Have enough Azaleas? Roses? Bored with yews? I always yearn for the different when it comes to my garden, and these shrubs are some of my favorites. Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) I love this shrub! It’s native (they pop up from…
Jim Dronenburg is a long-time employee of Behnkes who also runs the Four Seasons Garden Club and is a certifiable plant nut and amateur rosarian, but claims no formal training in roses. To my mind, he’s grown enough different roses…
I traveled to Arlington, VA last weekend for the winter pruning instruction given by Kirsten Conrad Buhls, Extension Agent, and her well-trained Tree Stewards. It was kinda cold for note-taking, but thankfully there were hand-outs. Pruning Tips…
You can hardly do better than a blueberry for a multi-season, multi-use shrub! Flowers in spring start out with pinkish buds and open to white bells, and then provide you and the birds with crops of beautiful, tasty blue treats…
American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) is a woody, twining, deciduous vine that has lavender pendulous blooms in spring and needs sturdy support. Compared to Asian wisterias, this one is less vigorous, so a better choice for small gardens, and has smaller…
Virburnum rudum ‘Winterthur’ is loved for its just-right size (to 5 or so feet tall and wide), perfect shape, and gorgeous fall color, berries included. The species is native to all of the Eastern U.S. Oh, about those berries. Turns…
I couldn’t resist this stately conifer of the East, and have five in my garden. One of a very small group of conifers that tolerate shade, it’s also threatened by a virulent Asian insect that I’m happy to report can…
A darn nice alternative to boxwood is the equally tough and hardy inkberry holly (Ilex glabra). Here you see the increasingly popular short variety ‘Shamrock’, It’s indigenous from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to Mississippi. Details Prefers wet soils…
Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) is a magnificent shrub native from the Carolinas south to Alabama and Florida, which woody plant expert Michael Dirr calls “truly one of the best native shrubs for late-spring and early-summer flowers.” My original five are…
Spiderwort or Tradescantia virginiana is native throughout the Eastern U.S. from Maine to Alabama, and was first introduced to Europe as a garden plant in 1629. Arriving in my garden as a weed, it’s been a keeper for me, despite…
Bignonia capreolata, better known as Crossvine, is a fast-growing perennial vine that’s fully evergreen in our region – yay! It bursts in the spring with these amazing 2-inch-long reddish-orange floral trumpets, then reblooms sporadically until autumn. Unscented. Its common name…
What are white, fluffy and look as tantalizing as scoops of vanilla ice cream? They are probably the beautiful, pristine white blossoms of our native wild hydrangea. Hydrangea arborescens, also known as smooth hydrangea, is one of our finer native…