Tranquil TimesSpring 2010 Newsletter
It is finally Spring, and at Tranquil Lake Nursery we have many exciting new plants for you to peruse. They include native as well as exotic, and both herbaceous and woody plants that have proven their merit, in some instances despite their lack of garden familiarity. Few are brand new hybrids, or extravagantly promoted trade-marked brands grown in oddly colored containers. To the contrary, I am most ecstatic this year about a native scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia) whose absence in ornamental horticultural references just adds additional curiousity to its enchanting value in the garden. This diminutive oak is a natural bonsai, as compared to its esteemed clan of majestic titans. Quercus ilicifolia or Bear Oak grows a mere six-to-ten feet in height, sporting tiny, lobed leaves that turn burgundy red in the fall. The leaf resembles that of a holly (Ilex), hence it specific botanical name ilicifolia which translates as holly leaf. Its common name refers to the bitter acorns that are apparently palatable to bears. Don’t worry, you will not need bear repellant. Bear oak’s native habitat ranges from coastal Maine to the shores of New Jersey and west to the mountains of West Virginia. It grows in poor, rocky and sandy soils. I first found bear oak growing out of cracks and crevices in granite ledges and vertical cliffs on Mount Champlain’s Precipice Cliff Trail in Acadia National Park. An easier study, at sea level, can be found at the Cape Cod National Sea Shore in North Truro. Whether your garden emulates mountain heights or coastal flats this dwarf oak lends its beautiful form as a garden focal point, on par with the Japanese maple. Bear oak can make a unique low hedge or background to a border. Underplant it with low bush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), and crow berry (Empetrum nigrum) for a true Down-East experience. Another plant that I have long desired is Lindera glauca var. salicifolia, an Asian spicebush. Yellow umbel flowers usher in linear leaves that turn pumpkin orange in the fall, a colorful rival to its botanical cousin Sassafras. This Lindera’s winter presence, however, is what is most striking. The yellow flowers mature to glossy black fruits and the leaves fade from orange to translucent beige and hang on throughout the winter. I have long admired this winter foliage effect at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts as well as the beautifully landscaped campus gardens of The Scott Arboretum in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Carex morrowii var. temnolepsis is a very fine textured, evergreen sedge. I first saw it twenty years ago at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. It should be more extensively cultivated for its utility and refined beauty. It is very hardy and tolerant of extremely dry shade. This carex has thrived in dry, sandy soil and surface roots at the base of Pinus parviflora in the nursery display gardens for many years. It is a great companion with Epimediums! Warren Leach Foliage Color, Testure and Form The spring garden season is distinguished by a momentous release of energy, that of bursting buds and emerging shoots that transform into unfurled leaves and colorful flowers. It is all very dynamic and dazzling, perhaps even a bit chaotic. This color celebration paints a surreal landscape composed of pink trees; lavender, red and yellow shrubs; and a ground plane tinted blue with bulbs. Thank goodness it’s ephemeral! After all that is the nature of flowers. It is the leaves that offer a myriad of shapes, sizes and colors that sustain the garden through the season. Their foliage form and color is where I start when designing a garden, with subliminal images of brilliant, fragrant and seasonal flowers always close, in my mind’s eye. Colorful foliage can offer either an echo or a contrast to flowers and intensify the design effect. For example, the chartreuse leaves of Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ offer a delicate foreground to the golden bells of Forsythia. The fine textured form of Spiraea ‘Ogon’ emerges with a cloud of white flowers soon after the Forsythia blooms pass. It then holds its pale spring-fresh colored leaves throughout the summer. Chartreuse is the definitive and refreshing color of spring. Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ is a favorite and very versatile performer. This fine textured, five-foot shrub is at home in full sun or partial shade, and is an unparalleled foil through the season for colorful flowers. It sets off red-hot daylilies, such as Hemerocallis ‘Chicago Apache’ or the cool-blue of Siberian Iris ‘Sally Kerlin’ and the violet blooms of Saliva nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ and even the blue leaves of Hosta ‘Halcyon’. The characteristics of leaf texture and shape has significant design impact for pleasingly pairing plants. The variations of simple, lobed or pinnately compound leaf form as well as fine or coarse texture, and its relationship to planting design is a principle lesson to grasp. Color design is not exclusive of form. The same chartreuse-colored leaves, whether lobed, like ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Nugget’), or simple, as in the leaf of Spiraea, or the pinnately compound leaf of Sorbaria sorbifolia ‘Sem’ are not at all interchangeable in designing pleasing plant combinations. The powerful pairing of the red flowered Hemerocallis ‘Chicago Apache’ and Spiraea ‘Ogon’ is diminished by the coarser texture of ninebark and would look messy with the Sorbaria. However, the finer textured flowers of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ works well with ninebark and the coarser compound leaves and yellow flowers of Mahonia bealei sing in harmony with Sorbaria ‘Sem’. This is the law of dynamic contrasts. Sorbaria sorbifolia (Ural False Spiraea) is one of the first shrubs to leaf out, emerging in March! It is very cold hardy to Zone 2. The cultivar ‘Sem’ is a new form sporting chartreuse, pinnately compound leaves and red midribs on first flush. Sorbaria ‘Sem’ is a spreading shrub that reaches six feet in height and sports foamy white flowers in July. The linear, blue leaves of switch grass (Panicum virgatum ‘Dallas Blues’) is a pleasing contrast to Sem’s feathery foliage. Add Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), Yucca filamentosa ‘Bright Edge’, Coreopsis x ‘Full Moon’, Spiraea japonica ‘Gold Dwarf’ and Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) for the beginings of a sensational garden. Repeat the chartreuse colored leaves with Cotinus coggygria ‘Golden Spirit’ echoed by the pale-yellow flowers of Coreopsis x ‘Full Moon. The color red is heavy, regardless of leaf size, and advances towards you in space. In counterpoint the color blue recedes. The maroon-leaved smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’) adapts to severe pruning. It can be coppiced to the ground, which controls its size to four-to-five feet. The rounded leaves pair up beautifully with the pinnately compound foliage of the red-leaf rose (Rosa glauca). Add more maroon foliage with Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’. Shift the color spectrum from blue-red foliage to orange-red flowers such as Hemerocallis ‘August Flame’. The violet flowers of Russian sage add heat to this fiery combination. Many herbaceous perennials have form and foliage that is as tough as any woody tree or shrub. Bluestar species, such as Arkansas bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii) and willowleaf bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana var. salicifolia), top my list. Amsonia blooms with blue flowers in May, but the real show is the fine textured, the quill-like green leaves arranged around two-to-three foot stems. It is indestructible, standing up to heat and drought in full sun and remaining unblemished. Late September brings on a spectacular color change to butter yellow. Plant Amsonia as a hedge that never needs trimming, or in combination with daylilies and daffodils to obscure less than perfect foliage. Bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) is also high on my list of tough and beautiful perennials for foliage. It too is drought tolerant and thrives in partial shade to sun. The round, pleated leaves turn reddish in the winter and remain semi-evergreen. Geranium macrorrhizum and its cultivars make excellent low-maintenance groundcovers, a foliar skirt under Sorbaria sorbifolia ‘Sem’. The fern family certainly provides a depth of leaf diversity. Their intricate furled fronds are memorialized in classic architectural details. Lush and luxuriant, ferns are also rugged garden plants. The evergreen Christmas fern’s (Polystichum acrostichoides) dark green leathery fronds make a great combination with the bold bronze leaves of Bergenia. Maidenhair fern’s (Adiantum pedatum) delicate filagree shows off next to large bold leaves of Hosta or Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’. Maidenhair ferns and moss makes a magic carpet under Japanese Maples. The family of lady ferns (Athyrium) offers a diversity of colored and patterned pinnae, a Victorian favorite. Silver and pink pigments many selections of Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’). The statuesque Royal Fern’s (Osmunda regalis) pinnately compound, locust-like leaves stand three-to-four foot tall and are as handsome as any woody rival. Embrace the different seasons in your garden, with the cycles of showy flowers and fruits. Design to sustain the vigor of spring, by planting a framework of fine and colorful foliage. Warren Leach Foliage Plants for Dynamic Design
Tranquil Lake Nursery Receives Recognition In early February, Tranquil Lake Nursery received the First Place Award of Excellence for Residential Landscape Design and Installation from the Rhode Island Nursery & Landscape Association in their annual design competition. Later that same month, the “Drought Tolerant Plants from Around the World”, exhibit at the Rhode Island Spring Flower Show won a Gold Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and The Elisabeth and Roger Swain Award for Design and Execution. We hope you visited the show and enjoyed our drought-tolerant silver garden.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
