Expert at large
19.06.2008 05:01
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- Source: Home Envy
I recently came to the rescue of two young women gardeners. They have assorted children, busy lives, trouble with rhododendrons, rambunctious dogs, and winter scarred boxwood. Sound familiar? Maybe "rescue" is too strong a word. They bid on my services at a fund-raising auction, as an escort to a special plant sale. The sale covered a gamut of growing things from basil to birches. So, we started where all gardeners should - in the trees. Both women loved magnolias, so we zipped right to one of my loves, the star magnolia. Magnolia stellata (Zone 5) is arguably the most versatile and suitable magnolia for the home garden. First of all, it is one of the hardiest of the Asiatic magnolias, hardy in zones 4-8. The starry flowers, with strappy petals don't open all at once. This prolongs the endearing show for up to two weeks. The flowers also open before the leaves, so they have maximum impact as they dance in the breeze along slender, dark branches. The star magnolia is often wider than it is tall, more shrubby than tree like, and easier to fit in a small garden with its mature height pegged at 20 feet. Magnolias, in general, look impossibly delicate, but are surprisingly tough. I had no qualms about recommending the star magnolia to the winning women, but they also wanted to add to their shrub inventory - so off we headed to the bush leagues. We grabbed a forsythia, but not just any old forsythia. The one called Forsythia ovata (Zone 4) blooms a little earlier than the common one and is very bud hardy with flowers that are more genteel in colour than the usual screaming yellow. I have it in my garden and it performs nicely when needed, then fades quietly into the background. A smart gardener could build a whole bed around the gorgeous doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum tomentosum, Zone 5). It has large, lace-cap-type flowers, a handsome horizontal branching structure, and blooms in sun or shade. But please people, give it some space. This shrub should come with one of those "wide load" signs on it. It can take up to an 8 x 8 foot space in the garden - but it is worth every inch of real estate you can give it. We then moved on to dawdle in the hydrangeas. I forced my will on both winners and made them pick up the oakleaf hydrangea - Hydrangea quercifolia (Zone 5). Faithful readers will know my feelings about this hydrangea. Forgiving of sun or shade, the oakleaf produces large, white pyramidal flowers in June, and bursts back into the limelight in September through October with spectacular fall colour. A good deal of time was spent selecting shrubs, because these wise gardeners understood how shrubs add beauty, texture and structure to the garden, while making few demands of their own. But, eventually we peeled ourselves away from the woody plant material and marched on to gobble up some perennials. A large size, variegated hosta was on one shopping list, so we selected Hosta 'Wide Brim'. It will grow about a foot-and-a-half high and has good contrast between the dark green centre and creamy leaf margins. Both women were looking for unusual coral bells (heucheras), so we picked up the bizarre, amusing, weird one called 'Amber Waves', with it's leaves the colour of honey. The problem solving perennial geranium 'Ingwersen's Variety' was picked for its ability to live happily in dry shade. I foisted two of my favorites on them, the Cimicifuga 'Brunette' with its dark burgundy, ferny leaves. It will flower in late summer - a difficult time in many gardens. I also chirped about the charms of thalictrums, also called meadow rues, these perennials have lovely, delicate leaves, and foamy, feathery flowers, on long slender stems. They just seem to blend beautifully in the garden in sun to part shade, and certainly add lightness and grace to any planting. After three hours of shopping, we were bushed. Or should that be shrubbed? So we broke for some grub, and continued yakking about gardening. What to do about frail rhododendrons? Will the dog ever stop digging up the coral bells? Is it possible to turn a field of weeds into a meadow? Maybe those answers will have to wait for next year's auction.
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