So what are you growing new in 2008?

Hi Thom,

I assume you're referring to the viburnum leaf beetle (vlb). Here's a useful link.

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb/suscept.html

I have had Rhodos for 30 years. The deer never came near them until about four years ago after I planted three shrubs of a new variety. They attacked them so much I had to finally take them out and replace them with Pieris. The original large rhodo gets a nibble once but then they leave it alone. Some must be tastier than others.

Yes, my pieris is another that's never been bothered.

Well, lol, that settles that. I've always liked the leaf texture on the leather leaved Viburnums...so, I'll stick with them. I have no idea what the flowers look like, I just love the leaf structure and texture. Thank you very much for the link!

Victor, I'd say the spot gets about 2 hours of sun a day in the summer.

Here's the bloom, Thom. I was too lazy to look for mine. Harper, that's not very much for the ones I was thinking of. Didn't you have a sunny area where you wanted tall shrubs to grow above your fence to screen your neighbor who's always watching you??

Duh - here's the link, Thom.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/92534/

Ok, that's definitely a must have. I finally found a nursery, it's in Harrisburg...about a 2 hour drive...give or take, that sell Oxydendrum!!! Woohoo! 5-6'-$69 8-10'-$200. I'm going with the 5-6'.
I'm going to keep my eye open for the Vibs...thanks for the information/pics Victor!

Great taste, Thom. One of my favorite trees. Put one in the fall of '06. Here's a pic of one around the corner from me.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/57138/

I have tree envy. Last year the "must have tree" for me was the Tricolor Beach. Got it, it's about 8' tall, was 50% off, so it ended up costing me about $55-60! I also picked up a few roses that were huge, and also were 50% off. It's so nice to have a garden center near by that CAN'T overwinter anything...lol. Beside the Vib, and Oxy, I have my eye on a 'Forest Panys' Redbud...that might be next year, or fall of this year though.

Hee hee. I have that one too! Last year I added other faves - fringe tree (forgot if it was the American or Chinese), weeping katsura and paperbark maple. Only one left on my list is Franklinia.

Yes, Victor, that's on the opposite side. That spot isn't full sun either, but it gets about 3 or 4 hours. It seems there are nosy neighbors on all sides! Maybe I ought to finally put up the curtains I've been procrastinating on.

Bummer. Lack of sun is a real problem when you're looking for fast-growing evergreens.

You're telling me!

Hemhostaholic I picked up a forest pancy redbud two falls ago from a local nursery down the hill from my home and somehow two white dogwoods followed and a large Viridis Japanese Maple. I waited till they had a 70% off sale. Last year it was a weeping birch, several Azeala's, and a flowering crab apple tree.

The forest pansy did not bloom last year, hopefully this year. The leaves are still very nice.

Yes, it does take a while to bloom.

My son (the landscape architect) would love your tree selections! He's always telling me to plant this or that & I have no idea what he's talking about--the sorrel tree was a beauty, & was probably something he mentioned. My hubby said today the mountain ash has to go--it is diseased--so I'll have room for something. Trouble is, I procrastinate, & end up with nothing! I feel sorry for you with deer problems--even when we were not fenced, the deer would eat apple & pear drops & nothing else.

OMG...lol...that wasn't the only thing I bought...I wish it were. Following the 50% off Tri-color beach, were 2 Blue Skypencil Junipers, 2 JM's-Peaches & Cream, and an unknown, Itea, a Butterfly bush(Black Knight, or Purple Knight..something like that), the 3 roses I mentioned already, several un named DL's, and 2 ornamental grasses. lol.
This will be the year to find out what the 'Peaches & Cream' JM does...last year, because it was later in the season, it looked like a Charlie Brown JM...was a little sad.

The dreaded Ash Borer...Robin, we just learned about this. I've been checking anything that has 'specific' bugs in my beds/gardens for the past few days. Didn't realize that White Birches tend to get a borer that will kill it very slowly...just like an Ash Borer. This master gardener class is a good thing, but scary also...sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

LOL about my neighbor's feet. Actually, those are the only things I don't see. The next house I buy will be surrounded by trees, or miles of fields. Maybe that's the answer, Sonfonisba, just hang out for a couple more years until house prices come back, then head for the outback.

Aren't end of season sales wonderful? I'm going to spend all summer fixing what I have, a amending the 50 year old construction "soil" in my yard, then swoop into the local nurseries in the fall.

Thanks, Thom, for telling me about the ash borer--the only reason it was growing in my yard is because my Gram grew it, & I had fun climbing it when little--I never remember my son climbing it however--just the apple trees! Drumlin--so fun getting a new property landscaped--I wish I could start over---with a lot of money! If you're looking for different annuals, Briarwood Nursery on Route 109 has a wonderful selection---I've bought many different Cape Fuchsias, angelonia, & penstemon that you can't find anywhere else. They sell out early, however, so you've got to be there around Memorial Day.

*Swoop*!

Hey, Robindog, what town is that in? I can't find it in a search. I just went to CN therapy....Royal Red Butterfly Bush, Meyers Lilac, Orange Delight Quince, Red Beach Rose (rosa rugosa), Fairy Dust Lilac, and a plain old Pussy Willow. CN is going to hunt down a Black Pussy Willow for me as well. Now, if I can just find time to amend the soil and plant. Next weekend, I hope.

Hi, Drumlin--sorry to leave out the town--it's Morris---just before you come to the 4 corners, on the right-hand side---grey house with silo, & grey barn, with the greenhouses out through the barn--you can't see them from the road. One of my husband's former students runs it with his family. I love the butterfly bushes, but remember, they are marginally hardy in our area---a very cold winter without snow, & they're history. Also, they have to be pruned to about 2 ft. this time of year, because they bloom mainly on new wood. But I always grow them--they are full of butterflies!

I hadn't had my own garden in over ten years, so last year I went CRAZY and got (mostly) every plant I had ever wanted, including a butterfly bush. It was so great to watch all the activity that I bought another one! Like I said, grass is just not a useful thing in my yard, and getting less useful all the time. Thanks for the directions, I'll have to go on a field trip. White Flower Farm is only about 1/2 hour from me. So many nurseries, so little weekend.

Here's something new that I discovered "growing" in my veggie bed today while I was turning over the soil - a tree root!

Not too happy about this. There are a lot of other smaller roots also, so I think this Fall I'll have to make a new bed farther away from trees.

OK what is a butterfly bush? A lilac of some kind?

No, just kinda looks like one. LOL

Butterfly bushes are sometimes called "summer lilac"---they have long pink, red, purple, or white inflorences (sp?) & narrow grey-green leaves--I love the intense smell, but some do not--it's a real bee & butterfly magnet.

I don't like the smell, but like the plant. There are some real nice new varieties.

PRIMROSE SUE................ Just dig that root out. Further away is not an issue on my lot. We continously till someone elses roots as well as our own. This is one reason some of us can not consider no-till gardening. We have one area that is really bad. It is all from my neighbors invasive ornamental locust tree. I've even tried spot use of Round-Up. I can find nothing that really kills back the expanding locust tree root system.

I would give Brush-B-Gone a shot, doc.

We are talking a dandy mature ornamental locust with a forty foot canopy. They never should have left this one in the country in the first place. My neighbor is eighty years old. I would gladly pay to take that tree out for him but he loves it. It may be the only thing he ever planted that took right off for big and gave, lots of shade, lots of messy leaves, lots of spring pollen, lots of new trees from the roots, lots of X Rated thorns and no known enemies short of a chain saw. He is so proud of that mess he puts up with it next to his swimming pool. Take it out? Not a snowballs chance in you know where. :)

My sister planted a locust on my parents' property about 30 years ago, and now it's huge. I'm no fan, but my Mom loves it. The poor electric line guy who came to cut branches off around the wires insisted on taking home a branch, just to show his family what he had to put up with!

Does anyone's butterfly bush have growth yet? I took a look and I'm not seeing any yet. I hope it made it through the winter. The one I bought at CN does, but of course that doesn't mean plants in the ground will yet.

no movement yet on the butterfly bush... I hack mine down every year to keep the trunk small

Mine have lots of new growth, but I am in a different zone. Patti

They do sometimes die back to the ground and send up shoots from the bottom and they can sometimes be slow to get started. One of mine has a lot of leaves started and the other one looks the same as it has all winter. They will both get wacked back this week as the forsythia is just about to burst and the warmer temps mean the time has come.

Last year there was a thread about when Butterfly Bushes wake up. I think the person who was worrying as she waited gave up on one of hers but the other showed growth in May. I think she was in a colder zone than most of us.

I added to my new Fairweather order today. Added three viburnum and one enkianthus.

Victor, I'm still wondering where you put everything! Outside the barbed wire fence?

I use the uncertainty principle from physics to help!