February 1-15, 2010

2/1

 

Acer palmatum 'Fjelheim' was purchased while the leaves had not come out, last Spring. Several terminal branches were tan and dead. This Winter has been far more brutal, and yet I see, to this date, no such damage. I will ask a Norwegian what 'fjelhiem' means, as I think the plant was introduced by a  Norwegian, and the plant is a 'witches-broom' of the rangier, and more familiar 'Sango Kaku'.

Today, while the blooms on Hamamelis 'Diane' are beginning, with higher temps., to open, I noticed that just about all the leaves have, finally, fallen off.  Leaf retention is strong, all Winter long, and the large brown leaves obscure the bloom.

My snow blower is in the photo and ready, having been used once this Winter. It seemed, at first, to have a guarantee against any heavy snow, as it was fueled up, test started and next to the house for the two previous Winters, without a single use.  The imagined guarantee has run out.

  

Full of pink buds, and pictured constantly, Leucothoe fontanesiana came, about 30 years ago, as a bunch of rooted cuttings from a wholesale nursery whose name and location are lost. After many postings, the species name is finally settled.  At the same time, I ordered Tsuga caroliniana, which I had first seen at an arboretum.

Tsuga c. is perfectly hardy in this zone and has grown at a snail's pace over the years. The slow growth is not considered a minus with so little full Sun on the property. The trees shade Galax, Gautheria procumbens and Mahonia. The three types get protection from Winter Sun, which stresses out some evergreens.

2/3

The witch-hazel or Hamamelis variety called 'Diane' continues to bloom and the snow means nothing. It is in the shade of a large holly only because it can be easily seen as we come and go by way of the back door. Finally, it is large enough that it catches some Sun. This has increased the bloom. With the Sun low in the sky, at Winter, some still gets to the bloom and gives brilliant color. 

The robins have come, in the second huge sweep. It may be the same flock or another. They must gather from fiercely defended individual nesting areas all through the northern states and move, with some safety in numbers, eating the Ilex (holly) berries of both the ubiquitous I. opaca and the scattered I. verticillata. These few berries, shown, are on the largest winterberry here. It is expected that it is  Ilex v. 'Sparkleberry' , but was picked up on sale with only a winterberry label. These few will not last long, with the hundreds of hungry robins.

Despite snow upon snow and more, predicted for Saturday, the birds know Spring is coming, as chickadees have, already, started to check out the birdhouses and the white-throated sparrows have started their minor key songs. They sense the lengthening days.

2/4

 

Hamamelis 'Robert' with temps. close to freezing. The others are showing the slightest color, being, apparently, later blooming. 'Wisley Supreme','Jelena', 'Pallida' and even 'Arnold Promise' are ready to pop open. Jelena, Robert and Diane are, I suppose, members of the singular De Belder  family, that continues to introduce the newest hybrids. Improvements are obvious, in that 'Robert' is newer than 'Diane' and, while being close in color, does not retain the tattered brown leaves into the Winter, but sheds them cleanly.

'Diane'

2/5

 

On the north side of where we park the cars, a slightly inclined bank is clear of snow. One of the few  snow free spots on  the entire property. This single snowdrop surprised me.  There are a few planted, here and there, but only this one appears, today. Others are expected, many planted so long ago that individuals have become clumps.  But, simultaneous to their multiplication,some of the evergreen  shrubs, they are near, have enlarged and shaded  them. Well adapted to shade of deciduous shrubs, a location under trees works fine. The clumps under the evergreens will, I suppose, eventually fail, and could be dug up. I am usually to busy and, with most of the year, out of sight, out of mind. The lazier approach has been to plant new ones, especially now that money need not go to raising a family.

Jan. 16-31 2010

1/20

On a raw, partially sunny day, the witch-hazel, Hamamelis 'Diane' continues to open.  Any temp. above 40 degrees F. seems to be enough.

Arum italicum turns dark and slumps with freezing, but comes right back. Not at all invasive here and not very productive in terms of the spectacular seeds in Summer.

Perhaps a source of more plants, which I will have to sell or give away, Edgeworthia chrysantha has numerous sprouts at its base. Tending to be a grove, if left alone, the plant is constantly subject to pruning out basal sprouts.

The buds are covered with fine silver hairs.

For the first time, one of my favorite catalogs is listing the 'Red Dragon' form of this plant. Perhaps more tender, it is still listed as suitable for this zone 7. Worth a try for bright color at the very end of Winter.

I have seen the plant shown, blooming while snow gathers on the clusters or icicles form on them.

 The box huckleberry must, for survival sake, be very rabbit resistant. A rabbit is under the bird feeder, every night, eating spilled seed.  In coming and going it has sampled this bush and left it damaged. In these hungry times I would expect it to be eaten to a nub. Extended rains must have removed the noxious repellent I spray, rather faithfully, on any plant that might get chomped. The same info. is repeated, constantly, in this blog. The box huckleberry is unique in its rarity and natural distribution. It seems to favor acid shales in its native haunts and does very well, here, in this acid sand.

Hidden among the spiny leaves, the bloom continues on Mahonia 'Winter Sun'.

Reports will filter to me as to how the many plants from the southern nurseries have faired with the unusual shot of Winter weather that came into the South, recently. 'Winter Sun' was purchased from such a nursery, in a zone more agreeable to the plant.

 Under the Edgeworthia, the Cyclamen hederaceae increases, yearly. The plant does not take over, here, and it is difficult to imagine anyone objecting to an overabundance, anywhere.

The other group, under the Pseudocamellia.

Viburnum pragense did suffer from mournfully drooping leaves when the temperatures went to 20 degrees F. but has sprung back. With considerable shade, the plant has grown more sparsely and slower than expected, but is getting there.

This evergreen barberry would constitute an effective animal deterring hedge.  It blooms with small yellow flowers. A check on the spreadsheet, I maintain, will refresh my memory as to the species name. For a while, every possible sort that was evergreen and would thrive, here, was on a list as 'wanted'. This may be the highly worthwhile Berberis julianae.

Choisya arizonica 'Aztec Pearl' is amazingly cold resistant. The foliage looks too fragile. As suggested, mine is out of the wind. It will bloom with small, daisy-like flowers in Spring.

 

This Winter honeysuckle has been blooming, very sparsely, with this half-inch long flowers, on and off, since Winter began.  I cannot detect an odor. The rangy bush is either Lonicera purpusii or L. standishii. Both are planted next to each other in a spot where the unremarkable bushes are unobtrusive. I will able to be sure which is which, in Spring, since L. purpusii is supposed to have some purple tinge to the new leaves. A map of the property, designating plant placement is displaced, somehow.

1/28

Picea pungens 'Thume' was chosen for the fine blue color and its tendency to stay dwarf.

There are few spots where full Sun is available, on the property, or where a normal sized blue spruce could reach its potential.

1/29

  

The fiery blooms on Hamamelis 'Robert' have opened during the past week.  A background of evergreens is best, if they don't hinder the Sun from back-lighting the tiny flowers. The temperature was lower than 24 degrees F, when the photo was taken, so the spider-like flowers have all curled up.

 

This photo is slightly clearer than the one posted, yesterday. At a plant nursery, in June, I would walk past such flowers, but, despite their strange shape and tiny size, they amazed me, when I realized a plant would bloom in the very dead of Winter. They amaze me still. Snow is predicted, and the bloom, photographed against the fallen snow, is spectacular.
1/31

A few little flowers are still opening on Jasminium nudiflorum.

Eventually, there may be enough of this fine, silvery blue foliage for use as Christmas greens. 

Cupressus arizonica 'Blue Ice', or any other form of the arizona cypress is not often seen, locally.

Cornus sericeae really shows up when the Sun catches it, with the dark hemlock background and the snow.

Two more species of Cornus or dogwood, neither of which has Cornus florida or kousa flowers, will be blooming in a few months.  Only one, Cornus mas, is a large enough plant to bloom, here. The other, presently quite new and tiny, is C. officianalis.  Both bloom before the Forsythia. They bloom a mist of yellow, with no showy white bracts.  A great thing to see while the woods are still rather gray

.

Much too cold for the flowers of the witch-hazel, Hamamelis 'Robert' to unfurl the flowers. 

On a warmer day, with melting snow, a photo will be sought.

Jan. 1-15 2010

1/2/2010

Clematis armandi seems to be doing extremely well on the old wire that is around the former chicken yard. A few more flowers than last year are expected, but the plant is in considerable shade. This is the second winter it has had to endure.

Mahonia x 'Winter Sun' had the top cluster of blooms blasted during the snow, but two smaller clusters continue, crowded in, lower on the plant.

Some plants do seem to delicate to remain evergreen, but this Leucothoe populifolia or Agarista populifolia, remains undamaged. The name seems to be in confusion in the literature. Apparently the common names are pipestem and coast leucothoe.  Here several years, it has yet to bloom. This dwarf form is the sort called by two names,  'Leprechaun' or 'Taylor's Treasure'.

Nandina domestica 'Firepower' has stayed almost entirely green. An amazing plant, when it has taken on the predicted red Winter color.  This has not happened the two years it has been here.

Cornus 'Arctic Fire' is going into the first Winter, here.

 

Two fragile epoxy swans are filled with glitz and winter greens on the new back landing. Included also is an old ironwork chair that badly needed sandblasting and paint. A local man did that in a most un-businesslike manner, first with red lead primer and then with a fine shiny black coating . He worked at greatly reduced cost and taking many weeks to get to it. Some 'piney' attitudes, with a fine job on a handshake.

No idea where the little stepping stone with the dayglo butterfly came from.

Kerria japonica, with grass-green Winter stems, against a background of Leucothoe axialaris.

 

An easy evergreen with the most splendid of blue foliage, Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star' is widely available in local markets. As with most of the plants, it is pictured several time a year. The red stemmed little plant, to its right, is a dwarf form of the northern low-bush blueberry, Vaccinium 'Ruby Carpet'. It may well be at the southern range of tolerance for the species. A plant that carpets high mountains in New England, it has not started to spread from this spot. After several years, a number of other shrubs have begun to sucker and spread.  This will be a welcome source of new plants, but does lead some gardeners to distraction, imagining a well controlled garden, where everything stays in place.

2/7

 

Despite the coldest run of weather in many years, a few penny-sized and odorless flowers can be found on the Jasminium nudiforum.

Numerous tiny cones have formed on the Tsuga canadensis (Canadian Hemlocks). There is some indication of the repeated infestation by the destructive insect called the Wooly Algecid. The growth of the hemlocks is more inhibited by the shade in which they are planted than the insect. The infestation was much less, last Summer.

Nandina 'Harbor Dwarf' has not changed in color, as it has other Winters. It has stayed less than 30 inches tall and has not moved from this spot in about 8 years. Some suckering or root spread was expected , but, while it is called 'Heavenly Bamboo', it has not acted, even remotely, like some notorious true bamboo.

My wife enjoys the greens and winterberrys I bring her from the property but is into glitz, as well.

A walk out on these cold days reveals that the witch-hazels are starting to unfurl their strange little spider-like flowers. This photo shows the tiny strap-shaped petals of a few blooms on Hamamelis 'Diane', each curled up like a snail shell.

A few of the others show similar intent to bloom soon.

12/8

The thought came that this photo might be welcome and appreciated next August. For most of us, showing it is like 'bringing coals to Newcastle'. But the morning light, coming past the Carolina Hemlocks looked beautiful.

Cupressus arizonica 'Blue Ice' is in these photos many times, each year. This time the snow did not bend it over. Last year, one storm required that I tie it up to a sturdier trunk to bring it straight until Spring. A plant for full Sun, mine grows with a half-day of Sun in the Summer. As mentioned earlier, cuttings were taken and they remain healthy looking.  New growth will have to occur, in Spring,before they are inspected for root growth and potted separately.

 

Cornus sericea 'Cardinal' (spelling is iffy) was the most brilliant cardinal red anytime before, in any photos, in any yards, in any plant nursery or arboretum. Its second Winter, here, it is brilliant but not the correct color.

My guess is that a handful of bonemeal may raise the pH of the soil to a more ideal level. The plant is in our native, acid, sandy soil at the base of a Rhododendron. Great for the Rhododendron.

The Akebia quinata usually begins to show real Winter damage after the New Year. As with many vines, it is described as an aggressive 'Thug' in the gardening blogs. On this property, its vigor is phenomenal, but it has not been a pest, yet.

Probably the most brilliantly tinted bark on the property, right now.

The program that came with my basic little camera allows me to insert text.

12/10

 

 

Cornus sericeae looks good against the snow and hemlocks. One third of the branches were cut out to provide Christmas decoration, but that will also allow new branches to come and a cycle of renewed young branches will allow for constant bright color.

 

A trip to the local wildlife refuge, with hopes of seeing an Bald Eagle, Short-eared Owl or Whistling Swan, gave no such results. Hooded mergansers, Mute Swans, Pintails and a few other sorts of ducks and the ubiquitous gulls were there, along with a number of Canada Geese and Black Ducks. Two Black Ducks are in the photo. Of course they are, actually, dark brown with typical silvery color under the wings. One sighting was of a female Marsh Hawk. That species has extreme distinctions between male and female coloration and size.

 

12/14

 

It is the first time the temperature has gone above freezing in a week. The submersible  water heater was just where it was put and was not found until the second search. It is my wife's idea and does attract birds, but eons of their living without such help is evidence, to me, that the heater is a frill. It can be viewed from the dining table and the more birds the better. I could not be fooled that it looks like a rock.

 

Any hint of a new plant blooming is of interest.  Viburnum bognantense blooms pink before the leaves and at the end of  Winter or earliest Spring. The basic little camera insisted on focusing on the ground but a brown paper bag, just behind the bud, fooled it. A form of V. bognantense with white flowers is available, somewhere, but listed in no U.S.A. catalog I have seen.  It would have been the choice.

The experience, here, is that purchased plants, so well grown, often bloom on the old wood, but when introduced to this garden, can take years to bloom again.

 

A dwarf form of Cornus sericeae, either 'Alleman's Compact', or 'Kelseyi' has been growing weakly by the front walk. A dark mahogany red, appreciated because it remains short. It was cut down, accidently, while nearby weeds were cut, but has re-sprouted. Just another potential source of Winter color among the many choices of dogwood grown almost exclusively for bark color.

Dec. 16-31 2009

12/16

This Epimedium is un-named. It was sent as a premium from a company no longer in business and, not knowing it might matter, I never saved the name.  It blooms with tiny, flesh-colored flowers. This evergreen foliage is the best feature, as all the other sorts are badly damaged or totaled as Winter starts.

 

The plus, here, is that Zenobia pulverulenta keeps these brilliant leaves all Winter. The minus is they may go far into the next growing season.

 

The selling point on this Camellia was that the sepals on the buds are colored all Winter. It is C.' Red Candles'. Being new, this year, its durability is untested. Now that the buds are colored up, it is not much of a selling point, after all.  Once again demonstrating the wisdom of seeing a plant, rather than following a catalog description. Many are unaccompanied by photos, with photos unavailable on the web.  Many of the plants are bought, unseen, because they are unusual and their location, if they exist within driving distance, is unknown. Camellias have endured, here, as glossy leaved foliage plants, out of Winter sun, since that would damage the leaves. They bloomed the first year of planting, but not since.

Like the Osmanthus fragrans, they are at the very limits of their cold tolerance.

  Lonicera purpusii, like the other two sorts, here, is retaining the leaves into the Winter. The other two are also budded up, but not opening, yet. They are L. fragrantissima and L. standishii.

 

 Edgeworthia chrysantha

 

Cyclamen hederaceae. This clone, (silver leaved, white flowered) differs in bloom time with the other and seems to bloom August into September.
 12/21

Just before Winter arrived. The birdbath has neither been rested on the side of its base, nor has a water heater been added. The amount of snow can be roughly estimated by what is standing in the birdbath. For the sake of the birds, an electric heater, shaped like a rock, is somewhere.  It is certainly needed. Ten inches of snow are somewhat equal to an inch of rain, so the birds can eat snow, but drinking water would be more efficient.

 

The view of the new landing entry from the kitchen window. Massive icicles formed on all the eves. 

 

The tool shed.  I built is as a barn for a horse and pony, long since gone, due to old age. Now it is a storage shed. Noise, when I enter, might be a raccoon or possum, up in the storage space. A little creepy not to really know.  Maybe just a feral cat.

 

The Leucothoe, that may be L. axiallaris , (names seem to vary with the reference books), already shows the red buds for next Spring's blooming.

 

The new back entry in Winter's grasp.

Acer palmatum 'Fjelheim'. Looking, now, just as imagined. A bright spot in the Winter landscape. The light green stems of the Kerria bush, behind it, are quite difficult to see. The Kerria has retained some leaves and is almost buried in  a holly, Ilex opaca.

The front walk.

Zenobia pulverulenta. Sort of reminds me of the color of a creamsickle, which may not be  an ice cream  item commonly available today. Some dried up Aster is in the mix.

 

Several large Ilex opaca (American Hollies) are by the back door, and it is good that they happen to be females. Pure chance, as they were tiny when we built.

Some berries remain on one of the Ilex verticillata.  Ilex verticillata, the winterberry, is common in the local swamps, but those bushes seem more orange-red. This individual is a female called 'Sparkleberry'. My plans to ignore the work of putting bird netting over the bushes failed to protect the plants. Most of the berries went to robins in two distinct flocks passing through, on two occasions.  I will use the netting, next time, as it would be nice to have berries, at least until Christmas.Some branches were used in containers, as Christmas decoration, on the new back landing, and those berries are, as yet, untouched.

12/23

There are a number of buds, still unopened, on the Jasminium nudiflorum, while other blooms are fading. Despite the Genus name, these flowers seem entirely scentless.

 

Crowded and still holding a few leaves, the branches of the Kerria japonica 'Plena' are bright green. A distinctive feature for the Winter garden. There are two types, here. Both have these green stems, but the other has more subtle flowers than this bush. With a great flush of bloom in Spring, K. j. 'Plena' continues to put out some marigold shaped and colored flowers until frost stops it. The other has cream colored flowers that look like small, single roses, blooming briefly, here, in Spring.  That one, also always pictured, is K. j. 'Alba'.

Kerria, like the Jasminium, above, is also scentless.

A better photo will be put here, if possible. Three small Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' are on the property. All are small and underwhelming, but a gardener lives with expectations. A truly spectacular Winter feature when the bush is full of these twigs that shade from pale yellow, at the base, to bright red at the tips. The plant has seemed easy enough, with adequate water and half-day Sun.

Dec. 1-15 2009

12/1/09

Epimedium sulfureum does not stay evergreen in this zone 7a, and there always seems to be one or two sections that take on splendid Fall coloration. The rest stays shiny green until around the first of the year.
5 sorts of the dozens of available Epimediums are on the property. E. warlyense is the newest, and should bloom this Spring. Only the kind pictured above has spread to make a significant groundcover and it is amazing to see that this plant seems to win out over the common periwinkle that is all over the gardens.

Along the road, in a high spot, these plants, which must be some kind of privet, have formed a colony. Most likely the spot was a homesite, perhaps a century ago.  Most homes were, unfortunately, victims of accidental fires and some were just left to cave in. Here nothing remains. I do not even see a foundation.

 

Cyclamen hederacea.    The plant shown is the one under the Pseudocamellia tree,and is getting a good deal of Winter Sun, now that all the leaves have fallen. Each plant's leaves are patterned idiosyncratically, and can also differ greatly, from plant to plant. The two plant on this property are white-flowered.  Another species, having solid green leaves (at least mine does), is C. coum.  It has returned very weakly.  Unlike the species shown, C. Coum blooms in Spring, and mine differs, also, from the one shown, in that it blooms pink.  A white flowered sort was not listed for sale. Pink or lavender flowers are seldom chosen for this property, with notable exceptions

 

Ilex glabra 'Ivory Queen' has been here for, perhaps, 8 years, and only this year, with a male inkberry nearby, have any berries formed. Of course the normal berry color is ink black. The male, which blooms at exactly a corresponding time, in Spring, is visited by flying insects. The pollen is transferred to the specimen shown. The appropriate male is  a dwarf-grower called 'Pretty Boy'.

 

The bottom flowers in the spray are open on the Mahonia x 'Winter Sun' and the bloom should last several weeks. There are several clusters elsewhere on the plant, but hidden among foliage.

 

Acer palmatum 'Fjelheim', with the Sun coming from the back, looks as if the light is actually going through translucent red branches. That must be so.  The dark green background shrubs are the 'Knockout' roses that have stopped blooming as of last week. Reading this blog, over time, will bring constant repetition in comments. 'Sango Kaku', the commonest red-barked japanese maple, was on display, several years ago, when I visited Winterthur Estate, in Delaware, at the very end of Winter. It was a bright spot in pots on the visitor's deck. It is a sizable, rangy tree. 'Fjelheim' is a propagated witches-broom of that tree. Even then, pruning will be needed, as individual branches probably lose the red after three years.
 12/2

 Zenobia pulverulenta will hold these glowing leaves all Winter.

Cornus 'Arctic Fire' is new, here. Another attempt at Winter color in the garden.

 

 The leeks, planted late last Spring, will hold up until really cold weather.  Not as big as the ones in the market, but all these with some sweat and less than $2. My wife has potato leek soup in mind.

 

Here two years, Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' is in a number of places. Still small and sparse, but the brilliant stems will make a real impact when the bushes fill out.
11/3

Edgeworthia chrysantha has lost all but the smaller leaves, near the buds.  It will carry on, all Winter, with these silvery buds, that can, in the dark days, make the bush look like it might be blooming.

Reeve's Skimmia was chosen over the other sorts because it is able to have berries without the usual issue of the female needing a male plant near by in order to fruit. Insects did attack it, but the rabbit has not. A nearby Sarcococca, that is a similarly low growing plant, was well eaten by the rabbit, and I just noticed it. Years of growth in one meal. It is growing amazingly slowly, as it is.

One or two flowers have opened on the Winter honeysuckle, Lonicera purpusii. Just interesting and unique, but hardly noticable. Certainly not enough to give any of the famous odor, but blooms in December are rare.

 

The largest of the Winterberry bushes still has many tarnished leaves and an unusually large crop of berries. One huge flock of robins already came through, but, perhaps, the obnoxious spray used to repel deer and rabbits will keep them away, as well. In previous years, bird netting, used to protect blueberries, etc., was used.  That work may be avoidable.

12/7

Rather difficult to see this mess of plants.  The second largest of the winterberries, Ilex verticillata 'Sparkleberry' has lost most of its leaves. Near it are male winterberries that are a source of pollen, each Spring. The green and yellow leaved plant is another, of the many, that I am waiting for, around here. It is Chimonanthus praecox, an amazing plant.  If it ever gets big enough, it should bloom in the coldest months with rather small, but numerous yellow and maroon flowers with a pervasive perfume.  The common name is 'Wintersweet'. Also difficult to see, and of little interest, this month, is the Hamamelis x 'Arnold Promise', a Rhododendron and a hemlock.

As long as it remains with leaves, the small, silver-leaved Buddlea will be left with these other pots, by the garage door. It closely matches the jade green of the house trim, at least in real life.

Another slow grower ,and not particularly deer-resistant, Cephalotaxus harringtonia prostrata, the lower growing form of the plum yew goes, year in year out, in considerable shade.

With 40 degree temps. during the day, the Mahonia x 'Winter Sun' blooms unaffected by the chill.  A light snow did not bother it.

12/9

Although Jasminium nudiflorum has opened flowers in early December on other years, they were years that were unusually warm.  This year has been a little colder than average. Still, on the trellis fence, around the deck, this group has bloomed.  They are penny sized.

J. nudiflorum is partly a vine and partly a shrub. The long strands were wound in and out of the lattice to hold them up, and, they should be a mass of bloom, in time. Because the plant roots, where the scandent branches hit the ground, there are several , now in pots. They were easily dug up and will be placed in other spots on the property.

My first contact with this extraordinary plant was in visiting a house whose former owner was a nurseryman. One single flower was in bloom in February.  New owners destroyed the plant, in making the place neater, and, only after years, did I see the plant in a catalog. Only then was this mystery plant revealed to me.

November 16-30, 2009

11/19

The Viburnum in front, V.carlesii 'Compactum' usually is notable when it opens the powerfully fragrant waxy flowers in Spring. This fine, wine color is even brighter than the photo shows and is a +.  The shrub that is behind it, taller, and similar in tone, is Hydrangea. quercifolium 'Snow Queen' and it, dependably turns beautiful shades, every Fall.

Just recently pictured, the Fothergilla is brilliant. Several years ago it was mentioned that this is the shrub that was totalled by the huge wheel of a construction truck, and it has slowly recuperated. The shadbush, juneberry,shadblow above the Fothergilla has lost most of its leaves.

Edgeworthia chrysantha is at the point where the constant division into three branches might be visible.

The dark green shrub, Berberis 'William Penn', still needs to be moved.  It is tolerant of the shade it gets, but certainly not designed for this location, now that the Edgeworthia is so large. The pale yellow leaved shrub is, perhaps, the most brilliantly barked of the many colored bark dogwoods, Cornus 'Midwinter Fire'. The bark shades from yellow to the tips of red.

In Sun, Hamamelis 'Diane' should have red leaves, but the large leaves are a golden yellow, here. There are many, many flower buds for January or Feb.

Cotoneaster apiculatus is colored, now, about as opposite as a plant can be, when compared to the Cupressus arizonica 'Blue Ice' that overshadows it. The leaves will soon fall. The yellow-leaved plant in front is Clethra 'Sixteen Candles', a favorite for its dwarf character.

 So easy  to propagate, Forsythia cuttings were put, in Summer, into a gallon jar and an aquarium air pump and bubbling stone pumped air around the stems for several weeks. There are, now, about 30 potted up and intended to make a hedge at one side of my daughters back yard.

This Cotoneaster apiculatus 'Tom Thumb' has just come through its first Summer here. Like the previously shown sort, the leaves will soon be gone.

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee' was moved to another spot, but not all was gotten so this part has grown back. Like little darts, needles from the overhead pine have pierced the leaves.

Almost 40 years ago trash can lids and metal lawn edging were used to make forms for these stepping stones. Since, the path has been reconstructed, once, to line it with granite edge blocks and replace the old 3/4 round gravel with new pea gravel. Many of the stepping stones have been covered with emerald green moss, which really impressed me, after spending 20 minutes blowing away the amber-rust pine needles and leaves that had completely hidden the path.

A single specimen of a Leucothoe, commonly called 'pipestem' lives and hardly increases.  No reason can be given, as the sandy, acid soil and climate seem good for it.  A southern plants and a dwarf form. Apparently given the name 'Taylor' or 'Leprechaun'.

A few leaves remain, and the photo shortchanges as to brilliance.  The shrub is Aronia 'Brilliantissima'.

Planted to block the view, through the woods, of a neighbor's house, Viburnum pragense is growing slowly. It is the time for the old leaves to drop, and, actually, it would be better, as a screen, if they all stayed.  It still has a great deal of height and breadth to gain, before it really does its job.

Rhus aromatica 'Gro-Lo' continues to shortchange as to color, but it does not get full Sun and so much more than this golden color cannot be expected.

11/20

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snow Queen'.

Zenobia pulverulenta 'Woodlander's Blue' is really starting to change. Like Galax aphylla, Zenobia p. is the only member of its Genus that I have ever seen listed. As with Galax and Franklinia, this species seems alone in the plant world.

The Callicarpa bushes have lost all their leaves, and still, despite a good population of berry-eating birds, the berries remain. The first of a huge flock of Robins went through and ate quite a few of the red colored winterberries, but totally missed these.

 

'Shaver' is a different Ilex verticillata (Winterberry) in that it is both dwarf and with larger than usual berries.  Of the half dozen, here, only this one bush has any fruit, while the needed male plant is close by.

Mahonia x 'Winter Sun' should be in bloom by Thanksgiving.

Nov. 1-15, 2009

11/1

Perhaps 6 inches in length, now, the flower panicle continues to lengthen, despite the 40-50 degree weather.
Mahonia 'Winter Sun' is not expected to get any bigger panicle than what is pictured.  It never has, on this property, but may be in bloom by Thanksgiving or Christmas.

As was stated, at bloom time in Spring, Viburnum 'Popcorn' has, absolutely, exceeded all expectations. Now, the really different deep purple Fall color sets it apart from the plants surrounding it.

The yellow leaved plant is Hamamelis 'Jelena'. Once again, chosen only for the unique Winter bloom. The plant next to it, quite typically for many plants on the property, is not a mass of color. A few leaves are dull scarlet. Not what the catalog pictured or promised. It might, still, be too early. The shrub is Aronia 'Brilliantissima'.

11/6

The same plants are shown, over and over, and, once again, clicking on a photo makes it fill the page on my computer.  I have no idea if this happens to anyone who views this blog. This is what we see, looking out the bedroom window. The yellow in this photo is a Calycanthus, or strawberry shrub. Different clones  have more or less fragrant flowers and, seemingly, flowers that are easier or more difficult to see, when in bloom. Absolutely mahogany colored and with the odor of strawberries. The one shown only smells if the flowers are crushed in the hand. Knowing that, only a plant, in bloom, would have been chosen at a nursery, rather than mail-ordered. It has been here more than 30 years and is suckering. It is severely pruned back and dug up. The two Calicarpa or beautybush are yellow-green, now, and the berries are still uneaten. The amazingly slow growing Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Alba' continues to do well in rather deep shade. It is the small leaved, deep green bush in the center. The leaves will turn nice looking amber shades before falling.

Enkianthus perulatus was purchased not only for the neat, bell-shaped, Spring  flowers,but for the Fall color. The assumption was that it would thrive at the woodland edge in this acid soil. It has, but the half-shade has limited the possible scarlet color.

 

Cyclamen hederaceae.

11/7

The first frost, and every leaf of the bearberry, Arctostaphyllos ova-ursi 'Massachusetts' has a rim of ice crystals. The plant has become a fine, spreading patch. It has responded better than one that was, mistakenly, given fertilizer designed for acid-soil type plants. No fertilizer, whatsoever!

Repeatedly shown, these little evergreens all appreciate acid soil. In the trade, different nurseries do not, dependably, carry offerings that are properly named. The two individual plants, purchased from two different nurseries, that were named Juniperus sabina 'Blue Forest', are growing like little forests, but one is much bluer than the one in the photo.  The ground-hugging plant in the middle looks very much like a creeping cranberry but is Vaccinium crassifolium 'Well's Delight'. Another form of this plant, recently planted, looks much more upright and is called 'Bloodstone'. The plant to the left is always in this blog. It is both rare and much underused. So easy in this soil and climate. Gaylussacia brachycera, the box huckleberry. Spelling is always iffy.

This excellent clump of Stachys byzantina or Lamb's Ears is smaller leaved than the one shown earlier this year, 'Helen Von Stein', but, similarly, seldom blooms. It is an nameless clone that sprouted from wood chips, spread several years ago.

S. b.'Silver Carpet' might be like this.

Frost was glittering on these leaves and melting in the Sun. A favorite shrub, among many, Corylopsis gotoana grows in a graceful manner and seems suited to a Japanese garden. It blooms, sparsely, in part shade, on this property. The bloom comes in latest Winter or earliest Spring, a week or so ahead of Forsythia and with a beautiful, soft yellow color.

11/8

Paxistima canbii (sp?) is as good as a dwarf boxwood or hetzi Japanese holly for a lightly shaded spot. On this property, it is growing a little faster than a piece of garden sculpture. Good among other acid-soil shrubs and likely to take on some purple tints in Winter. 

 

Another acid soil groundcover is this Kalmia latifolia 'Croft's Carpet'. It has yet to bloom, but it, probably, has typical pale to dark raspberry blooms. 

 

 The photo shows Gaultheria procumbens, the wintergreen so common to this area. Almost hidden, bell-shaped flowers were there, but none matured into the typical red berries. It is very slowly spreading under the Carolina Hemlock trio. 

 

Cornus sericea is grown only for this brilliant color of its twigs.

The color develops now and remains all Winter. Usually, it does not continue on older twigs, so this plant is tall enough that in late Winter it will be pruned to the ground. An alternative would be to prune out 1/3 of the branches each year.

 

The white Colchicum, recently shown, if finishing its bloom. The light frosts did not affect it.  The pink one, 'Waterlily', was planted  in a spot where it should thrive.

Against the evening sky, the persimmons are easy to see, and, with the frosts, they will lose a great deal of their pucker. The opossums may not mind if they still do not suit the human taste, and it will be neat to walk out to the roadside and see if any are way up there, feasting. Persimmon trees are either male, or female. Two ugly tent caterpillar nests mar the scene.
11/11

The Amelanchier, or shadbush, partly overhanging the drive away from the house, has turned this pleasant amber orange. Other plants, in the photo, include the Fothergilla 'Mt Airy', which, seemingly, will not turn the brilliant scarlet of last year, and the true green, bush honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima.

Viburnum mariesii had lost many leaves, but those retained are still their orange and wine colored shades. The little, bright yellow bush is Cornus 'Midwinter fire'. The bush, above the Cornus, was planted only to provide pollen to the Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur', shown below. It was spectacularly colored scarlet and orange, one year, but this year it is not so special. To get berries on V. n. 'Winterthur', a different clone must be nearby. The one in the photo is V. n. 'Earthshade'. The prominent, purple leaved shrub is V. 'popcorn; and, not showing too well, the small green Viburnum, to its right is V. bognantense. The hope was that flower buds would form, but they have not, it being quite small. It blooms at Winter's end, and before its leaves emerge.

 

Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'.

 

The 'last rose of Summer', coming after a light frost, and in the middle of November.  My wife will cut it and it should open nicely in the house. It is the old rose called 'King's Ransom'.

 Being up against the house, this maidenhair fern is unaffected by the frost. The species is undetermined.

Acer palmatum Fjelheim retains just a few sad leaves. It will be brilliant against the holly and the bright green Winter stems of the Kerria.
 11/14

The pale color of the flowers on the Hamamelis virginiana 'Full Moon', does not carry, and, while brilliant Fall leaves still remain on many of the shrubs on the property, it does not make that much of a contribution. Still, when the tree is larger, it may, and flowers in the middle of November are, really, quite amazing. True to catalog descriptions, most of the leaves are gone, leaving the flowers easy to see.

 

The Zenobia, in the foreground, is not very showy, but is changing color. Always soft orange and amber shades, on leaves that stay all Winter. Behind it, one of the Fothergilla 'Mt. Airy' always, being in shade, takes on golden yellow. The large, golden leaved shrub, in the background, is another Corylopsis, C. pauciflora, grown exclusively for the bloom, at the very end of Winter.

The smaller of the two Fothergilla is shown as of this date and, below, what it was last Fall.

 

The year-to-year variation is expected.