Plants

See the cherry laurel shrub on the left in the photo above?  There used to be one more to the right of it, the last in a hedge, until I chopped it down today because it was hiding this gorgeous Cryptomeria.  For years my neighbors have had a better view of it – until I got the chopping-down urge.  Earlier this week I similarly dispatched with a hybrid dogwood that was in front of the cherry laurel – waaaay too many plants in a tight spot.

But what’s so impressive is how full and perfect the Cryptomeria looks, despite having been in total shade from the big, full cherry laurel.  How many conifers could do that?  Notice I now have a clear view to some of my neighbor’s Bottlebrush Buckeyes, too.  Love ‘em.

Here are two more views of this awesome tree – on the left at just three years old along the north side of a neighbor’s house, where it gets good light but no direct sun.  And on the right is a close-up of one (spotted on a garden tour in D.C.) that shows how pretty and SOFT its needles are.  Nothing like the prickliness of this Deodar cedar on the other side of my back garden.  I love it, too, but I go out of my way to avoid being stabbed by it.

Notice a pattern here – adding conifers to my garden.  In addition to these two cedars, I’ve planted six ‘Green Giant’ Arborvitae, five Canadian Hemlocks (and checking for that horrible wooly adelgid that’s wiping them out), a Hinoki Cypress, a Dwarf White Pine and and several small Junipers.

Though I will admit to having some failures in this plant group – a Hollywood Juniper that the deer destroyed, and a Dwarf Albert Spruce that apparently really hates our climate.  At least they were both cheap.

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They're always better when they're free.

The other day I came home to find two boxes on my front porch, which thankfully I opened right away because they contained precious cargo – free plants!  The perks of garden-writing are modest, but always appreciated.  So thanks to C. Raker & Sons in Michigan for this unexpected treat.

What’s (very well) packed in these yellow shipping cells?  6 Petunias ‘Wave Purple Improved Spreading’; 6 Petunias ‘Shock Coral Crush’; 6 Marigold ‘Bonanza Deep Orange’; 6 Angelonia ‘Serena Blue’; 6 Begonia ‘Gryphon’; and 6 ‘Angelwing’ Begonia.

More cool packing was revealed – each plant is growing in one of these SoilWrap Plantable Pots, which go right in the soil.  Hope they work because I hate bringing home black plastic containers that I then have to figure out how to dispose of responsibly. Ugh.

They’re almost all planted now, most of them in containers, and I’ll post photos when they’re  a little larger.  But they’re also in borders, where I’m hoping they’ll fill in newly enlarged perennial borders that aren’t full yet.  You know how it is with perennials – first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap?  So until they leap, supplementing the borders with annuals is worth a try, especially when most of them were free.

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I love this blog post about one of the world’s best-performing plant groups – the daffodils.  It’s by “Special Guest Blogger” Karan Davis Cutler on the Mahoney’s Garden Center blog that I write for but I swear if I’d just run across it somewhere I’d still be recommending it.   Just enough info, nothing technical, and I totally share her prejudices, and you all know what a bonding experience that is.

This is a great example of meaty-yet-entertaining content that good garden writers can provide for companies in our field.   Here’s more about Karan.  She’s worked as a magazine editor and newspaper columnist, and written a bunch of articles and books, including Burpee-The Complete Flower Gardener, which I own and refer to regularly.  She gardens in what she calls the “godawful clay” of Addison County, Vermont, and is working on a book about gardening to attract birds.  She is one of nine garden bloggers for The Christian Science Monitor.

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I hope you have plant swaps near near you because they’re such a cool way to get free plants, especially ones that are new to you.  Also, you can talk to the plant’s donor about it, and it’s honesty just fun to talk plants with other enthusiasts.  This swap was organized by Kathy Jentz on behalf of Washington Gardener Magazine and it’s undisputed that she’s terrific at organizing this type of gardening event or really, any type – photo contests, speaker series – you name it.  We probably don’t thank her enough.

Now about the plants I brought home.  One is a pink crape myrtle about 2 feet tall and the other is totally new to me – labeled “Cassia Marylandica Senna”.   I think this mean it’s a Maryland Wild Senna, which is native to most of the Eastern and Midwestern U.S.

Senna’s in the pea family and looks  a lot like Baptisia, another native, but the donor explained that Senna forms a nice mass of roots, so doesn’t hate being moved like the taprooted Baptisia.  She also told us it becomes HUGE over the season, then it dies back to the ground over winter like the big perennial it is – not an actual woody shrub – and starts again the next year.  Sounds great!

Via Google I found this website, which says that it indeed grows to an impressive 6 feet tall, likes full sun, and likes soil that’s “moist to mesic”  – which manages to inform almost no one and certainly not me about what this plant actually needs.   You can take that as a mini-rant.

Top photo by Kathy Jentz.  I’m on the far left contemplating the asphalt.  Lower photo by Jerry Old Nettel.

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