If Plant Carnage Has You down, Pull Out Your Tiara

The blizzard of 2010 is three weeks old today. My baby girl turns three tomorrow. How time flies.

As I write this, it’s snowing once again. They say it’ll be a dusting, but any snow these days is too much for me.

I am totally ready to head to Mexico and plant hunt for unusual agaves.

As the snow melts, it’s apparent that this year’s spring cleanup will require mightily sharpened pruning implements and lots of elbow grease. Just about every shrub I see in landscapes all over Baltimore city has some damage.

This week, I tried something totally new. Instead of whining about the carnage and destruction in my garden, I thought, let’s make a video and show everyone. It was fun.

After making this, I think seasonal video tours of the trial garden are in order. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Click the link or the image below for Plants Nouveau’s Blizzard Carnage 2010 Video.

Outside of my garden, deciduous shrubs and small trees have taken the brunt of this monumental storm. Many are just now popping up from the massive snow mountains that have held them captive for the last three weeks. Evergreen foundations are toast from the crushing weight of snow falling from rooftops.

Rain gutters are bent from the weight of ice and melting snow and lots have broken off. I’ve not seen anything like this. Do they make blizzard strength gutters? Are ours inferior quality or does this happen in other parts of the country where they have lots of snow?

It’s carnage, I say, carnage. Carnage with a capital “C”!

Full-grown boxwoods and arborvitaes have been destroyed. Most deciduous shrubs, especially if they were less than 3 feet tall, were crushed by the weight of the melting snow.

I predict specimen evergreens will be in high demand. Is Mother Nature aware of the poor economy? Was she trying to help?

I see a HUGE opportunity for nurseries specializing in large, field grown evergreens. There will be lots of plants that need replacing this spring. On a positive note, I guess we could say this is good timing. Just when nurseries were about to throw in the towel on field grown evergreen specimens, lots of existing plantings get crushed in the blizzard.

Maybe a few large field grown plants will be saved from chainsaws and burn piles since they can now find homes in some of the mature gardens that were destroyed.

And how about the landscapers who have been fearful of money lost all winter since their contracts are fixed and they removed way more snow than they expected for the same price? I predict they will make it up in pruning and replacements work.

Anyone who specializes in pruning, especially those who are good at trying to save plants, will be in high demand this year in the Mid-Atlantic. I’m not sure anyone can save the Al Capone Cherry Tree at Union Memorial Hospital, but it sure would be nice if someone tried. I can’t imagine it’s possible, but miracles do happen, right?

I’m sad for the plants, but this couldn’t be better timing for our failing landscape contractors and nurseries in this down economy. A blessing and a curse, eh?

So, if your white pine lost a few branches and more sun is coming through, or if you lost your coral bells (Heuchera sp.) and Lenten roses (Helleborus sp.) to the river of melting snow, I have the perfect solution for you.

How about some plants that can take both wet and dry conditions? Doubt they exist? Trust me…

Introducing the Diva-rella Series from our World famous Pharaoh of foamflowers, Sinclair A. Adam, Jr. of Dunvegan Nursery in Coatesville, PA. If you’ve tried and love Sinclair’s ground covering selections in the River Series, but want more flower power and don’t have room for their roaming tendrils, the Divas are for you. This series contains clumping selections, so they won’t be good groundcovers unless you plant them en masse, but boy do they flower.

The name Diva-rellas came out of a conversation between Sinclair and I (usually via email…) where he mentioned the Latin meaning of the word tiarella. Aparently, it means a small crown, from the Greek tiara. I also found that tiarella is Latin meaning little tiara, referring to the form of the pistil. This and his genuine want to name the plants in this new series after “divas”, led me to Diva-rellas, which I think is a great name for a series named after such super-significant ladies.

What super-significant, lady DIVA doesn’t want a tiara? Especially a foamflower tiara!

These fashion beauties were selected for their flower power and lovely foliage. To say they have a flower tiara is an understatement. Both selections are covered in blooms throughout the blooming season. Some of the selections, yet to be named, have flower power better than anything I have seen on the market today. In Sinclair’s greenhouse last spring, I counted over 100 blooms on a single 1 gallon specimen. We hope to introduce this selection next year.

The delightful aspect of this series of foamflowers is that they are named for diva’s of horticulture and the environment. These are ladies who have had a hand in promoting and developing this exquisite native plant, and it’s use in home landscapes as well as in ecology.

The term diva, today, is used in myriad applications… BUT the actual correct definition is “a singer of renown”. The ladies who have been selected are not actual musicians, but rather figures of impact in our field who have “sung” their message through the (printed and spoken) word, and through their good works benefiting plants and people. They are indeed diva’s for the environment and for horticulture.

AND THE DIVA’S ARE:

‘Stephanie Cohen’, named after world recognized speaker, author, and educator on gardening and horticulture.

This is a pretty plant. The winter foliage is deep purple-red and still glossy, making it a wonderful winter accent. The buds emerge pink and open to unveil loads of creamy white blooms on deep red stems for an overall “pink” effect that lasts through spring and into early summer. The foliage is super shiny and incredibly drought tolerant. I have watched this plant lay flat on the ground from thirst, and in minutes after I give it water, it bounces back as if nothing ever happened. How’s that for drought tolerance?

‘FM Mooberry’, named after the wonderful lady who founded the Brandywine Conservancy’s plant program, started the Native Plants in the Landscape Conference at Millersville University, and has tirelessly promoted and popularized native plants, and their many applications.

This plant performed fantastically well in the garden and it looks quite nice with other dry shade favorites like Heuchera ‘Mocha’ and Hakonechloa ‘All Gold’. I love the leaves of this selection.

The other thing I really like about this one (although it is a true clumper) is how it spills over the edge of the pot and continues to bloom as it spills. It grows and blooms and grows and blooms on a long cycle from mid April to about mid June. The leaves of this selection are small, but lovely, as they are deep purple-black with a bright grass green margin.

More will be added to this series, so look for them in the future and nominate your favorite horticultural diva today!

If you’d like to trial these, send me an email.

Until next week…

Happy Weeding!

Angela Treadwell Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

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