Erik's Gardening Tips

spring season bloomers!

The latest of the flowering cherries are now in bloom. Prunus serrulata 'Shirofugen' and P. s. 'Shogetsu'. The first has mid pink double blooms on long hanging flower stalks displayed with coppery bronze new foliage. Tree forms a flat topped crown of branches to 25-30 ft and similar spread. Shogetsu is a small tree, a specimen of 15 feet is very large for this variety. However, it is one of my favorites! Long stalked light pink double flowers resemble a ballerina's tutu and are profuse. This tree will form a spreading flat topped crown with some hanging branches. Both late bloomers, they can still have flowers into late May. (this year is very early for them).
Now we also have tree peonies in all their glorious splendor! They are just spectacular and also very easy care...just plant them and forget them..enjoy the blossoms every year(some get very large...to ver 12" diameter!). They like well drained fertile soil, enrich it at planting time very much and they will reward you for more than 50 years! Each year's blooom increases if you just take a little care of them so that in time(mainly do the soil preparation at the initial planting time), your plant may have 200-300 blooms on it!
The later lilacs are also in full swing, their fragrance floats on the breezes..There are many selections now from which to choose.
Many Syringa vulgaris cvs. in white, pink, lavender to purples, and some reddish shades as well. There is even a yellow ('Primrose' and a picoteed form 'Sensation' purple edged in white) These make long lived big shrubs.
Lilacs are a big group. There are many lesser known types ranging from dwarf, smaller selections to other very large types and some almost unknown species and their forms. (one has pendulous flower clusters (S. reflexa) and others bloom later than the common type.
The mock oranges (philadelphus spp.) are usually known as large white flowering shrubs, many are fragrant! Now there are more from which to choose. Smaller forms, some have grape soda or bubble gum fragrance! (P. microphyllus hybrids, 'Gallahad', 'Desert Snow')
There are variegated foliage forms, singles and doubles, and lower growing cvs.
Easy care, regular water and cut them in bloom or just after since they bloom on old wood produced last year and this will keep their graceful shape. 'Fallbrook' 'Snow Velvet, Snow Dwarf are just a few particularly nice ones.
The deutzias are also wonderful spring bloomers. Mostly whites and pinks, these are easy care of similar culture to the Philadelphus. I like this group very much since they cut so nicely. Fountainous growth with small branches tipped in flower clusters are what these shrubs offer. Again, small to large shrub forms.
D. ningpoensis, G. gracilis, D. Rosalind', D. scabra cvs. D. Pink Pompom, D. 'Magicien'
The Weigelas (wye-gee-la) so often mispronounced! offer voluminous floral displays in white, pinks, and reds. There are also foliage colored forms in yellow, bronze purple, and variegated. arching growth of last year flowers prufusely with tube shaped flowers. Hummers really like this group! They are rather coarse looking when not in bloom, so a more backround/secondary placement in the landscape would suit these shrubs.
W. florida is the old timer, still wonderful, Olympiade/Rubidor yellow leaves, lipstick red flower tubes!, Looymansii aurea yellow leaves, pink flowers, white knight, vanicek, bristol ruby, abel carriere, candida, wine and roses, french lace, variegata are some to try, there are others.
Now comes a very dear favorite of mine, introduced to me originally from a friend/volunteer at Strybing Arboretum years ago (I went to see a vine of it in her garden). This is clematis montana. It looks absolutely dead in winter, but alas! come spring, it transforms itself into one of the truly great spectacles of frangrance in spring! The plant is profusely covered in small white or pink 'anemone' like flowers with the fragrance of vanilla candy. It also cuts wonderfully so you enjoy a spray or two indoors or to share with friends. This blooms on old wood so pruning is easy. Cut in bloom or just after to a lower branching and the plant will renew itself in the growing season, to bloom profusely once again enxt spring. give plenty of water for good growth and also fertilize since they grow very fast with the spring push of growth.
C. montana 'Alexander', Rubens, Tetra rose, wilsonii.
Of special mention are two similar magnolias of smaller status. They grow to shrub status. M. sieboldii and M. wilsonii are just wonderful additions to any landscape. They both flower with the leaves and offer hanging white lanterns of fragrant blooms. Crimson stamens await the close observer to the blossoms. Enrich the soil well with organic matter, good drainage, and then have patience, each year they improve and the flowering season is a long one, it can go on well into summer!
A final note for a special group..the Viburnums. Here are some of my very favorites. V. plicatum tomemtosum cvs. are just spectacular shrubs. They are among the finest ornamentals you can plant AND they are almost ZERO maintenance. Here you will find horizontally branching growth bearing white lace cap or snowball flower clusters in spring, red berries in summer, fall has glorious autumnal colors and then the architectural branching for winter. Regular water, they bloom in sun to shade (more sun=more flowers, but need a bit more water in that exposure as well). Mainly white(there are pinks), they give the impression of white lace on green velvet when in bloom, and some bloom repeatedly through summer, fall. These grow wider than tall and are just SUPERB! I am gathering many to once again form a nice collection. Here are some for you to try/look for for your own gardens.
Fuji, Shasta, Shoshoni, Lanarth, Mariesii, Saint Keverne, Igloo, Summer Snowflake, Fujisanensis, Watanabe, Molly Shroeder' (pink) are all lacecape forms of the doublefile viburnum. The flower clusters are displayed in two ranks(hence doubl file) on the horizonatally growning branches.)
Newport, Kern's Pink, Mary Milton (pink), grandiflorum, rotundifolium, plicatum, Triumph are some of the snowball forms.
With all these and the last of the wisterias coming on(W. f. 'Shiro noda/Longissima Alba), spring is truly a spectacular season! and there is so much more!