PLANTWISE

Lawn Crocus

Crocus tommasinianus – a classic English technique for dressing up a dull lawn

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Feb 07, 2011 at 06:00PM 6 Comments

Spring comes in waves in the Pacific Northwest.

First we have the native osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis ) whose green, chain-like flowers light up the woods in January. Next come the spicily-scented witch hazel flowers that unfurl as January progresses – a sweet, earthy reminder that winter will one day be over. Then the snowdrops send up their tiny white spears and gardeners everywhere sigh with hope that spring is just around the corner. Then come the adorable little purple crocus , heralding possibly the most important moment in the slow, tantalizing dance that is late winter in our region: the moment we’re over the “hump.” The hump of winter, the hump of horrid weather – let’s just say we’re over the general hump of gloom. Of course the sunshine-yellow forsythia and golden daffodils are still to come. But by then, we’re already over the hump so they’re like icing on the cake.

This lawn circle at my old house was home to thousands of naturalized Crocus tommasinianum, as well as patches of hardy Cyclamen hederifolium that bloomed in autumn. There was always something in flower in that lawn!

Right now, just bring on those teeny little purple crocus – the ultimate in springiness!

There are many kinds of early species crocus. Crocus tommasinianus (pictured above and to right) – affectionately called “tommies” in England – are preferred for lawns because the flowers and foliage fade long before the grass needs mowing. But most of the delicate little species have slender, grasslike foliage and dainty, cupped flowers that would look natural in a lawn. The big, hefty purple, white and yellow ones sold in big boxes in, y’know, big box stores wouldn’t look so good in a lawn.

Instead, plant tiny treasures like Crocus tommasinianus, C. chrysanthus, C. biflorus, C. sieberi and C. flavus. They can be found in specialty bulb catalogs like Brent & Becky’s and Van Engelen Bulb Co. during the fall planting season. They are inexpensive at about $25 per hundred – and look especially fantastic in drifts, emerging from a mossy lawn. If you have to have a lawn, plant these all through the grass in the fall, clip the grass short in November and enjoy the tiny, often fragrant flowers in February.

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Tags: Plant of the Week, winter-interest-plants

Spring Garden Book Soiree & Hellebore Open House

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Feb 04, 2011 at 11:05AM 0 Comments

While I’m not quite ready to stick my shovel in the sodden ground, I’m definitely hot to trot when it comes to gathering inspiration and – well, okay – buying plants. Especially hellebores. In fact, this is the time to shop for the hellebore of your dreams, since they are just coming into flower now (Feb and March). If you are buying seed-grown plants – and many are seed-grown and therefore all different from one another – it’s crucial to see the flowers when you buy them.

Here are two springy, inspiring events taking place this weekend. And there will be a veritable fiesta of hellebores available at both nurseries.

WHAT: Dancing Oaks Nursery’s Open Weekend for Hellebores, Witch Hazels and Early Bulbs
WHEN: Saturday February 5th 9-5 and Sunday February 6th 10-4
WHERE: Dancing Oaks Nursery – Dancing Oaks Nursery, 17900 Priem Rd, Monmouth, OR 97361 Tel: 503-838-6058

The Lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus) are in full swing, a little early this year, in fact. Witch hazels are in full flower and snowdrops are sparkling out in Monmouth. It’s a fantastic time of the year to take a drive out through fields and past stands of picturesque Oregon oaks, stopping at a winery or two on the way. Warming tea and snacks will be on offer to enjoy while wandering through warm, flower-scented hoop houses and meandering garden beds.

Dancing Oaks’ regular hours – Tues to Sat 9 to 5 and Sun 10 to 4 – begin in March, but call them at 503-838-6058 to make a visit (other than the open house) before then.

WHAT: Spring Garden Book Soiree & Open House
WHEN: Sunday February 6 starting at 1 pm
WHERE: Garden Fever Nursery, 3433 NE 24TH AVE. ~ on NE 24th, just south of Fremont Tel: 503-287-3200

Featured speakers:

1 pm: Tom Fischer, Editor in Chief at Timber Press and superb blog-writer and author of PERENNIAL COMPANIONS:100 Dazzling Plant Combinations for Every Season and THE GARDENER’S COLOR PALETTE: Paint Your Garden with 100 Extraordinary Flower Choices. Tom will be presenting Timber Press’s new gardening titles for 2011 (including Amy’s and my terrarium book!). Listen to his descriptions and browse through a new year’s worth of gardening titles.

1:30 pm – David George Gordon, author of THE SECRET WORLD OF SLUGS & SNAILS: Life in the Very Slow Lane. Here’s David’s blurb:

“David is a professional science writer with a total of 18 books in print and has spoken at the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the California Academy of Sciences. He takes his slugs seriously, but not too seriously. He has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, To Tell the Truth and The View.”

He will be speaking about his latest book and discussing how to tell the good, the bad, the ugly and the NW native slugs from the “invaders”.

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Tags: Gardening Events, winter-interest-plants,

Sweet box

Sarcococca (that’s pronounced sar – co – co – kah!)

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jan 31, 2011 at 05:00PM 1 Comments

Himalayan box (Sarcococca hookieriana var humilis growing around the base of a tree at the Bishops Close in Portland’s Dunthorpe neighborhood. This photo was taken in March last year so the flowers are pretty much done and perhaps the foliage looks a bit worse for wear after the frigid temperatures it had just gone through… it’s much greener this year!

Gosh, I’m predicable: I enthuse about sweet box (Sarcococca sp.) every January and February. Also known as Christmas box and Himalayan box, these demure shrubs possess the sweetest scent around and you don’t even have to crouch down in the cold mud and plunge your nose deep into the wet foliage to smell it – no, just stroll around within 20 feet downwind of it and it will be unmistakable. It’s that powerful, that delicious, and that enchanting.

The softly sweet, vanilla fragrance is the primary reason to grow it. But it also happens to be a pretty little thing, with glossy, dark green evergreen foliage and tiny, thread-like creamy white flowers which turn into small red or black fruit in summer.

Perhaps best of all, Sarcococca are also adaptable and tough plants. Given reasonably rich, well-drained, acidic soil and shade or dappled sunlight, they are quite tolerant of our dry summers, although they flower best if they receive some supplemental water in late summer, when they are forming the following year’s flower buds. Like most rhododendrons and camellias, they can take direct morning sun if they receive a bit of summertime water but keep them out of dry spots in direct, hot afternoon sun – that’s what rosemary, Santolina and Cistus are for!

Sarcococca confusa in flower, late January

Like their close relative, boxwood, Sarcococca are not bothered by deer. But what’s especially nice about Sarcococca is that they are tough enough to withstand the often-difficult conditions found near the foundations of houses. For instance, they can take some root competition from other plants once established, and often grow remarkably well in those marginal areas around the eaves. (They cannot grow directly under one of those giant, overhanging, Craftsman-style eaves, though – not much can!)

There are several species of Sarcococca that do well in the Pacific Northwest: three common types – all exquisitely fragrant – and a bunch that are less common and require a little poking around to find.

Sarcococca hookieriana var. humilis is a low-growing, politely suckering plant that can spread widely over time making a 1 to 2-foot tall evergreen ground cover for a shady spot. It’s great as a ground-cover and an understory beneath rhododendrons, camellias,

Sarcococca ruscifolia is a 4-5-foot tall (and about as wide) species with small black fruit that turn red in late summer when ripe.

Sarcococca confusa – also a 3-5 foot tall (and about as wide) species but with black fruit.

A little harder to find but worth the search:

Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna – said to be “the best form of Christmas box” by Xera Plants (and much-touted in classic English gardening books), it has purplish-red stems and larger flowers than the fairly commonplace S. hookeriana var. humilis.

Sarcococca orientalis – possessing the largest and perhaps most fragrant flowers of the winter boxes, this 3-foot tall and wide species flowers from December to March. The leaves are a bit chunkier and wider than most other species.

Sarcococca saligna – a little less cold-hardy than the other species, this species has slender, lighter green leaves and clusters of sweetly fragrant green flowers that appear in the autumn from October to mid-winter. Plants reach about 3 feet tall and wide and have a more delicate, willowy, arching form than any of the other species mentioned here. I snuck this one in – it’s really more of a fall-blooming plant than a winter-bloomer but heck, it’s still darling.

Sources:

Cistus Design Nursery

Xera Plants – a wholesale-only outfit whose plants can be found at most of our wonderful local retailers including Garden Fever Nursery, Dennis’ Seven Dees Nursery and the Portland Nursery

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Tags: Plant of the Week, winter-interest-plants, fragrant flowers

Clean Up That Garden

and make way for winter flowers!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jan 17, 2011 at 06:00AM 4 Comments

Silver Lace Corsican hellebore (Helleborus argutifolius ‘Silver Lace’) just a week or two shy of cracking open its cupped, apple green blossoms. Like other “shrubby” hellebores, this one needs no trimming until after flowering is over.

Recently, accomplished gardener friends on Facebook have been proudly announcing that they have completed their late winter garden clean-up.

I usually wait til the first week of February to cut back ornamental grasses and tidy up for the bulbs. But this winter was particularly brutal – ornamental grasses were prematurely knocked down and the early freezes left dead leaves lingering like dirty hankies on trees and shrubs that usually drop them cleanly.

My thoughts may still be on the plants I saw in Mexico, but even I can now see what’s before me in my Portland garden: glistening white buds of snowdrop are appearing through a haze of dead foliage and my Lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus) are way ready to be done with last year’s tatty old leaves.

At this time of the year, Lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus) can look pretty scrappy. What to do? Use sharp clippers to cut off last year’s foliage at ground level – be careful to retain new flower buds rising from the center. Removing old helps keep new foliage free of fungal disease and removes the “clutter” so you can see the emerging flowers.

Garden clean-up is a subtle art and its timing is a bit different every year, depending on the weather and the gardener’s level of fervor. With the exception of old-fashioned peonies, irises, roses and certain other disease-prone plants, I leave old plant stalks and stems standing in winter to provide cover, perching posts and forage for birds and insects.

Lenten rose (Helleborus x hybridus) flowers are much easier to see when last year’s leathery old leaves have been cut off. At this point, they’re just barely showing their faces – in a month, they’ll be in their full finery.

But there comes a point when I’ve had it and I am suddenly sick of the sight of scrappy stems, seed heads that have been stripped bare by hungry birds and black, slimy leaves matting my garden beds. I want to see what’s new – every tiny green tip of the early bulbs pushing through the earth invigorates me more and I grab clippers and a rake.

It’s hard to see the tiny flower buds of these snowdrops (Galanthus) – that’s why I like to clean up the dried grasses and dead leaves around my bulbs at this time of the year. I wouldn’t want to miss any of the action!

Luckily, winter clean-up is an easy and very gratifying project! With clippers, I cut back the Lenten rose-type hellebores, grasses and other spent foliage that obscures the hopeful little green stems of early-rising bulbs. (If you don’t know what kind of hellebores you have, just remember: the ones to cut back in winter have flower stems rising on leafless stems, directly from the center of the plant. If the flowering stems have leaves on them, as with the Silver Lace type pictured above, wait until they are finished flowering to cut them back to the base – usually in April or May.)

After cutting last year’s foliage back, I rake up all the debris and plunk it in the shrub beds behind the garage or in my compost heap in the back yard. Keep in mind that those Lenten rose type-hellebore leaves will take longer to decompose, as they are kind of leathery so chop them up into smaller pieces or put them on the bottom of the pile so they break down faster. If you don’t have a compost pile or bin, you can always add the debris to your yard debris bin – but since any wet, dead leaves you raked up are half-way to compost anyway, you may as well keep them around to enrich your own garden soil.

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Tags: Outdoor Gardening, Gardening Tips, winter-interest-plants

Great Plants for Winter Pizzazz

there’s more to winter interest than pretty flowers!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Dec 14, 2010 at 04:55PM 2 Comments

Brachyglottis monroi

When I say, “great plants,” I mean “great plants in my garden… right now.” There are countless best and most wonderful winter-interest plants listed in gardening books, magazines and on line. I too have rafts of personal favorites.

But right now, these three extraordinary winter-interest plants are so eye-catching, it’s hard to focus on anything else. Next month, my favorites will surely change, as other plants come into flower, or develop exciting, rich stem colors, or as plain green foliage develops burgundy or violet hues as winter casts its frosty spell. But right now, these three plants are shining like beacons just outside my windows, through the dim light, clouds and rain of December.

I should add that they toughed out some extremely cold temperatures last month with no damage. While Daphne odora , New Zealand flax (Phormium sp.) and some purple-flowered Hebe dropped leaves or just melted into oblivion, these three gems remained nearly flawless.

So here goes: my top three plants for mid-December, 2010:

A Classy, Evergreen Stalwart: Olearea monroi
This tough, cold-hardy evergreen shrub has silvery foliage whose stems retain a lovely, smoky lavender tint in the winter. Leaves are beautifully scalloped, with white, lightly furry undersides. Mine has never flowered after four years, as I rarely supply summer water, but if it did flower, they would be acid yellow daisy-like blossoms, appearing in mid-summer. The plant reaches about 2+ feet tall and usually grows a bit wider than tall. It’s a subtle beauty but one that looks so lovely in winter!

Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’. Image courtesy of Oregon State University. (Mine’s pretty but I wondered if the peeling paint on the garage in the backdrop would properly offset the stems.)

A Burst of Glowing Orange Stems: Cornus sericea ‘Midwinter Fire’
This is a fairly common plant, particularly since it’s a selection of the PNW native red-twigged dogwood and is very easy to propagate. Common or not, this plant is stunning and deserves a place in any garden. Adaptable to sun or shade and wet to somewhat dry soil, this plant’s flowers are even butterfly-friendly. It can be allowed to reach 8-12 feet tall and wide, grown as a tree or stooled (cut to the base) every March to limit its size. The yellow fall foliage is so pretty – but the very best quality of this deciduous shrub is the bright, glowing orange stems: butter yellow at the base, turning to hot coral and firecracker reddish orange at the tips. Wow!

Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’

A Ray of Sunshine: Mahonia x media ‘Midwinter Sun’
This plant has everything going for it: an elegant, architectural look, evergreen toughness, some drought tolerance, adaptability to substantial sun or shade, and – best of all – large sprays of the brightest, sunniest yellow flowers imaginable, appearing from late November through January. These sweetly fragrant yellow flowers are hummingbird magnets that reliably supply nectar for months. The plants can reach 12+ feet tall and wide and can be pruned up or left furnished with leaves to the base. In summer, powdery blue fruit form, which are soon consumed by birds.

Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ (hummingbird’s view)

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Tags: winter-interest-plants