December's 25 Days of Superior Trees, Shrubs, and Perennials

People love lists. I love lists. So when December 1st rolled around, I made a decision to put together a list of trees, shrubs, and perennials for each of the days leading up to Christmas.  So here you go:

1.  Weeping Norway spruce – living waterfall, yr-round interest, up to 15' tall 
2.  Miyabe maple – small (up to 40’) tree, dense shade, yellow fall color, fruit produced in fall 
3. Winterberry holly – deciduous holly, needs male pollinator, up to 15’, bees
4.  Arrowwood viburnum – durable, adaptable, blue or black fruit, 6 to 15’ tall
5. Weeping katsura – up to 25’ tall, Asian tree, redbud-like leaves, full sun to part-shade
6.  ‘Rozanne’ Geranium – cranesbill geranium, makes 18” mound, purple-blue blooms June to frost
7. Trident maple -- up to 35’ tall, tolerates everything you can throw at it, red/yellow fall color, exfoliating bark
8. Weeping beech – up to 60’ tall, smooth bark, interesting form, esp winter, 
9. Buttonbush – native, leggy shrub up to 10-15’ tall, bloom is curious, white and round, attracts pollinators & butterflies 
10. ‘Fireworks’ goldenrod – clump-forming, non-invasive goldenrod, 3-4’ tall, attracts pollinators 
11. Persian ironwood – nice, small tree, very attractive bark, yellow/orange/red fall color, red late-winter blooms
12. Fothergilla – magnificent shrub, early white bloom, cultivars give reliable orange/red/yellow fall color, blue-green leaves, ‘Mt Airy’
13. Sweet birch – native, 40-55’ tall, best fall color (yellow) of all birches, attractive, dark, shiny, bark, bruised stems emit wintergreen odor 
14. Blazingstar – there are several and they are native, reliable, summer-blooming perennials that pollinators adore. 
15. Butterflyweed or swamp milkweed – for the monarchs, these 2 are the showiest and least invasive 
16. Green Panda Bamboo – not invasive, 6-8’ tall and equal width, protect from pm sun, used as single plant or hedge. 
17. Kentucky coffeetree – native, KY Heritage Tree, large tree, suckers from root, male selections (no pods), dappled shade. 
18. Blackgum – native, red fall color, 30-50’ tall, blue-black berries, glossy foliage, v.good honey tree  
19. Purple Beautyberry – small shrub up to 5’ tall, most graceful of the beautyberries, metallic purple berries, also a white-berried selection. 
20. Bottlebrush buckeye – part-shade to sun, suckering shrub, excellent foliage and flowers (white spikes), 10’ tall  
21. Paperbark maple – trifoliate-leaved, cinnamon-brown exfoliating bark, orange-red fall color, 20-30’tall  
22. Nordman fir – heat-tolerant, well-drained soils, 40-60’ tall, soft needles, conical evergreen, weeping & prostrate forms  
23. Baptisia – white, purple, and yellow forms, some cultivars, perennial with 4 season appeal, handsome foliage, flowers, seedpods  
24. Burkwood viburnum -- superior selection ‘Mohawk’, ornamental red flower buds precede fragrant white flowers, 7’tall and wide 
25. Fringetree – small, native tree 15-20’ tall, white fragrant blooms, unrivaled when in full bloom, blue berries  

These plants were featured on my Twitter feed @hortagentbeth and facebook page.

Tulips!

I am getting extremely fond of bulbs, and why not? They need be planted only once and you get many, many years of returns.

Many of us have experience with tulips and many of our experiences are not that great. Generally what I hear is most of us only get a year's worth of bloom, then they are either weak or non-existent the following year.

However, if you pick the right species of tulip, I think you'll be as happy as gardeners are with daffodils (meaning: pretty dang happy).

Come to a class on tulips here at the Pulaski Co Extension office on October 2 at 6pm. The fee is $15 and if you pre-register, you will get to take home several of  the species tulips.

There are several species of tulips which should be considered for the home landscape in Kentucky.

• Tulipa kaufmanniana  
• T. fosteriana
• T. greigii
• T. clusiana 
• T. sylvestris
• T. praestans 
• T. tarda
• T humilis
• T. bakerii
• and many more! 

Darwin hybrids are big and bold and will last many years in the garden as well.
Here's a link to the University of Kentucky publication HO-80 'Spring, Summer, and Fall Bulbs'

All images from Brent and Becky's Bulbs.

T. kaufmanniana

T. praestans

T. clusiana

12 New Annuals

In honor of last week's date of 12/12/12, in this 2nd week, we'll be talking about 12 new annuals/perennials for home landscapes.  Last week I listed 12 fruits and vegetables.

12 New or Different Annuals and Perennials to try in 2013
(A) designates annual, (P) perennial

1. Amaranth -- 'Love Lies Bleeding' is very cool. And if you want some art in the garden, try the very sculptured-looking 'Elephant Head' (A)
2. Hyacinth bean -- need a vine for summer/fall only to block that western sun? Grow this lovely plant with very cool-looking seeds. Even dried pods look good. (A)
3. Black-eyed Susan -- these have been around forever, but they perform! 'Indian Summer' is a good choice, 'Goldilocks' is a double. (P)
4. Zinnias -- these just make me smile, remind me of my grandmother. They are easy and will self-sow somewhat. Butterflies love them. Profusion or Zahara series are recommended. (A)
5. Ornamental peppers -- my fave 'Numex Twilight', but so many others like 'Black Pearl' and the miniature 'Medusa' (A)
6. Sunflowers -- I know they're popular, but try some of the pollenless varieties. And remember to bring them inside so you can admire them. (A)
7. Sun coleus (A)
8. Papyrus -- 'King Tut' or 'Baby Tut' love water and were used at the Children's Garden & here at our office in containers. Brings some interesting texture to the garden. (A)
9. Any Liatris (blazingstar) (P)
10. Any Baptisia (false blue indigo) -- a misnomer now since there are yellow varieties of this (P)
11. Bulbs -- ornamental alliums, daffodils, species tulips, or lilies are recommended (P)
12. Japanese anemone -- these late summer and fall bloomers are overlooked way too much. Team it up with some asters and you've got a great display (P)

You'll notice that some of these are old, really old.  But they're still good.

Elephant Head amaranth

Hyacinth bean

'King Tut' papyrus

Numex Twilight ornamental pepper

Japanese anemone

Daffodils

I will be the first to admit, daffodils are not my favorite flower.  In fact, I'm not sure how I would answer that question anyway, but it would not be with 'daffodil'.

But I am now addicted.  To daffodils.  Daffs, as the familiar call them.

But I can't afford them, at least not in the amounts I'd like.  So, as with some addictions, I'll take my daffs in small, annual doses.

Have you ever heard of the cyclamineus types of daffs?  They are distinctive because of their reflexed perianth segments (say that 3 times fast).  Here's one called 'Beryl':

And how about the jonquilla group? Heard of them?  Daffs in this group have multiple flowers per stem. Yes, multiple. And they have a fragrance!  Look at this one called 'Blushing Lady':






And there are the Poets (poeticus group).  They are distinguished by a spicy fragrance and dogwood-like bloom, this one is called 'Actaea':







There are so many more.  The miniatures, the doubles, the large cups, the small cups, the split-collars. And 99.99% of them are perfectly hardy in our Zone 6. 

So, get moving, as daffs like these are selling out quickly. The Children's Garden at the Pulaski County Library and the Pulaski County Extension office gardens will be blooming next spring with some of these wonderful daffs!

** pictures come from Brent and Becky's Bulbs website https://store.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/
** more information can be found at the American Daffodil Society

Flight of the Helicopters (& other stuff)

My kids love maple helicopters -- they can spend hours throwing them up in the air and watching them land. Silver maple seeds are everywhere -- and just about everyone of them will germinate.



After a severe pruning, our Buddleia (butterflybush) is recuperating well.



And lastly, pawpaw (Asimina triloba) blooms are just finishing up, but they are unique.

Sprung!

Yep, it's sprung here at the Extension office. We've got daffodils galore, the yellow really stands out well. You can see them a mile away.


Then we've got our Harry Lauder's Walking Stick whose catkins are dangling in the breeze.


And then I noticed a little purplish mound making its way up through the leaves. It's our perennial Agastache or hyssop.

Great stuff. Good to be alive in the spring.

Already Summer

Boy, does time fly. We all say that, but it has flown past me this growing season.

The gardens at the Extension House look very good this year. I'm including some images just snapped today:

This is 'Bright Lights' swiss chard that overwintered from last year. It is now producing seedheads. Pretty cool. Think I'll harvest and plant some of the seed next year -- we might find some really interesting colors!

This is American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). It's big show is when these berries (now green) turn fuschia pink in the fall. Can't wait!

'Nikko Blue' hydrangea. Wow! We didn't get any blooms last year due to the April freeze, but look at it now. Covered in blue blooms.

This is a Master Gardener creation -- the herb garden. It features 3 different parsleys, 5 different basils, scented geraniums, borage, nasturtiums, thyme -- you name it, it's here at the office.

Well, the kale I planted earlier had a bit of a problem. A Master Gardener and I had a slight miscommunication and most of the seed I had sowed got a good tilling. So, one poor soul did survive, but outside of the raised bed. Kinda funny. But pretty, nevertheless.
Lastly, this is 'Eight Ball' zucchini. You can see -- it forms round zukes instead of the elongated, normal types. They are different, but are a zucchini, nothing fancy.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Return from Meeting

January is a renewal time for horticulture crop growers. Seems like they all have conferences in early January. I attended the Kentucky Landscape Industries conference and the Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference. Here's a very short list of a few things worth repeating from the conferences:

• Get beyond geraniums as container plants -- use tropicals, use succulents, and arrange containers in your existing garden to stage those container plants
• Don't fill a large container full of styrofoam peanuts to make the container less heavy. It may become top heavy. It's better to mix the peanuts throughout the medium. Makes sense, doesn't it?
• If you're using woody plants in containers that will be left outdoors 12 months out of the year, you must choose plants that are hardy to zone 2 or 3
• In Kentucky, don't be surprised if home-grown strawberries are available in late April instead of May. This is do-able in some regions in KY. Wow! I love that!
• KY gardeners should use intermediate-day or 'day neutral' onion varieties to have the best luck in bulb formation and maturation. Soil sulfur content determines how pungent the onion will be.

Just a few tidbits of information to share with you.

Winter may be here, but speaking of onions, I'll be planting onion seed during this upcoming week. See -- it's already time to start gardening!

Corn Tops Ripe and the Meadow's in the Bloom

Corn Tops Ripe is a sure sign that school is right around the corner. We're still in the midst of summer, but it seems like summer has almost ended.

At the office, the crape myrtle 'Muskogee' has been blooming for about 10 days. It looks good even with the pruning I had to do following the April freeze.

Queen of the Meadow is blooming as well. It seems to be a bit early but I can't document that.


Tithonia (Mexican sunflower) is one of my favorite flowers. A bit unkempt, the flowers will knock your socks off.