Archive for the ‘Ornamental fruit’ Category

Tropical Looking Big Leaf Magnolia

  Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) is native to the southeastern United States as far north to Ohio (USDA hardiness zones 5-8). A mature tree attains heights of 30 to 40 feet and develops an irregular pyramidal form. In the northern areas the tree is deciduous and semi-evergreen in the southeastern U.S. Its enormous size foliage makes […]

Sweetbay Magnolia

Sweetbay, aka laurel magnolia, (Magnolia virginiana) is a U.S. native tree. This small to medium-sized native species often 20-30 feet tall and 15-20 feet wide as a large shrub or multi-stemmed small tree. Finding a 50-60 feet sweetbay near by a lake or pond near where you live is not unusual (USDA hardiness zones 5-9). […]

Blackberry Lily Is Easy Summer Perennial

Blackberry Lily (Belamcanda chinensis) is a summer flowering perennial native to China and Japan (USDA hardiness zones 5 -10). Don’t be fooled by its name. It is not a “lily” as it belongs to the Iris family. The iris sword-like leafy stalks stand 2 to 3 feet high. Blackberry lily blooms in early to mid-summer […]

‘Summer Gold’ Kousa Dogwood

Get ready to alter your mindset with ‘Summer Gold’ Chinese (kousa) dogwood (Cornus kousa) (USDA hardiness zones 5-8). Its diminutive size, 8 to 10 feet high and 4 to 5 feet wide, makes it a great fit for a small city garden. Branching is distinctly upright, which partially accounts for its narrow space needs. ‘Summer […]

Three Beautiful Ornamental Crabapples

Crabapples (Malus spp.) get a bad rap! Many gardeners associated them with the old diseased and pest prone varieties planted a half-century ago. Modern cultivars make nice small ornamental trees. The new cultivars exhibit exceptional resistance to five serious diseases of crabapples: apple scab, fire blight, cedar-apple rust, leaf spot and powdery mildew. Three of […]

Hypearls® St. John’s Wort Worth The Hype

St. John’s Wort’s (Hypericum spp.) are terrific landscape shrubs and ground covers with bright yellow flowers in late spring and colorful berry fruits starting in late summer (USDA hardiness zones 5-9). Bees and birds are attracted to flowers and fruits respectively. Hypearls® are a new series of hypericums. Cultivars are available in four compact growing […]

‘Grey Owl’ Juniper Is Tough Carefree Evergreen

Some people rate junipers as over-planted or bygone landscape plants. Juniperus virginiana ‘Grey Owl’ is a cultivar of our native Eastern Red Cedar (USDA hardiness zones 3 to 9). Eastern red cedar is actually a juniper. This flat spreading evergreen develops into a reliable ground cover not plagued with disease and pest problems observed on […]

Staghorn Sumac’s Reliable Fall-Winter Assets

Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) is known by several names, including velvet sumac and hairy sumac. This large shrub or small tree is native to northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada (USDA hardiness zones 3-8). Staghorn sumac often arrives uninvited into a landscape and its aggressive suckering root system makes it difficult to eradicate. For landscape use […]

Beautyberry Deservedly Becoming More Popular

The stunning purple berries of beautyberry (Callicarpa spp.) are eye-catching in late summer. White fruited varieties are also sold, but the purple forms are most popular. This 6-8 foot shrub has medium green, 3-5 inch long foliage spring thru summer. Autumn leaf color adds little, the deciduous leaves turning purple to pale yellow, shriveling, and abcising. The purple fruit clusters are electifying, perhaps […]

Arrowwood Viburnum Very Tough U.S. Native Shrub

Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) is an easy to grow deciduous shrub that handles most landscape conditions, including soil types (USDA hardiness zones 5 to 8). It grows best in full sun and in a well-drained soil. Clusters of tiny, creamy-white flat-topped flowers appear from late spring into summer. A bountiful crop of dark blue berries […]