Happy Spring fellow gardeners and plant nerds!
If you are reading this you have made it through several snows and a pandemic or two, congratulations! I feel inspired to share one of my favorite morning sun to partial shade garden designs. The last few blogs have focused on the basics, so I thought we might dive a little deeper into contrast of shape, texture, and form.
Since everyone’s site is distinctly different, I am going to give you the palette, and let you arrange to fit your landscape area. Of course, if you need any design help, we are just a message away at combslandscape.com, where we will respond in a timely basis to assist you in any way possible. We will work from small to large with the plants listed below.
- Japanese Forest grass this will be your low “spiller” contrasts very nicely with any broadleaf plant. This vigorous thin bladed grass behaves a lot like a dwarf Bamboo without the spreading problem. It’s a ray of sunshine in shaded or dark-colored gardens. The golden grass-like leaves will brighten partly shaded or dark-colored gardens. A great accent beside water gardens or at the base of arbor posts. An excellent Asian-garden plant. Compliments the next two perennials very well. Space needed 2 sq. ft. Grows to 14” tall by 18” wide.
- Magic Island Hosta, broadleaf and morning sun tough! The foliage is thick with a cupped shape, and lavender flowers bloom in the summer. This type has an upright mounding habit with thick, slug-resistant leaves. Best suited to Zones 3-8, ‘Magic Island’ will reach a height of 10-14 inches at maturity with a spread of 16-20 inches. You will need 2 sq. ft. So, this is the trend ( we will tell you how many sq. ft. a plant will require ) throughout this blog. Broadleaves contrast nicely with thin strap like leaves. Upright forms compliment sprawling and weeping forms.
Dwarf Chinese Astilbe, This popular dwarf groundcover type of Astilbe forms a low carpet of mid-green leaves topped with fuzzy, lilac pink, stiffly upright flower plumes. This is one of the last Astilbes to bloom, typically peaking from late summer into early fall. Its small stature makes it a good candidate for containers and the front of the border.
A member of Astilbe chinensis (Chinese Astilbe). A later blooming species useful for extending the bloom season into late summer. Foliage is deeply incised, coarsely textured, and often bronze-green in color. Flowers are borne on narrow, branched panicles. Though garden performance is far superior in moist soils, members of this species are moderately drought tolerant. Shorter varieties such as ‘Pumila’ make excellent groundcovers. You will need 3-4’ sq. ft. An upright form with smaller broadleaves, so it works well with 1 & 2 in this list.
- Now let’s step up to the 2-4’ level, your next tier in your landscape! I will present three choices in this section.
Japanese painted fern. Athyrium n. ‘Pictum’ on steroids, this giant painted fern was discovered at Plant Delights Nursery in the mid-90s and is thought to be a sporeling of ‘Pictum’ and the Lady Fern. You will need 10 sq. ft. for this monster. Frilly foliage compliments any broadleaf.
It forms a massive, arching clump of silvery fronds with green highlights and dark purple stems. Like the Lady Fern, ‘Godzilla’ spreads slowly where it is happiest in moist, loamy soils. Grow this fern as a low maintenance filler in shady borders combined with large hostas, broadleaf evergreens, and Lenten Rose.- The dark burgundy red flower buds of Invincibelle Ruby open to a two-toned combination of bright ruby red and silvery pink. The foliage is extra dark and stems are strong, making this new hydrangea a gem in any garden. It is a strong rebloomer that will be an excellent addition to any garden. Like other smooth hydrangeas, it flowers on new growth and so blooms every year without fail. Native, hardy and very pretty! Takes 10 sq. ft. for this beauty. Combines nice with ferns and hostas. Loose in habit with a broadleaf.
- Twice as nice as other azaleas! Why settle for just a week or two of flowers when you can enjoy up to five months of blooms? Large flowers appear in April, then rebloom in early July, continuing through fall until hard frost. Even high summer temperatures don’t stop this beauty from producing loads of late summer and fall flowers. Flowering lasts for 4-6 weeks in spring, and then another 12-16 weeks in summer and fall. Continuous Bloom or Rebloomer and nice fall interest. Use with dwarf hostas and Japanese Forest Grass. You will need 10 sq. ft. for this gem as well. Tight habit with small evergreen broadleaf.
- Upper tier plants for your background and or canopy. Lacking in shade, use these three to create a dappled partial shade canopy.
- ‘Wolf Eyes‘ is a particularly popular cultivar of the Chinese dogwood (Cornus kousa). Like the species plant, which is native to China, Korea, and Japan, ‘Wolf Eyes’ is a multi-stemmed large shrub or small tree with white flowers that appear for up to six weeks in late spring. The form of Chinese dogwood is spreading, with multiple branches tracing a somewhat horizontal pattern. The fall foliage ranges from orange to a mahogany red. The ‘Wolf Eyes’ cultivar also adds a creamy white edging to the light green foliage, and it is a smaller cultivar than the pure species, topping out at 15 feet rather than the 30-foot stature sometimes seen in C. kousa.
Older trees often develop a mottled bark (which also peels), lending this specimen further visual interest. The rounded berry that succeeds the flowers starts yellowish-green; it is surrounded by the white bracts. This is perhaps the origin of the cultivar name—the berries being the pupils of the wolf’s eyes, the bracts being the whites of the eyes. The ripened berry is raspberry-like in appearance, bearing a red color. ‘Wolf Eyes’ has a fairly slow growth rate and can take five years or more to reach its full size when planted from a typical potted or balled-and-burlap nursery specimen. A growth of 12 to 24 inches per year is typical. Spring is the best planting time for Chinese dogwood. ‘Wolf Eyes’ can be expected to live for about 40 years.
- You’d think a small, native tree with pretty spring flowers and pretty fall foliage that’s easier-than-pie to grow would be a staple in our gardens. You’d be wrong. So let me tell you about fringe tree.
Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) has always played twelfth fiddle to dogwood, saucer magnolia, flowering cherry, Bradford pear (yuck), and numerous others choices for spring-flowering trees. That’s just wacky. Indigenous to the eastern U.S., it grows from Canada all the way down to the Gulf Coast. It’s tougher than dogwood, more dependable than saucer magnolia, longer-lived than cherry, and smells better than stinky Bradford. And it’s beautiful. Fringe tree gets its name from its clouds of fleecy white, softly fragrant flowers that hang from the branches in late spring and early summer. Other common names here in the South are grancy graybeard and old man’s beard. Trees can be either male or female. Males sport larger, showier blooms, but females form attractive, blackish-blue fruits that birds like. Nurseries don’t sell trees by sex, so you have to take your chances. But either sex is well worth planting.
- Size: 12 to 20 feet tall and wide
- Shape: Rounded and usually multi-trunked
- Light: Full to partial sun
- Soil: Moist, fertile, well-drained
- Water needs: Moderate, tolerates some drought
- Fall foliage: Bright yellow
- Pests: NONE
- Hardiness zones: USDA Zones 3-9
- Prune: Seldom needed; prune after flowering
- Bonus fact: Tolerates air pollution; good for city gardens
- Bonus bonus fact: One of the last trees to leaf out in spring.
- Sweetbay magnolia, also known as swamp magnolia, is a beautiful flowering tree (or shrub) native to North America that can be either evergreen or deciduous, depending on the climate where it is grown. Unusually fond of wet soil, sweetbay magnolia tends to be a deciduous shrub in the northern part of the hardiness range, a small evergreen tree in the south. Its emerald lance-shaped leaves are silver or white on the underside, and it boasts creamy white, lemon-scented flowers that appear at the end of spring or in early summer. Each flower will open in the morning and close at night, lasting for around two or three days before falling from the tree. Sweetbay magnolia grows at a moderate rate, usually adding 1 to 2 feet per year to its overall height. They’re best planted in the early spring. It’s possible your immature tree won’t bloom for several years, but once it does the tree will bear red, cone-like fruit in the fall once their blooms disappear, eventually going dormant in the winter (in most areas). Semi-evergreen and grows to 25’ T x 10’-12’ W.
- ‘Wolf Eyes‘ is a particularly popular cultivar of the Chinese dogwood (Cornus kousa). Like the species plant, which is native to China, Korea, and Japan, ‘Wolf Eyes’ is a multi-stemmed large shrub or small tree with white flowers that appear for up to six weeks in late spring. The form of Chinese dogwood is spreading, with multiple branches tracing a somewhat horizontal pattern. The fall foliage ranges from orange to a mahogany red. The ‘Wolf Eyes’ cultivar also adds a creamy white edging to the light green foliage, and it is a smaller cultivar than the pure species, topping out at 15 feet rather than the 30-foot stature sometimes seen in C. kousa.
IN SUMMARY:
The above plants which range from 10 inches to 30 feet tall compliment each other in shape, form and texture and thrive in a partial shady location. Your job is to have fun and mix these up to fit the over all size of your landscape bed. Have a great spring and remember we are here to help if needed. Follow us on all of our social media, for all things fun and many helpful landscaping tips!
Happy Spring 2022!
Dave D.
If words are seeds,
let flowers grow
from your mouth,
not weeds.
If heart are gardens,
plant those flowers
in the chest of the ones
who exist around you.
— R.H. Swaney
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