Archive for Winter Gardening – Page 2

Colorful Four Season Plant for Portland Residential Landscape Designs

Posted by Carol

· December 13, 2017

Colorful Four Season Plant for Portland Residential Landscape Designs

I like to use Nandina as a colorful four season plant for my Portland landscape designs.

Advantages

The foliage is colorful year around.

Very low maintenance plants if you know the cool pruning tip.

They are easy to prune successfully so you can keep them for years.

Nandina varieties fit multiple diverse needs in the landscape because they can be small (18″ to 24” tall) or up to 8 feet tall.

They thrive in half or full day sun. Deer don’t typically eat them.

Disadvantages

People prune it wrong and then it’s so ugly they remove them – this is so easy to avoid.

Many varieties require a lot of sun and will look leggy and sparse in the shade. They will look so bad they will be removed. Some varieties will take more shade so you have to know which is which. Best practice is to plant in at least 4 hours of strong sun.

People think Nandina is drought tolerant and they don’t water it in the summer……….this ends badly.

Nandina (from China) doesn’t feed our native insects; therefore, overusing it limits food for our native bird population. I like to select at least a few native plants for companions.

Is this plant overused? Some garden designers snub the Nandina plant because it is used in commercial landscapes. Nandina is useful to my Portland residential landscape design clients who want low maintenance landscapes. With the right plant partners Nandina can sparkle in a home landscape.

How I Use Nandina in Garden Designs

Nandina domestica – Heavenly Bamboo (not related to Bamboo)

There is a variety of Nandina to fit every landscape:

6 to 8 foot tall ‘Moyers Red’ or 4 to 6 foot tall ‘Plum Passion’ dress and soften an expanse of fence, hide the hot tub or garbage area nicely
2 to 4 foot tall ‘Sienna Sunrise’, ‘Moon Bay’ or ‘Firepower’ work well in foundation plantings and entry areas.

Use a tape measure on planting day, assume the size info on the plant tag is being modest and give your plant more room to grow. Some varieties of Nandina will grow 3 to 4 feet wide. To keep your Nandina from getting too wide, I suggest pruning out entire canes at the base of the plant once a year. For varieties that are listed as 3 to 4 feet wide, plant it at least 30 inches off your path.

A new variety called ‘Blush’ is typically 24 inches tall and 18 inches wide. The evergreen leaves turn an intense claret red and hold their color for months, longer and redder than other Nandina. ‘Blush’ was designed for the southern United States where it is fully drought tolerant. In Portland, all varieties of Nandina including ‘Blush’, requires irrigation in summer. Multiple articles on the net enthusiastically state ‘Blush’ is drought tolerant but they do not mean here in the NW. In the high humidity of an Alabama summer I too am probably drought tolerant…..Mint Julep anyone?

Plant Partners

I love to combine Nandina with textured or needled plants that contrast with the narrow Nandina leaves. Dwarf conifers, (Pinus mugo ‘Sherwoods Compact’), heather Erica carnea ‘Adrienne Duncan’ or ornamental grasses like Opiopogon (black mondo grass) work well. NW native plants, like salal, sword fern and huckleberry give contrast and good looks. They also provide food for native insects and for our birds who must eat native insects for food. Pairing Nandina with typical cottage garden plants disappoints my aesthetic; there isn’t enough leaf contrast.

How to prune Nandina

The key to success with Nandina is learning how to prune it which is all about thinning the multiple canes (or stems) of the shrub. Read more in my next blog or check out this u tube video I found to get you started.

Categories : Garden Tips, Low Maintenance Landscape Examples, Plants I Recommend, Winter Gardening

Tags : curb appeal, dramatic winter plants, drought tolerant plantings, fall color, garden tips, low maintenance landscape, low maintenance plants, Winter Color in the garden

Great Low Maintenance Hellebore Flowers for Winter Cheer

Posted by Carol

· February 8, 2017

All About Amazing Hellebores

Popular Double Hellebore From Englands Ashwood Ashwood Garden Hybrids

Helleborus x hybridus ‘Ashwood Double BiColor Shades’ grown here in the NW by Monrovia.

Red flowered Hellebores are still the holy grail for plant geeks but they are so tough that anyone can covet these and grow them.

‘Peppermint Ice’, ‘Amethyst Gem’ and ‘Ashwood Double Bi Color Shades’ are Hellebore cultivated varieties with red to eggplant hued double flowers. They wow us in late winter with a long vibrant flower display.

As a Portland landscape designer I like to use Hellebore in my designs. The Helleborus x hybridus plants (which is what we are focusing on today) can live for a hundred years, deer don’t like them, they are low water and except for a typically minor problem with aphids, and a little slug activity they are pretty pest free.

Helleborus x hybridus 'Peppermint Ice', Perfect for Portland Gardens

Peppermint Ice has a darker outline around each of the petals. Its adds a lighter touch with pink red flowers.

They are shade tolerant although I tend to use these three in strong morning sun with dappled or full afternoon shade.

Double flowers give us more color than the singles but the singles, with only 5 to 7 petals, are also stunning and low maintenance. ‘Ashwood Double BiColor Shades’ have a wine red petal with a darker edge which is opposite of ‘Amethyst Gem’.

Amethyst Gem a low maintenance NW hellebore.

Amethyst Gem comes from the famous NW Garden Nursery. Double petals with a light edge gives us drama and the contrast needed to appreciate the mass of petals.

Using Hellebore as a cut flower

The flowers last a long time in the landscape but not long as a cut flower because the stems wither quickly. Most people cut the stems off and float them in a bowl. I’ve picked them from my NW Portland garden, knowing they would only look good for a few days. There are techniques for making them last which involve picking them at the right time based on the age of the flower and using an alcohol solution in the vase. Follow this link to NW Garden Nursery and read the bottom of their culture sheet. Now that you are bringing the flowers inside please be aware that all parts of the plant are toxic.

All Hellebore flowers tend to nod down rather than face up. This protects the flowers from cold damage (disfigurement/freezer burn) because water drips off the flower and is not trapped inside. Nature designed this plant to flower in winter.

Great low maintenance Hellebore foliage.

Hellebore foliage looks fantastic with the lacy Himalayan Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum venustum) on this wall of boulders.

Great Foliage Year Round

Of course, it’s not just the flowers that encourage me to use hellebores in landscape designs. The leaves are leathery, attractive and provide interesting contrast with a range of plant material including feathery fern fronds, ornamental grasses or tiny leafed boxwood.

The summer foliage of hellebores look great with many plants including Sweet Flag (Acorus gramineus).

What about aphids?

What about aphids? My only problem with Hellebore is aphids. Some years I don’t have any noticeable aphid activity. When I do it’s so early in the year that handy predators like lacewing and lady bug are still in sleep mode or haven’t hatched yet so I’m on my own. Dealing with them is easy. Use a spray bottle filled with water or 1 tsp of dish soap to 1 gallon of water and spray down your plant. Use your hose or this great gadget called the bug blaster which you can buy at Portland Nursery. (I’ve got to get one this year to use in my veggie garden too.) Don’t use a pesticide because most of them will harm bees even if they are not present when you spray. Aphids have soft bodies and will be damaged by the force of the water or the soapy solution will invade their bodies and disable them. You will have to knock them down with water or soapy water once or twice a week to prevent the temporary cosmetic damage. I’ve never lost a hellebore plant to anything let alone a virus but in recent years virus has spread from plant to plant by aphids. It is only an issue for professional growers or collectors.

Check out this bowlful of hellebore beauties

How to care for your Hellebore

How to care for your Hellebore: I water once or twice a week its first summer and then once a week after that. Drip irrigation would be best rather than overhead sprinklers because drip can water deep into the soil. Established Hellebore become quite a low water needs plant and might be content with every ten days or less. An application of mulch around the plant once or twice a year is a good practice. If your soil is so good that they make seedlings, be aware they won’t have the same flower as your hybridized plant. I cut the old leaves off the plant in late winter so that the flowers are not visually diminished by the previous years worn foliage.

Helleborus x Hybridus 'Peppermint Ice' photo by Terra Nova

Helleborus x Hybridus ‘Peppermint Ice’ has double flowers that hang down but the overall effecting your winter landscape is very colorful. The flowers last a long time.

How to kill a Hellebore

Plant it in a low spot where winter rain will rot the roots. Over water it and fertilize it heavily.

If you are interested in adding the low maintenance, amazing Hellebore to your landscape, contact me for an appointment.

Winter Color provided by Hellebore 'Peppermint Ice'

Helleborus x Hybridus ‘Peppermint Ice’ is another Winter Gem by NW Garden Nursery. It is grown by Terra Nova so is available at local garden nurseries. Photo by Terra Nova.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Plants I Recommend, Shade Plants, Spring Gardening, Winter Gardening

Tags : cutting flowers, dramatic flowers, dramatic winter plants, garden tips, long blooming flowers, Winter Color in the garden

Bad News about Slug Bait and Winter Garden Care Tips

Posted by Carol

· November 28, 2016

Winter is just around the corner here in Portland. Here are 5 timely tips to help you care for your landscape right now.

Slugs Last chance to knock out slugs! Control your slug population now in late fall. They lay thousands of eggs that will hatch in spring. I’ve got bad news about using the so called pet safe slug baits. New science says it kills your earthworms and can sicken your pets and other animals. Control your slugs with beer traps or even better an instant coffee spray. Yup coffee! Fill a spray bottle with strong instant coffee or any coffee except de-caf. Spray the leaves of plants they prefer and any slugs or snails you see.

I grow lots of winter greens here in NW Portland so I’ve been out there spraying down the leaves of my beautiful Dinosaur Kale plants to protect them now. Spraying coffee once a week in fall and early winter makes a big difference in the spring hatch of slugs. Read more about why slug bait harms worms.

Its the caffeine that kills slugs or snails. Instant coffee works well.

Mulch. If you only do one thing to improve your soil and care for your plants, mulching is the biggie. Schedule your winter mulch application for the last week of November to mid-December or hire someone to blow in your mulch. Companies such as Bark Blowers will blow in mulch including the newer “living” mulch products that I prefer. One company that provides mulch inoculated with beneficial bacteria is Natures Needs, a product called Recology Compost. McFarlane Bark, Mt Scott Fuel and Grimms Fuel supply basic mulch products. Did you mulch just 2 inches deep? Great! Now go and unbury the crowns of your plants so they don’t die from rot during our wet winter. Burying plants with mulch might be a good practice in Vermont or Montana but not here.

Landscape Design in a Day client’s custom gate. Photo by Lori Aveling

Protect your plants from winter temperatures

The best cold protection for plants in the winter isn’t something that naturally occurs to most people. Over watering and over fertilizing done in summer can cause plants to not go dormant. When cold weather comes, they are not prepared. Read more: Protecting Plants from Winter Cold Starts in Summer

Pruning knowledge There are many plants that should not be cut back in the fall and winter. There are many perennials and grasses that can be cut back to create a more attractive winter landscape. This is a case by case basis which drives new gardeners crazy. Consider consulting with your garden designer who can teach you what to do to your plants and when. It feels good when you know what to do.

Protect your pottery The best winter protection for your pottery is proper drainage and location. Make sure water drains through the pots hole and doesn’t back up. If water sits in the bottom and it freezes, good bye pot. I have had Vietnamese high fired pottery outside and intact for over 15 years. I always put drainage material in the bottom of the pot and a piece of flagstone under the pot or I use those little pottery feet.

If I have expensive pots where they will get east winter wind, the kind of wind that freezes rain to ice on the power line, I would move them into a protected area for winter right now. I hate to even think about that kind of weather but we get our share here in Portland Oregon, especially in January. Its hard to pay attention to the weather report, and besides who wants to move heavy pots around when its icy cold out? Not me.

For more information on how we can help you during winter months with your garden design.

Categories : Fall Gardening, Garden Pests, Garden Tips, Winter Gardening

Tags : garden tips, how to gardening tips, vegetable gardening tips

Entry Presence with Winter Red Foliage for Portland Landcapes

Posted by Carol

· October 20, 2016

‘Sizzling Pink’ Chinese Loropetalum is the focal point plant for a Willamette Heights Landscape Design in a Day client’s entry.

Entry Presence with Winter Red Foliage for Portland Landscapes

Exciting Winter Color Shrub

As a Portland landscape designer I have many clients who want exciting winter color in their landscapes. When new clients fill in their landscape preference survey they often circle the option for burgundy foliage and add little hearts! Sadly most burgundy leafed plants are not cold hardy enough here in the Pacific Northwest to look picture perfect in winter.

My Favorite

My favorite choice for dark red or eggplant purple foliage is called Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum or Red Chinese Loropetalum. Plain Chinese Loropetalum has green foliage and white flowers. I love the Red Chinese Loropetalum. It has amazing thick hot pink fringe flowers in early spring. The spring foliage emerges burgundy red or dark to medium red pink depending on the variety. Other varieties are dark red to an eggplant purple through the year.

Unique plant but tricky to site properly

My NW Portland landscape design clients, Dave and Rhonda loved this plant. It provided a very attractive color echo of their eggplant front door and visually softened the adjacent concrete area. It looked good until January and then for several years the leaves burned and they didn’t grow back in until July!. The love was there but it took too long to recover for an entry focal point plant. Their plant, facing east, got sun from 6 am in the winter until 1 pm. They had good drainage and were careful and consistent with watering. Perversely, I have seen other plants simply glowing with health, facing east, in February in the same exact siting. Can you tell I had a little trouble giving up on that one? I avoid 6 am winter sun for best outcome.

Spring flowers (Photo courtesy of Monrovia)

So why bother with this plant?

It is the wonderful purple red foliage color, the soft arching shape of the branches and the hot colored fringe flowers in spring. Its well worth it if you love purple foliage. If the plant gets cold east wind in winter, the leaves will burn (desiccate) and it may look terrible until May or June. Year round good looks is all about proper siting and a bit of luck.

Proven Winners variety called Loropetalum ‘Jazz Hands’

Two good choices

These two old varieties are still easy to find and are what I’m most familiar with: ‘Sizzling Pink’, which is also called ‘Burgundy’ (cold tolerant to 15 degrees), and ‘Pippa’s Red’ (hardy to 10 degrees). ‘Pippa’s Red’ is not as dark a red leaf as ‘Sizzling Pink’. I’m interested in ‘Hines Purpleleaf’, ‘Zhuzhou Fuchsia’ and ‘Jazz Hands’ but wasn’t able to find them to purchase.

There are many new varieties but most were hybridized (designed) for the southern states and are not tested here in the Pacific NW.

I love to drive around Portland and see them thriving. They saw it, bought it, and just happened to plant it in the right spot!! Whoever they are, they don’t even know its supposed to be a little tricky. I would be willing to try it in colder areas like Gresham but only where it is 100% protected from east wind. Even then, I’d consider it an experiment. A whole landscape of plant experiments is called gambling and is not typically the result we want in a landscape design. Most of my clients want a sure bet plant when it comes to their entry landscape.

I love to create welcoming entry landscapes, so contact me.

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

Tags : burgandy foliage, color echo, curved steps, dramatic flowers, dramatic winter plants, entry plant, entry walk, evergreen plants w color, Pink Spring flowers, Red foliage, Winter Color in the garden

Dwarf Mugo Pine – Get the Right Plant for Your Landscape Design!

Posted by Carol

· January 20, 2016

The Right Dwarf Mugo Pine Can Be the Perfect Addition to Your Low Maintenance Landscape

For success in the landscape (which I define as “right plant right place”), it’s important to get the exact plant specified by your designer.

Pinus Mugo 'Sherwoods Compact' a client favorite low maintenance landscape plant.

Textured trio of ‘Sherwoods Compact’ dwarf pine, Sempervivum (hen and chick), Arabis (rock cress)

Early in my career I specified three dwarf Mugo Pine. I wanted a uniform pin cushion shape to contrast with ornamental grasses and succulents. I wanted the pines to stay small, and contrast with the grasses that would be two thirds bigger. This was my vision. What happened instead was three dwarf Mugo Pine ‘Nana’ grew into three different shapes and heights! None of them stayed small. The fact is plants grown from seeds can be as variable as your siblings. My brother and I have blue eyes, my sister has green eyes, I’m a redhead my brother a brunette and my sister’s a blonde.

I learned that seed grown dwarf pines are variable, only plants grown from cuttings of a named cultivar could be trusted. I knew this in theory but the industry was deceptive in labeling. I now knew to avoid any dwarf conifer called ‘Nana’! That was a secret code word for seed propagated.

Pinus Mugo ‘Slowmound’ is another favorite trusted dwarf pine

Then I was told that ‘Pumilo’ was a named variety and it stayed low. I was tricked again. The industry was also using seeds from ‘Pumilo’, not cuttings to produce a more affordable and (profitable) dwarf Mugo Pine. For many years I did not use any Mugo Pine at all, mainly because I was disgusted.

When specific size and shape uniformity are needed always select plants grown from cuttings or tissue culture. People who work at retail nurseries are sometimes ignorant of these finer points.

Mugo Pine with Hummingbird Mint, Sedum and Lavender

These days I need dwarf evergreens, particularly pines, for my clients because they are true low maintenance. They are low water, no pruning or candling required, they take hot full sun even next to concrete, and they look great year round. These true dwarf pines won’t get too tall in 10 years. So I had to find sources and growers I could trust.

The varieties I use and where I get them:

Oregon Small Trees is a private wholesale nursery/grower. The owner, Dave Leckey and his daughter, grow all of their plant material from cuttings. It takes many years to grow dwarf plants to a good size for the landscape. I also specify plants grown by Iseli Nursery and another resource is Buchholz & Buchholz Nursery. None of these resources are retail, you have to buy their plants through a plant broker or in the case of Iseli, those plants can be found at Portland Nursery, Cornell Farms and Farmington Gardens.

Notice the fine texture of this needled mugo pine.

Notice the fine texture of this needled pine.

Pinus Mugo ‘Sherwoods Compact’ is a favorite of my clients, they love the texture of the needles. I like Pinus Mugo ‘SlowMound’ a bit better for some designs. It’s a darker green. My favorite miniature Mugo Pine is called ‘Donna’s Mini’ and I’ll spend more money to get a larger tiny plant when I use ‘Donna’s Mini’. It grows less than 1 inch a year in ideal circumstances.

If you are interested in adding this or other low maintenance landscape plants to your property, contact us for more information on our design services.

Pinus mugo ‘Valley Cushion’ with Sedum ‘Xenox’ and Fountain Grass in the Grant Park neighborhood of Portland.

Categories : Design Basics, Garden Tips, Low Maintenance Landscape Examples, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend, Winter Gardening

Tags : curb appeal, drought tolerant plantings, low water plantings, texture plant

Archive for Winter Gardening – Page 2

Bad News about Slug Bait and Winter Garden Care Tips

Winter is just around the corner here in Portland. Here are 5 timely tips to help you care for your landscape right now.

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