Reviewing 2015 Projects and Plants, Challenges and Results

I m not really a rose grower. If we have sun usually it turns into an iris bed. We are specialized, after all. We do have a Paul's Himmlayan Musk which DH has worked on getting first to climb on a section of fishing line & then up a birch tree. He remembered it as a climber from the family home on the south side of Long Island.

If I ever become a grower of roses, I'll be sure to come back and reread this thread! I hope folks keep writing.

Lately my concentration has still beeen on establishing architectural plants, especially conifers, but every "artist" needs colors that fill in the larger areas, too.

Being a little color deprived, this month I started to learn more about lapidary, jewelry, and mines where precious turquoise is or was. That is not a color range that I particularly find in the garden.

I read with interest as we await our Snow-mageddon. Central KY and the Valley sit in the bullseye of 12 - 20" today. All that is brown will be white again...

Regarding the color range discussion arising: a very easy to grow plant with fruit heading toward that color is Callicarpa sp., from which Bean Towners can probably grow 6-8 taxa. Around here, Callicarpa dichotoma grows with abandon and makes a decent 4-5' plant which can be cut back every spring to flower and fruit on new wood.

For acid soilers up east, the colorful fruit of Symplocos paniculata is nothing short of startling. Anyone with room for this species - note that it is essentially dioecious - is the lesser for not having it.

I would venture that many will be able to weigh in with floral display ideas to bring turquoise and friends to your landscape. Maybe you could post some swatches of the color range which you wish to explore...

**Callicarpa americana here at the Valley

I have Morden Blush as well...it does look nice with the salvia....I have mine surrounded by adenorphora, which self- seeds everywhere......I tried to find a photo of the combo, but only found this which I hope is Morden Blush......

Here are a few images of what Callicarpa dichotoma can do...

And here are images of Sapphireberry (Symplocos paniculata) - not Turquoiseberry for obvious reasons - showing off at Durand Eastman Park in Rochester and Polly Hill Arboretum on Martha's Vineyard. I'm sorry these are not high quality. I invite you to look for more imagery online.

40 years ago we built a house on a lot which was cut out of a 'conservation area' which had been left as woods for 30 years. When that time period was over the 'lots' could be sold. Therefore there are plenty of trees & some open space which we used to pasture our horses. it is a long narrow lot; 250 ft wide & near 900 ft long. We didn't have to plant trees. We did plant a tulip poplar at the west side of the house & the 2 Cornelian cherries. There were several high bush blueberies & a a set of low bush ones. those have not been shaded out by growth on trees. There is a crabapple tree in the little woods south of the house.

To go on, we have not planted any more trees. When to solar companies call, they are told we would have to cut large trees near the house to install panels. The trees keep the house cooler in summer so even with last year's hot July I think we used the window air conditioner about 2 times during the summer. The first day of a heat wave I can get by without turning it on. This long post shows that trees have other qualities besides 'looks'.

You will get no disagreement from me, irisMA. Trees are all that and so much more - and not enough people say it enough times.

Meanwhile - OMG...

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/choosingcolors/tp/Turquoise-Colors.htm

Maybe I should take my own advice and not just start posting stuff before having a couple cups of coffee.

In full blush, and nowhere near turquoise in tone. Thanks, Rosemary, for your apparent restraint.

enjoy the snow VV - wish we were getting some of it!

He wants to snowshoe. I had enough snow last year!!!!

Thanks for posting the photos, VV....I was in Eastman Park in Oct. with my niece who lives in Pittsford....a few things were blooming, but not much....just fun walking around trying to identify the trees.....they have a lovely variety.....Bill, NO SNOW....I had enough from last year....however, it has started snowing here.....hope it's only an inch or 2....

Hi Robindog,

I love your Morden, but are you sure it is not Morden Snowbeauty?

http://www.highcountryroses.com/morden-snowbeauty-pp11-730

My Morden Blushes are pinker, and more double. Please see the pic. I have purchased five over time, and they all look like this.

http://www.highcountryroses.com/morden-blush

Or mayble Prairie Snowdrift, which is a sport of Morden Blush? (I just ordered 2).

http://www.highcountryroses.com/prairie-snowdrift

Of course, they are ALL gorgeous!

I hope VV has power! What we in Boston remember of last year is nothing to wish on any other part of the country. And our big storms were in February last year!

The beautyberry and sapphireberry colors, all blues and orchid purple colors, too --are very nice. The pleasure of looking at turquoise stones is how subtly different the tones are from different mines. There is a big range in colors and in the type of matrix they come in. Gardening is less expensive than buying jewelry in all the different shades of turquoise from the different mines and even what year they were mined. Thanks for the suggestions, VV and also the thoughts about blueberries. there is a space alrady designated for the blueberry patch after DH obliges with irrigation. I have to decide where to put them all and if i can save some money to cut the neighbors' towering Norway maples first...

We are all good here. No power loss or anything else dramatic. It is a good excuse to stoke up the fireplace, eat fondue, and watch a movie. Date night...

The snow was dry from the get-go, and the Valley was in the 8-10" swath. All the really deep stuff piled up between 40 - 100 miles south of here (where I-75 was closed overnight).

Look forward to seeing what you come up with, plant-wise. Saw this one over on Plant ID...

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1412846/

Glad you kept your power, VV. I don't think the rose I pictured (what happened to it?) is either of the 2 you posted, Donna.....when I took the photo, the roses were just about finished, so they may have faded, or....I have a rose without a name....which could very well be.....Received a rose catalog today & am drooling over the photos....can only buy the super hardy ones though....hard keeping roses alive on this hill.......

If you are thinking of roses that can take a beating, I highly recommend High Country Roses. They are in Colorado, in zone 5 in high altitude, and I found that their roses are so tough I can install them in September and they thrive. I had a great conversation with one of the owners today - it can be a virtue when you have a computer glitch. They are 100% own root. And family owned. I decided that I had to have Quadra, the Canadian climber. I grew it on a trellis before, and finally figured out a great location for it.

I am also looking at their roses for somewhat shady areas. Once I realized that I could actually do something with five hours of light, the mind reeled.

This message was edited Jan 25, 2016 8:38 AM

Thanks, Donna....I'll check them out.....my shrub rose, Tequila Gold, does well in partial shade.....it was the only rose blooming last summer after 3 weeks of no rain!

The ersatz "jade flower" is the most turquoise bloom I've ever seen in a plant pic. Like I ask about the turquoise stones, I wonder if it's been "color enhanced?" :)

Also, glad to hear that VV and at least that part near Ohio River Valley region is weathering OK

Love the rose discussion, too.

I'd better stop now or I'll start quoting plilosophers about how we can be so drawn to color (including white or blush), especially in the garden.

I like blue everywhere & not just flowers.

I ordered a gentian this year.....not sure how hardy it will be, but I need a true blue in the garden......have a salvia for years that was tall (4') & sky blue, but that died out a few years ago.....love delphs, but have no luck with at all.....

I got a few gentians in last spring. They didn't die, but they stayed pretty tiny all year. I suspect I'm not dedicated enough to keep them alive.

We had a warm stretch today. The new bench was a destination in front of the very blue atlas cedar we planted last summer. It didn't fully cure the color yearnings. I think I have to return to oil painting sometime. it will be cheaper than buying jewelry.

I have ordered a seedling of Howell's Dwarf tigertail abies bicolor in order to keep the color riot going in the back yard. Unless I find a mature one, it will take a few years to gain any size. When spring comes I hope a few of the new conifers already in the ground will have some bright pink/fuscia growth on them. For pink and white in the new growth of a green conifer I have tamina no uki, a pinus parviflora, I think. The little yearling of that is happily in a spot that greets anyone coming up the front steps.

That looks like a nice one!

Sounds very colorful.....I love my painting, keeps me sane....not a good time of year to do botanicals unless you buy the flowers......

I about spit out my coffee when I read...painting would be cheaper than buying jewelry. I had visions of HUGE colorful gems running in my head. Heehee.

We need to see photos come spring....although it feels like spring is here already!

Photos of plants? After learning about fraud in the native American jewelry business I bought a few artistic works this weekend. Definitely more expensive than working in the garden. I think my fingers usually hurt from gardening, but imagine what it's like to do all the fine stonework on jewelry. It makes me think of gardening when I think of one zuni artist. She is one of the most copied Zuni bracelet designers. She puts snakes all over her pieces.

Only garter snakes here.

The more I look around my yard the more opportunities i see to put back plants I had before. Once I figured out a property line issue I realized that I can take a large pole and put thalictrum 'Splendide' up it and some geranium 'Bevan's Variety' in front of it. Then I got a brainwave - Rose 'Quadra'. It can be easily trained. When the plant first comes up the vines are like butter, and I was able to train them horizontally. A few days later they become like stone.

The effect is great - you can wrap them around things. I wrapped it around the sides of my trellis.

So I ordered it from High Country Roses. Amazingly, it was for the same price I paid ten years ago - about $14.50.

Our Paul's Himilayian Musk rose was first trained on fishing line & then up a birch tree. It was DH 's project.

Pretty rose......I looked at my climbers yesterday....some still have leaves......

Oh, I've always wanted to train a rose up a tree!

You can have all my multifloras...

LOL, vv!

I have learned to be careful for what I wish for!

Lots of multiflora when we bought this lot.......even though the property is mowed weekly, shoots still appear between mowings!

I think that is on the MA state list of banned plants for purchase. I think that we have been able to get rid of ours. there were not too many when we bought the lot over 40 years ago.

Forty years ago was when we moved into this house.....property was an old apple orchard, neglected for many years....the mutiflora was everywhere......now it's confined to the back fence, but I find the shoots over the whole property.....

Its spreading habit is why it is on the 'don't buy list.

There are lots of invasives that the CT DEP pushed, like autumn olive...now the plants are on the "Do not plant" list! Live & learn......