Spring 2003

Vermillion red, silver blue and golden yellow add a splash of bright color in the garden. In summer, these vibrant colors might be found in the fiery red daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Chicago Apache’) or the blue of Siberian iris, Salvia nemerosa ‘Blue Queen’ and Caryopteris ‘First Choice’, or the yellow of Coreopsis and Rudbeckia. In the dead of winter, this colorful palette is composed of shrubs and dwarf conifers that offer lasting beauty that sustains the garden.

The red is found on the stems of dogwood and willow, Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ and Salix alba ‘Chermesina’. The blue needles of the dwarf blue spruce (Picea pungens ‘Montgomery’) complement the yellow stems of Cornus sericea ‘Silver & Gold.’ Golden Scots pine, (Pinus sylvestris ‘Aurea’) and Yucca filamentosa ‘Gold Sword’ sizzle in the snow.

The winter and spring weather blanketed the landscape with an unrelenting frozen white shroud. This persistent snow cover is especially unusual in south coastal Massachusetts. While the benefits of snow cover are many, including protecting buried plants from cold drying winter winds and replenishing water resources, enough is enough! Savvy gardeners plan for the bleak winter landscape by adding a variety of attractive winter accent plants.

By February, many fruits of shrubs such as viburnum, holly (Ilex), dogwood (Cornus) and beauty berry (Callicarpa), that were so colorful in the late fall and early winter have been either gobbled up by hungry birds or tarnished by many hard freezes. This same cold weather actually intensifies the pigments of colorful coppiced twigs and evergreen needles.

This severe pruning (in spring) of willows and shrubby dogwoods controls their size and produces vigorous wands of new wood that will brighten the winter landscape. Pinus mugo ‘Winter Gold’ has needles that also change from green to yellow with cold temperatures.

These combinations of colorful woody plants carry forth well into spring. Even after the vernal equinox, the cold wet ground is devoid of perennials save the hardy bulbs and emerging daylily shoots. The broad gold variegated blades of Yucca ‘Gold Sword’ accentuate Daffodils such as Narcissus ‘Jack Snipe’ and Scilla siberica. Combine these with the early emerging Moor Grass (Molinea caerulea ‘Variegata’) and evergreen Euphorbia myrisintes with its acid green flowers.

The trees and shrubs with the earliest bloom season run the risk of their flowers being damaged by frost. In contrast, evergreen shrubs shake off the cold with impunity.

We have incorporated this planting scheme in our display gardens. Visit the nursery to see several mature specimens of dwarf conifers mixed with shrubs with colorful stems and emerging bulbs and early perennials. The 40 years old dwarf hemlock, Tsuga canadensis ‘Jervis’ is now over six feet tall!

This year, add some colorful shrubs, trees and perennials to accompany the traditional green boxwood and yews. Be daring and try out a yellow variegated Dragon’s Eye Pine to sustain the garden season.

I love daylilies. Although I must confess that I also have a passion for countless other genera of plants. yet how can I not love a plant that is as reliable in the garden as the daylily. They are rock-hardy (at least those that are northern bred and grown) and survive a broad range of cultural conditions, even neglect. Daylilies burst into summer bloom and thrive on the heat and humidity that may flag the most stalwart of gardeners. They are a consistent star attraction in the summer border.

True to their namesake, each daylily flower fleetingly lasts only one day. However, multiple buds on each Hemerocallis scape produce an abundance of flowers that will last for weeks. The shape of the daylily flower is a variation of a trumpet. This three-dimensional funnel form really shows off and stands out in the garden. it's shape offers a superior display to other flower forms. The diversity of bloom seasons offered by different daylily cultivars extends the season of bloom from June through to the first frost.

Daylilies come in a multitude of colors, patterns and sizes. They sing out loud and clear in the garden, whether planted in 'a capella' drifts or integrated into a complex chorus amongst the mixed border. Daylilies should be an important component of any summer garden design.

Cohesively melding together a mixed planting of herbaceous perennials woody shrubs, ornamental grasses and even tender tropicals is an engaging exercise that offers many garden design possibilities. Start by structuring your border with colorful foliage.

Chose leaves in colors that will either complement or contrast with the color of the flowers. For instance, the simmering chartreuse-leaved Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ creates a striking contrast to the vibrant red daylily Hemerocallis ‘Red Cossack’. Complementary colors have similar values; therefore the maroon-red leaves of purple smoke bush Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' complement the pink flowers of Hemerocallis 'Pastel Pink','Victor Herbert' and 'Quaint Beauty.' Add Iris sibirica 'Lydia Winter', catmint (Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant') , Sedum 'Brilliant'. Blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens 'Sapphire') and Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield' as companions for a long season of color.

Those cultivars of ninebark (Physocarpus) with brightly colored foliage are tough, drought-tolerant shrubs; an invaluable asset to the mixed border menagerie. prune ninebark back hard in the early spring (coppice) to control their size.

The golden-leaved forms ('Luteus' and 'Dart's Gold') have new spring growth that is an intense yellow. They mature to a pleasing yellow-green color that last until fall. This chartreuse foliage provides a superb background for igniting the fiery reds, oranges and golds of daylily varieties such as Hemerocallis 'Flasher', 'Outrageous', 'Sparkling Orange', 'August Flame' and 'Chicago Apache'.

The maroon foliage of Physocarpus 'Diablo' complements the maroon eyezone of Hemerocallis 'Zagora'. Round out the planting with golden flowers of Rudbeckia and goldenrod (Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks') , yellow foliage of Caryopteris 'Worcester Gold', the violet blooms of Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), and the blue switch grasses (Panicum virgatum 'Prairie Skies', Heavy Metal' or 'Dallas Blue').

Some of these companion plants serve dual functions in the garden. Tough as daylilies are, even this durable perennial's foliage can look worse for wear during the worst of our summer droughts. In addition to providing a foil for the daylily flowers, the glaucus blue foliage of ornamental grass offers a good guise to mask stressed daylily foliage. The eighteen-inch blue tussocks of blue oat grass (Helictotrichon) and five-foot, powder-blue foliage and inflorescence of Panicum virgatum 'Prairie Skies' always look robust.

Create your own version of a 'meadow" border using these blue grasses with tall airy daylilies such as Hemerocallis 'Hannah Jane', 'Tetrina's Daughter', 'Three Seasons', 'Autumn Minaret' and 'Yellow Pinwheel'. Mix in Arkansas bluestar (Amsonia hubrectii), willow-leaved sunflower (Helianthus angustifolia 'Gold Lace', stiff goldenrod 'Solidago rigida', bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpurescens') and daffodils.

Many daylilies that caught my eye as "must-haves" over fifteen years ago are still on my list of favorite cultivars. George Pride's 'Tone Poem' is one of these. 'Tone Poem' is an alluring warm blend of apricot and pink tones with lavender midribs. It's classic form show off in the garden. in the nursery display garden it is planted with balloon flower (Platycodon), sea lavender (Limonium), Coreopsis verticillata and gentian sage (Salvia patens).

Both Phil and I have many favorites, new and old varieties. Come and explore the gardens and growing fields and fall in love many times over. Daylilies won't disappoint.

New Greenhouse

The new greenhouse that was completed last spring, has been a greatly appreciated addition to the nursery. It expanded our plant production capabilities and also provided a bright respite and therapeutic escape from this past winter's weather. The greenhouse was funded in pasrt by a Farm Viability Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.

Last fall, the greenhouse provided protection from frost for the many tender perennials and tropical plants that fill containers and mixed borders throughout the nursery. We started some cuttings in the fall and winter and also forced plants for the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society's exhibit at the Rhode Island Spring Flower Show.

There are few things as challenging as coaxing a Mountain Laurel to bloom in February. It takes heat, hot water and plenty of bright lights. It was zero degrees and snowing the day we bundled up the plants to be transported in heated trucks to Providence. the greenhouse door was frozen tight from the ice, but somehow we prevailed.

But ah, the fragrance of Heliotrope and Brugmansia in bloom in February. We have been propagating many of the tropical plants we use in our display gardens. Here are just a fee that will be available to purchase: Abutilon savitizii; Abutilon 'Souvenir de Bonn'; Alternanthera 'Red Thread'; Begonia 'Withlacoochee'. Coleus (we've gone crazy); Duranta repens 'Cuban Gold'; Fuchsia magellanica 'Versicolor', Heliotrope fragrant form; Nicotiana glauca; Oxalis vulcanicola 'Copper Glow', Phormium, Plectranthus auriculata; Salvias; Strobilanthes and more. Visit our new greenhouse this spring and try out some of the tender perennials and tropicals that you have been admiring in our gardens..

Tranquil Times

Spring 2003 Newsletter

Seasonal Transitions With Woody Plants

New Greenhouse