Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Color in the Garden...Theory for Trees and Shrubs, 0 by Decumbent

Decumbent wrote:
Okay, another topic to spur mid-winter conversation. Typically this topic, color in the garden, is wasted on perennial and annual devotees. Let us tree and shrub people have a crack at it, for a change.

Obviously, with trees and shrubs we tend to have fewer colors to play with, and for a lesser period of time. Yes, there are purple and yellow leafed conifers and deciduous trees and shrubs, and some of them even hold their color all season, but florally speaking, our usual colors are white and pink, with an occasional red, rarely blue or yellow. Our flowering season is maybe a week, sometimes two, and flowers tend to be a bit smaller than on many perennials and annuals. On the positive side, fruit displays on woodies is often superior to many herbaceous plants.

Just some of my observations:

Personally, I can tolerate more garrish colors early in the year. Hence, "Karen" azaleas, which are a vivid fuschia or magenta, are quite okay around Easter. But I wouldn't have them in my garden in summer. In late spring and early summer I like deep green foliage with a zing or two provided by a bright perennial, set amongst a bed of smaller, white flowering things. Late summer, I'm content with the abundant gold Compositaes nature seems to want to provide. Fall is a time for riotous foliage, deep red berries, and the rich purple of an aconite or two.

A woody without great fall color better make up for it big in some other way.

The more I garden, the less important a lot of colorful flowers becomes.

The more I garden, the less impressed I am by red, purple or yellow foliage.

A shower of small white blooms as provided by Halesia or Styrax appeals to me more with each passing year, but dogwoods are amazing too.

Smaller, less colorful flowers with fragrance trump big, colorful flowers with no fragrance, although I admit a strange, developing fondness in recent years for those dinner-plate sized Hibiscus species. (I think this might be caused because my mother made some poor choices while I was still in the womb. Not sure.) Lilium regale, with big flowers and huge fragrance, is the best of both worlds. Belongs in every garden.

Red flowers are my least favorite, but those incredibly saturated Lobelia cardinalis flowers never fail to impress me.

I wish I was rich.

Although I have plenty of conifers with gold foliage, the best are still the plain green or the rich blue ones. Colorful cones on green conifers is something I enjoy more than I'm comfortable with.

Good color in bark is way under appreciated.

I know I'm a rebel and I deserve the berating I shall receive, but I still like a rich green carpet of lawn. Not the rolled out 1/2 acre with a Bradford Pear poking out of it, but I think lawn makes for a wonderful path or a glen which sets off a garden beautifully. To put this in perspective, my yard is 3/4 of an acre, and my lawn takes me 15 minutes to mow, so proportionally, it is quite small. I hope this shores up my credentials a little.

Celtis occidentalis has the weakest green foliage of any tree...like a tree would look just before vomiting, if a tree could vomit.

A driveway filled with a red truck, a red car, a white car, and a green car, all over ten years old, and a plywood trailor filled with potting mix, adds nothing to the adjacent garden. I don't recommend it.

Looking forward to hearing what everyone else has to say.

Scott