Plant of the Week: Helleborus niger 'Josef Lemper'

I want you to meet my new favorite hellebore, Helleborus niger 'Josef Lemper'.  I have never met a hellebore I didn't like and my garden is full of them, but I have to say that 'Josef Lemper' has quickly risen to the top of my list of favorites.

Helleborus niger 'Josef Lemper'

Having only been in the ground since mid-summer, the first flower appeared shortly after Thanksgiving.  Two more opened prior to Christmas and last week, even under four inches of snow, the "little plant that could" kept right on flowering!  This week, with the snow finally gone, three more flowers have opened and I can see at least a half dozen more buds that will open over the next two to three weeks.  Not bad for a plant that has only been in the garden six months and was just a small, 1-gallon specimen to begin with.  I can't wait to see what it does in future years!

Helleborus x hybridus 'Golden Lotus', photo courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries

http://www.terranovanurseries.com/

Other favorite hellebores include Helleborus x hybridus 'Golden Lotus', an exquisite double-flowered form with creamy yellow petals and Helleborus x ericsmithii 'Silver Moon' with black-green foliage traced with silvery veins and white flowers that have appeared as early as mid-January in some years.  This year, though, it looks like the big show is going to come in February.

Helleborus x ericsmithii 'Silver Moon'

Helleborus 'Ivory Prince' was up near the top of the list for a long time and it is second to none where flower power is concerned, but I lost all of my plants to crown rot last summer--and my garden is nowhere close to being wet, since I live on a dry ridge.  I'm going to try it again, but its propensity to succumb to crown rot has moved it down the list a little ways--at least for now.

Chasing Winter Away

It's Sunday afternoon and much of the South is bracing for yet another nasty swipe by Old Man Winter.  He has already taken a couple of good whacks at us this season and it looks as though tonight's snow and ice may extend as far south as Birmingham and perhaps even further!  To help chase away those winter blues, I've been culling through my photo files and trying to reduce the number of unwanted, unneeded and unusable photos that I just haven't gotten around to deleting yet.  Going through file after file helped me realize just how many photos I have of plants that help me get through the cold, gray days of winter in my garden and I thought I'd share a few favorites with you.

Edgeworthia chrysantha has long been one of my favorite winter-flowering shrubs.  In middle Tennessee, we can expect flowers by mid-February, but the plant needs to be sited in a protected location so that cold weather doesn't freeze the early blooms.  In just the right location, you can expect a 4 to 5-foot tall shrub with a 5 to 6-foot spread, but they often don't get quite that large.  A particularly cold winter may cause some stems to die back, but with careful pruning and shaping the plant will rebound quickly.  Morning sun with afternoon shade is the ideal location, preferably in rich, humusy, evenly moist soil with some protection from bitter winter winds.

The most serious of my plant collecting friends are really into this stunning relative of some of our most important commercial fruit crops--peaches, plums and cherries.  Prunus mume is a species of flowering apricot whose blooms appear in the dead of winter when planted in just the right climate.  In my garden, they frequently get frozen, but I don't mind.  The few days of incredible enjoyment they give me each year, sometimes as early as the end of January, make them worth whatever space they take up in the garden.  It helps that they are intoxicatingly fragrant!

Cornus officinalis is one of our earliest flowering dogwoods.  Dogwood?  Sure enough!  As early as February in a warm winter the golden yellow blooms burst open to brighten even the grayest days of winter.  Imagine the flower of the white flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) that most of us are familiar with and then think of that little green "puff" in the center of the bloom.  That "puff" is the little cluster of true flowers that are surrounded by the showy white bracts that we think of as being the flower, but the truth is, it's not.  Just like the Christmas poinsettia, the showy parts are actually bracts and not flowers at all.  In the case of Cornus officinalis, it's missing those showy bracts and it just has the little "puff"--and they happen to be brilliant, golden yellow!  A most welcome sight as winter begins to lose its grip and spring slowly emerges.

Late winter and early spring in my garden are defined by the flowering of the hellebores, or Lenten roses.  Known as the stinking hellebore (an absolutely horrendous common name, as there is nothing about it that stinks!), Helleborus foetidus is one of the earliest flowering of all the plants in my garden.  In fact, it's not uncommon for buds to begin appearing at the top of the plant as early (or late, depending on your perspective) as Thanksgiving!  Those buds will go through a tremendous amount of cold to begin opening their pale green petals the very minute the weather acts as though it is going to moderate!  Helleborus foetidus is almost always in full bloom by mid-February and will bloom for a full three months!

Also beginning in February, the witchhazels take center stage in the late winter and early spring garden.  Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise' is a little later, but is also one of the showiest of all of the witchhazels.  Usually in flower around the first week of March, it lights up the garden for about two weeks in early spring and again in fall, when its leaves turn golden yellow with touches of orange and red!

In years when we're lucky (I guess) enough to have a little snow on the ground in late February, the beautiful and diminutive Iris reticulata will actually push its blooms right up through the snow!  Growing from a small, underground bulb, you need to plant these in the autumn--at the same time you would be planting tulips and daffodils.  Perfect perennials, Iris reticulata likes a location in the garden where it can spend the summer hot and dry.  Given the proper conditions it will multiply rapidly and return year after year, putting on a bigger and better show each and every spring.

I noticed yesterday when I was getting out of the car that the 'February Gold' Narcissus that are planted next to the driveway are up about 2" and are already showing the tips of their flower buds!  'February Gold' is one of the earliest of all daffodils and with the reflected heat of the driveway, they are almost always in full bloom by the third week of February!  Spring can't be far off now!

Plant of the Week: Parthenocissus tricuspidata 'Fenway Park'

In addition to a regular blog post each week, I thought I would start doing a "Plant of the Week" feature and introduce my readers to some of the unique, unusual and beautiful plants that I have known and grown over the years.  Here is the inaugural "Plant of the Week" post:

I love a good clinging, climbing vine.  Make it a bright golden yellow and it's truly a torrid affair!  'Fenway Park' was one of those have-to-have-it plants from the moment I first laid eyes on it--and it was HARD to find.  Even now, it's not a plant that everyone is familiar with and certainly not one that you'll walk into just any garden center and find.  And it's sloooooowww, so alot of growers don't want to take the time to produce it, but for me, being a slower grower is part of the beauty.  The fact that it won't climb three stories in as many weeks makes it a much more manageable plant for most of us to live with in the garden.  This doesn't mean that it won't eventually reach 30 feet, but it will take longer to get there and that gives us, the gardener, an opporunity to help direct and control its growth.

Botanical Name:  Parthenocissus tricuspidata 'Fenway Park'
Common Name:  Fenway Park Boston Ivy
Hardiness:  USDA Zones 4-9
Exposure: Full sun in northern and central climates, morning sun in the deeper South
Habit:  Self-clinging vine
Size:  30-40 feet, depending on the size of the structure it has to climb on.  Because of its slower rate of growth, it is not difficult to maintain it at a smaller size.
Features:  Brilliant, golden chartreuse leaves throughout the summer and spectacular fall color in shades of red, orange and gold.  Deciduous, losing its leaves in winter.

Italian Style

One of the fun things I had the pleasure of doing earlier this fall was taking a trip to Italy with a group of five other friends.  We rented a fantastic house (http://www.priello.com/)  up in the hills of the upper Tiber River Valley near the small town of Caprese Michelangelo in the far eastern reaches of Tuscany, where Michelangelo himself was born.  This was my first real vacation in almost 5 years and I have to say, no cell phone, no computer, and no television for an entire week was absolutely divine!  Our beautiful house was surrounded by Tuscan farm land and we backed up to a several thousand acre national forest, complete with wild chestnut trees (the chestnuts were ripening while we were there and I roasted them in the fireplace almost every morning!), wild boar, porcupine and all kinds of other critters, not to mention diverse plant life.

I took more than 1300 photos in the 10 days we were gone and still have many to go through and cull, but I've put together a few of the better ones and thought I'd share them with all of my readers.  I'll show you some of the plant life a little later on, but here are a few of the better landscapes and other shots I took while we were there.

This was sunrise on the first morning we were at Priello, our house in the Tuscan countryside.

Another sunrise shot, with teasel.

This was the largest and oldest chestnut tree on the property.   There were many others, but this was the granddaddy!

Another view out from our house.

The leaning tower.  If you're close by, you have to see it.  The cathedral and baptistry are also magnificent!

A kind of cool black-and-white shot of the outside of cathedral of Pisa.  The leaning tower is "behind" the church and was built as a bell tower.

The town of Lucca.  Exquisite.

The vineyards at Poggio Amorelli, Chianti, where we did a wine and olive oil tasting!

The medieval walled town of Anghiari.  I love the way the statues atop this school are looking out over the city.

The driveway leading up to our little abode, Priello. http://www.priello.com/

Jerome playing with the goats at Valle di Mezzo.  This farm was owned by the same guys who we rented our house from.   They are in the business of making goat cheese and I can tell you, it was fabulous! 

La Bottega, a small restaurant in Volpaia, Italy.  We ate just across the street at a restaurant owned by the same family, but I loved this little entrance garden!

That's all for now!  See you soon!

Welcome To The New Blog

Greetings Everyone!

I know you thought I had disappeared for good, but I promise I haven't.  Late summer and fall were incredibly busy and I was on the road--almost continuously, it seemed--from the third week in July, when I went to Portland for the annual Perennial Plant Association Symposium,  until mid-November, when I had my last speaking engagement for 2010.  In fact, I had four week-long or longer trips in a twelve week period of time in addition to several overnight speaking engagements.  In the midst of all of that, I decided to overhaul the blog and the website.  The blog is finished, but the website has proven to be a challenge, as the program  I had used previously doesn't seem to like communicating with my new laptop.  It's slowly coming together and I hope to re-launch the website with an all new look sometime after the first of the year.  In the meantime, the old website remains (mostly) operational at http://www.troybmarden.com/ .

I am already booking well into 2011 for speaking engagements and have even booked a couple of dates for 2012.  If any of you are involved in plant societies, garden clubs or other groups and are in need of speakers, please feel free to contact me.  You can reach me at info@troybmarden.com .

As many of you know, I was in the process of launching some garden tours when the economic crisis happened and I decided to table that idea temporarily until things straightened out a bit.  Well, it seems things are slowly getting better and I am considering putting together some stateside tours for late 2011 and 2012 with the possibility of a trip to Scotland sometime in 2012, also.  The stateside tours would be to the Brandywine Valley, with tours of many of the public gardens, nurseries and some private estates in the Philadelphia area and possibly to the Portland, Oregon area, one of our country's gardening meccas and a plant shopper's dream, with more than 500 nurseries within a 75-mile radius of Portland.  If any of you are interested in taking some intensely garden and plant-oriented trips, give me a shout! info@troybmarden.com  The more interest I know is out there, the more likely it is we'll be able to get enough people together to make some of these tours work out.  Once we have itineraries worked out, I'll post those, as well, so you can see exactly what I'm thinking about doing and the places we might be visiting on various outings.

For those of you in the South, you'll be seeing a lot of me in the State-by-State gardening magazines (Tennessee Gardener, Georgia Gardener, etc. etc.) this coming year and I'm back in touch with my friends at Fine Gardening and hopefully will be doing some more work for them soon, which takes me out again to a national audience.  We had another incredible year on our television show, Volunteer Gardener  http://www.volunteergardener.org/ , and I have to say a personal "Thank You" to all of you across Tennessee and our "spill-over" areas in surrounding states for tuning in each and every week.  Our ratings continue to be some of the highest in the country for locally produced television and those ratings are part of what keeps us on the air.  For those of you outside of our viewing area, you can find a few segments on YouTube if you search "Volunteer Gardener".

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful holiday season and now that the blog is back up and running, it will be full speed ahead from here.  I promise!  I have 5 months worth of photos and "plant talk" to catch up on, so forgive me if I fill your In-boxes with more posts than usual over the coming weeks and months.  At the least, I'm back to my weekly postings.  I hope that 2011 sees many of your wishes and dreams coming true.  Happy Holidays!

Troy

A Week In Portland

Hi All!  Just a quick note to say hello from the annual Perennial Plant Association conference, this year in Portland, Oregon.  This is my first trip to the Pacific Northwest and it has been absolutely beautiful here.  The weather has been stunning (upper 70's to lower 80's during the day and 60's at night), the plant life is unbelievably beautiful and it's always good to see so many friends who I only get to see a couple of times a year.  Below, you'll find several photos of some of the beautiful places we've had the opportunity to visit this week.

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls

Mt. Hood, from the city of Hood River

Mt. Hood's summit at Timberline Lodge

Portland's Chinese Garden

Portland's Chinese Garden

Portland's Chinese Garden

Portland's Chinese Garden

Terra Nova Nurseries--one of the owners is my good friend Dan Heims, who I've had the pleasure of knowing since he was showing us his latest Heuchera leaves spread out on the hotel room bed during the conference.  We've come a long way since then!

One of Dan's newest Echinaceas (coneflower) called 'Daydream'

Dierama 'Blackbird'.  Unbelievably beautiful and unfortunately one of those plants that most of us don't live in the right climate to grow--or at least grow well.

And finally, whether you love it or not, Echinacea 'Pink Poodle'.  More Portland updates to come!

In The Garden

Hi everyone!  I thought I'd share a few photos from the garden.  It has been nearly two years since I moved and as some of you know, it took all of the first year just to get the beds whipped into shape, the weeds under control and gain some sense of control over what was already here when I moved in.  This second season in the garden has been devoted to details and I'm finally at a place where I'm getting plants in the ground every weekend.  It isn't that I haven't planted anything at all over the past two years, I've just worked bed by bed to try and get it right the first time (yeah, right!) and keep the moving of plants later on to a minimum.  Whether they eventually get moved or not, some of the plants that have been in the ground for a season or two are really settling in nicely and certain ones are really beginning to put on a show.  I thought I'd share a few of the goings on in the garden with you.  Hope you enjoy this little tour of some of the plant life around my garden.

Spring started off back in March with Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise', one of my favorite witchhazels.

Flowering at about the same time as the witchhazel, Helleborus x ericsmithii 'Silver Moon' has quickly become one of my favorites.

Iris reticulata is a late winter/early spring bloomer that brightens up the gray days of winter just about the time you begin to wonder if spring will ever arrive.

Beginning in May and continuing on for well over a month is Papaver dubium, the common field poppy.  I love its deeply divided, fern-like foliage and the brilliant orange blooms.  It's a re-seeder, so make sure you leave the seedpods!

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, hydrangea season was spectacular this year.  This is Hydrangea serrata 'Blue Billow' in full bloom next to the garden shed.

A closeup of 'Blue Billow'.  So beautiful!

One of my favorite shade plants, Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold'.  Unfortunately, it's rather hard to find.

I love milkweeds! L-O-V-E them!  And this one, Asclepias variegata, is right near the top of the list.  If you need a cool plant that thrives in dry shade (or part shade anyway), this is it!  And the monarch butterflies like it, too.

Gladiolus papilio is a small-flowered, hardy gladiolus.  I got my corms from Ellen Hornig at Seneca Hill Perennials just before she decided to close the nursery.  I have at least three color forms that have flowered so far.  This one has the nicest markings, but there is another that has a more open flower.  The third is an entirely different color--a sort of mauve-lavender with grey undertones.  Quite unusual.

I love this variegated pine, Pinus densiflora 'Oculis Draconis', the "dragon eye" pine.

One of my favorite hydrangeas, Hydrangea arborescens 'Hayes Starburst', discovered by my friend Hayes Jackson in his garden in Anniston, Alabama.  This is a cousin of the popular 'Annabelle' hydrangea, but much, much more refined.  It's also a lot slower to establish and needs about three seasons in the garden to really get going.  It's well worth the wait!

And finally... flowering this week, Musa ornata 'Red Jewel', which has been hardy in a couple of gardens in the Nashville area in protected locations for the past 5 or 6 winters.  I'm not claiming it as "hardy", necessarily, but if you site it appropriately you may get it to come through the winter.  From Zone 7 south, I think it would be pretty reliable.  It sure is spectacular when it flowers!

And that's what has been happening in the garden so far this year.  New things continue to flower and each week I get more plants, some of which have lived in pots for more than 5 years, in the ground.  Hope your summer, wherever you are (or winter if you're south of the equator!) is going well and I'll be back again soon.  Happy gardening!