FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING!!! Mid Spring Edition

Catmint, thank you for the idea, but I def. don't want a row of Nellies. I tend to hate hollies... well, the prickly-leaved ones; plus I've already got a prickly-leafed holly along that fence, toward the front yard. Even if I did like them, they're far too wide to fit in there until they really grow up and you can cut back all the lower stuff to make them 'tree-like'.

For the same "fit" reason, the Photinia and Pyracantha won't work either. Let me share a pic or three of the fence... give ya an idea of the width I'm working with.
1: shows the fence leading toward the back. At the very edge on the left, you can see the holly tree... it grows about 6 feet or so from the edge of the driveway, and it's on an 'awful hill'.

2: Shows how the ground seriously hills up from the edge of the driveway. I was standing about 3 feet in front of the holly when I took the pic.

3: Continuation of the fence into the back, from the holly onward. You can see how it slopes at first, and then levels out. See the deck on the left? Well, it is flush with the line of the house, giving you an idea of the width... maybe a total of about 20-25 feet from fence-to-house. We don't want to take up all the space, still need to walk back there n' stuff.

Talking further with DH last night, he definitely wants evergreens, so that narrows the search down a bit. Needle like leaves preferable but not mandatory, but it's gotta be fast-growing. (this is a pain, huh??) Sorry, but I do appreciate the ideas! =)

hi, Speedie. So it sounds like you're looking for something upright, rapid-growing, and needly? I found

Juniperus chinensis 'Fairview'
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=d600

More on it:
'This is a vigorous grower reaching 10 to 15 feet in height and 5 to 6 feet in width. It has deep green needles which are augmented with a heavy production of blue colored “berries”. It offers the added bonus of being deer resistant.'
http://www.mahoneysgarden.com/tall-and-narrow-trees-and-shrubs-evergreen-deciduous-and-fruit-trees

Speedie, I have the exact same issue! I want an extra 3-4 feet of privacy over the 6-foot fence, but nothing that gets too wide since I don't want one tree or shrub to take up too much space in my garden.

What about an evergreen viburnum? V. 'Pragense' sheared as a hedge?

The thing about fast-growing conifers is that they never stop growing after getting to their ideal height! I love Cryptomeria 'Yoshino,' but I didn't get it for my yard since they grow really fast to 8 feet and then keep going to 20, 30, 40 etc. I think Cryptomeria 'Black Dragon' is a gorgeous conifer that doesn't get too tall, but you'd need a 4 or 5 footer since they're slow growers.

A narrow conifer that I think is really pretty is Japanese plum yew, Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Fastigiata.' Nice chartreuse color on new growth, stays upright and narrow, and more interesting and a bit broader than Sky Pencil holly.

I've never met a Chamaecyparis I didn't like. :) Chamaecyparis obtusas are great, but you may need a dwarf variety.

Japanese euonymus?

There's always arborvitae!

Oh my, that's a GREAT one Cat!! I love Junipers anyway, they remind me of So. Cal.... and should the need arise, maybe I could make myself some gin. ;) heeheeheee
DEFINITELY going on the list of possibilities, thank you!!

I was also noticing the plum yew in the list I found of upright evergreens. Here is what MoBot says about it:
"Best grown in moist, sandy, well-drained soils in shady areas of the landscape. Tolerates shady conditions better than most needled evergreens. Tolerates full sun in cool summers, but prefers part shade conditions in areas with hot summers. Plants have good heat tolerance. Established plants tolerate some drought."
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=f339

Ooops Ssg, we cross-posted. WOW, there's a ton of great ideas there too, thank you!! Yay, the list is growing rapidly now. =) I'm thinking... (which is often dangerous and painful), if I get something whose mature width is no more than like 5 feet or so, I can easily keep it nipped at the back with my long-bladed loppers, so-as not to grow through the fence into the neighbors' yard and become a nuisance. Make sense?
Of course, all this means that soon I'm going to HAVE to get out there with machete and chain saw and all manner of dangerous things and get that mini 'awful hill' cleared away.. it's just getting waayyy out of hand.

I was eyeing those up too, Cat. I think I might get too much sun in that area at the hottest time of day for them to be very happy. Will have to pay close attention to that today.

I was wondering that also, Speedie--you had mentioned it was a bright sun place and those sun-loving hollyhocks sure look happy, there! :-)

SSG is a great resource for tons of different kinds of plants--she was rattling off things as we saw them yesterday, and I was like, 'uh, a tulip. uh, what's that'!! :-)

Heeheeheee, that's too funny. I would love to be able to have more time to hang out with Ssg.. and ALL you guys, actually. Love hanging out with people smarter than I, so I can learn stuff. =)

Not only is that area pretty bright and sunny, but the wind, for the most part, comes from that direction as well. The back doesn't get hit as hard from the wind (since the neighbor's house blocks much of it), but at the front there's not a whole heck of a lot to block the wind... gotta be semi-careful not to put something too 'sensitive' to windy conditions there. And, mid-summer, that holly tree dapples some of the late-afternoon sunlight that hits that back area, but it's still awfully bright and hot.

Haha, my plant ID skills are *slowly* improving.

Catmint, I saw the same tree with palmate leaves and red flowers at Clyburn. Turns out it's a red buckeye. Such gorgeous flowers! I remember seeing it last year at Brookside as well, and that one was 20-30 feet tall. They're apparently hummingbird magnets, and bloom just around the time that the hummingbirds are migrating back. Does anyone here grow them? I'd love to find a dwarf version of this tree.

Sorry to say Ssg, I don't.. and I don't even think we have any at work, either. (or else I'd take a cutting and root it for you). :(

I'm working on my ID'ing skills as well... though I can say that product id of stuff in the store is improving by leaps and bounds... all I need is 1 or 2 descriptive words from a customer and I can hit it bang-on! ;)

Red buckeye--thanks, SSG! It's a good thing it's too tall for my yard, so I'm not tempted to get one. ;-)

Speedie, Did you think of Rose of Sharon? I don't have them so I'm not sure how wide they would get but I know they can become a pretty hedge. I'd love to see a better pic of the deck that is glimpsed in the last picture.

A couple more of my Dwarf Bearded Iris are blooming.

Sparks Fly & Ruby Wings

Beautiful, Holly! The lavender and red one is gorgeous!

I'd thought very briefly of Rose of Sharon, Holly, but... aren't they deciduous in this area?

Let's see what I've got for pics of the deck... Here's 1. Please ignore the ladder beneath.. it's too tall to fit anywhere else. The electrical stuff under there is for the lights mounted on the steps. What I'd really love to do is even it all out beneath there and put some pretty rocks down. ... Maybe one day...

That is a really nice deck.

SSG, is there a Clyburn Arboretum or did you mean Cylburn Arboretum? Is the place in Baltimore City or elsewhere? I went to Cylburn Arboretum a few weeks ago and also saw a Red Buckeye there. It is a beautiful plant. Don't have any of the pictures on the computer I'm using now, but I was captivated by it too. :)

Typ, that was a typo on my part. :) It's the one in Baltimore. The mansion and nature house were both closed when we went.

That buckeye was so pretty! Really striking even from far away, and the group of weeping Japanese maples was also very nice. I didn't take any pictures, though.

Oh okay. I was sorry to miss Market Day at Cylburn on Saturday. The magnolias were blooming when I was there. The JMs must have been beautiful. Isn't it a great place!? Amazing that it's totally free admission.

The Daylily society has a decent sized showcase garden there so might be a good thing for you DL lovers to try to time a visit for their blooms.

Just catching up from the weekend. I didn't have much time to check in.

Typ: I love that Allium, it looks like that's what my NOID might be, an allium. I don't even know how it got there.

Muddy: Very nice dodecatheon. I ordered a pink one but I forget the name but it hasn't come in yet.

Catmint: Nice Geum, I can't wait until mine start blooming. My orange one looks way more robust this year than my red one. My red one actually bloomed a second time in the fall last year. It was a nice surprise :)

Speedie: I was thinking Pyracantha too. I planted 30 last spring in a hedgerow. They did pretty well. Half of them are under the canopy of a very large SM so they didn't grow as well as the other half because they got less sun and water (due to root competition). The bloom was showier than expected and the berries were killer. I don't have any pics unfortunately but I'll be sure to take them this year. They are semi deciduous and even though we had such a harsh winter, they retained their leaves albeit they were dead leaves and dropped promptly in spring.

Japanese or Siberian (?) iris.

Alliums!

Lupines.

Native honeysuckle.

The iris and honeysuckle are from Becky's old garden!

Beautiful, SSG! Can't believe your lupine is blooming already!

SSG, I love Japanese and Siberian iris. The ones in your photo are Siberian - very pretty!

New blooms greeting me today:

1) My Rosa x Rogusa opened its first blossoms today!
2) Both varieties of Dianthus fully open now
3) Dianthus Firewitch fully open now
4) My Sweetshrub 'Hartlage Wine' is open!

Still waiting on the allium! :-o

A few mire blooms popping up----

1--Alliums against the house

2--Clump of blue Wood Hyacinths

3--A few blooms finally opening on my Camellia

4--Multi-Blue Clematis blooms--not so spectacular yet...

5--One of the white Azaleas in bloom. Have one on each front corner

A few more---

1--Koromo Shukibu Azalea in bloom

2--Koromo blooms close up--I just love these!

3--Lilacs--high up. Not many blooms lower...

4--Candytuft

5--NEED ID ON THIS PLANT! Greenthumb--you ID'd it once...
I dug this out of my YUK bed and have a couple divisions to share.
It does bloom......What is it???

We are definitely going to propogate it Gita. I'mggoing to put it on my calendar as a reminder in a few months.

Nice blooms everyone! I know the thread is getting a little long but I'll make a new one tomorrow night :)

Gita, that azalea is gorgeous. If/when you and Terp try to propagate it, please take a few cuttings for me!
1. My own azelea, NOID
2. A sweet little wave pansy growing in a crack in the patio. I'll try to get seeds from this one if I can. Apparently wave pansies come true to seed! I never did find them in any stores this year. Don't understand why, they were a hit in my garden.
3. Violets are weeds I don't mind in my garden.
4. My 'Black Scallop' Ajuga.
5. My husband got me a set of three dahlias for Mother's day just like this. I've never grown dahlias before. This will be fun!

Thanks for the ID, aspenhill! I asked the same question last year but couldn't remember the answer. :)

Catmint, the lupines were wintersown a couple of years ago. They didn't bloom the first year, though. I really need to move them to a half shade spot but I'm just not feeling motivated! I can't believe you have a blooming rose already! My full sun rose is nowhere near ready to bloom.

Gita, that pink is my favorite color on azaleas!

Terp, you'll be the star of the rhodo group with that unusual azalea to show off.
I've heard of wave petunias, but not wave pansies...

I'm actually thinking it'll be wave petunias to fill my front with color. Git er done.

Yeah. Paul!

I would love to propagate the Koromo Azalea--but none of my efforts have worked.

Maybe I take the cuttings at the wrong time? When IS the right time?
The wrong way? It is still a small shrub--so there isn't much to cut off.

I see Rick (the man i got it from) now and then at the HD--but he always is
being funny, cutting up with the Guys, all kinds of jokes and such--that you cannot
bring up a serious issue.

I will have to call him and catch him off guard.....I know he has a BIG one of these...
I have asked him before--but he brushes it off....

Maybe I should feed it? Will that make it grow bigger....faster....???

1--2012
2--2010
3--2009
4--2014

The different shades may be lighting at the time--or my camera....
Usually, it is a bluish lavender....

Sally, I wish. Put the passion you see from us on with all the plants here and condense it to one group, rhododendrons. It's a sickness.

I wanted to comment earlier but I didn't so I'll do it now. Blue Baron has been tried by many members, and the club has a few plants, it isn't a long lived rhododendron in this area. For some reason it lasts a few years in the ground and that's it. I believe it is a Pacific Coast hybrid that has made its way over here and not adapted to our climate, that is usually the case with the "blue" rhododendrons. It is beautiful and very desirable. People take cuttings every year hoping that it will slowly adapt and evolve.

:(

I guess I should expect it to die sooner or later, like all of the other rhodies I've ever tried!

That is a beautiful dahlia, Typ!

Love the Koromo azalea, Gita--such a pretty color.

Sally, the Wave pansies are pretty new, and totally amazing. Those breeders have revolutionized pansies like they did for petunias. I got one for free last year and it bloomed till I got tired of it and ripped it out (pansies in August was just too weird). Very bushy and they do trail down the side of the pot. http://www.wave-rave.com/WaveFamily/PlantInformation.aspx?phid=046706339003429

I'm having a hard time finding a good picture of the plant but here's one from mid-spring last year, and anther wide shot with it in the same location at the edge of my patio from late June last year. Sorry for the poor quality.

Have you ever seen a single pansy work so hard? I definitely recommend them if you can find them this fall.

This message was edited May 13, 2014 7:46 AM

Interesting about the Blue Baron Terp. I had one and it just retired this year. I think I need to be taking some of the blame though because I moved it in September last year and perhaps it didn't get enough time to establish itself before the terrible winter.

Typ, I don't see the pansies you're talking about but I really like your patio!

Oh Paul, That is bad news. The color is spectacular wouldn't you know that I am using it to replace one of the marginally hardy re blooming azaleas that didn't make it. Well we are a Zone colder than you so maybe mine will be OK.