over 2,000 varieties of plants at their peak, and anticipate that thousands of visitors from hundreds of miles around will be joining us in our Greenwood home.

This amazing day is called Flower Day, and it is the very soul of the South Carolina Festival of Flowers.  It is an opportunity for you to meet many of the people behind this company and to see the passion that we all have for bringing you the finest plants in the world.  More importantly, it is a chance for us to meet you, the most important people we know of.

This year we will be featuring Eric Johnson, our Director of Horticulture and Cohost of PBS's GardenSMART, who will be speaking at 8:30 on New and Exciting Plants for 2008.  Stephanie Turner, Park Seed's Director of Seed Product, will be giving a presentation on "Great Annuals and Tropicals for Containers." 

Most exciting, though, is that HGTV's Paul James will again be joining us for tours of our gardens as well as Q&A Sessions at 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM.  If you don't know, Paul is the star of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, one of the most popular National gardening shows (as well as my personal favorite).  He is known for is uniquely oddball and personable approach to gardening advice, so be prepared for anything.

Our gardens will be open from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM on Saturday, June 21st.  I have been attending this event with my family for many years, and I hope that you will join us this year.  [Directions to Wayside Gardens]

Korean Fir: One of the Most Unique Conifers Around

We're always on the lookout for unique and interesting trees and shrubs, and it always pleases us to find a quality plant that will really stand out in your landscape.  Our Korean Fir 'Horstmann's Silberlocke' (Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlocke') is definitely one of those plants.  Korean Fir is a real show-stopper, featuring dark green needles that are recurved back to show the bright, silvery-white undersides, making the irregular branches almost seem to glow.  It produces many cones that sit upright on the branches and are an eye-catching steel-blue with hints of violet.  These cones take several months to mature, meaning you get these interesting accents on your tree for much of the year.  This particular selection of Korean Fir is exciting, because, as natives of the high mountains of Korea, most Korean Firs do not do well in warmer climates.  Horstmann's Silberlocke, on the other hand, is noteworthy for its ability to tolerate the heat all the way to zone 9.

If you are looking for a quick growing tree, Korean Fir is not for you.  It is an unusually slow-growing conifer.  However, the beautiful growth of this unusual plant is more than worth the wait for a majestic tree, and it is stunning almost from day one.  Several of my coworkers are already finding planting spots on their landscapes for this exciting Abeis koreana.

Interesting Hydrangea: Not Just Pink Puffs

Hydrangea are some of the best flowering shrubs around.  They're remarkably easy to grow and bloom reliably with great displays.  However, because they're prevalent and mostly display showy blooms, they don't appeal to a lot of younger gardeners who associate them with their grandmother's garden.  There are, though, a lot of Hydrangea choices that are much different from the "pink puff" style hydrangeas that many gardeners think of these days. 

The Halo™ Hydrangea series is one of the best of these interesting Hydrangeas  The flowers have lovely creamy color that is rare on shrubs, but it is the unique picotee edge that really sets these shrubs apart.  My favorite of these is the Hydrangea Angel Song, which features a sharp pencil-thin white picotee.

Exciting, Intense New Hemerocallis 'Prarie Wildfire'

I love Daylilies (Hemerocallis) for great midsummer color.  The blooms are interesting, with great form and colors, and they're really easy to grow.  To me, though, the best thing about Daylilies is that these unique blooms last only a day.  Normally that might be a bad thing, but on Hemerocallis it's wonderful.  You see, healthy Daylillies bloom profusely all along their stems, and they replace fallen flowers very quickly, so you'll often have loads of flowers for the entire bloom season.  Because they're different blooms every day, though, the plant is amazingly dynamic, truly a different plant every day.  For an easy gardening centerpiece,  you just can't beat that.

I'm especially excited about the new Hemerocallis 'Prarie Wildfire' that we've just made available exclusively to our internet customers.  It's a large plant, reaching about 23 inches tall, and its particularly prolific blooms are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.  It's also relatively drought-tolerant and disease-resistant, meaning that it's especially easy to grow.  While all of that is great, it's the rich, intense color of the blooms that really sells me on this plant.  I have only rarely seen hemerocallis display such deep red tones, and they are set off perfectly by the yellow throats that each bloom sports.  So, if you're looking for a truly jaw-dropping centerpiece for your summer garden, consider this stunning Daylily.

Toad Lilies for Really Unique Blooms

I get a lot of questions from customers asking about unique and interesting blooms.  A lot of gardeners love to have centerpiece flowers that really draw the eye and make you want to lean in for a better look.  My first responses are usually flowering vines, particularly Passion Vine and various Clematis varieties.

Of course, despite my great love for them, climbers are not always the right solution.  Another of my favorite blooms that is both really unique and that you don't see in a lot of gardens is Tricertys, common name Toad Lily.  The blooms of the Toad Lily are absolutely fascinating, and really invite you to stop, come closer, and give them a nice long inspection.  They do well in full and part shade, which brings out the texture and form of the flowers and lending a certain air of mystery to the rich colors.  We chose the Tricertys 'Raspberry Mousse' for inclusion in our catalog because its very nearly solid coloring (unusual among Toad Lilies) really brings out the best qualities of the almost alien form of these small blooms.  The flowers are small; just about an inch across, but they bloom all along the stems, so the size only serves to make them all the more interesting.  If you're looking for a truly unique flower to star in your shady garden, you really can't do any better than this Toad Lily.

Tips for Growing Clematis

Clematis vines are, of course, some of my favorite flowering vines: they're very easy to care for, and they produce absolutely amazing and varied flowers.  One of the most common questions I get, though, is from readers who are confused about when to prune their particular Clematis.  They know that pruning will help with the diminishing shows that some Clematis start to produce after a few years, but they find conflicting information on when to prune.  This is because you need to prune your vine based on when it blooms.  The simplest way to choose when to prune is this:

• If your Clematis blooms in the spring, then it is in Group 1.  It sets blooms on the previous year's growth, and needs to be pruned just after it finishes blooming for the year.  These can usually be cut back very severely.
• If your Clematis blooms in the summer or fall, then it is in Group 2.  These set blooms on new growth, and should be pruned either while dormant or just after coming out of dormancy.  These can usually be cut back pretty severely
• If your Clematis is a repeat bloomer, then it is in Group 3.  Determine which bloom season is most important to you (either based on the needs of your garden or the performance of your plant), and prune accordingly.  Keep in mind that Group 3 Clematis vines do not recover from pruning as well, and thus shouldn't be cut back anywhere near as drastically as those from the other groups.

Why You Should Plant a Tree This Year

While on a short day trip to nearby Athens, Georgia this weekend, I had a chance to briefly visit one of my favorite places in the world, the Tree that Owns Itself (or, more properly, the Son of the Tree that Owns Itself).  It is a white oak tree that was propagated from an ancient oak that, according to local legend, was so dearly loved by Colonel William Henry Jackson that he deeded the tree and the land surrounding it to the tree itself, so that it would be protected forever.  The original tree died in the 1940s, but a tree which had been propagated from the original tree (the tree's presume heir) was transplanted to the original tree's site.    The tree is now one of the most loved local residents, and while its ownership of itself is not actually legal, it is under the protection of the city, and hopefully that tree, and perhaps its successors, will stand there for a very long time. 

I love this story of how a tree that hosted much of a man's childhood can become like a member of the family.  Many of us who were fortunate to grow up in an area with regular access to trees can fully understand this connection.  This is a big part of why I always encourage people to plant trees where they can.  They're an extraordinarily important part of our communities, our environment, and even our day-to-day lives.  Planting a tree is a great activity to do with your children, and you get to watch them grow up together, and they'll be able to take their own children to see the tree that they helped plant as children.  Today is Arbor Day, the perfect opportunity to go out and plant a tree, but you don't need a holiday to do it, and the sooner you plant a tree, the sooner you and your family can enjoy it.

Save the World by Growing Bamboo

In honor of Earth Day, I thought that I would write a post today about something that you can do to help the environment.  In recent years it has become more and more common for regular folks to keep plants in an effort to produce oxygen and sequester CO2.  It only makes sense, then, that we would want plants that does this most efficiently.  For reducing your carbon footprint, you just can't beat bamboo.  Recent studies have shown that it produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent amount of trees, and sequesters as much as 5 times the carbon.  It also grows very quickly, so your plants start to make a real difference almost right away.  Of course, it also helps that bamboo is beautiful and low-maintenance.  Most bamboos also adapt well for growing in containers.

One of the best things about growing bamboo is that there are so many varieties available.  With more than 1500 known species of bamboo, there is almost certainly one for you.  Some of these species that are available are really interesting and unique.  I've already mentioned on this blog that I have a great fondness for Black Bamboo, but we recently made available the amazing Candy-Cane Bamboo, Himalayacalamus falconeri, and it's competing for my heart.  The culms of this interesting bamboo are striped randomly with vivid colors: dark green, red, yellow, and pink.  If left to grow as high as it likes, the culms will reach between 20 and 30 feet tall, but it's a true clumping bamboo, so you don't need to worry about it spreading out of control.

Dealing with Droughts: Xeriscaping

The weather has been going a little crazy the last few years, and each year it seems that more and more of the country is affected by drought conditions.  It's no surprise, then, that drought landscaping (sometimes called xeriscaping) is becoming a hot topic.  There are a lot of easy things you can do in your garden to conserve water.  A rain barrel under your house gutters is an obvious solution, and one that's becoming more and more popular (I'll be installing a 55-gallon barrel at my parents' house tomorrow).  Putting down a thick layer of mulch can help a lot of plants to retain moisture.  Many landscapers are recommending less grass, most types of which require a tremendous amount of water.  In the place of grass natural areas and planting beds are taking over.

Possibly the best way to save water with little effort is by choosing your plants with water conservation in mind.  Many slower-growing perennials need much less water, and can give you just as much beauty.  There are also a huge variety of drought-tolerant plants available that, once established, will do wonderfully with almost no irrigation.

Of course, true xeriscaping requires a great deal more than just putting in some drought tolerant plants.  The most advanced xeriscaping efforts require rethinking the entire landscaping from the bottom up, using specialty grasses, carefully built gradients to channel water in the appropriate ways, and careful balancing of shade and sun.  You don't, however, have to be an advanced xeriscaper to get real water-saving benefits from your garden this year.

Wisteria is Blooming

This is one of my very favorite times of the year.  Everything is really starting to come out here in South Carolina.  We've got White Dogwoods blooming strongly right now, and, of course, one of my favorite blooms of the year is out in force right now: Wisteria.  Around here we have Wisteria growing everywhere.  It peeks out from somewhere in almost every yard, it seems, and many of the pine groves around town have at least some of the amethyst or lilac-blue blooms on almost every tree.  Wisteria hangs off of trees all up and down the streets in the older parts of town, and sometimes a strong wind will dislodge small showers of the small purple petals.  The Wisteria bloom gets started across town, usually over the course of just a couple of weeks, just when the weather really starts to turn for the better.  The first few picnics and hikes of the spring are usually accompanied by Wisteria in Greenwood.  Growing Wisteria is probably a tradition around here because in large part because it's so easy, but it certainly doesn't hurt that it means amazing purple against the bright green of new tree growth just when we're most ready for lots of flowers,  after the Daffodils have stopped blooming.  Either way, I'm glad for it.

Sweetshrub-Sinocalycalycanthus 'Hartlage Wine'

I was just looking around over in our Wayside Gardens Garden Center, and I happened upon some fantastic Sweetshrub.  I asked one of our helpful Master Gardeners about the plant, and she told me that it's x Sinocalycalycanthus 'Hartlage Wine,' a crossbreed of Chinese Sweetshrub and our native Carolina Allspice.  All of these shrubs are descended from a single plant bred at the Raulston Arboretum in the early 1990's.  The plant is named "Hartlage" after the undergraduate student, Richard Hartlage, who was in charge of the experiment ("Wine" comes from the blossom color).  It really is a rare find, because it is a hybrid with all of the best traits of both stock plants from which it was bred.  Like the Carolina Allspice, it is a hardy, vigorous shrub, but it has the large blooms and leaves of the Chinese Sweetshrub.  The buds that start to come out in spring burst into large, brilliant red blooms that will be the envy of your neighborhood, especially against the backdrop of the shrub's lovely glossy foliage.  That foliage changes to a soft yellow in fall, which can be almost as beautiful as the flowers themselves.  Plus, because it's an unusual shrub, you'll most likely be the first on your block to have one!