Archive for the ‘Ornamental fruit’ Category

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 […]

Silver Linden Foliage Shimmers On A Windy Day

Silver linden (Tilia tomentosa) is a rarely planted large shade tree. Native to southeastern European, silver linden demonstrates better heat and drought tolerances in the southern U.S. than most lindens. It grows to 50 to 60 feet in height over 25-30 years with a moderate annual growth rate. A newly planted tree exhibits a narrow […]

‘Appalachian Spring’ Dogwood Highly Disease Resistant

This may be old news, but definitely worth repeating. Twenty five years ago a dreaded dogwood disease threatened to eliminate our beautiful spring flowering tree from our gardens. Appalachian Spring flowering dogwood (Cornus florida ‘Appalachian Spring’) was found at the Camp David Presidential Retreat atop Catoctin Mountain in Maryland. Currently, Appalachian Spring is the only dogwood cultivar […]

Early Blooming Cornelian Cherry In The March Garden

Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) is a multi-stemmed, low-branched dogwood tree or shrub. It typically grows 20-25 feet tall and slightly less in overall width (USDA hardiness zones 4-7). Tiny, golden yellow flowers appear in late winter, around March 1st in my east Tennessee garden, and remain in bloom through most of the month despite cold […]

A Variegated Ornamental Grass Is ‘River Mist’ Sea Oats

River Mist Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium ‘River Mist’), formerly Uniola latifolia, is a recent plant introduction with striking green and white variegated foliage on slightly arching stems. River Mist grows shorter than the species, 30-36 inches tall and 24-36 inches wide. Northern sea oats is one of the more shade tolerant of the ornamental […]

‘Pink Lemonade’ Blueberries Will Delight Your Taste Buds

  Pink Lemonade blueberry (Vaccinium x ‘Pink Lemonade’) is a new variety introduction from the USDA. It combines the benefits of growing a beautiful landscape plant and one that produces a tasty crop of pinkish red blueberries. Pink Lemonade is also very winter hardy (USDA hardiness zone 4).  Select a sunny location, preferably with an […]