Corkscrew Willow

Corkscrew Willow Tree [Salix matsudana "Tortuosa"]

The Corkscrew Willow has a twisted and curled branch structure which make it as interesting in the Winter as it is in the Spring. Corkscrew Willows grow to 30' in height and grows quite rapidly. Corkscrew Willow Trees are very adaptable to poorly drained soil and will withstand both full-sun exposure and partial shade. The branch structure forks vertically close to the trunk giving the Corkscrew Willow a shrub like appearance at early stages of development.

Blue Flax

Fast-growing Blue Flax is easy to please, likes sun or shade, adapts to soil. Pretty blue flowers open on 18- to 24-in. stems with blue-green lancelike foliage. Blooms May-July.
Zones 4-9.

Crape Myrtle - Hardy Tonto

Tougher than its refined Southern cousin but every bit as beautiful. Tolerates subzero temps, consistently produces loads of sweet flowers. Leaves turn scarlet in fall. Grows just 7-10 feet tall with a rounded top. Red-tinged, gray-barked branches are heavy with blooms from mid to late summer.

Bleeding Heart - Old Fashioned, Pink

Mulch during the first winter. Foliage may die back after flowering in July or Aug. May die back after flowering to resume growth the following spring. Keep well watered during dry periods in the summer. Will not tolerate wet soils. To help improve conditions, mix in peat moss, compost, or dehydrated manure. May be mulched around the base during the first winter. Good for naturalizing. Clusters of drooping heart-shaped blooms.

Definitely an old fashioned plant - was probably in a grandmother's garden. CALLED LYRE FLOWER. ALL PLANT PARTS MAY BE TOXIC IF INGESTED.

Bleeding Heart - Old Fashioned, White

Dainty, heart-shaped flowers dangle from 2- to 3-foot stems in late spring. Lovely in front of ferns, behind a crowd of fragrant lilies of the valley, or anywhere in a woodland garden. Dark green leaves provide a striking contrast to the snowy-white blooms of the White Old-Fashioned Bleeding Heart. Prefers full to partial shade.



Zones: 2-9.

Yarrow - Summer Pastel

Having these blooms in your garden is like looking through a kaleidoscope all summer long! Heat-loving and hardy plant provides vivid color late in the season. Soft pastel colors and aromatic, fernlike foliage are sure to brighten any space in your garden. A great choice for wildflower or rock gardens and cut flowers. Bareroot.

Heat loving and hardy plant provides vivid color late in the season.

Height: 24-36”.
Zones: 3-9.

Patio Blueberry

Patio Blueberries are often grown as an ornamental! Handsome, cold hardy and compact. Produces dusky blue berries as big as the ones in the supermarket, but even tastier! Round, firm and flavorful. Keeps its quality when frozen.

Birdhouse Gourd

Birdhouse Gourd
Big Enough for Bluebirds


Requires only that you cut entrance, take out seeds, and varnish to make gourds last.

Grows 12-14 inches tall. 95 DAYS.

Purple Beautyberry

Beautyberry ( Callicarpa )
Plant this upright, 3-4 ft. shrub where you can watch birds enjoy its juicy bright purple berries!

Use a few stems in flower arrangements for bursts of vivid color.

Berries appear late summer to fall and persist even after leaf drop, adding winter color to the landscape.

Excellent for hedges, screening and as specimen plants. Deer resistant.
Full sun to partial shade.

Zones 5-9.

Lamium

Dead Nettle, Lamium Maculatum

Fast growing perennial - use as ground cover.

Prefers a semi-shady dry area with well-drained soil but will tolerate a wide range of soils and moisture. It is best to cut this plant back after the first bloom to promote compact growth. This plant can be invasive.

Partial Sun, Partial Shade, Full Shade

deer resistant.

A good plant to use for naturalizing, massing or as a ground cover.

Pests: Slugs and snails

Diseases: May receive leaf scorch if planted in too much sun, Root Rot

Good Companion Plants: Bleeding Heart, Barrenwort, Hosta, Bugleweed, Ghost Fern, Carex, Lenten Rose

Many More Varieties shown HERE

Hen and Chicks

Hen and chicks (also known as Hen-and-chickens) is a common name for a group of small succulents, belonging to the flowering plant family Crassulaceae, native to Europe and northern Africa. They grow close to the ground with leaves formed around each other in a rosette, and propagating by offsets. The 'hen' is the main plant, and the 'chicks' are the offspring, which start as tiny buds on the main plant and soon sprout their own roots, taking up residence close to the mother plant.

Plants commonly referred to as "Hens and chicks" include ground hugging species of Sempervivum (Houseleeks) such as Sempervivum Pekinese, Sempervivum arachnoideum (Cobweb Houseleek), and Sempervivum tectorum (Common Houseleek); the related genus Jovibarba. The name is also used for some species of Echeveria, Sedum and Bergenia although these plants differ significantly from, and should not be confused with, Sempervivum and Jovibarba. The description below provides characteristics of Sempervivum and Jovibarba only.
Aside from the common morphology, the many species of hen and chicks differ widely in appearance. Colours range from lime green to burgundy to purple, and size varies from as small as 1 cm to as large as 20 cm across. The leaves can be thin and spiky or thick and rounded with a pointed tip. Some, such as Cobweb Houseleek, have fine spiderweb-like filaments that grow naturally from leaf edge to leaf edge, forming a white cover on the top of the plant, while others have fine hairs that cover the entire plant structure.

Upon maturity (usually around 3 to 4 years old) the plant will send up a single stalk that can reach 5-15 cm tall. The head of the stalk is a cluster of star-shaped flower buds 1-2 cm in diameter, which range in color from dark pink to yellow and that flower for several weeks. After blooming, the plant will die. Usually by this time it has produced many offsets ('chicks').
Hen and chicks are popular in gardens for their varied and interesting appearance and hardiness. They are grown as container planting or rock gardens. They do best in well-drained, rocky soil; if they stay wet, the outer leaves will rot. Although they do best in sun, they will grow in light shade.

Geranium - Indian Dunes

Scented Leaf, Brocade Leaf - - - A treat for the senses.
Unique leaf shape,attractive growth habit and vivid fragrance makes these geraniums a new old time favorite.
Dried leaves are ideal for sachets and exotic recipes.
Plants make your garden smell as beautiful as it looks.
Perfect for containers, alone or as components to mixed containers.

Full sun to partial shade.

Corkscrew Willow Tree

The Corkscrew Willow tree, Salix matsudana, 'Tortuosa', is a small to medium-sized, upright spreading tree of about 30 feet in height with a 15-foot-spread.

This deciduous tree is also known as Tortuosa or Dragon's Claw Willow. The main ornamental feature of this plant is the contorted and twisted branches and twigs. Branches arise from the trunk at an acute angle and grow up almost parallel to the trunk before they curve back to the horizontal.
The winter branch pattern is most interesting and accounts for the popularity of the tree. Corkscrew Willow trees tolerate any soil, especially wet soils with poor drainage. It is a fast growing tree with narrow light green leaves.

Lacecap

Hydrangea macrophylla normalis) should be much more widely grown. They are treated exactly the same as mopheads. In some ways the lacecap is easier to place in the landscape than its showier mophead sister because it is looser, more graceful and more subtle in its effect.There is no doubt that mature lacecaps can be magnificent. They fit quite naturally into woodsy locations, snuggling under and around trees such as dogwoods and other shrubs. I have also seen spectacular single specimens light up a front yard.

i hope mine will look like this one. I bought her at Penny's and she was suffering. It has been a year now and she is large but no blossoms yet and her leaves are burnt.

Dichroa Febrifuga - Evergeen Hydrangea

General aspect and origins - Dichroa febrifuga is an evergreen shrub that grows in Nepal and in China, and belongs to the 50 most important plants in the traditional Chinese herbalism :

the bark, leaves and roots have some interesting properties.

Leaves - The evergreen foliage of this shrub has strong similar features with that of the common Hydrangea (and indeed, they are both from the same familly.)

- Flowers have five petals and prominent stamens. They are generally pure blue, but can have mauve traces, depending on the acidity levels of the ground.

Fruit - This plant has inedible berries, which appear during fall. These berries are most ornamental : they are blue with electric reflects and can last long on the shrub in winter.

Dichroa febrifuga remains fairly rare in cultivation. It should however meet some success, as it has an interesting evergreen foliage, and truly ornamental flowers and fruits. Moreover, this plant should withstand USDA zones 9 without major damage.

Soil - This shrub is not especially fussy about the quality of the soil. However, it is often said to do best in slightly to fairly acidic ground.

I bought mine from Rebecca's Green House.

Cotoneaster

Shrub, spreading, to little more than one-foot tall,
C. dammeri has bright, glossy green, elliptical, alternate, simple 3/4 to 1-1/2 long leaves; solitary, profuse, white to pinkish flowers in spring producing bright red 1/4-inch diameter berries.

Himalayacalamus Falconeri

This is one of the bamboo varities I have gotton from Gib and Diane.

It's nicname is Candy Stripe.

A beautiful Himalayan bamboo with masses of leaves borne on long, slender branchlets. Culms are green, striped with yellow or lavender-pink. Formerly misidentified, and known as Drepanostachyum hookerianum.

A newly erected genus of clump-forming bamboos of the lower altitudes of the Himalayan mountains.

Abutilon (flowering maple)

I fell in love with this plant some years ago and knew I had to have it in my garden someday.
Today my friend Diane gave me one from her garden. It's flowers will be orange.

They are sometimes called Flowering Maple, but not a maple at all. The leaves resemble one. They are known for their rapid growth and plentiful, long-lasting blossoms. I like how they sort of droop . . . gives it a serene look as in a Japanese garden. She will look great with my true Japanese Maples and the bamboo.
Easily started from greenwood cuttings in autumn. Stake young plants and water often during growing/blooming season. Pinch growing tips and prune in early spring to promote bushy growth.
,

More photos here
PS: I posted this and then discovered (duh) I already have an abutilon in my garden. Let me explain. I didn't know she would be this "flowering maple" i so love. The first one is so small, and has not bloomed yet! I must feed her!

Maidenhair Fern

Growth Rate: Fast growth rate
Plant Group: Ground-cover, Perennial
Plant Zone: Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7, Zone 8
Size at Maturity: 2 - 3 ft

I took this from the forest and put it in My Serenity Garden - Spring 2008

Aeonium undulatum

This Aeonium is from the Canary Islands. It grows to 3' tall on a single stalk.

The rosettes are about 8" across and nice bright glossy green.

The leaves have a slight undulation to them, which makes the heads that much more ornamental.

The bloom is dark yellow and forms out of the center of the rosette into a large cone.

Looks great planted in groups or popping out of something low growing.

Give shade in hotter areas.

USDA Zones 9-11

Sun-Shade - Average Water

Aeonium tabulaeforme

Aeonium tabulaeforme (SAUCER PLANT)
A most unusual plant from the Canary Islands.
Individual plants form a perfect flat disc which can grow to 8" in diameter.

I bought mine at a plant sale the Master Gardeners and Riley Creek School hosted.
Spring 2008
Yellow bloom
full sun
3"-4" tall

Hosta

Hosta Tardiana
Hosta Chinese Sunrise

I bought bags of these wonderful hostas at Costco.
The love part shade to full shade.
Ht: from 18" to 24"

Duranta Replens

Sky Flower

My Mother gave me this plant and isn't she beautiful.

It has a dense foliage of 1-2" bright green leaves and grows into an arching 10-12' large shrub or small tree. Its 1/2" fragrant lilac-blue flowers appear throughout the year in clusters, followed by a fine show of 1/2" golden-yellow berries. Most cultivars of this species have a dark blue stripe in the center of each flower petal, but different selections may have darker or lighter flowers. This species is by far the heaviest berry producer, which is good for ornament and good for the birds (most references, however, caution that the berries can be poisonous to humans if eaten – Du­ranta erecta plants may be somewhat thorny along the stems (or not, depending on the cultivar grown), make great hedge, screen, or bar­rier plants, and are definitely the hardiest of all to cold.

Lovely Butterfly and Duranta photos here.

Brodiaea

• Love blue? Here's a lush bloomer you can count on
• Handsome: dainty flower clusters on plants surge up from a grassy clump
• Wonderful planted in pots or planters or borders

Full sun

Early to Mid Summer

12-16 "

Zone 5-10 More Photos and infor HERE

Golden Hops

Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’ Golden Hops

Found in English gardens.

This is not a plant for every garden. It is a fully deciduous vining plant that can grow 20 feet or more in a single spring-summer period, then must be cut back completely down to the roots the next winter, after which it grows again the following spring.

Young golden leaves mature to dark green, giving a two-tone appearance.

Tiny hop blossoms are used for sleep pillows and pilsner-style beers.

Site in afternoon shade to prevent sun scald.

It forms into a thick climber hiding chain link fences.

The beauty of the plant comes from its golden-green, deeply lobed leaves. Later in the summer it will flower with small pendulous pale pink blossoms which eventually dry on the vine, but the leaves are still the story.

For adventurous gardeners this plant is fun, unusual and a bold statement. It could be grown against a wall with wires to lead it, on a free standing trellis or even into and among an established climbing rose or other woody vine. They will adapt to most garden soils and prefer full sun.

If you love to garden and want to try something new and different, Golden Hops is for you.

Blue Jasmine

Blue Jasmine - Billardiera Cymos

New Zealand introduction.
Twining stems carry lovely, pale blue, jasmine-like, starry flowers in spring and summer followed by showy snow white berries.
Superb in a conservatory or sheltered garden.

Family: Pittosporaceae
Full sun/Part Sun

I bought this at the Plant Sale that the Master Gardeners had in town.
I don't know much about it but if she is a vine and bluish than she is welcome in my garden.

Iris - Germanica, White Superior

Well I had a dickens of a time trying to find a photo of the iris I planted yesterday.

It will look similar to the photo above, only the center will be more like a rich egg yolk color.

I received it FREE because I ordered other plants from a nursery.

Partial Sun to Shade

Height: 24-48 "

Late Spring

Excellent cut flower

Excellent patio planter

You know me . . . not a fan of iris, but if she is special she will steal my heart.

Coral Bells

Unique, silvery-blue marbled foliage is complemented by tiny white flowers on airy panicles for several weeks in spring.

A hummingbird favorite!

Perfect for naturalized and shade gardens and even containers placed in shade.

Provides color and contrast to rock gardens, perennial borders and woodland and shade gardens.

18” tall.

Space 18” apart.

Zones 4-7.

Heuchera American ‘Dale’s Strain’

Obedient Plant

Physostegia virginiana

Obedient plant got its name for the flower's ability to be twisted on the stem and remain as arranged.

Name: Physostegia virginiana

Common name: Obedient plant, false dragonhead.

Family: Labiatae

Description: Tall, upright perennial with tubular flowers of rose, light purple or white.

Hardiness: USDA Hardiness Zones 3-9.

Propagation: Seed, cuttings and division.

Landscape use: Native beds, naturalizing, background plantings and cut-flower beds.

Hollyhock Red Double

This lady in red - a statuesque 5-7' tall - attracts attention at the back of borders and in bouquets. Large, fully double flowers of deep rose red appear all along the tall, slender stems from early summer to fall. Butterflies visit these Double Red Hollyhocks often! Plant 24-36" apart in well-drained soil.

Zone 3 to 9