Plants I Recommend Archives - Page 18 of 21

Archive for Plants I Recommend – Page 18

Unusual Flowers to Attract Hummingbirds

Posted by Carol

· February 4, 2015

Unusual Flowers to Attract Hummingbirds

Today I want to share “Hummer” plants with hot colors for summer that are unique. I will also list a few very colorful plants that feed the overwintering hummingbirds in winter.

Hardy Fuchsia may be considered common for feeding hummingbirds 8 months out of the year. Here are 3 varieties that are available locally (Portland, Oregon) that are a little different. This type of fuchsia is a perennial and not anything like the fuchsia baskets that live in shady patios. These fuchsias need sun and will come back year after year with simple care.

‘Golden Gate’ Hardy Fuchsia has hot gold leaves and shocking red pink flowers. It is much smaller than the typically ‘Aurea’ and is an upright shrub instead of a wide vase shape. It will fit into a smaller garden much better than ‘Aurea’ which can grow 4′ across easily. We have a local source, a wholesale grower, Jockey Hill, who sells retail at Scappoose Saturday market.

Fuchsia Magellnica ‘Isis’ – this is great against a wall and while the leaf and flower are tiny, it can become a tall column (8′ – 10′) or it can be cut back hard every year and kept in the 4’ range. Hundreds of flowers will interest many varieties of the larger bees as well as hummingbirds.

‘President’ Hardy Fuchsia. It has a dark maroon leaf which is very unusual. This can be hard to find. We have a local wholesale grower, Jockey Hill, who sells retail at Scappoose Saturday market. It grows into a wider than tall shrub with purple and red flowers.

Agastache, also called Hummingbird Mint, are hot plants for long flowering summer color and for hummingbirds. My old favorite variety is called ‘Apricot Sunrise’ and is an Agastache aurantica. There are many new varieties of Agastache that I am very excited about. ‘Summer Fiesta’, ‘Summer Sunset’, ‘Kudos Manderin’, and ‘Kudos Coral’ are newer varieties that are more compact. All of these Agastache are fragrant and smell strongly like mint or apple mint depending on the variety.

If you provide good drainage (think about planting on a low mound of soil), and don’t over water or fertilize …… it can live for years. I often mulch around these plants with a cup of tiny crushed rock or pumice and I also tend to plant Hummingbird Mint in a raised planting. Even 4” above the rest of the soil will improve drainage.

Agastache ‘Summer Glow’ did very well in a client’s garden until a local rabbit ate them to the ground one too many times. I love this exact variety, ‘Summer Glow’, because even after the glowing creamy yellow flowers are gone, the mulberry calyeces (under each tubular flower) stay on the plant until frost. This color is soft but truly does glow especially in the evening. This variety, like the hummingbird magnets above, results in 3 months of color in the garden. It’s not red so isn’t as attractive to Hummers.

Here are three great hummingbird attractors for winter:

Camellia Sasanqua ‘Springs Promise’

Hybrid ‘Springs Promise’ is a new vivid rose red winter flowering Chinese Camellia.

Correa ‘Dusky Rose’

Correa ‘Dusky Rose’ Australian Fuchsia is available locally at Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island.

‘Arthur Menzies’ Mahonia – photo from Forest Farm.

Mahonia x media ‘Arthur Menzies’ Think small tree so 15’ by 8’ wide. The fragrance alone is amazing. It is a coarse but attractive blue green leaf, the flower is a soft but strong yellow and is beloved by the Anna Hummingbirds. At times you can find it at Portland Nursery, Cistus Design Nursery or Xera Plants, Inc.

You can also order a small plant from Forest Farms

For typical plants that attract hummingbirds go to my video for About.com. http://landscaping.about.com/video/Best-Flowers-to-Attract-Hummingbirds.htm

Categories : Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend, Summer Garden Tips

Tags : food for hummingbirds, long blooming flowers, plants to attract birds

Planning for a Cheery Winter Landscape

Posted by Carol

· December 10, 2014

Let’s start with art. An art object does not need pruning, watering or fertilizing. Art, particularly large art, is a way to get a powerful all season effect in the landscape. Place it so you see it from the most used room of the house. Add a little night lighting and really get your money’s worth.

Shapely trees and large shrubs with attractive branch structure will make 75% of your most dramatic winter picture. Buy trees or shrubs already pruned and shaped beautifully. There are specialty growers who do this as part of their marketing niche, or hire a landscape gardener or an arborist to turn your trees and shrubs into winter beauties. Out here in the NW it’s Nancy Buley with Treephoria and while her plants are grown way out in east county she comes in to some of the farmers markets to make it easier for you to connect with her.

Red Camellia in L. Waldron Garden

Here’s a series of shapely shrubs/small trees with cheerful bright winter flowers. My favorite of the chinese camellias is still Camellia Sasanqua ‘Yuletide’ but the growers have created a whole line of plants similar to Yuletide but in different flowering colors and different flower timing. Here are a couple of new ones I’m excited about. ‘Springs Promise’ a chinese camellia from Monrovia has an unusual orange red flower, a color hard to find in winter. The tree can be trained into a vase shape, an espalier or a thick shrub. We will see if the hummingbirds like it as much as they do the true red of the Yuletide variety. ‘Pink a Boo’ also has the smaller dark green glossy leaves (like Yuletide) but is that perfect frosty intense but pale pink. Camellia Sasanqua ‘Marge Miller’ is the only plant with a weeping shape. I’ve only used it once and am eager to get photos this January when my client Karen’s plant starts to flower.

calluna-vulgaris-robert-chapman360 port nursery

Calluna Vulgaris ‘Robert Chapman’ lights up in winter cold.

To have a cheery winter landscape we need plant color low on the ground with a dark mulch or hemlock bark to dress the raw earth. Too much mulch or raw muddy earth looks unfinished especially for a front yard. In the back yard your dog will happily churn up that mud and bring it in so I like to see it covered. Many people here in the Northwest like to have the soil covered with plants to conserve water, lessen the chore of weeding and for style. Others find it too busy and want to see the space around the plants as part of the design. No one wants mud so we all agree on that. Plant selection: Use plants that turn on the color in winter cold. The foliage of heathers light up in reds, russets, ambers, and golds.

Calluna Vulgaris ‘Winter Chocolate’

Cornus Sanguineum ‘Midwinter Fire’

For a January pick me up, we cannot beat a red twig dogwood or scarlet willow, although planning for space is an issue with these plants. The twig dogwood shrubs and small trees light up in hot reds, burgundy and yellow.

Notice what is going on outside. If you have become a person who never ventures out in the winter……give yourself a gentle little shake, put on some warm clothes and get out there and see what is going on. Slow down enough to notice light on the tree stems, chilled dew on a leaf, and the leaf buds swelling on your Japanese maple in preparation for spring. This is good for our spirits and our minds.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend, Winter Gardening

Tags : curb appeal, dramatic winter plants, Winter Color in the garden

3 Colorful Shrubs for Fall

Posted by Carol

· October 3, 2014

Compact Burning Bush
The most popular variety of Euonymus alata ‘Compacta’ because people think it will be small, say 3′ x 3′. It is not the least bit small and easily grows into a beautiful small tree. The smallest variety on the market is called ‘Rudy Haag’ 5′ x 5′. Even the variety called ‘Pip Squeak’ is 6′ x 5′. If Burning Bush is not placed with room to grow, these shrubs get turned into ugly muffins by frustrated gardeners. If it is sheared properly, thinner at the top and wider at the bottom, this can be a very attractive hedge but it will need to be sheared two or three times a year. Ugh! Too much work for me.

I love to use this shrub as a shree (part shrub, part small tree). A client of mine, Ruth in Scappoose has hers planted in full sun and pruned into small multi-stem trees. They are underplanted with a hot orange summer flowering Euphorbia which is a wow combination. These “shrees” have been in their location for over ten years and they are not irrigated at all. Other than having a professional pruning every year or three, this privacy planting is very low maintenance and simply stunning. The ridged and winged bare stems of the Burning Bush are attractive and add winter interest. To establish this plant, water it once a week, or twice in hot weather. Once established, it will thrive with once a week watering. As it ages in place it needs less and less water. A plus … The deer don’t bother this plant in Ruth’s garden.

Fothergilla ‘Mt Airy’, (Bottlebrush) in full fall color.

Witch Alder (also called Bottlebrush)
This shrub has two seasons of wow, one is spring where the fragrance is heavenly, the bottle brush flowers are attractive in flower arrangements and if pruned properly, the shape of this “shree” will look good year round. The 2nd wow is the fall color.

Fothergilla (BottleBrush) fragrant flowers on naked stems delight in spring

This plant, Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’ will need regular water until it has been in place for many years. Almost all plants, even those listed as drought tolerant, look better with some irrigation in our Pacific NW Mediterranean style summer. See fabulous colorful art made from these leaves!!!

Hydrangea Quercifolia Oakleaf Hydrangea ‘Gatsby’s Moon’ is a new variety from Proven Winners.

Oakleaf Hydrangea
I’ve written about this plant many times but that’s because it’s so great. The full size plant may not fit in most landscapes but there are two semi dwarf plants that will. These plants have huge white conical flowers in mid- summer that fade to a nice pink. In fall the large and well textured leaf turn the most fabulous rich reds and stay on the plant well past Thanksgiving. These leaves always go in my Thanksgiving table centerpiece. Once the leaves fall, there is great rusty exfoliating bark on the stems that glow in the winter light.

Hydrangea quercifolia, Oakleaf Hydrangea ‘Sikes Dwarf’ and ‘Pee Wee’ are the two varieties I use the most. They are NOT tiny shrubs, still expect a 3′ to 4′ wide and tall plant. My experience is that ‘Sikes Dwarf’ is taller than ‘Pee Wee’. The leaves are smaller than the species, 4 to 5 inches instead of 8 to 10 inches and they still have the interesting grainy texture and great flowers. One drawback … deer seem to like the leaves. It is native to the South Eastern United States.

It’s easier to prune than a traditional hydrangea AND it doesn’t need as much water. If you want you can cut it off at the ground in late winter and start over. Here is a video “How to Prune Oak Leaf Hydrangea” by Cass Turnbull of Plant Amnesty.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Fall Gardening, Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend

Tags : cutting flowers, dramatic winter plants, fall gardening tips, Winter Color in the garden

Carol’s easy raised bed veggie garden

Posted by Carol

· August 18, 2014

I Finally Have My Own Community Garden Plot!

Carol volunteering at a design project for Brooklyn Garden

Last year I did some volunteer design work for the SE Portland Brooklyn Community Garden. I saw people working on their gardens, hanging out and eating together under an old plum tree. It looked like good clean fun to me and I was a little envious. These days I live on a floating home and have a tiny roof garden (courtesy of my hubs great design and building skills) and large bodacious tomato planters on the south side. I’d never considered a community garden before and now that I live on the edge of NW Portland I felt they would be too far into town to be practical.

Bob harvesting tomatoes from our canoe

Magic Happens!!!!
Jen and Stan Tonneson own and manage the Rocky Pointe Moorage, on the Willamette River (Multnomah Channel) where I live. They decided to build a private community garden for their tenants and also to romance new tenants for The Landing at Rocky Pointe. They built the beds, brought in soil, installed a hose bib and fenced it to keep critters out. I was the first person to sign up and my neighbors joined in. My dad and I were the gardeners when I was a kid and I have many happy memories of working with him in the garden. I have not had a veggie garden since although I have designed so many ….

Now I love my garden so much, it’s where I go first thing in the morning and on my way home in the evening, I stop and harvest dinner bits and greens for my morning protein smoothie. My time commitment has been quite reasonable. My hub, Bob, wondered when I signed up for my 4 x 8 bed if I’d enjoy caring for the veggies or if it would turn into an unmanageable chore. Summer is a very busy time for garden designers, ask the spouse of one and you will probably get an earful.

Carol standing at the entrance to community garden at Rocky Pointe Marina 7 23 2014

Private community garden at Rocky Pointe Moorage

I teamed up with neighbors in late spring and used a seed catalog to plan what we would grow and share. We made plans to cover watering for each other during vacations. We also bought plants and got it going. I have focused on greens, a few different kinds of basil, one (and only one!) zucchini and lots of kale, oh… and two kinds of parsley.

Another neighbor, Betty, is trying all kinds of things… a grafted tomato called Indigo Ruby which is the best tomato I’ve eaten this year. She grew New Zealand spinach but didn’t like it so I’ve been gifted with lots and love it in a stir fry. The leaf is thicker than regular spinach, 26% protein, high in Vitamins A and C and it doesn’t bolt. I’ll grow just one plant in my box next year. I use the Swiss Chard and Kale the most as they are perfect in my morning protein smoothies and they are a wonderful way to get your calcium. I use them for kale chips – which are great with salt, olive oil, lime juice and cumin.

The Garden is a Joy in My Life
If you don’t feel you know how to start and care for an edibles garden, join a Portland community garden, here is the link to City of Portland. Commit now for next year so you can get a space from someone who is moving away. Get a pal to do it with and start small. Pick easy things to grow and buy your starts if you are looking for a very easy first year. I did both plants and seeds and the end result is I’m eating better than I have in years.

Diane one of my clients has been my inspiration. Her driveway edibles garden – which is what people in Portland sometimes do with a driveway – is simply awe inspiring. There are so many great local nurseries for starter vegetable plants, you can go just about anywhere to buy them. I got some unusual vegetable starts at New Seasons Market. I still like ordering seeds by mail: John Sheepers Kitchen Garden catalog and Territorial Seeds are two that I’ve used.

Categories : Easy Edibles, Garden Tips, Plants I Recommend

Tags : community gardens, easy edibles, food for your brain

Hot Summer Color Flowering Plants That Last

Posted by Carol

· July 25, 2014

Carol Lindsay of Landscape Design in a Day standing in a parking strip of Cutleaf Coneflower

Here are three great plants for summer color in the Northwest. These vibrant flowering plants are very easy to care for and come back each year as long as they have good drainage. These won’t survive our Northwest winters planted in a low place or puddle. If the clay is hard and dry as pottery in the summer we do have plants that will live in these conditions, but very few and not these.

Hardy Fuchsia
Flowers all summer and into late fall. I had mine inside a courtyard and used flowers for my Thanksgiving table every year. Hummingbirds love this plant. It’s old fashioned but my 30 something clients love it too.

Photo of Fuchsia magellanica ‘Chickadee’ courtesy of Jockey Hill Nursery

There is quite a variety of shrub sizes, foliage colors, and variable sizes of flowers. Look for hot pinks, hot reds, deep purples, orchid and pinks. Some sun is needed to get flowers. All day dappled sun coming through tree leaves is perfect! Morning sun and afternoon shade also works well. Deep shade works for annual Fuchsia baskets – don’t be confused. The plants I’m talking about are shrubs Fuchsia magellanica that come back every year and will not flower with too little sun.

Our client Mary loves her cutleaf coneflower!

Rudebeckia Lacinata ‘Autumn Sun‘
Common Name: Cutleaf coneflower
Syn: Herbstonne
Here’s an easy plant on the other end of the spectrum in every way. Oh how to tell you??? Initially I used this plant to fill in planting areas while my clients wait for their new slower long term plants to grow in. After 3 years when it was time to remove the 5′ to 6′ tall Rudebeckia, my clients tended to say……….”noooooo, I love it so, it just means summer to me!”

So we found ways to keep the plant in the garden and the client happy. Rudebeckia Herbstonne grows to 6′ tall and softens the view of a fence beautifully, it loves hot sun, but will cope with perhaps as little as 4 hours of sun. The flowers are drop dead georgeus. The plant is low water needs and you won’t need to stake it! It stands on it’s own!

Photo courtesy of Monrovia

Echinacea
Color! Color! Color! is what Echinacea purpurea ‘Kim’s Knee High’ and E. p. ‘Kims Knee High Red’ are all about. They start flowering in June and keep going through August. In September, coneflowers turn cool burnt colors and if you are willing to leave the flower heads overwinter … the chickadees will make a nice meal of the seeds in late winter.

This plant is easy once you get the soil prepped for it. The only way to lose it is have slugs eat it all the first year while it’s just shooting up out of the ground in spring. Many varieties of coneflower get too tall and floppy. The Knee High varieties do not flop and is one of my personal favorites!

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Parking Strips, Plants I Recommend

Tags : cutting flowers, food for hummingbirds, long blooming flowers, plants to attract birds, summer flowers

Archive for Plants I Recommend – Page 18

Categories

Let’s make your landscape beautiful.

What we offer

How to contact us

Recent blog posts