GardenDesignOnline

New Roses 2019 - I

David Austin Roses is introducing three new English Roses to the United States this spring.

'The pale yellow 'Vanessa Bell' is a compact rose that produces many blooms.  The firm's senior rosarian, Michael Mariott, says it is "one of the most free-flowering varieties" the firm has ever produced.  Its fragrance is described as "green tea with aspects of lemon and, at times, honey,"  and it blooms from early summer until frost.  The flowers are a soft yellow hue with a darker eye.  The rose is bushy, growing to approximately 3.5 feet tall and three feet wide, with mid-green leaves.  USDA Zones 5-9.  Sounds like a winner for small gardens, low hedges, or at the front of a border.

'Dame Judi Dench' is an English musk hybrid with an arching habit and deep apricot flowers that are particularly resistant to rain.  That may be a valuable asset in regions that have been experiencing more showers due to climate change.  This rose has a medium tea fragrance and grows to about four by four feet, but in warmer areas it could reach eight feet tall as a climber.  It blooms from early summer until frost, can be planted in full or part sun, and is hardy in USDA Zones 5-9. 

Finally, 'James L. Austin' stands out for its deep pink blooms and medium-dark foliage with a matte finish. The flowers form large rosettes with a button eye -- an unusual trait in many roses -- and it blooms throughout the season until frost. Its fruity fragrance is described as a blend of blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry, and cherry with hints of lemon and almond. It's a bushy shrub with an upright habit, four feet high and 3.5 feet wide.  Plant it in full sun in Zones 5-9.

Books: A Potpourri

This is a book about a private garden in Fairfield, Connecticut, that I believe any designer would like to visit.  Who knows if it will ever be open for tours, but perhaps this book will persuade the owners to at least permit professionals to see it on occasion.

In the meantime, the 18-acre garden has been documented in Birdsongby acclaimed photographer Philip Trager, his first foray into landscape design and horticulture.

The book itself is mostly all photographs, divided by seasons.  Trager says while he's often photographed city life, architecture and dance, he'd never taken photos of a garden. "So I was curious to see if I could bring my feelings and aesthetic to what was, for me, new territory.  I think, in the end, I succeeded in making this garden my own."

There are photos of the many "gardens" that comprise the property:  the bamboo forest, the herb garden, the conifer and wildflower gardens, the English garden, the water and rock gardens, and of course the statuary and the plants that occupy each one. 

An essay at the back of the book by owner Russell Fuchs explains how the garden came about and how it's grown over the years. While he and his wife designed large parts of the garden, he says a few "very fine landscape architects" helped him along the way, although he doesn't say who they were. He says the gardens "were and continue to be a futile effort in organizing, training, and controlling nature to do my bidding ... Each year, every shrub, tree, perennial, and grass is touched, cut, shaped, sculpted to the aesthetic pleasure of my eye; each year I find it unimaginable that we will be able to accomplish what needs doing, though the thought of an unfinished piece of the property is even more unimaginable.  What love will lead us to do."  

I only wish he'd included a "plan" of the garden and captions on the photos so that you'd know where in the gardens the images were taken.  Still, a garden that would one day be well worth a visit.

 

And, new from Timber Press, Hypertufa Containers: Creating and Planting an Alpine Trough Garden by Lori Chips, Alpine Manager at Oliver Nurseries, also in Fairfield CT. If you're into alpines and rock gardens, the perfect container for them is hypertufa, a mixture of cement, perlite, peat and water that you can make at home.  You can make them of almost any size and they blend right into the garden if placed correctly.  Lori also explains which plants are best for these rock-like containers, and how to care for them throughout the seasons.

New Plants 2018 - III

New Plants this year from Bailey Nurseries:

photos: Bailey Nurseries

First Editions® Virtual Violet® Lilac
(Syringa 'Bailbridget' PPAF)

An upright stunning lilac with shiny new leaves that emerge violet, deep purple stems, violet leaf petioles and of course violet flowers.  Mildew free, it reaches a height of six to eight feet and a spread of five to seven.  Great as a hedge or a stand alone specimen, as you can't miss it in the garden.  Zones 3-7.  Bred by Don Selinger, it's a cross between Charles Joly and two varieties from the US National Arboretum.

First Editions® Neon Burst™ Dogwood
(Cornus alba 'ByBoughen')

This shrubby Tatarian dogwood stands out for its chartreuse leaves that emerge following the bare, glossy red stems in winter. And in autumn, the leaves turn shades of red, yellow, and orange.  It has a compact habit, just four to five feet tall and wide, and is hardy in Zones 2-7. 

First Editions® Opening Day™ Doublefile Viburnum

(Viburnum plicatum 'PIIVIB-II')

This doublefile has dark green leaves, a tight habit, and blooms that emerge with a hint of green before opening to pure white, just in time for Opening Day. The leaves turn a lovely deep red to purple in fall.   It's five to ten feet tall and five to eight wide, hardy in Zones 5-8.  Bred by Plant Introductions, Inc.  It should become a standard plant in almost any garden.

 

New Plants 2018 - II

These new plants this year from Spring Meadow Nursery.

Images: Spring Meadow Nursery

Tandoori Orange® Linden Viburnum
(Viburnum dilatatum 'SMNVDMDO')

Wow..a linden viburnum with orange fruits and fall color, plus outstanding white blooms in spring.  It's tolerant of shade and deer-resistant as well.  It's six to eight feet tall and wide, so it needs a lot of room in the garden. Mass it in borders or use as a single specimen.  Hardy to zone 5.  And plant it with Cardinal Candy® viburnum for lots of fruit on both plants.

Invincibelle Wee White® Smooth Hydrangea
(Hydrangea arborescens 'NCHA5')

Just think ... an Annabelle hydrangea that only gets two and a half feet tall and wide.  The flowers have strong stems, so they stay upright, and it blooms early summer through frost.  No surprise, it won the 2018 Direct Gardening Association Green Thumb award.  It takes part sun to sun, and is hardy to zone 3.  Great for mass plantings, edging, specimen.  Cut back in spring by about one-third of its height as new growth appears.

Wabi Sabi® Doublefile Viburnum
(Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum 'SMVPTFD')

Another great dwarf viburnum from Spring Meadow ... just two and a half feet high and three to four feet wide ... a size that'll fit in many a border or fill in those empty spaces here and there.

White lacecap flowers in spring, a horizontal habit, shade tolerant, deer and rabbit resistant.  It takes part sun to sun and is hardy to Zone 5.

Pollypetite® Rose of Sharon
(Hibiscus sp. 'Rosina')

At three to four feet high and wide, this rose of sharon has a tall, wide habit with lavender-pink blooms in late summer.  It's almost seedless as well, so you don't have to worry about it spreading all over the yard.  It's also deer resistant and is hardy to Zone 5.  Prune in spring, if necessary, as new growth appears.  Use in a mass planting or as a focal point in a border.

 

 

 

New Plants 2018 - I

Nice new offerings this year from Monrovia:

photo courtesy Monrovia - click to enlarge

Strawberry Shake™ Hydrangea
(Hydrangea paniculata 'SMHPCW'

Compact paniculata, just five feet tall and four feet wide, with stems supporting huge white flower heads that mature to a soft pink, and both are apparent on the shrub at the same time. Blooms can either be used fresh or dried for arrangements.  Zones 4-8.

photos: Doreen Wynja for Monrovia

Sunburst™ Black Hills Spruce
(Picea glauca densata 'MonChet')

Bright yellow new growth sets this spruce apart.  Its resistant to winter injury & provides a great nesting site for birds.  It has a compact, pyramidal growth habit, reaching 30 feet high x 15 wide. Needs part to full sun and regular watering.  Zones 2-8.

Seaside Serenade® Martha's Vineyard
(Hydrangea macrophylla 'HORTMAVI')

This is one in a series of similar big-leaf hydrangeas with long-lasting blooms that are not influenced by soil pH.  The flower take on a green tinge with time, and it's a compact variety, just 3.5 feet high and 3 feet wide.  Zones 4-9.  Also look for Seaside Serenede Hatteras -- (ruby-red); Cape May (pink or blue depending on soil pH) and a serrata hydrangea; and Outer Banks (pink or blue).

FloralBerry™ Chardonnay St. John's Wort
(Hypericum x inodorum 'KOLCHAR')

Yellow flowers and yellow berries, what more could anyone want? At three feet tall and wide, small shrub suitable for borders and containers, a specimen or low hedge.  Semi-evergreen, it's hardy in Zones 5-9.   Also check out Floralberry Champagne, with white berries; Floralberry Pinot with purple-red berries and Floralberry Rose with pink berries. 

Exhibition: America's Gardens

images: Smithsonian - click to enlarge

If you, like me, have often wondered why American gardeners are so fixated on British gardens, it's probably because they just haven't bothered to delve into the fascinating story of our own  gardens here in the United States. But now, the full story is available through the efforts of the Smithsonian Libraries and Smithsonian Gardens (including the Archives of American Gardens) in Washington DC.

A new exhibit, "Cultivating America's Gardens," is now open at the National Museum of American History, and it runs through August, 2018.  So if you're planning a visit to DC, make sure you don't miss this show.

The exhibit covers the American garden from its earliest beginnings to the present day, from east to west coast, north to south and everything in between.  Joyce Connolly, museum specialist at Smithsonian Gardens, explained that "Gardens are an important reflection of our culture, traditions, regional differences and design tastes." She added that "The long tradition of gardening in America continues to have an impact on how we design, use and enjoy gardens today."

The show is divided into various themes, ie, Gardening for Science, Gardening to Impress, Gardening for the Common Good, Gardening as a Link to the Past, Gardening as an Enterprise, and Gardening for the Environment.

Gardeners today are heavily into native plants and sustainability.  They might be surprised to learn that Irish-born gardener William Robinson was inspired by the natural habitats of North America and first introduced the subject in his book, The Wild Garden, published in 1870.

You'll learn about plant explorers and breeders, famous World's Fair gardens, school gardens and victory gardens, the rise of the lawn and botanic gardens, and much, much more.  Best of all, the entire exhibit is now online -- including links to many historic books -- so if you can't make it to Washington, spend a day or so online learning about our country's rich garden history.  Check it out here.

images above:

Blue Garden at Beacon Hill, Newport, Rhode Island, 1920s
Archives of American Gardens, Garden Club of America Collection

Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) and Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
From Mark Catesby, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (London, 1729-1747)
Smithsonian Libraries

Burgess Seed and Plant Co.
Seed catalog: Plant a Garden, 1943
Galesburg, Michigan
Smithsonian Libraries

 

New Maple Tree

Mesa Glow® Maple
(Acer grandidentatum 'JFS-NuMex 3')

A new maple that's drought-tolerant and cold hardy is expected to be on the retail market next year.   And besides those attributes, it has deep orange-red fall color, an upright form, and great disease resistance. 

Developed at New Mexico State University by Professor Rolston St. Hilaire, the university recently received a patent on the tree.  In the Southwest, St. Hilaire noticed that the Bigtooth maple rivals East Coast sugar maples for brilliant color, and he was determined to develop one that could withstand a dry climate, salty soil, cold temperatures and lots of light.

It's taken more than 15 years, but in partnership with the J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. in Boring, Oregon, the tree became a reality after much time-consuming research.

St. Hilaire says the tree will be a benefit to homeowners. "...it's a smaller maple, it only grows to about 30 feet," he says, "So if a homeowner wants to have a tree that will have brilliant fall color, he or she can have that plant in his or her backyard."

According to J. Frank Schmidt, the tree is hardy to Zone 4, with a height of about 28 feet and a spread of 18 feet.  It has an upright oval shape, with glossy dark green foliage that changes to deep red in autumn.  Schmidt says the tree is a top choice for homeowners in the intermountain West.  I wonder how it would do in the midwest, mid-Atlantic, or a little farther north.

For more on the tree with Prof. St. Hilaire, check out this You-tube video here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHyDn1WG81s

New Roses 2017 - II

There are always some great winners among the new selections from Jackson and Perkins:

photos: Jackson and Perkins

Surreal™ Floribunda Rose
(Rosa 'Surreal')

Great color to this new exclusive rose from J&P ... blooms with hues of dark apricot, gold, orange, and pink, with a moderate, fruity fragrance.  Dense, light green foliage contrasts well with the ruffled flowers that appear in clusters of three to five.  Four feet high, three feet wide, it's hardy in Zones 4-9, and works well in beds and borders, and in flower arrangements.

Rosa 'Simply Magnifiscent'

A new, exclusive grandiflora with light lavender to pink blooms with a strong, fruity scent.  The huge flowers appear singly and in clusters, and the fragrance is strong enough to permeate a good part of the garden. The flowers appear from early to late summer.  Four and half feet tall, four feet wide, with dark green, glossy leaves.  Zones 4-9.

Spice It Up™ Floribunda Rose
(Rosa 'Spice It Up')

Multi-color flowers of coral, dark pink, orange and salmon will be a standout in the rose garden.  Cold hardy and disease resistant, this rose blooms from early to late summer and has a moderate, fruity aroma.  Four feet high, three feet wide, it has a dense, upright form with dark green glossy leaves. Hardy in Zones 4-9.

Grateful Heart™ Hybrid Tea Rose
(Rosa 'Grateful Heart')

This rose is dedicated to the American Heart Association, and for each sale, five dollars is donated to the charity.

Bright red flowers appear on 14-18 inch stems from early to late summer.  The double blooms are five inches in diameter, with a light, spicy scent with hints of clove.  The hybrid tea has an upright, symmetrical habit at five feet high and four feet wide.  Plant a few together for a great garden show. Zones 4-9.

New Plants 2017-III

Some lovely new selections this year from Bailey Nurseries.

First Editions® Evermore™ Orange Azalea
(Rhododendron MAXXOHI-02)

I get tired of azaleas sometimes, but I might just go for this color in a big way.  It's re-blooming, with a height and spread of three to four feet, an upright mounded form and dark green foliage, a great contrast with the flower hue.

It blooms in spring, then re-blooms throughout the summer and fall.  Fall foliage is evergreen, and it takes full sun to part shade.  Zones 7-9.

First Editions® Cayenne Dogwood
(Cornus amomum 'Cayenne')

Nothing like bright red in the dead of winter, and this new native dogwood is a great addition to the species. Shiny bright red stems in winter give way to green foliage in spring, porcelain blue berries in late summer and orange-red leaves in fall.  What more could one want in a four-season plant?  Disease and canker resistant, it reaches a height of six to eight feet and a spread of 8-10 feet.  Zones 4-9. Selected by Plant Introductions, Inc.

First Editions® Straight Talk™ Privet
(Ligustrum vulgare 'Swift')

Narrow vertical plants are always hard to find, so this privet is a welcome addition.  Two feet wide, 12 feet tall, with a tight, upright form. In cold climates, it's a good substitute for 'Sky Pencil' holly, as it's hardy in Zones 4-8.  It's urban tolerant, and small spring white flowers are followed by black fruits.  Found by Mike Jeronimus of Green Acres Nursery in Golden, CO.

 

New Roses 2017 - I

New this year from Star Roses: my favorites, among all the new ones.

photos: Star Roses & Plants -- click to enlarge

Princesse Charlene de Monaco®
(Rosa 'Meidysouk')

A new hybrid tea with blooms of shell pink to light apricot, a very strong scent and excellent disease resistance. 

The leaves are medium green, and the plant attains a height of about five feet with a spread of two to three.  Hybridized by Meilland International, this rose requires full sun, and it's a great choice as a cut flower.  I LOVE the flower color.

Fruity Petals®
(Rosa Radpetals')

Looking for something a little different in a climber?  Then this rose is just what you want.  It's disease resistant, the flowers are coral with a yellow eye, and it blooms heavily in spring and re-flowers throughout the season.

The foliage is medium green, and the plant was hybridized by William Radler, breeder of the Knock Out® rose.

Height is up to six feet, and it's hardy in Zones 5-9.

Canyon Road®
(Rosa Meiscarlebo')

And finally, another Meilland introduction, this one a Floribunda with bright red flowers, a bushy habit, a height of about 2.5 feet and a slightly wider spread.

Glossy dark green leaves make a good contrast with the blooms, and it has a good disease tolerance.  With it's rather small size, it would be great near the front of the border, especially if you plant more than one.