Archive for the ‘New Plant Varieties’ Category

Spring only comes once a year – Don’t Miss It!

Take the time before spring is over and the blossoms are down. Here is a list of local community gardens that we can all visit — smell the blossoms, view the kaleidoscope of color, and enjoy the beauty of spring. These gardens are free to enjoy and appreciate at any time of year, but now is THE BEST TIME. Don’t Delay.

The UW Arboretum; Allen Centennial Gardens; Olbrich Botanical Gardens; University Display Gardens (West Madison Ag Research Station); Rotary Gardens in Janesville; Anderson Japanese Garden in Rockford

ENJOY!

Possible stocking stuffers for you or your loved ones? Some might not fit, though. Hopefully, you can get a hold of these at the library or go ahead and order for yourself for Christmas or just for the heck of it — hey, it’s winter in Wisconsin.

Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs – Michael A. Dirr — If you haven’t heard of Michael Dirr, you need to attend more gardening functions, he’s the king.

Perennials – Garden Handbooks — A photographic guide to more than 1,000 plants by type size, season of interest, and color

Flowering Crabapples (The Genus Malus) – Fr. John L. Fiala — “Father Fiala bring 50 years of passionate interest in the hybridization and cultivation of the ornamental crabapple to his readers.”

Growing Shrubs and Small Trees in Cold Climates – Nancy Rose, Don Selinger, and John Whitman

Trees of Wisconsin Field Guide – Stan Tekiela — Every tree lover and hiker should have this in their stocking this year. If you don’t know what the trees are in your yard – you need this field guide. (New version came out last year).

Birdscaping In The Midwest – Mariette Nowak — If you like the birdies and the beauty of native plants, you will not be able to put this down.  Absolutely knockout photos of native plants and birds.  I’ve featured this one in our “Growing With Ganshert’s” newsletter.

And if it still isn’t spring yet and you finished reading all of the above, don’t forget The Pruner’s Handbook by John Malins — It’s the Ganshert staff go-to for specific pruning questions on a particular genus or species of plant or tree.

HAPPY READING!                 THINK SPRING.  

Yes, Good Landscape Design! Oh, and Conifers aren’t Just Green Anymore

Conifers provide winter interest and gives something for the pretty snow to fall on and drape over. There are many, many more evergreen varieties that provide all shapes, sizes, and colors. So much for just forest green, add some color to your yard, even in the dead of winter!

Now there are Junipers, Arborvitae, and Cedar that provide burgundy foliage in the winter: Creeping juniper ‘Youngstown’; Arborvitae ‘Degroot’s Spire’; or White Cedar Red Star ‘Rubicon’. All of these varieties turn either bronze or plum-colored in the winter.

If you want chartreuse to add a little winter interest, choose from Sea of Gold Juniper and Sawara falsecypress ‘Lemon Thread’.

Or still like that blue-green foilage? You can go with Dwarf Alberta spruce ‘Blue Wonder’ or Dwarf Himalayan pine ‘Nana’, both with blue-green needles.

If you can’t have flowers, you might as well have color. Good design stands out in every season. Get a good designer (that’s us) and a good design that offers structure to show off winter and all its wonder and beauty. Oh, don’t forget to invite the birds. Plant conifers, shrubs with winter berries, and ornamental trees — add a birdfeeder and they will come.

Here are Some Rather Stunning Shrub and Small Tree Suggestions that Look Their Best in Fall.

Give us a call if you want any planted this fall to spice up the color in your yard. If we can’t get them anymore this year, we’ll get them installed for you in the spring.

Shrubs

Aronia arbutifolia – Red Chokeberry ‘Brilliantissima’

Hamamelis vernalis or Hamamelis mollis – WitchHazel

Fothergilla – gardenii or major

Cornus alternfolia – Dogwoods – Several newer varieties including  ‘Golden Shadows’

Rhus typhina – Tiger Eye Sumac

Celastrus scandens – American Bittersweet – Autumn Revolution ‘Bailumn’  Note: Make sure it is American Bittersweet and not Oriental – Oriental is considered an invasive.

Small or Understory Trees

Acer griseum – Paperbark Maple

Acer pensylvanicum – Snake Bark Maple or Striped Maple

Acer triflorum – Threeflower Maple

Acer palmatum – Japanese Maple – ‘Bloodgood’ and ‘Emperor’

Amelanchier x grandiflora – Serviceberry – ‘Autumn Brilliance’

Amelanchier canadensis – Shadblow Serviceberry

Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Rotfuchs’ – Red Fox katsura tree

URBAN HORTICULTURE DAY
AT WEST MADISON
AGRICULTURE RESEARCH STATION

AUGUST 21, 2009 10AM-3PM
Want to make your green thumb even greener? Attend the annual Urban Horticulture Day at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station’s Trial and Demonstration Gardens, held every year on the third Saturday in August.

It is a great place to get new ideas and answers to perplexing problems, sample fresh produce and tour one of the areas most extensive collections of flower and vegetable varieties, including many that haven’t yet appeared in seed catalogs.

The horticulture day is sponsored by UW-West Madison Agricultural Research Station staff, researchers at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Extension staff, and Master Gardener Volunteers.

The West Madison Agricultural Research Station is located at 8502 Mineral Point Road, about a mile west of the beltline. Admission and parking are free.

SEE YOU ALL THERE!

Great New Varieties

Anybody who’s been to a garden center in the last few years would be hard pressed not to have taken notice of the ever growing numbers of Echinacea (or Coneflower) hybrids that are appearing.  It’s no wonder why plant breeders are targeting this well known species:  they’re beautiful, hardy, drought resistant, resistant to animal damage (although at home I’ve found that baby rabbits tend to lack discriminating tastes and will munch pretty much anything, even my Coneflowers), and a true sign of summer in Wisconsin.

Hardiness

Many gardeners who have tried some from this multitude of new varieties (with names like Mac n Cheese, Tomato Soup, and Hot Papaya how can you not try!) have been disappointed after their first season in the ground as they seem to die out over the winter.  Like most things in nature, after some experimentation, nurseries have found that there’s a way to avoid this unfortunate fate, and it’s really pretty simple. It seems the reason is not due to lack of hardiness, but rather lack of rooting. What happens is that the Echinacea will tend to expend all of its energy into flower and seed production rather than root production. Ideally, you want the opposite thing to happen in this first year.

Tricks to Enhance Root Production

While it’s extremely hard for a gardener to do, the industry is now recommending that during their first year, we should be cutting off the flowers of our Echinacea hybrids so that they don’t put their energy into flower production, but rather root production, ensuring that they have a healthy crown and root system to get them through the winter.  Some are recommending that the flowers be cut off before they even bloom—what I’ve done at my house is at least wait for the flower to open, enjoy it for a short time and then cut it off. I’ve had good luck with my new hybrids using this method, and at least I get some flowers for a short time (I can’t bear cutting them off before they open). This isn’t something you’ll have to do every year, just the first year, and maybe a little in the second year to be sure the plant is well established.

Take the Plunge – Add a Splash of Color to your Garden

So, get out and try some new Echinacea soon! Here at Ganshert’s we have a limited stock of the following varieties: Kim’s Mop Head, Virgin, Tomato Soup, and Mac n Cheese. Or if you’re looking for a specific variety, let us know and we may be able to get it for you.  See below.

Mac n' Cheese

Virgin

Tomato Soup