Plants that look good in winter: Part III

Thuja orientalis 'Aurea Nana' is in the Cupressaceae family, which has been around since the Jurassic period. These shrubs are down the street from me and seem to have been the same size for the last ten years. At maturity, they are supposed to be 6' x 5' wide. These are not that tall yet, but getting close to 5' wide. If they're gettting bigger, it's very very slowly. Nevertheless, they make a handsome hedge. They got splayed out after the snow two years ago but quickly recovered their neat ovoid shape. I've come to think I hate everything in the Thuja family because of the way over-used Arborvitae, but this is a beauty that looks good all year long. Even in the heat of August, mulched with gravel and no watering, they look stately and beautiful with golden highlights on rich green. All of the plant pictures in this series were taken in January.

These are Irish Yews, and they look a little scary guarding the front door of this modest house. If you want a giant hedge or a big ! exclamation mark in your yard, choose this plant. Taxus baccata Fastigiata grows well in dry shady locations and take windy locations as well. It's a slow grower and doesn't need a lot of pruning to keep its trim shape, but I've seen a lot of these located too close to houses. It grows red berries within which is a seed which is poisonous; if the berries are eaten and the seed is not crushed, it will pass thru the digestive system with no harm. (the anti-cancer drug Taxol was synthesized from the bark of the Pacific Yew Tree.) 

This is a Goshiki Holly or Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Goshiki', and it's a Great Plant Pick. It has variegated holly-like leaves and is evergreen, which keeps it looking good all year. This plant is pretty amenable to shearing, so even though it may want to get 8' tall, you can keep it to 4' or so by chopping it back. This ensures that it will put out lots of new growth which will be really pretty. It will grow in full sun or in shade, so it's really versatile. As written in Great Plant Picks, 'Goshiki' means 'five colored' - the new growth is pink, white, orange, cream and yellow.

My next pick for Plants That Look Good In Winter is Tsuga canadensis,  Gentsch White Hemlock. This is a small evergreen shrub that prefers a shady location and grows to about 3' x 3'. Its foliage is a rich green with frosty white tips. It's a great evergreen shrub for a container; my gardening friend Cindy has had one in a container on her shady porch for several years. Whenever people come over they want to know what kind of plant it is. It's a plant that you don't often see in people's yards who aren't "Coneheads"; part of the reason is probably how pricey it is. A #2 plant in a garden center will be between $45 - $60, although I think you could find a cheaper one at an evergreen specialty nursery or if you're willing to start with a small specimen. Most of the 'Gentsch Whites' I see at nurseries are from Iseli Nursery in Boring, Oregon. Check out their website for other great dwarf plants.
Finally, there are the Sasanqua Camellias which bloom in Nov. - Dec. instead of the spring. My favorite, peeking out in the picture above next to the Gentsch is "Yuletide". This Sasanqua has an upright habit which many of them don't. It may eventually get to be 4' tall and wide, but not so soon in my yard where it's now in its third location. I started it out in the shady backyard and it didn't like that a bit. Now it's on the sunny south side of my yard under an eave; it seems pretty content there although I didn't get any flowers this winter. I think it's just getting settled in after so many moves. Because the Sasanquas bloom in our worst weather, I think they're most enjoyed when they're situated in a sheltered spot so the winter blooms don't get blasted away by rain and wind. Here's a closeup of the flowers:

Native Plants Sales in Progress

     Five years ago, I tore out almost all the native plants in my back yard and stupidly replaced them with rhodies which were promptly eaten up by root weevils. There have never been any root weevils in the front yard attacking my rhodies, but the back yard was a wild place where there once was Salmonberry, Thimbleberry, Indian Plum and other natives that I didn't have the sense to delight in. (Notice the heavy foresting in back of the fence.) After watching my transplants muddling about in the formerly forested back yard, I'm going back to natives. I never watered them - although I will have to water the new transplants for several years until they're rooted in - and they were a haven for birds.

     All of the Conservation districts will be having Native Plant Sales soon. They come in two parts:
PART 1: You get to Pre-Order plants in (mostly) groups of 10. You can print out a form from the various conservation websites and send in a check or use a credit card. Ten may seem like a lot of plants, but there will be some plant mortality and you can always share with friends. By pre-ordering, barring environmental catastrophes, you will have a much better chance of getting the plants you want. Pre-orders received will get filled in the order they came in. You'll receive a confirmation letter and you can pick up your plants ahead of the sale and avoid the last-minute crush.

PART II: If you only want to buy single plants or five Thimbleberry plants instead of ten, you can go on SALE DAY and brave the crowds. I was assured by a nice person at Thurston Conservation that parking is plentiful and it's not that crowded.

     Mason Conservation District Pre-orders go thru Monday, Jan. 11th. The Plant Sale is Saturday, February 20th between 10 am - 2 pm at the Mason County Fairgrounds. See their website for plant choices. Pre-Orders are sold (mostly) in bundles of 10; at the Saturday sale, you can buy single plants.

Thurston Conservation District Pre-orders go thru January 30th. Actual sale, where you can purchase single plants if there are any left of the popular varieties, is Saturday, February 20. See their website for time and place.

Here is the central website listing for all other WA state county extension offices:

     I'm going to try to fill that blank spot in the back yard with Red Flowering Currant, Salmonberry and perhaps a Vine Maple. Maybe attract more hummingbirds. I'm also a big fan of Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) shown above, which are like miniature Pacific dogwood flowers.

Is it Spring yet?

     So I've gotten three spring catalogs so far, surveyed my yard for plants that didn't make it nicely thru winter (two of my Daphne odoras lost all their leaves, but are sprouting new ones) and have to content myself with looking forward to February. Maybe this will be a magical February where the temperature gets up in the '70s. When we moved to Washington 16 years ago from Alaska, we took off (miraculously) in a howling snowstorm of minus-25 degrees. When we got to Olympia, it was 70 degrees and sunny.
     Anyway, as I've written before, last year I tore out many perennials (a truckload) and am putting in evergreens. But that doesn't mean I'm not on the lookout for new plants. Often it's not that exciting to go to big nurseries - same old, same old and everyone has the same selection of Monrovia plants. So when I'm looking for a more eclectic selection, I either shop online or go searching for small specialty nurseries.
     Online Ordering: You're not going to get "nursery quality" plants when you order online. They will be sticks with a few leaves, wrapped in plastic and with a good sized root system. That's what you're paying for. If you plant it in spring, by summer it will be leafing out and you may get a few flowers, but you'll really see the payoff the next year once the roots have gotten established. The big draw for me in ordering online is not the price, but the selection.

     As an example, at Joy Creek Nursery, a combo nursery/mail order business in Scappoose, Oregon, they have 97 different varieties of hydrangeas,  55 varieties of penstemon and 29  varieties of campanula. I've spent a lot of money there, being a big hydrangea fan. They're located 18 miles north of Portland and are open seven days a week starting in March (see their website for info). They also had chocolate chip cookies when I went on a Saturday. They have great gardens on the property with all the plants tagged so you know what they are and their online catalog is great with lots of pictures. The staff is really helpful. I called once to order and had a great chat about exactly which hydrangea I should order. They have FREE classes on Sundays in landscape design, pruning, etc. There's a handling charge of $4 per order, plus shipping charges; because it's in Oregon, there's no sales tax.

     I also like Big Dipper Farm in Auburn, Wa. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll just read thru all their plant listings and look at the pictures. Their minimum order is $25 and shipping is ground to most of the western states and costs about $8-$10. They'll take pre-season orders and ship to you when the plants are ready. They also sell seeds. I went up to their nursery a couple of years ago, and was able to look at and pick up some plants, but most of them are in greenhouses not accessible to the public. They have 5 different varieties of wild ginger, one of which has the most amazing panda faced black and white flowers called Asarum maximum 'Ling Ling'.
     Each catalog selection tells you the hardiness zone of the plant, it's dimensions (this is usually at maturity in 10 yrs.) whether it's a Great Plant Pick and its sun/shade requirement. You can also search their catalog by "Full Sun" "Part Shade" "Fragrant" "Cut Flower" and many more. You can search using the common or botanical name. They also sell trees, like Cornus Nuttallii - Pacific Dogwood, Arbutus marina - Strawberry Tree and Cercis canadensis - Weeping Redbud. Some of the trees will be marked "Too large to ship/Pick up" which means you get to visit the nursery.

     Speaking of Great Plant Picks - If you're not acquainted with this great organization, you should be. GPP "awards" plants as outstanding for the maritime Pacific Northwest - from Eugene to Vancouver, BC. The plant list gives pictures and info on the "superior qualities" of these plants for ORDINARY GARDENERS in the Pacific Northwest. Plants selected must be hardy for zones 7-8, reasonably disease and pest resistant, not invasive, and a bunch of other things which you can read about on their website. "Perennials should not require staking, continuous deadheading, or frequent division." Sounds good, doesn't it?  They also have a nursery directory so you can find and buy the Great Plant Picks.
Again. . . on a rainy January day, I could spend hours looking thru the plant picks and imagining them in my garden.

Plants that look good in winter: Part II

More evergreen plants: These photos were all taken in January.

Hebes: There are lots of different varieties of these plants, but not all of them look good in winter. My favorite is good old faithful Hebe buxifolia or Boxleaf Hebe. This picture was taken in January following really cold (12 degree) weather in Olympia.  They look like  big green pastries. Last winter after the heavy snow, a lot of them in my neighborhood got splayed out, but they recovered nicely. I have a Hebe Rededge that is doing alright in my yard as well, but I've seen some miserable looking ones around town. They really look better with a good prune after flowering, making a tighter, more compact plant. I had a Tricolor Hebe for two years in a sunny spot, but it got killed every winter and came back if I chopped it to the ground, but I got tired of doing that. These hebes are a nice substitute for boxwood.

I came across a juvenile Berberis darwinii - Barberry plant all decorated up for the holidays- no mistaking those thorns. I liked the leaf size and the compactness of it, and the fact that it's an evergreen. These plants can get up to 6' tall but can be sheared back to be more compact.

This is a Golden Hinoki Cypress  and I have a real crush on these plants. Any kind of Hinoki will do, but I love the golden highlights of this one. I believe this is a Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea' which gets 8' - 10' at maturity. This Hinoki was about 3' and would cost around $80. There are many Hinoki varieties, but my favorites are the Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Crippsii' with similar yellow foliage but more fernlike sprays and the even more beautiful Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold' which gets 5-10' at maturity. All feature the Hinoki brand of flattened, twisted seashell branching, perfect for an Asian garden look.

Here is another one - 

Ceanothus is very common in our region, but the variety you most often see in nurseries is 'Victoria'. The leaves are big and flat and remind me of scotchbroom when it's not in bloom. A better variety is 'Julia Phelps' which has darker green leaves that remind me of very fine crochet. Here is a closeup of the leaves.  

If anyone in your family has bee allergies, you don't want this plant close to the house. When it blooms (for a month) it's covered with purple-blue flowers and is a bee-magnet. There's a hedge of Ceanothus in Olympia on the westside that is a knockout when the flowers are blooming. I'll be waiting to take its picture and post it in May. It's one of those plants that people usually just let turn into a big amorphous shrub (see photo at left), but it looks really nice sheared like a boxwood or an Ilex. If I was a more patient person, I would plant a hedge of these things in my front yard. 

I came across this container planting of Leucothoe Rainbow and Bergenia which still looked great after all the bad weather, and it didn't get a lot of insulation in the planting box which was about 18" tall.  

Plants that look good in winter: Part I

It's taken me a while, but after many years of gardening I've finally come around to the utility of putting in evergreen plants. I had the occasional Rhodie and Camellia, but leaned heavily towards deciduous shrubs with pretty flowers. So for all of winter and most of spring, my yard is full of brown. Since I live in close-packed neighborhood with lots of foot traffic, I really miss the privacy summer gives me. I've worked in a nursery for years and have largely ignored the evergreens, but now they've taken on new value for me. These are some of my favorites:


 Skimmias: Evergreen shade plants that come in male and female. Be very careful when you buy these that you get at least one of each or you won't get the fragrant and beautiful male flowers or the pretty red berries on the female. Beware of buying any skimmia that isn't labeled male or female; unless you have a practiced eye, at certain times of the year, like summer, you won't be able to tell the difference. These plants can take a little morning sun but if you put them in a sunny spot, they'll let you know they're unhappy by getting pale yellow leaves. 
     For a great bargain on these plants, check out Home Depot. From time to time they sell 2 gal. skimmia plants for $2.50 each. They would be at least $10 - $15 for that size at a nursery. Even though I work in a nursery, sometimes  even an employee discount can't beat Home Depot prices. For a lot of generic plants, they're okay. If you want a certain variety, you have to go searching. I'll talk more about this in later posts. 

Sarcococca - Another evergreen shade plant that comes in two sizes: one is the short guy, Sarcococca humilus which only gets 12" - 18" tall and spreads to 5 ft. if you let it. The other is Sarcococca ruscifolia, which gets much larger - 4' x 4' and has larger leaves. 


Both have fragrant, vanilla white flowers that smell great from late January until maybe March. From then on all you get is green, but even a bad winter can't dent its looks. It's classically put right by the front door so you can smell the sweet fragrance as you enter and exit. 

Nandina - There are many, many different varieties of nandina. It's commonly called Heavenly Bamboo, but is a member of the Barberry family. It just has a beautiful Asian look to it and is native to China and Japan. My absolute favorite is Sienna Sunrise, which is a 4' x 4' plant at maturity. It's a fairly fast grower, likes full or part sun, and isn't prone to any diseases. You can put it in a shady spot and it will do fine, but you won't get the beautiful coloration which is orange, red and purple all year. Most Nandinas only put on notable color in the fall, but this one is colorful all year. 
     
The older versions of nandina are very leggy and unless you like the look, you'll have to pay top dollar for the unleggy varieties. This is not a cheap plant: they rarely go on sale and a 2 gal. container of Sunrise, Moon Bay or Gulfstream, other great varieties that don't get leggy, will cost about $32. Since they look really great in groups, they can really be expensive. 
    
 There are several shorter versions  that are low clumping shrubs to only about 18" tall: Harbor Dwarf, Harbor Belle, and Firepower are the most common dwarfs. Firepower is intensely red in the fall only, and it's leaves are kind of fat and puffy, unlike the other varieties. Because of it's hardiness, beauty, etc. it's become one of the most overused plants in commercial landscaping, along with Goldflame spirea, heather and arbor vitae. I don't care; I still love it.

     Check out what happens if you buy one of the older cultivars. If the tag says Nandina domestica, this could be what you'll get in ten years. Marianne Binetti said if you cut your nandina down to the ground it would take care of the legginess, so I tried that. My nandina, which was Plum Passion, just grew back leggy again. So if you don't mind the leggy look, you can find cheaper nandinas. If you want unleggy, you have to go with Sienna Sunrise, Moon Bay or Gulfstream. The short nandinas don't have this problem.     

Moving on, my next choice(s) for evergreen landscape plants are members of the Ilex or Holly family. This is a big and diverse family in which some of the members have holly-like leaves, but many do not. There is Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil' which grows to 8' slowly, very slowly but is a great vertical plant. The Sky Pencil in this photo is flanked by Skimmia and Sarcococca plants.

Then for hedges or accent plants, there are Ilex crenata Convexa and Ilex crenata Helleri. Great Plant Picks say "they are an elegant backdrop to the flower garden or provide strong form in architectural gardens." All you get is green; no flowers, no fragrance. But just because it's elegant, it still has a place in an ordinary northwest landscape. Colorful nandinas would look great accenting the elegant Ilex, also tall grasses like Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'. 

Lastly, this isn't an evergreen, but Japanese maples look so gorgeous decorated with holiday lights that I had to include them.