Archive for the ‘Disease resistant’ Category

Galax- Popular Mountain Plant For Your Woodland Garden

Galax (Galax urceolata) is an under planted perennial wildflower native to the southern Appalachian mountains and eastern U.S. (USDA hardiness zone 5). Galax foliage is frequently collected from the wild for use in the winter floral decorations. Unfortunately, over-harvesting on public lands has jeopardized wild populations. Galax grows 6 to 12 inches tall and is […]

Cool Plant Combos For Containers

  As more and more urban gardeners are growing in small spaces, including decks and patio of condos and town houses, container gardens are becoming more significant. They’re creating large mixed containers that include miniature trees and shrubs rather than their big cousins. For design containers may include thrillers (tall or spiky), fillers, and spillers (weepers). […]

Autumn Ferns Offer Lush Tropical Touch

              Ferns are fine textured lacey-leaf groundcovers. Many kinds of ferns add a tropical accent to the shade garden. Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora), aka Japanese wood fern,  has evergreen or semi-evergreen arching foliage, depending how cold winter is (USDA hardiness zones 5 to 8). Its common name is misleading. Best fronds color is in spring; fronds unfurl with […]

Getting A Sourwood Tree Going

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) is one of our most beautiful U.S. native trees. Trees often grow multi-stemmed or shrub-like to 20-30 feet or in tree form to 35-40 feet high and narrow in spread. Trying to establish a new tree can be challenging. In the wild sourwoods are often found growing in shallow soils on steep […]

Exceptionally Hardy ‘Margarita’ Carolina Yellow Jessamine

Carolina yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is a lovely ignored native vine. It is native from Virginia to Texas to Florida, easily spotted growing in a sunny location growing on trees (USDA zones 6-9). It is the state flower of South Carolina. Grow it as a trellised vine or as a low shrub-like mound (ground cover). Flowers often serve as an early call […]

Blue Star Amsonia Is A Solid Performer

Blue Star (Amsonia tabernaemontana) is native to the central U.S. (USDA hardiness zones 3-9). This herbaceous perennial is frequently seen growing in open woodlands in the midwest and south to Florida and Texas. In mid-spring (in Tennessee), plants are filled with clusters of soft light blue star-like flowers, each nearly ¾ inches across. This clump-forming perennial […]

‘Ascot Rainbow’ Variegated Spurge

‘Ascot Rainbow’ Spurge (Euphorbia x martinii) is an herbaceous evergreen perennial which has shown to be remarkably winter hardy (USDA hardiness zones 5b-9).  This spurge is a relatively low maintenance perennial. This plant has both distinctive variegated flowers and foliage. Plant several spurges together for an awesome visual show. Ascot Rainbow Spurge struts attractive bluish-green narrow foliage […]

Transform These Three Shrubs Into Trees

Some large shrubs can be trained into lovely small flowering trees. These three flowering shrubs may be trained into small 15-25 feet tall, single or multi- trunk trees: Siebold viburnum (Viburnum sieboldii) is a tall upright branched deciduous shrub (USDA hardiness zones 4-7). This native from Japan grows to 15-20 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide […]

Butterfly Weed Named 2017 Perennial Plant Of The Year

Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), aka butterfly weed, is a long-lived tuberous rooted perennial indigenous to the southeastern U.S and mid-western U.S. and Canada (USDA hardiness zones 3 to 9). It grows in dry/rocky open woodlands, prairies, farm fields, and along roadsides. Individual plants typically grow as a clump to 2- 3 feet high and 1 -2 feet wide. Unlike many […]

Stop The “Crape Murder”

In Tennessee (where I live) and in the Southeastern U.S., bad crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia x) pruning continues to be done by professional landscapers and homeowners (USDA hardiness zones 6-9). This practice, also called “topping”, reduces tree (or shrub) height. Over 25 years, Southern Living magazine called this “crape murder”. Crape murder is not going away. More crape […]