the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has announced its 2016 Gold Medal Plant awards. Here they are:
Betula nigra 'Fox Valley' Little King™
(Little King River Birch)
This dwarf river birch, which has been around since the early 1990s, is a great choice for small gardens. River birches are too big for most urban (and many suburban) landscapes, but Little King is compact and small at 8-10 feet tall and 9-12 feet wide. The tree has a rather mounded habit and its leaves, like other river birches, turn a golden yellow in fall. The bark is also like its bigger cousins and makes the tree an eye-catcher through all four seasons. It's also resistant to the bronze birch borer and many other diseases that can affect birch trees.
Prunus x yedoensis 'Akebono'
(Akebono Yoshino Cherry)
There can never be enough varieties of cherry tree, and you should plant this one for its fabulous flower display. Its size is about 25 to 30 feet tall with a similar spread, and of course you will see it all over Washington DC in early spring when the cherry trees bloom, usually around the first week of April. Flowers range from light pink to white, and the leaves turn a nice yellow in autumn. Great street or lawn tree, as it has a rounded habit with age.
Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'
(Royal Purple Smokebush)
There aren't too many shrubs with foliage that remains purple through the growing season, but this is one of them, and a great choice for the garden. You need a little room for it, but if your yard can handle a shrub that's 15 feet tall and 12 wide, you'll not regret the display. In early summer, of course, the shrub is covered with airy pink cloud-like flowers. A real winner.
Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite'
(Red Sprite Winterberry Holly)
I can't think of a garden designer, who, given a little room, would not like to plant some masses of winterberry because of the bright red berries that carry the garden through a season when everything else has given up the ghost. Usually planted in larger gardens, now it's possible to arrange for this colorful display in smaller yards. Red Sprite is only 3 to 5 feet tall and wide, the deer do not like it, but the birds certainly do, and it provides them with food when other things begin to disappear. Great against a green backdrop or a wall or fence -- but something that will contrast nicely with the red berries. For a good crop of berries, plant it near a male holly such as Ilex verticillata 'Jim Dandy.'
For more info on these plants and on the PHS Gold Medal perennials, see the PHS website here.
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