Canadian Anemone and Japanese Snowbell

The Garden Conservancy hosted an open house event at the property of Jean and Lincoln Sanders in Newtown this past weekend. The house is a circa 1748 Colonial home and the gardens have become part of the Garden Conservancy open house garden yearly tour series. The main garden is somewhat formal, reminiscent of an English estate garden. They have Taxus baccata, or English yew, pruned into a tall hedge creating a large outdoor "living room", which you step right into from the stone patio at the rear of the house. Then there are lovely woodland paths to stroll along, which seem to just draw you in and rejuvenate the soul.

Blooming through out the property along the woodland edges are sweeps of Canadian Anemone (Anemone canadensis). These lovely white with yellow centered buttercup-like flowers have naturalized and behave as a ground cover throughout the woodland sections of the garden. Spring ephemeral wildflower lovers might know Canadian Anemone's smaller  cousin, Wood Anenome (Anemone quinquefolia). The later blooming Canadian Anemone is much more dramatic as it is taller and the one inch flowers are larger. Connecticut Botanical Society lists Canadian anemone as an endangered species, which struck me as odd as it appears to be a fairly vigorous spreader. Also, I suspect deer probably find it very yummy as they are fond of all the other garden anemone's I've worked with. One important note about the Sander's garden... it has a very serious deer fence protecting it from four-legged intrusion.

 

Canadian anemone  (Anemone canadensis)

Part of the property is bordered by stonewall some 7 feet tall. The Sander's have made excellent use of Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris) to soften the harden edge of the stone. Here is a section viewed form the roadside with the Climbing Hydrangea in bloom peeking out enticingly from the property.





Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris)

Also in bloom this week is Japanese Snowbell (Styrax japonicas)... not native, but one of those irresistible eye catching small trees that makes a nice specimen in a small garden. Asian in origin, it is hardy through zone 6 and into warmer parts of 5. The flowers are really quite fun and do look like "bells" as you can see from the picture below. The ground underneath becomes littered with dropped petals so one could consider it a bit messy if that is a concern. The Sanders have one planted along a woodland edge near an entry way to one of the trails.

 

Japanese snowbell  (Styrax japonicus)

The formal central section of the garden features some lovely sun loving perennials and garden accents. I was particularly enamored with the dusty rose pink of Centranthus ruber ‘Coccineus’  and the very exotic looking Dictamnus albus.

 

Red valerian (Centranthus ruber)

 



Dictamnus albus

And lastly, I grabbed a photo of  Peony 'Bowl of Beauty', Siberian iris and Forget-me-not, which, I thought made a very nice grouping.

 

'Bowl of Beauty' Peony Paeonia lactiflora , Siberian iris Iris sibirica

  and Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica)

 

 

References:

http://newtownbee.com/news/features/2015/05/30/sandy-hook-garden-included-garden-conservancy-open/269444

http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/anemonecana.html
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/detail.php?pid=209
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/detail.php?pid=478
 

Doublefile Viburnum and American Cranberrybush

May is certainly a colorful month. More things blooming then I could possibly keep up with! One particular showy shrub candidate commonly seen would be the Doublefile viburnum, Viburnum plicatum. Two  variants are identified in UCONN's College of Agriculture Health and Natural Resources database, Viburnum plicatum and Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum. They are described as identical in most respects, except "V. plicatum bears clusters of solely sterile flowers 2-3 weeks later than V. p. var. tomentosum."



 Doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum)  5/29/15

 

The Doublefile Viburnum is certainly a  handsome plant. It has very showy double rows of lace-cap flowers along characteristic horizontal branching. It stays neat and compact, growing up to 10 feet with a 15 foot spread and requires little care. One can easily understand why it is a common landscape planting in this area. It is, however, a deciduous shrub native to China and Japan and so I would like to share with everyone an intriguing native alternative also in bloom this past week, American Cranberrybush, Viburnum trilobum. Granted it is not as showy, however, if you are trying to develop a more natural landscape, this would be a great candidate.

 

American Cranberrybush is also a deciduous, rounded shrub with white lace cap flowers. The flowering is more sparse but the edible berries are loved by songbirds and can be used to make preserves. It has maple-like, lobed leaves which turn shades of red, yellow, and purple in in the fall adding color to the autumn landscape.

                                    American Cranberrybush, Fine Gardening Magazine

 

 

 

Here is American Cranberrybush in bloom at the Highstead Arboretum in Redding. As you can see, it makes a nice woodland edge planting. The day I took this photo there were a pair of scarlet tanagers flitting about. They seemed quite pleased with the environment there! If you do not know about Highstead you might want to check out there website at http://highstead.net/about/history.shtml Thanks for reading!

 

 

American Cranberrybush (Viburnum trilobum) 5/22/2015

 

References:

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/detail.php?pid=531

http://www.finegardening.com/doublefile-viburnum-viburnum-plicatum-f-tomentosum#ixzz3bX4AOFfF

http://www.finegardening.com/american-cranberry-bush-viburnum-trilobum#ixzz3bXEa9Ntv

http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=viopa2

Eurasian Bush Honeysuckles

Since my first post about the Tartarian Honeysuckle, I have become aware of a more common yellow variant,  Morrow's Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii). Here it is at the end of my street, naturalized along the roadside. Now that I know the plant I see it everywhere. Funny how that is.

Morrow's Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii) 5/25/15

 

There a number of these Eurasian bush honeysuckle species and they readily hybridize, so exact identification is not considered important. They are all very invasive and should be controlled.

See Forest Invasive Plants Resource Center - http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/invasiveplants/
for more information


 

Tatarian Honeysuckle

May 16, 2015

This spring I was able to attend some of the Bethel Extension Master's Gardener program. Though I was not able to complete the class, I did take away a desire to catalog things that I see in bloom and record the dates just for fun. I invite you to join me if you would like. I will most likely pass over some of the more obvious candidates for things that are new to me and of interest to someone who is passionate about using  native species in the landscape. Sorting out who belongs and who does not is my own personal passion.

Today, I begin with Lonicera tatarica L., commonly known as Tatarian Honeysuckle. It had been planted as a hedge between two properties under some large mature trees where it was happily blooming away in a fairly shaded environment. I must confess, I did find the plant rather fetching and so took a sample to bring home and identify. (Please note: Permission to do so was granted by the homeowner)

This lovey understory shrub turned out, however, to be Tatarian Honeysuckle, a plant listed as a banned species on the Connecticut Invasive Plants list. It is a close cousin to a more insidious invader, Lonicera japonica Thumb, or Japanese Honeysuckle. For those of you who do not know the highly invasive viney cousin, you can see Japanese Honeysuckle in bloom along wayside road sites everywhere in a couple of weeks... and I mean everywhere!!! which is what makes it so invasive, of course.

So here are some snap shots of the Tatarian Honeysuckle planting I saw. I bet there are some astute Master Gardeners who know exactly where this planting is. Hint, it pretty much right in the center of Newtown. Let me know if you know where it is growing!!!

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Tatarian Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica L)  5/15/2015