Wayside Gardens Voices

Mikinori Ogisu: The Indiana Jones of Botany

I was browsing through our catalog, as I sometimes do when I can't think of anything else to write about. I just find a pretty plant and then talk about how pretty it is. I know it's boring, and I apologize, but they really are very pretty.

This time was different. It wasn't the picture that caught my attention, but the description. Epimedium Osigui was "named for Mikinori Ogisu, the famed Japanese plant hunter...In the native it is found among limestone deposits near waterfalls." It was discovered in the mountains of Sichuan, China.

Plant Hunter! Browsing the InterWebs, I found Mr. Mikinori was connected with the discoveries of many popular plants. One blogger called him the "most important man in Epimediums." He has trekked though thick forest, up high mountains, and deep into dense river gorges to find some of the rarest and most exciting new plant varieties. One of the most interesting articles was from the Historic Roses Group written by another famed botanist and plant hunter, Martyn Rix. He described Mr. Mikinori's discoveries of exotic Chinese Roses. He spent ten years combing the Chinese wilderness, and has provided us with cultivated varieties of plants that, before him, very few people had even seen.

I guess it was naive of me, but I just had never thought of botanists as adventurers. I guess somebody had to go out and discover all of these things. As gardeners, we often fill our gardens with exotic plants from all over the world, provided either by our local nursery or ordered from a catalog like Wayside Gardens. Rarely, if ever, do we think about how that plant came to be cultivated. Who took the first sample of seeds or the first cutting. Some of the species that Mikinori Ogisu discovered only grow natively at very high altitudes or in deep gorges where there are no trails. The man is a modern pioneer, forging paths for knowledge and future discovery.

Tricyrtis 'Lightning Strike'

It has, for the most part, been a pretty dry year for us here in Hodges.  The last couple of weeks have shown us a healthy dose of much-needed rain, though.  I had the urge the other day to go wandering outside for a bit in the rain.  A coworker and I strolled through the Trial Gardens and the Garden Center, and I was struck as we passed some stunning little plants with small, prolific blooms.  I'm a sucker for interesting and unique blooms, and Toad Lilies are always some of my very favorites.  This was the Japanese Toad Lily 'Lightning Strike,' and each plant had tons of perfect little flowers, each white with blue speckles.  Even in the dark gray, rainy day and light fog, these plants, with their prolific flowers and gold-laced leaves, kept my attention for several minutes.  These are definitely worth a spot in any garden, especially since they're so easy to grow and produce so many flowers (as many as 300 per plant).

Ahoy, The Pirate's Garden!

Yar, me hearties.  'Tis Talk Like A Pirate Day yet again.  I'm Cap'n Labuffarosa, and I've got me trusty parrot tulips on me shoulder (just not, you know, really.  That would be silly, and they're not even in season), and I'm ready to give ye a fine tour of me Pirate Garden.

Of course, nothing goes with me Caribbean rum quite like some Coconut and Lime.  Except for maybe Oranges and Lemons, to keep away the scurvy.  Any citrus will do, so long as it keeps me healthy enough to be out hunting Winter Jewels, Blue Diamonds, and February Gold.  If we're lucky, we'll come across a boatload of Golden Ducats.  Maybe on my trip to Nice we'll run across an Elegant Lady, or an Exotic Emperor and his Ivory Queen and Orange Princess (hey, cut me some slack, this is a pretty thin premise I'm working with here).  Just have care not to catch me in a Dangerous Mood, or ye'll catch the Golden Edge of me cutlass.  If ye find me resting in a peaceful Blue Lagoon at Twilight, I might just Regale ye with tales of me time on the Silk Road, or of kidnapping the beautiful Stella de Oro under the Snowcaps of the Spanish Peaks.

The Pirate's life, an Endless Summer for me.

(was this one too Over the Top?  It's only 27, and I was shooting for 30.)

The Richest Helleborus Colors Yet

It seems strange to look outside in the green heat of summer and picture the barren coming winter.  However, your garden will soon be dieing back in the face of coming winter yet again (it really does sneak up on me every year).  However, your winter garden doesn't have to be devoid of color and life.  There are a variety of plants that are just as, sometimes even more, beautiful in the winter.  Helleborus is one of my favorites of these, blooming in late winter to very early spring.

I'm especially excited about our new collection of Winter Jewels Helleborus. These have the most vivid, intense bloom colors I've ever seen on Helleborus, and they look absolutely amazing.  These American-bred Helleborus are vigorous and heavily budded, and the flowers stick around for as long as three months.  They really add something fantastic to the winter palette without losing any of the easy gardening of other Helleborus. 

A Few Fantastic Leaves for Part Shade

Looking for some great foliage interest in your shade or filtered sun that isn't hostas or painted ferns?  How about Lamium 'Purple Dragon?'  It's a real survivor, thriving across six zones (3-8), and it produces big, beautiful clusters of purple flowers for many weeks.  The eye-catching silvery-white leaves shade quickly to dark green around the interesting toothed edges.  This groundcover perennial is drought-resistant and evergreen, too, so you'll have this beautiful foliage year-round.

For a different look, try Kolkwitzia amabilis Dream Catcher (yes, I spelled that right).  This Beauty Bush does well in filtered sun or part shade in zones 4-9 and is deer-resistant, so it's a great choice for many different gardens.  It's rich coppery color seasons to bright yellow in Spring and Summer, and by fall it turns a rich golden-orange with interesting dark tips.  It's amazing as a specimen, but even better in mass plantings for a really eye-drawing effect unlike any other.

Irises to Fill Tough Wet Areas

Many gardens have them: wet, boggy areas that just don't drain well enough.  Grass won't grow, plants won't grow, and the dog keeps coming in the house with wet feet.  OK, maybe just the plants are a problem for you.  Either way, you could, of course, set up a rain garden in that area (it's beautiful and great for the local environment), but that can be much more effort than many gardeners are willing to put in.  You could give up and have a boggy, mulch-covered area in your garden, but I know that you, my readers, won't give up that easily.  The best option is to try to find plants that thrive in those difficult conditions, and many of the best plants for that purpose are wonderful Irises.

Give Iris louisiana a try.    The do beautifully in damp soils, producing some of the most stunning blooms you can find.  They're the perfect solution not only for those areas that refuse to drain, but also for embankments of water features or other water sources (they look amazing on the banks of a pond).  Best of all, they're easy plants to keep, tolerating not only heat and humidity (as you can probably guess from the name), but also cold winters, some even hardy to zone 3.  Iris 'Bold Pretender' makes an impressively bright, cheery statement in red and yellow, and it looks great next to the Iris 'Black Gamecock's intensely rich velvety purple flowers.

The Types of Hydrangea Plants

For many years now Hydrangea has been one of the most popular perennials in American gardens.  The variety of these great shrubs that is available now is quite impressive, far from being just the one-colored puffballs that you remember from your grandmother's garden.  There are 23 species of Hydrangea, but of these only five are widely available in the US.  The five that are available, though, represent a great variety of flowering perennials, with an option that is right for almost any American gardener.

The Hydrangea that you're most likely familiar with is the Hydrangea macrophylla (more commonly called Garden Hydrangea, French Hydrangea, or just Hydrangea).  These plants produce impressive bounties of flowers.  In many Garden Hydrangeas, the color of the flowers can be changed from red or pink to white or bright blue by adjusting the chemical content of the soil in which they're growing.  Garden Hydrangeas have come a long way in recent years, including several new cultivars that now produce buds on new wood in spring, which allows them to flower even if they autumn buds are killed in the winter.  Many of the new varieties are much more interesting, as well, including the Cityline Dwarf Hydrangeas and Halo Hydrangeas.

Panicle Hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) are the most cold-hardy of the common species.  They are the largest type as well, some growing to fifteen feet.  These Asian natives are often pruned into tree form and sold as "Hydrangea trees."  They bloom in mid-summer, usually with large white flowers on six- to eighteen-inch panicles.  In some varieties of Panicle Hydrangea the white flowers mature to pink.

There are two species that are native to the US.  The larger of the two is the Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia).  Much like the Panicle Hydrangeas, Oakleafs bloom with large white panicles that mature to pink or rose.  These flowers come sooner, in early summer, and are smaller, on four- to twelve-inch panicles.  Oakleaf Hydrangeas are unique, though, in that they are often grown primarily for their beautiful foliage, which matures to a deep bronze in fall.  Oakleafs are the only common Hydrangea to produce significant fall color.

The smaller American native is the Smooth Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborascens).  These can be found in the wild from New York to Florida, and are nearly as cold-hardy as the Hydrangea paniculata.  Smooth Hydrangeas have the advantage over the Panicles, though, in that they are much better adapted to warm weather.  Smooth Hydrangea grow to four or five feet high and in early to mid-summer produce large round clumps of bright white flowers that sometimes mature to a lovely pale green.  These shrubs are most often used in mass landscape plantings to striking effect.

The fifth (and most unusual) specie is the Hydrangea anomala, or Climbing Hydrangea.  These are true clinging vines that can grow to astonishing size.  They've been known to climb structures and buildings as high as eighty feet tall, which, in full bloom of large white lacecaps, is a truly awe-inspiring sight.

Coreopsis 'Snowberry' Adds Sunny Elegance

This is one of my favorite images from our catalogs and websites.  It is Coreopsis 'Snowberry,' and it's an amazing perennial that will tirelessly produce mounds of these arresting soft, creamy blooms, lending a real touch of elegance to your sunny garden throughout the entire summer.  Even better, the foliage is evergreen, so it is attractive even when it isn't in bloom.  'Snowberry' is a sterile sport of C. 'Nana,' so it won't invest energy into seed production rather than making more flowers.  This allows it to rebloom more quickly than many other Coreopsis, especially if you deadhead it regularly.

Echinacea 'Cotton Candy' May Steal The Show in your Sun Garden

We were really pleased last year when our customers seemed to like the Echinacea 'Coconut Lime' as much as we did around here.  That's a big part of why we're really stoked to be offering the Echinacea 'Cotton Candy' this fall.  Cotton Candy is a real improvement over the popular Razzmatazz, with significantly larger blooms (at up to 4 inches, it's the biggest double pom-pom we've seen).  Those big blooms come along with sturdier stems, and this coneflower stands up beautifully to inclement weather, keeping those beautiful blooms through wind and rain.  The superior size and sturdiness also means that Cotton Candy holds up even better in the vase.  If you keep cutting the flowers on this plant, it will keep giving you more to cut for months.

This Arie Blom creation starts as a small green center, and as it develops turns to one of the most vivid pinks I've ever seen on a flower (keeping a tiny green spot on top for much of its development).  Plant these stunning flowers next to Coconut Lime for a really interesting look in your sunny garden.

Narcissus, Daffodils, and Jonquils: Etymology

In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a young man of unparalleled beauty who was so entranced by his own reflection in a pond that he wasted away gazing lovingly on his own form.  Where he sat on the shore, a flower of similar beauty, the Narcissus, grew, leaning lightly, as if to gaze into the water.

I always find the stories behind plant names interesting.  Many of them have been lost to time, of course, but that only makes those that we do know more interesting.  Then, there are those about which we speculate, but cannot be certain.  "Daffodil", for instance, is thought to come from the Asphodel flower, a plant that was commonly planted near graves in Ancient Greece.  The Asphodel Meadows, one section of the Underworld in Greek mythology, was thought to be an endless plain of these flowers.  This was the section where the dead who had led unremarkable lives spent Eternity.  The "D" in "Daffodil" most likely came from the Dutch article "de," which would have been placed before the name ("De Asphodel," more commonly pronounced "De Affodil"). 

The term Jonquil, which is still sometimes used for all Narcissus (especially in the Southeastern US), is somewhat more straightforeward.  It comes from the Spanish diminuitive form of junco, a type of reed.  In the strictest sense, the term Jonquil refers only to types of Narcissus related to the species Narcissus jonquilla, which has reed- or rush-like leaves (hence the name).  The use of this name to generally refer to Narcissus is mostly fading away, and it is technically incorrect, but I am loath to try to correct a common name, especially one that is as much fun to say as is Jonquil.

I Want To See Your Garden!

Here at Wayside Gardens, we see a lot of our plants.  Around the grounds, in the greenhouses, even in some of our offices, we've got our plants.  Most of us here have a lot of Wayside products in our own gardens, of course, as do our friends and families (what,  you think we give CDs as gifts?).  What we don't get as much chance to see, though, is our plants in your garden, out there "in the wild."  We would like to see and hear about your garden, though, since yours is the most important garden to us.

So, instead of coming to your house and knocking on your door, I'm asking you to send me pictures of your garden and tell me all about it.  You can email me at tandrews@parkseed.com.  We'll be posting some of these pictures and stories here on Wayside Gardens Voices, so send us pictures to show your garden off to your fellow gardeners around the world!

Paris Polyphylla Could Be the Most Unique Flower in Your Garden

Every time I flip through the Wayside Gardens Fall catalog (and I flip through it a lot, as I'm sure you can imagine), I'm stopped by the photo on page 13 of the Paris polyphylla flower.  With it's unusual leaf-like green petals arrayed symmetrically around ruby red stigma and long yellow anthers, it really is an arresting site.  It's not just unusual in our catalog, either.  Because this plant is very difficult to propagate (though remarkably easy to grow once you have a plant sprouted), it is a very rare plant.  Rare enough, in fact, that I know of no common name.  This rare little part-shade plant comes to us from the woodlands of Asia and is in the same family as Trillium.

Time to Divide Bearded Iris

In most of the country, now is the time to divide your Bearded Iris.  You should do this every two or three years in midsummer, after blooming but before the weather starts to turn (July or August, usually).  Regular division of the rhizomes does wonders for preventing root rot and borer damage.  Plus, it encourages the plant to grow more vigorously and to flower more.  It also gives you a great opportunity to thoroughly inspect the plant for damaged or diseased parts that can be removed.  Bearded Iris is one of the easier plants to divide (especially when it comes to lifting the plant), but as with any division, be sure to allot enough time to finish the job, so you don't have to leave your plants out and vulnerable longer than is necessary.

If you're looking for an interesting Iris to try out this coming Spring, give 'Dangerous Mood' a try.  Not only is it a stunning flower that's sure to leave an impression, it is one of my favorite plant names of all.

Lilies Make a Showstopping Garden Centerpiece

I love even, soothing plantings.  I love a garden full of small delights.  Very often, though, what a garden needs to really spice it up is something absolutely stunning, a plant that you absolutely can't ignore.  For a real centerpiece, Lilies are some of the very best.  Quality lilies feature lots of well-formed, interesting blooms in a range of colors and color patterns.  Their upright, regal habit draws the eye and easily complements other plantings.  The foliage is generally lovely and complementary, too. 

With the variety of Lilies that are available, there are many directions you can go with them.  Mass plantings create a strong effect, but so too can a single plant, or even several peppered throughout a garden.  The large, pure white of the 'Casa Blanca's' blooms add elegance, as does the much sought-after Lily 'Silk Road.'  As for me, though, I'm an absolute sucker for Tiger Lilies, and the double-flowered 'Flore Peno' Tiger Lily can't be beat for a unique, eye-catching exhibit.  I've had one of these beautiful plants adding tropical interest to my garden for years now, and it never fails to amaze me when the blooms come in late summer.

New Hostas for a Richer Garden

The popularity of most plants comes and goes and comes again as time goes on.  Some, though, are always in demand.  Hostas are one type of plant that we're always on the lookout for.  A great Hosta can make as much difference to the look and feel of your garden as any other plant, especially in the shade, where suitable plants are harder to find.  They add a lush texture that few, if any, other plant can bring.  Hostas are available in a variety of sizes and colors, from the deepest green to bright white variegation.  Some, like Hosta 'Venus,' even feature brilliant blooms.  But then, I probably don't have to tell you any of that.

What you might not know about is our new Hostas for Fall 2008.  This year we have 'Blue Ivory,' a compact Hosta with a dark blue center to its leaves.  It's quilted, giving it great tolerance to slugs and snails, and it does well in shade.  We've also got Hosta 'Great Escape,' a sport of 'Halcyon' with amazing white margins contrasting with a deep iron-blue center.  This vigorous grower is one of those rare Hostas whose flowers will be eagerly awaited, with bell-shaped lilac blooms that stand high above the plant on slender, elegant stems.  Perhaps the most exciting of our new Hostas, though, is the Hosta 'Dark Shadows,' an intense, deep blue hosta that turns toward green in summer, maintaining a lovely aquamarine tone all season.  The depth of its color is especially impressive from a Hosta that thrives in light shade.  It's one of the lower-growing Hostas I've seen, spreading wide to make for great mass plantings or ground cover.

Allium Gives your Garden Whimsy

Does your garden take itself too seriously?  The answer to a garden that needs a little playfulness could very well be to grow some onions. Not, of course, the sort of onions that you eat (though that's not a terrible idea, either).  What I'm talking about is ornamental onion plants, Allium. 

"Allium" refers to the entire onion genus, which is one of the largest plant genera.  It includes onions, chives, garlic, shallots, and leeks.  When gardeners talk about growing Allium bulbs or flowers, though, it is usually the ornamental sort that they are referring to.  These drought-resistant bulbs bloom, usually in early summer, with fun, colorful round inflorescences that look almost like balloons or something out of a children's book (these inflorescences are actually "umbels," meaning that the flower stalks are all of the same length and stem from a single point).  These whimsical blooms are sure to get curious comments from the neighbors.  They also last wonderfully in both fresh and dried arrangements, so they're great for adding an unusual touch indoors, too.  The classic ball-shaped Allium blooms range from the smaller 'Purple Sensation,' which carries flowerheads of around three inches, to the huge, 9-inch balls of the Giant Allium.  For something even more eye-catching, try the "Tumbleweed Onion," Allium schubertii.  Its flowerheads grow to as big as 18 inches with pink flowers at all lengths along the flower stalks, creating an effect not unlike a floral firework.

Gearing Up for Fall at Wayside Gardens

Today is an exciting day for us here at Wayside Gardens.  We're shifting our main website over to the fall season offerings, which means a great deal of work, but it also means that we get to start talking about all of the great new plants we've got available this year.

I have my copy of the 2008 Fall Gardening Catalog on my desk now (I promise, getting the catalogs first isn't the only reason I work here), and it is, of course, beautiful.  The cover photo is, I think, the most stunning I've ever seen on a catalog.  It is of the new Coreopsis 'Redshift.'  This Darrell Probst creation is a true improvement over previous red Coreopsis.  The flowers are a blend of a bright, rich burgundy and clean, intense yellow, starting off deep red and maturing through shades of red and yellow to finish a lovely creamy hue.  The flowers are plentiful and large enough to be truly impressive as in a vase (cut or deadhead them to stimulate new flower growth; this Coreopsis repeats heavily).  The most impressive feature of 'Redshift,' though, is that it is a genuinely hardy, vigorous red Coreopsis.  No more will red Tickseeds be grown only as annuals in much of the country; this one is hardy to zone 4!

Of course, for those of you in the Southeast, don't forget that tomorrow is Flower Day!  Come by our home here in South Carolina for guided tours of our beautiful trial gardens and a chance to meet HGTV's Paul James!

Ground Cover Plants Make Life Easier

A clean, well-maintained landscape generally takes a great deal of work.  There are always some areas that take a lot more work than others: sunny spots with plants that need to be watered every day (or more) in the summer, shady spots where grass just won't grow, slopes that make mowing a huge hassle, areas that are easy to see but hard to get to for maintenance.  All of these things can easily take a lot of the fun out of gardening, often forcing us to either pretend that those areas aren't there or obsess over them.

In many cases, though, there is a simple, elegant solution.  There are many Ground Cover Plants that are low maintenance and add great beauty to difficult areas.  Ground covers can take the place of mulch at the base of many other plants, keeping their roots cool and helping to retain moisture in the soil.  Many ground covers, such as Vinca minor, thrive in part or full shade, spreading to softly carpet difficult or out-of-the-way areas.  In many cases ground cover perennials require far less water and maintenance than grass, and they are becoming a popular substitute to save time, money, or even the environment.

Container Citrus Trees Give More Than Beauty

This weekend I bought a big bag of kumquats.  I had never actually tried one, though I've been fascinated by the little guys for years.  Not only is it one of the most fun fruit names to say, they're like tiny, perfect little oblong oranges.  I was pretty sure that you're supposed to eat the fruits whole, so I rinsed one off, popped it into my mouth and bit down, ready to savor the citrusy goodness.  Not, as it turns out, how you eat a Kumquat.  The taste of the pulp is much closer to that of a lemon than that of an orange (only even more tart), and when you just eat it like that the rind is very bitter.  To the internet I went, looking for the proper way to eat them (peeling them all seemed just too ridiculous to contemplate).  The trick, I discovered, is to roll the fruit between your fingers before eating to release the essential oils in the rind.  Then you need to chew thoroughly.  The sweetness of a kumquat is in the rind, and it needs to be chewed into the sour pulp.  Once you've got the trick down, though, it is an amazingly delicious, complex fruit.  This, I thought, is a fruit that I want to grow for myself.

It turns out that I can.  Wayside Gardens has several citrus trees that thrive in containers, so all of us can grow delicious citrus fruit almost anywhere in the country.  I might just grab up a Citrus kumquat 'Nagami,' which will produce those great little fruits that I've just discovered I love.  Plus, it's an evergreen that will, in the right indoor conditions, produce intermittently year-round.  If you're looking to grow limes for Mexican cuisine or mixing drinks, you can't go wrong with the seedless lime Citrus 'Bearss.'  You also might consider the Citrus limon 'Meyer Improved,' one of the most popular container citrus trees ever.

Festival of Flowers: Come Tour Our Gardens!

Each year, Wayside Gardens and Park Seed open up our amazing trial gardens to the public.  For one day we have our professional horticulturists give guided tours of these beautiful 9 acres of garden.  This year we will have over 2,000 varieties of plants at their peak, and anticipate that thousands of visitors from hundreds of miles around will be joining us in our Greenwood home.

This amazing day is called Flower Day, and it is the very soul of the South Carolina Festival of Flowers.  It is an opportunity for you to meet many of the people behind this company and to see the passion that we all have for bringing you the finest plants in the world.  More importantly, it is a chance for us to meet you, the most important people we know of.

This year we will be featuring Eric Johnson, our Director of Horticulture and Cohost of PBS's GardenSMART, who will be speaking at 8:30 on New and Exciting Plants for 2008.  Stephanie Turner, Park Seed's Director of Seed Product, will be giving a presentation on "Great Annuals and Tropicals for Containers." 

Most exciting, though, is that HGTV's Paul James will again be joining us for tours of our gardens as well as Q&A Sessions at 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM.  If you don't know, Paul is the star of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, one of the most popular National gardening shows (as well as my personal favorite).  He is known for is uniquely oddball and personable approach to gardening advice, so be prepared for anything.

Our gardens will be open from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM on Saturday, June 21st.  I have been attending this event with my family for many years, and I hope that you will join us this year.  [Directions to Wayside Gardens]