This time of year I make the neighbors angry.

They are outside (or paying someone to be outside) raking leaves each weekend. I have two 30+ year-old pin oaks flanking my front garden. We rescue the little bit of grass we have in the front by collecting them each weekend with the lawn mower, but we don’t clean out the beds until the pin oak leaves fall (they are still falling). Why do it more than once? It’s a nasty job.

Funny side note – since most people in our non-gardening neighborhood pay someone to remove their leaves and we do our own yard work (gasp!), we had an incident last weekend that my husband is still steaming over. Our beloved 1997 Jeep Cherokee (yes, the same Jeep Cherokee that was beaten up by that large tree branch) was violated sometime late Saturday night by thieves. This is the 5th time in 4 years. They busted out the back window this time…what a mess, and all for less than a dollar’s worth of change. They left the pennies. Apparently, you can’t pay for crack with pennies.

We called to get a police report. We were working out in the front garden when the police arrived. The officer walked right past my husband, (practically pushed him out of the way), then he walked up the steps and flew past me, not even making eye contact, on his way to the front door. I said, “Where ARE you going? You do realize we live here, right?”

He said, “Oh, I thought you were the landscape crew.”

I said, “There are some people who still do their own lawn work, you know.”

He didn’t apologize or laugh. It wasn’t that we were angry he called us the landscape crew, it was the complete dismissal of the fact that we were the owners of the house, and the complete dismissal of the fact that we were worthy of his words. Perhaps we need to dress better while performing weekly garden chores. Ha!

I digress…

I did rake a little in one of the beds to check on some newer groundcover plantings and boy-oh-boy, under those layers of leaves is the most amazing fall color I’ve seen in a while. A few selections of The River Series of heart leaved foamflowers (Tiarella cordifolia) have really intense fall color. The selections Lehigh and Octoraro are the best. These plants are only one season old. I love to imagine this planting 5 or 10 years from now, when the ground is covered in this Joseph’s coat-like mosaic of pink, salmon and bright red.

Bright red fall color is hard to come by.  The brightest red fall color is, of course, the horribly invasive burning bush (Euonymus alatus var. compactus or EAC as it is affectionately termed in the nursery industry).  It’s so dang beautiful that everyone wants to plant it.  The problem is, this plant is an invasive species of woodlands in eastern North America, and its importation and sale is prohibited in the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.   I’m sure it won’t be long before it works it’s way down the East Coast and onto many more prohibited lists.  I have seen it in many woodlands throughout New Jersey and in the Mid-Atlantic.

That being said, I know how hard it is to come up with a replacement for burning bush. In order to stop selling, we have to educate the customers to ask for something else with fall color. In their minds – there might not be anything else. Burning bush is commonly sold at most every garden center and it’s on display in lots of home stores. It is touted as the poster child for fall color, the quintessential color addition to every garden.

Bull puckey. It’s green most of the year, has no flowers, grows way bigger than anyone thinks it will, and loses it’s leaves really early.

What’s so great about it?

Imagine this – if garden centers and home stores stop asking for it, they’re be no reason for the wholesale growers to produce it. I know, dream on. Did I tell you we found a great, safe use for the ever-invasive Houttuynia ‘Chameleon’? Look for more on that in another issue. I suppose there’s a time and place for every plant. After all, they are not invasive everywhere, but where they are – look out!

I would like to suggest a few alternatives (some native) that have just as exciting fall color, without the invasive qualities. If garden center employees knew about these plants, they could sell them. If consumers knew about these plants, they would ask for them at garden centers. Now that’s a novel idea. It’s called supply and demand -basic economics. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

It should be.

Why should garden center customers dictate what we sell? Don’t we know best? We are the experts. That’s what wrong with the whole food supply chain in the US. Farmers instinctively want to produce wholesome, nutritious food. That’s why they are farmers….ugh! But …farmers need to get paid so they can feed their families. If there was as much money to be made in wholesome, good-for-us food as food as there is in selling processed, modified crap, they’d be selling the good stuff. Sound familiar? If the people want it…you get paid more for it. Commodities or “bread and butter” plants are always where nurseries make their money. More diversity in the diet makes for a healthier person. More diversity in the landscape makes for a healthier planet. Go figure…

We must educate. Or nothing will ever change and commodities will always rule. Eat in moderation. Plant in moderation. Those are really great things to practice.

The solution? Alternatives. You must give them alternatives and educate them on the many reasons we need alternatives. It’s a harder sell, but educating someone and changing the way they do things is never easy. I’ve done talks about alternatives to invasive plants and they were well attended. Do garden centers offer this? If they don’t they should. Here are a few of my favorites.

My first favorite is Fothergilla gardenii. There are many cultivars available. I have always appreciated the straight species over any cultivar, but there’s a new one that has even better fall color. The selection is called ‘Suzanne’ and it is the most wonderful shade of yellowish-tangerine each fall. Some years fothergilla can be red and sometimes it’s a mélange of red, purple, orange and yellow. I know it’s not fire engine red, but it certainly is spectacular.

There is a plant with candy apple red fall color. It is white enkianthus (Enkianthus perulatus). I have a selection from The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania that I would highly recommend called ‘J.L. Pennock’. I have a small one, but the 8 feet tall by 10 feet wide untrimmed, original specimen at The Morris Arboretum is spectacular, to say the least. It can take full sun, clay soil and even urban conditions. It is blanketed in creamy white bell-shaped blooms in the spring and deep green foliage all summer. This is an incredibly under used plant. It’s not native, but it isn’t invasive either.

My other favorite is one that is so versatile, it should be used as much as Knock Out roses are in commercial landscapes. An oldie, but a goody, Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica), especially the selection from The Henry Foundation in Philadelphia called ‘Henry’s Garnet’, is one brightly colored, truly native plant that puts on a consistent, brilliant fall color show each year. The color varies from location to location, from crisp, clear maroon to bright purple-red and orange. No matter what color your site produces, you will not be disappointed. This is one of the most versatile shrubs on the market today. It can grow in wet soil, dry soil, clay soil and it even grows well in median strips along urban byways.

So there you have it – three really great and often underused alternatives to burning bush. I know it’s a hard one to replace, but we have to try. Garden centers need to be aware of these issues. I know these plants sell like hotcakes, but have a conscience, will you? Education goes along way.

Back to the foamflowers and much, more on having a conscience.

Did you know foamflowers were so colorful in winter? They’re a heck of a lot more colorful than the ever-invasive, exotic, way over planted groundcover that has been planted for centuries, English ivy (Hedera helix). Sure, you can get a little reddish or purple tinge to the leaves of ivy, but never have I seen fire engine red or clear pink with maroon veins. That’s a treat for the eyes and good for the environment too. Not only can heart leaved foamflowers have exceptional fall foliage, they provide food for many types of bees and they absorb a whole heck of a lot of runoff.

You see, that’s what they were made for. They typically grow along woodland banks. They stabilize the soil and utilize any extra runoff – all the while feeding any bees that scour the woodland floor.

All foamflower are not created equal, however; especially for those of us that live in drastic, humid climes. Sinclair A. Adam Jr., of Dunvegan Nurseries knows this. He has been breeding and selecting foamflowers for improved blooming and variable soil tolerance for decades. His selections are heat and humidity tolerant and this series happens to contain all running (a.k.a. ground covering) selections. Foamflowers can be found in both running and clumping forms. Sinclair selected 5 running types to be a part of The River Series. Each is named after a river in southern Pennsylvania.

I suggest using the selections ‘Octoraro‘, ‘Susquehanna‘ and ‘Wissahickon’ as truly native substitutes anywhere you would plant English Ivy or periwinkle (Vinca minor), my other ground covering nemesis in the shade. They have each easily covered a 2’by 2’ section in my shade garden since I planted them 18 months ago.

I should also note that I call my shade garden of pin oaks and white pines the tiarella torture chamber for it is as dry as the dessert and therefore impossible to keep moist. Nonetheless, these three selections have done well and continue to spread.

My husband and I spent the first 3 years at our current house in Baltimore pulling English ivy from every part of our ½ acre lot. There were 20 feet wide patches surrounding our entire yard. We would drag 10-15 contractor-sized garbage bags to the curb each weekend and spend the rest of the week recovering form carpal tunnel syndrome. It was nasty and I would NEVER wish it on my worst enemy. Ivy is smothering trees all over every major city and suburb. No matter what people say, this is a problem. Tree care experts will tell you it’s not good for the trees, or the environment.

Once again, we need to educate people who sell in garden centers. They need alternatives. Every time a homeowner comes to me with a slope that they want to cover – they all want either periwinkle or ivy. It never fails. I always make a horrible face when they suggest it and they have no clue why it is bad because everyone else plants it.

Arm garden center employees with the knowledge to sell alternatives and maybe, someday in the future, people will be asking for foamflowers or other really cool, non invasive ground covering plants instead of ivy and periwinkle.

Things I hope you’ll take away from this week’s rant:

1. Burn the burning bushes – make a big pile, a community bonfire of sorts. It would be totally cool! Of course, check with your town or city regulations before doing this. And don’t start pulling the neighbors plants out without their permission. We could start out own burning bush liberation army. Plant enkianthus instead. It’s so underused and wretchedly underappreciated.

2. No more ivy and periwinkle, please! Try torturing some tiarella…you’ll be surprised at how adaptable they are.

3. Plant the bad stuff in moderation. Eat bad food in moderation. Or better yet…just switch over to the good stuff (food and plants) and tell everyone you know to do the same. Viral marketing is a wonderful tool. Everyone shout it from the pages of Facebook and Twitter, “Burn the burning bushes and no more ivy!!!” Let’s see if we can get a campaign going or at least have people say, “WTF?”

And last, but not least…

4. Don’t rake your leaves until they all have fallen from the trees and wear nice clothes when you do it (sic).

Until next week…

Happy Weeding.

Angela Treadwell Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau