1. Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) – large 60-80 feet tall tree whose fall color is a brilliant mixture of yellows, oranges, purples and reds. Zones (5b)6-9). 2. Black gum, tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) – large 50-50 feet tall tree produces spectacular scarlet fall color. Lots of good cultivars including Green Gable®, ‘Wildfire’ and Red Rage® (Zones […]
Archive for the ‘Fall Garden Interest’ Category
Perennials With Great Autumn Foliage
Bloody cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum) – short 9-12 inches high clump forming groundcover that bears purple flowers in May-June. Its deeply cut foliage green leaves turn shades of red after first frost. (Zones 3-8). Red leaf mukdenia (Mukdenia rossii) – fanned, maple-like leaves emerge bright green in spring, age to bronze-green in summer, and finish green […]
Seven Late Summer Perennial Gems
The following seven (7) perennials provide gorgeous floral color in mixed perennial beds in late summer and into fall. Flowers attract pollinators, including lots of bees, butterflies, and an occasional hummingbird. ‘Blue Fortune’ Giant Hyssop (Agastache x ‘Blue Fortune’) offers lavender-blue flowers during a long hot summer extending into early fall. Leaves emit a minty-anise […]
Attracting Hummingbirds
This time of year many gardeners are setting out bird feeders, including those filled with a sugar solution to encourage hummingbirds to visit your garden. Unfortunately, the sugary drink will also attracts numerous ants, bees, and wasps. When warm spring and summer weather arrives, the solution clouds up with bacteria which ferments or perhaps fatal […]
Growing Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia)
Angel trumpet (Brugmansia) is tropical plant native from Venezuela to Peru (USDA hardiness zones 7-b to 10). Plants are surprising hardy outdoors in zone 6-b in protected areas. This beautiful perennial/shrub, grown in tree form, reaches heights of 6-10 feet. It is a member of the Solanaceae family which includes tomato, potato, petunia, nicotiana and other great garden plants. They’re […]
Poinsettia Care
Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) have become a symbol of the Christmas and winter holiday season. Their colorful bracts (most people call them”flowers”) are actually modified leaves. The tiny “true” flowers are in the center of the bracts. Each year new poinsettia varieties hit the garden shops. In the mid-19th century, Joel R. Poinsett introduced the poinsettia […]
Uniquely Different Red Dragon™ Contorted Filbert
Uniquely Different ‘Red Dragon’ Contorted Filbert European filbert or hazelnut (Corylus avellana) is native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa where it is often found growing in thickets and hedgerows. Red Dragon™ filbert is an outstanding red leaf selection of contorted filbert (C. avellana Red Dragon™). This unique landscape shrub grows 6 – 8 […]
Inkberry Holly Substitute For Boxwood
Ilex glabra ‘Densa’ Inkberry holly (Ilex glabra), also called gallberry, is a slow-growing broadleaf evergreen shrub (USDA hardiness zones 4-9). It grows to 5-8 feet tall and can spread by root suckers and form colonies. Inkberry is native from the eastern coast of Canada south to Florida, west to Louisiana. The shrub is at home in sandy […]
Ultra Dwarf Korean Fir
Korean fir (Abies koreana) is slow-growing compact fir species with a mature height between 15 to 30 feet tall and 6 to 15 feet wide. Its tiny needles are ½- to 1- inch long, green on top and two white stripes on the underside. It bears 2-3 inches long erect purple cones almost annually that […]

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