After yesterdays post, and all the mention I made at the end of Rugosa roses, and my favorites in that species, I decided I had better make a more detailed post of them.
I have specifically chosen to single out 'Hansa' which is a double pink rugosa which makes beautiful hips that can be used for jelly making or cooking. Roses are, by the way, in the same family as apples, and so their rose hips taste a whole lot like a tart apple. Some don't have much of a flavor at all, but they pack a lot of vitamen C and are therefore good for you too!
'Hansa' is suppose to be one of the tastiest. I have grown 'Hansa', but I have not had the pleasure of tasting it's fruits. One complaint against this plant is its size. They can get rather large, up to 7'x8' and they do have a tendency to suckker. So for formal beds they may not be a great choice, but in more relaxed settings, they will certainly fit right in.
'Hansa' also is an heirloom rose that has the wonderful spicy smell of the rugosa species, and couples well with other smelly good plants like lavender, catmint, and lemon balm. Ok, so all of those are in the herb family, but they go well with the spicy scent of the rugosa, which is likened to that of cloves.
Last little plug for the plant is its hardiness. When you think Rugosa, think rugged. They are tough, disease resistant as long as they are in proper light conditions, and pest free for the most part (I have never seen any rose slugs on the leaves to be sure). This rose can also take part shade, which most roses cannot. Note, though, that in part shade they do not bloom as profusely, but still stay a nice green.
Another draw back that some do not like about this particular variety, they are as stickery as all get out! Not a friendly plant to prune or brush up against. Still, I think prickly plants have some merrit. I had a friend once who was sick of the neighbor kids running through her yard to go to each others houses, and so she planted barberry shrubs (very unfriendly) as a hedge on both sides of her yard. Stopped those little kids in their tracks. I think Rugosa 'Hansa' would be another good deterrant in such a situation.
Happy Gardening...I guess I should save that one for April...uh, Happy Garden Planning...that's better.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
'Knock Out' Roses
Even if you are new to landscaping, you have probably heard of these roses. I was there the year they came out on the market, so excited to be able to work with such a superior rose in the high humidity climate of Illinois. I had worked with 'Carefree Wonder', 'Carefree Beauty', 'Carefree Sunshine', and was now ready for the red version.
I must say I was not disappointed either! It was an amazing plant, it grew fast, bloomed profusely, hardy to zone 4, and desease resistant with bright raspberry red flowers. Even if I was a bit disappointed that the blooms were only singles and not doubles, I didn't voice it, because there was nothing else that compared on the market.
At the time of it's coming out, the nursery I worked at stocked up on it, and I pushed it at those home owners with big expectations for their plants. People were always asking, "I want something that is hardy, blooms most of the year and is low maintenance, what do you have?" For years my reply was 'annuals', but with 'Knock Out', it fit most of those requirements, and was a perennial in our zone! So it was, in five years, you could drive through our city and see 'Knock Out's in front of almost every house and business. Mass plantings, single specimen plants by front doors, hedges, signs post plantings and in parking lot medians. Ugh, it was overwhelming.
Since then, they have come out with even more new and improved versions of the original 'Knock Out', there is now a 'Knock Out Pink' and a 'Double Knock Out', and so the plant is used even more widespreadly.
I say all of this to lead up to the fact that I no longer use this plant in my own garden because it is so overused everywhere else. If I need a rose, I will probably not use a 'Knock Out' unless it is the only thing that will grow in the spot.
Do I still love them? Yes. Do I still think they are a superior rose? Yes. But I want my gardens to be original and I am not limited to the 'Knock Out's any longer. Since their coming out, many superior roses have been developed with a hardy nature and disease resistant. They also come in a wider range of colors, like the new 'Flower Carpet' series or 'Simplicity' series hedge Roses. Those two are fairly new and I have not grown all the colors, obviously, but they have won many awards and if you read reviews, they are very comparable to the 'Knock Out' series.
One of my personal favorite roses to use in my gardens though are the old fashion Rugosa roses. My special favorites in this category are 'Hansa'(pink) and 'Wild Spice'(white), both of which are very hardy, large shrub roses, produce large hips (fruit) and have a spicy scent that goes well with lavender planted near by. They grow in difficult sites, and are easy to manage.
Some don't like the rugosa roses because they are rather thorny, very prickly to prune, and the fruit is large, so some find it unsightly. I rather enjoy the large fruit in the winter months as a winter interest, and it also makes great rose hip jelly, very similar to apple jelly in flavor (takes a lot of rose hips to make a batch though).
So, maybe I should have entitled this entry as the Rugose Rose review, since I have more favorable things to say about them. I am just tired of the over use of the 'Knock Out' series. Roses use to be a center piece plant, and now they are everywhere and anyone can grow them and they have become boring, sort of...
Final note to end on, I had always thought this plant and roses in general were fairly deer resistant, but in one yard I worked in, the lady had some ravenous deer that would roam her yard in the early mornings, eating from almost every shrub and perennial in her garden. The Knock Outs were not immune in this case. They ate the new leaves and young stems and thus, ate the spring flush of blooms in the process, it was very sad.
So if you have a deer problem in your area, keep an eye on your Knock Outs and see if they don't get munched. It all depends on what else is available for them to munch, and if they are desperate enough, they will gobble all kinds of garden plants, not just roses.
If deer are a problem for you, check out this website for resistant plants: 13 deer resistant plants
Thirteen is not the total number, scroll down and read some of the comments and there is a lady that lists some more plants that are resistant near her home in Canada. Enjoy.
I must say I was not disappointed either! It was an amazing plant, it grew fast, bloomed profusely, hardy to zone 4, and desease resistant with bright raspberry red flowers. Even if I was a bit disappointed that the blooms were only singles and not doubles, I didn't voice it, because there was nothing else that compared on the market.
At the time of it's coming out, the nursery I worked at stocked up on it, and I pushed it at those home owners with big expectations for their plants. People were always asking, "I want something that is hardy, blooms most of the year and is low maintenance, what do you have?" For years my reply was 'annuals', but with 'Knock Out', it fit most of those requirements, and was a perennial in our zone! So it was, in five years, you could drive through our city and see 'Knock Out's in front of almost every house and business. Mass plantings, single specimen plants by front doors, hedges, signs post plantings and in parking lot medians. Ugh, it was overwhelming.
Since then, they have come out with even more new and improved versions of the original 'Knock Out', there is now a 'Knock Out Pink' and a 'Double Knock Out', and so the plant is used even more widespreadly.
I say all of this to lead up to the fact that I no longer use this plant in my own garden because it is so overused everywhere else. If I need a rose, I will probably not use a 'Knock Out' unless it is the only thing that will grow in the spot.
Do I still love them? Yes. Do I still think they are a superior rose? Yes. But I want my gardens to be original and I am not limited to the 'Knock Out's any longer. Since their coming out, many superior roses have been developed with a hardy nature and disease resistant. They also come in a wider range of colors, like the new 'Flower Carpet' series or 'Simplicity' series hedge Roses. Those two are fairly new and I have not grown all the colors, obviously, but they have won many awards and if you read reviews, they are very comparable to the 'Knock Out' series.
One of my personal favorite roses to use in my gardens though are the old fashion Rugosa roses. My special favorites in this category are 'Hansa'(pink) and 'Wild Spice'(white), both of which are very hardy, large shrub roses, produce large hips (fruit) and have a spicy scent that goes well with lavender planted near by. They grow in difficult sites, and are easy to manage.
Some don't like the rugosa roses because they are rather thorny, very prickly to prune, and the fruit is large, so some find it unsightly. I rather enjoy the large fruit in the winter months as a winter interest, and it also makes great rose hip jelly, very similar to apple jelly in flavor (takes a lot of rose hips to make a batch though).
So, maybe I should have entitled this entry as the Rugose Rose review, since I have more favorable things to say about them. I am just tired of the over use of the 'Knock Out' series. Roses use to be a center piece plant, and now they are everywhere and anyone can grow them and they have become boring, sort of...
Final note to end on, I had always thought this plant and roses in general were fairly deer resistant, but in one yard I worked in, the lady had some ravenous deer that would roam her yard in the early mornings, eating from almost every shrub and perennial in her garden. The Knock Outs were not immune in this case. They ate the new leaves and young stems and thus, ate the spring flush of blooms in the process, it was very sad.
So if you have a deer problem in your area, keep an eye on your Knock Outs and see if they don't get munched. It all depends on what else is available for them to munch, and if they are desperate enough, they will gobble all kinds of garden plants, not just roses.
If deer are a problem for you, check out this website for resistant plants: 13 deer resistant plants
Thirteen is not the total number, scroll down and read some of the comments and there is a lady that lists some more plants that are resistant near her home in Canada. Enjoy.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Fernleaf Buckthorn 'Fine Line'
The established plant I worked with under this name had no fruit to be seen at all, and was planted on either side of a bench against a large stucco wall. The soft texture of the plant against the wall and the chunky design of the bench was amazingly beautiful in contrast. The soft, graceful form of the Rhamnus framed in the bench and kept an excellent form which did not interfere with those who might want to sit on the bench.
I rarely see this plant used, but it has the potential of adding such a great textural design to an existing landscape and is a fairly hardy plant.
Rhamnus are very common and in general are very tolerant of many kinds of conditions. Fine Line is in the same way; very tolerant of poorer soils and easy to transplant, low maintenance, and takes full sun to part shade (full sun equals 6 hrs or more of full sunlight per day).
One of my personal reason for loving this plant is because it is such a splendid texture that is hard to find in the garden. A comparable soft textured plant is a Cut-leaf Japanese Maple, but those are so blasted expensive, who can afford to make an entire hedge row out of them. Only the very wealthy I would suppose, but these Buckthorns, Fine Line, to be specific, can usually be purchased in the range of $15-20 each for one to two year plants locally (Kansas City). Online I've found them as cheap as $12 per plant (does not include shipping). It is also not as slow growing as the Japanese Maples. Thank goodness for that!
Yet the size of the plant is very manageable. They can be used as shrubs, trimmed to control their height as a hedge, or their lower branches can be trimmed up to make them into small trees in a smaller scale garden.
As for pests or illness prone to these plants, I have not experienced any on the ones I worked with up against the stucco wall. It was a rather protected spot, but from all I have read, these are suppose to be pretty tough plants. A true test of their toughness though, would be to plant one in the wide open spaces of Kansas during the winter and see how they handle it, only the most rugged would survive that. Has anyone tried that with a Rhamnus 'Fine Line', I would love to hear how it did? I would suspect maybe some freeze crack and a bit of tip die back in the spring (from dessication by winter winds), but otherwise I think it would survive.
Some other Rhamnus species to check out would be perhaps the close cousin, Rhamnus frangula (Glossy Buckthorn) or Rhamnus 'Columnaris' (Columnar Buckthorn) or even Rhamnus 'Aspenifolia' (Cut Leaf Buckthorn).
Photo of Rhamnus 'Fine Line' compliments of shrubsource.com - and I believe they got it from the Proven Winners website (hence logo in bottom corner of photo).
Quick plug for Proven Winners plants, they are a group of plants that have been selected for superior qualities and form. It is a trademark name (PW), but if you want to know if a plant is going to meet your standards, this is a good brand to start with. I personally worked with this brand of plants a lot when I worked at the nursery in Illinois and was never disappointed. Only draw back, you pay for their brand name in the price of the plant, so they are a bit expensive sometimes, but I still think its worth it in some cases. One of those cases is if you are new to gardening, Proven Winners are going to be a good first bet for you to start with....
Horti-Nerd
One of my greatest passions is plants and growing things, and so it has been a personal pursuit of mine since before high school.
In college we called ourselves, HortiNerds. Those nerds who get together in their free time and talk incessantly about plants and plant related topics. We talk about plants using their latin names of course and describe plants as if they were people.
That's me.
And I started pretty young. (here starts the history of my passion)
My first job, at 15, with worker permit in my hand, was at a small garden shop in an upscale part of our city. It was owned by a friend of my father's, and although they didn't think I knew squat, I had already read and gardened quite a bit. I knew some stuff, YO!
It doesn't hurt that I am also blessed with a photographic memory. So quickly I memorized where everything was at the little garden shop and made myself invaluable.
At that point, my mind was also like a sponge, absorbing information about plants all around me. I would read plant tags in my spare time, learning light conditions and soil requirements for different varieties. I also listened to whatever the owner would tell me about particular plants. Especially those plants I had not personally grown yet.
That was my first, informal education in plants.
Then, at 17, I became determined to make Horticulture my career choice. I wanted to be a great Horticulturalist that would work for some 'big name' nursery somewhere, taking cuttings and creating new cultivars superior to anything on the market.
With that goal in mind I started my senior year of high school doing a co-op program with a local nursery.
After high school I went on to get my Associates Degree in Horticultural Science at my local community college. Despite being a local community college, it is known for having one of the best two year horticultural programs in the US.
In college we called ourselves, HortiNerds. Those nerds who get together in their free time and talk incessantly about plants and plant related topics. We talk about plants using their latin names of course and describe plants as if they were people.
That's me.
And I started pretty young. (here starts the history of my passion)
My first job, at 15, with worker permit in my hand, was at a small garden shop in an upscale part of our city. It was owned by a friend of my father's, and although they didn't think I knew squat, I had already read and gardened quite a bit. I knew some stuff, YO!
It doesn't hurt that I am also blessed with a photographic memory. So quickly I memorized where everything was at the little garden shop and made myself invaluable.
At that point, my mind was also like a sponge, absorbing information about plants all around me. I would read plant tags in my spare time, learning light conditions and soil requirements for different varieties. I also listened to whatever the owner would tell me about particular plants. Especially those plants I had not personally grown yet.
That was my first, informal education in plants.
Then, at 17, I became determined to make Horticulture my career choice. I wanted to be a great Horticulturalist that would work for some 'big name' nursery somewhere, taking cuttings and creating new cultivars superior to anything on the market.
With that goal in mind I started my senior year of high school doing a co-op program with a local nursery.
After high school I went on to get my Associates Degree in Horticultural Science at my local community college. Despite being a local community college, it is known for having one of the best two year horticultural programs in the US.
I worked hard at my studies for two years, but before my last semester was complete, I decided not to finish. Instead I married my boyfriend (now husband). Being the spend thrift I am I wanted to save my tuition costs to go toward our wedding. So I did.
Some said it was stupid, but I didn't care!
After all these years of marriage and adventures, I still don't care.... all that much. Sure, it would be great to see that little piece of paper that says I finished, but I know I didn't miss much.
Some said it was stupid, but I didn't care!
After all these years of marriage and adventures, I still don't care.... all that much. Sure, it would be great to see that little piece of paper that says I finished, but I know I didn't miss much.
So, after school I got married, and then I continued to work on and off at the local nursery for the next year and a half. I also used my employee discount to furnish my own small garden with the best plants I could afford, which wasn't much.
The pathetic resources I had available for my own garden was my original inspiration for starting my own landscaping business.
My goal: to use other peoples money to design beautiful gardens for them at their expense. It was a win/win in my mind. Let me say it again. I used other peoples money to build beautiful gardens in spaces much larger than my own, with a budget much larger than my own and received the praise and adoration of my clients. It was awesome!!!
I did that for probably two years before my husband and I moved toKansas City. In that next season, in Kansas City,
My goal: to use other peoples money to design beautiful gardens for them at their expense. It was a win/win in my mind. Let me say it again. I used other peoples money to build beautiful gardens in spaces much larger than my own, with a budget much larger than my own and received the praise and adoration of my clients. It was awesome!!!
I did that for probably two years before my husband and I moved to
It is hard to garden when you can barely bend over because of your belly. So I took a few years off from formal gardening, but learned all I could about new plants while living in Missouri.
That became really helpful later in landing me a job on the grounds maintenance crew at the House of Prayer, where my husband and I were involved in ministry. Not only was it a nice source of income, but it reawakened my passion for gardening on a larger scale again. Using other people's money to make their properties all that I could every dream of making them.
Then I found out I was pregnant again.
So I worked for as long as I could, and then took another 6 months off, with only helping on the side to design a few new gardens for the ministry. It was hard though, because plants are so much a passion of mine. To design and not be able to make it a reality with my own two hands. Hard. I'm not good at delegating.
Thankfully, after the 6 months I came back to work on the grounds crew, and helped to manage the flowers and gardens for 6 different properties. It was so much fun, and I loved every minute of it.
That lasted a year longer, and then it was time to move again, this time to Charlotte, NC.
North Carolina is a zone 7! It was exciting. There were broadleaf evergreens and semi-tropical flowers that I had only read about, growing in abundance all around me. I was in one sense 'enamored' with it all, and in another sense 'intimidated'.
I took two years watching and learning how to use the new plants in my palette, and then I began to do some design work for some friends. Although it was small scale stuff compared to what I had done previously, it was something, and with three kids to care for, it was enough.
Now here I am, on the cusp of another move, and I am thinking of the new horticultural adventures I'm about to have. The Dallas area of Texas is a zone 8 you know. Cactus and all sorts of new things. It should afford me some new and fresh challenges, but I think I'm game for it!
And that is a brief history of my Hortinerdishness (horti-nerd-ish-ness). I made that word up. Like it?
Just one of the many quirks that makes me.....me!
That became really helpful later in landing me a job on the grounds maintenance crew at the House of Prayer, where my husband and I were involved in ministry. Not only was it a nice source of income, but it reawakened my passion for gardening on a larger scale again. Using other people's money to make their properties all that I could every dream of making them.
Then I found out I was pregnant again.
So I worked for as long as I could, and then took another 6 months off, with only helping on the side to design a few new gardens for the ministry. It was hard though, because plants are so much a passion of mine. To design and not be able to make it a reality with my own two hands. Hard. I'm not good at delegating.
Thankfully, after the 6 months I came back to work on the grounds crew, and helped to manage the flowers and gardens for 6 different properties. It was so much fun, and I loved every minute of it.
That lasted a year longer, and then it was time to move again, this time to Charlotte, NC.
North Carolina is a zone 7! It was exciting. There were broadleaf evergreens and semi-tropical flowers that I had only read about, growing in abundance all around me. I was in one sense 'enamored' with it all, and in another sense 'intimidated'.
I took two years watching and learning how to use the new plants in my palette, and then I began to do some design work for some friends. Although it was small scale stuff compared to what I had done previously, it was something, and with three kids to care for, it was enough.
Now here I am, on the cusp of another move, and I am thinking of the new horticultural adventures I'm about to have. The Dallas area of Texas is a zone 8 you know. Cactus and all sorts of new things. It should afford me some new and fresh challenges, but I think I'm game for it!
And that is a brief history of my Hortinerdishness (horti-nerd-ish-ness). I made that word up. Like it?
Just one of the many quirks that makes me.....me!
Personally Grown Plants in Review
Welcome to my new blog. For years I have helped people pick out plants and make home gardens that reflected their personal tastes for a fraction of the cost a formal landscape design company would charge them. Sometimes I even did it for free when I knew the person couldn't afford it. My main goal in writing this blog is to do the same in a way. To empower the average homeowner or novice gardener to try new plants and giving them my perspective on plants I have personally grown or worked with and how to choose a plant in the garden center and common problems encountered with specific varieties.
I will probably start with some of my favorites and then go from there on to some that I am less fond of and would like to warn the common gardener about. After I exhaust all of those, then I will move on to new plants that I have just started to grow since moving to Missouri three years ago. There are several varieties of plants that grow in mid-Missouri that do not grow or survive in central Illinois (where most of my gardening experience comes from).
So, if this interests you, follow my blog and see what advice I might have to offer. Maybe it won't be anything terribly new or original, but it is advice that comes from one who has tried to grow these plants in different settings and mostly with a lot of professional type care offered to them once established. I think that is important for the home gardener to know, because most homeowners want low maintenance plants and a professional landscapers definition of low maintenance and a home owners definition is sometimes different.
Ok, so my first plant to discuss will probably be the Fernleaf Buckthorn 'Fine Line' - the non-invasive alternative to the older weedy varieties of the fine textured Rhamnus!
I will probably start with some of my favorites and then go from there on to some that I am less fond of and would like to warn the common gardener about. After I exhaust all of those, then I will move on to new plants that I have just started to grow since moving to Missouri three years ago. There are several varieties of plants that grow in mid-Missouri that do not grow or survive in central Illinois (where most of my gardening experience comes from).
So, if this interests you, follow my blog and see what advice I might have to offer. Maybe it won't be anything terribly new or original, but it is advice that comes from one who has tried to grow these plants in different settings and mostly with a lot of professional type care offered to them once established. I think that is important for the home gardener to know, because most homeowners want low maintenance plants and a professional landscapers definition of low maintenance and a home owners definition is sometimes different.
Ok, so my first plant to discuss will probably be the Fernleaf Buckthorn 'Fine Line' - the non-invasive alternative to the older weedy varieties of the fine textured Rhamnus!
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