Trees & shrubs Ideas, Tips & Guides

Let me admit: I have a soft spot for old apples, and the massive, century-plus-old trees I’m blessed to cohabitate with deliver loads of imperfect but delicious fruit with the occasional soft spot—or at least various marks of character.The venerable trees have taught me an appreciation of botanical history, more than some modern idea of perfection. That lesson was underscored in 1999, when I visited Seed Savers in Decorah, Iowa, where about 10 years earlier founder Kent Whealy had begun the orchard, each tree bearing a name, and a backstory, I’d never heard before. Apples such as the ones up top (clockwise, from top left): ‘Franklin,’ ‘May Queen,’ ‘Woodard,’ and ‘Blue Pearmain.’Dan Bu

The trees and shrubs below are my most reliable for that assignment. I have many other woody plants that display good fall color—but only some years. Some magnolias do (such as ‘Ballerina,’ an early flowering fragrant white Loebner hybrid that I adore), though only most years.Shadbush, or Amelanchier, would be another easy-to-grow good choice, a native with extra-early flowers and good fall color. Except for this: In my area, where Eastern red cedars and apple trees are both in long supply, conditions are therefore prime for the fungus called cedar apple rust to cause my shadbush (and other rose relatives) to defoliate early.  Oops.So here’s my top-12 list (with links to their full profiles if I have

WHEN WOODY PLANT EXPERT MICHAEL DIRR writes in his book “Viburnums” that the fragrance of the Koreanspice viburnum, Viburnum carlesii, “actually reaches out and engulfs passersby,” he is not exaggerating. This is a smell-it-a-mile-away shrub that I would not garden without, and it’s currently doing its engulfing thing here. Delicious.

THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD HAVE MADE THIS MISHAP a little more bearable: if I’d had a vase big enough for the spectacular flower-covered branch I lost to storms from one of my Cornus kousa, or Korean dogwoods, last week. Come to think of it, I don’t even have ceilings tall enough to accommodate the 11-foot consolation prize indoors, vase or no vase.

I THINK MY VARIEGATED KERRIA (along with various other flowering shrubs) has decided that 2011 is the Year of Everything in Excess, covering itself in gaudy gold flowers the likes of which I’ve never seen, and spilling out into the path like never before. (You may recall from its plant profile how this shade-garden favorite looks in a “typical” year.) In the photo foreground is one of a few new whimsical gates a neighbor friend built out of some basic hardware and a few rusty old bits of tag-sale finds I’d grown tired of moving around.

That was the topic, or at least part of the topic, of last week’s radio podcast (and you can stream it here or get it free from iTunes here).The answer is all about sex, of course–or at least about pollination, and whether a particular plant can provide its own pollen or needs another plants (and if so, which kind) to provide the necessary ingredient. In the case of spicebush (Lindera benzoin, a native shrub that I grow here for my enjoyment and the

The ‘Rogers’ strain is technically Aesculus parviflora var. serotina ‘Rogers’ (I know, a mouthful), a selection of a Southern U.S. native variety labeled serotina. Though much younger than my plain old Aesculus parviflora, my ‘Rogers’ is already much larger—more than 20 feet across and probably headed for 15 or so high. It was too hot and sunny for a good photo while it was in is prime, but you get the idea from the one below. A beast! So big, in fact that I planted it way too close to something it is now engulfing (left side of above photo). Funny to think about this Alabama, Georgia and northern Florida native being perfectly at home and so robust way up North in my garden, but it is.Either Aesculus makes a bold statement and is perfectly happy in

I WAS PICKING UP PODS under yellow-flowered Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’ the other day before mowing, and just couldn’t resist faking a jar of “pickles” for this photo. Aren’t they–and nature’s intricate geometry in all pods and cones–fascinating? I’m enjoying the pod-and-water-stuffed jar as the centerpiece on my dining table this week.

WANT TO SUCCEED with blueberries? Ask the guy with a Ph.D. in the subject, author of all the best books on home-garden fruit growing: Lee Reich, a repeat guest on my public-radio show, and an old friend. That’s Lee’s blueberry netted “gazebo” up top, meant to keep the crop safe from birds and other hungry types.

And in the last few years there has been a bonus: a heavy crop of beech nuts. When the first one came, littering the ground throughout the canopy and beyond, delighting the squirrels, I wondered why, “suddenly,” it was so productive, and then I read: a European beech, various sources report must be at least 30 years old to start producing a full crop of beechnuts. So my tree is right on schedule.I say “I added” the tree, but that’s not quite true. Even at maybe 5 feet tall, burlap-covered rootball included, the young beech was far too heavy for me to haul uphill myself. Two neighbors helped, and I encircled its trunk with a tube of hardware cloth when we were done, and watered it well, and imagined it a giant someday. The great public gardens I’d grown up visiting near New York City all had giant old European beeches, the fancy of the men who’d made the grand estates th

Jeff is Director of Grounds and Coordinator of Horticulture at Scott and Swarthmore, where among the extensive and diverse plantings is a whole Tree Peony Garden area, one of the first collections established after Scott was founded in 1929 and now including more than 80 varieties of tree peonies. He is also vice-president of the Mid-Atlantic Peony Society.Why consider these plants? Tree peonies are deer-resistant, extremely cold-tolerant, long-lived and really don’t require a lot of complicated pruning. And oh, those flowers (that’s one of Jeff’s favorites, ‘Nike,’ up top.).Read along as you listen to the April 10, 2107 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or St

But I had some fun with online ID tools, too—though I admit I often get lost about halfway through the keying-out process, always failing to answer one of the process-of-elimination questions wrong and going down the wrong path. No matter, really–because every path leads to more learning about more woody plants.But as it says in big red letters on the tool of all tools, from so-called Dr. Dendro (for dendrology,

I DON”T THINK THERE’S A SHRUB that I love more than bottlebrush buckeye, or Aesculus parviflora, and even in a year when everything else has been off schedule, it remembers to shoot off its own form of fireworks right around the Fourth of July. Read more about this massive, summer-blooming Southeast native and its even bigger, later-blooming cousin ‘Roger’s Strain’.

I love them with little yellow fruits (like ‘Bob White’) or giant, gleaming red ones (like ‘Ralph Shay’, whose fruits are just below). Regular-sized red fruits are wonderful, too.If I had to recommend only one…I couldn’t, but I most of all love the crabapples with Malus sargentii “blood”—the wider-than-tall genes of the Sargent crabapple, like my pink-flowered ‘Candy Mint’ plants (the two paler-pink ones in the photo), or beautiful ‘Tina’ (a variety I don’t have—yet). I like the Sargent types because they lo

Remember: I’m all about the 365-day garden, even here in Zone 5B in the Hudson Valley of New York State, where frost happens in May and again in October. By planting extra-early (and extra-late) showoffs, including shrubs that flower at one extreme end of the season or get fiery foliage or fruit at the other (or maybe have great bark or structure when “naked”), I stretch the season to fill the calendar with visual treats.The woody-plant bloom schedule begins here in late January to mid-February, weather depending (update: in 2014 it was late March instead!), and by late April look at what has already happened, or is currently under way or about to pop. Follow the green links to the full plant portraits f

He visited my public-radio show and podcast to talk shrubs: what’s new, what’s coming next, and what’s going out of favor and why. There’s a tension between what we gardeners need to make great season-long gardens, and the fact that we mostly shop only in spring—meaning we mostly buy things that look good then.We covered why he’s excited about plants like a beautyberry with flashy foliage, not just fruit (to help satisfy the “looks good in spring” thing); new barberries that don’t seed and become invasive; a dream of better viburnums that resist the leaf beetle; new native Hydrangea arborescens varieties in different colors of flowers (like ‘Incrediball Blush,’ above; an Aronia that covers the ground, and lots more.Read along as you listen to the April 15, 2019 edition of my public-radio

You cannot tell with certainty who’s related to who botanically by simply glancing, but it will be no surprise after a merely cursory examination of its leaves and branches that Fothergilla is related to witch-hazel (Hamamelis), and also winter-hazel (Corylopsis), in the Hamamelis Family, or Hamamelidaceae. Though I never hear anyone use it, the common name for Fothergilla is witch-alder. As with its botanical cousins, I find Fothergilla, a Southeastern United States native genus, to be basically pest and disease free, and require very little care except occasional light pruning to remove a suckering shoot at the base, or a misplaced or damaged branch. The handsome leaves are good all season long. In the North, I grow Fothergilla in bright shade or full sun; the plants that get more light seem to have the best autumn color, and some cult

On my radio show and podcast, I spoke with Adam Wheeler of Broken Arrow Nursery—growers of a staggering 80 selections of magnolias—about the range of possibilities, and how to care for them.  Plus: Adam’s a champion giant pumpkin grower, and offers some tips on that, too.Understatement: “We’re big magnolia fanatics,” Adam says of Broken Arrow’s collection, which continues to grow. Many more (plus distinctive shrubs, vines, perennials…) are available at the Hamden, Connecticut, retail location than can ship by mail, but good news:Adam Wheeler will be my guest in my Hudson Valley, New York

Bill Logan and I talked about how mankind learned to use trees and evolved alongside them with their help; about pruning tactics like pollarding and coppicing; and also how nearly immortal trees are.Read along as you listen to the May 20, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Plus: Enter to win the book, in the comments box at the very bottom of the page.our relationship with trees, with bill loganMargaret: Welcome, Bill. Is it O.K. if I say Bill since everyone we know

‘THANK YOU,’ SAY THE BIRDS, “these are delicious.” And they are delicious to look at, too–especially as fall comes on, with all the giant heads of bird-attracting purple fruit and in some cases (such as Aralia spinosa, above) incredible fall foliage color, too. Do you grow any aralias (sometimes called spikenards) in your garden yet? Some of my favorites you may wish to consider adopting, too:Aralia spinosa, the devil’s walking stick (a small suckering tree, above); Aralia cordata, a giant herbaceous perennial, and Aralia racemosa, a native Eastern perennial, also size-XL; Aralia elata, especially the variegated forms.

Chris Earle, from Olympia Washington, has a doctorate from the University of Washington, and describes himself as a “complete biophile,” someone who loves living organisms, with the trees leading the list, it seems. Since 1997, he has been the passionate creator of conifers.org–a massive Gymnosperm database described as, “the web’s premier source of information on conifers and their allies.”Basic information about the biology of every species of conifer in the world is arranged by species, with essays by Chris rounding out the exhaustive coverage.Ever wonder what the most common tree on the planet is, or how the giant sequoias are so successful, and impressive—what’s their secret, genetically speaking? Or why Arborvitae is called

Dr. Tripp, the voice of Robin Hood Radio’s newest program, “Your Health,” received her D.O. from the University of New England. In previous incarnations she has her BS and MS from Cornell; her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, where she also served as Curator of Conifers for the famed J.C. Raulston Arboretum, and did postdoctoral work at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. She knows from trees and shrubs—and that’s what we talked about:q&a: great trees for gardens, with kim trippQ.What woody plants always got your recommendation—what did you try to encourage clients to plant when you were making gardens for people, while supporting yourself through medical school? A. The first thing I always did, especially with a new client, was to walk around with them and say, “Let’s just see what’s growing here now–what’s out there and doing well,” and have a look at it and see if we like it or don’t. And we’d go from there.I found a few plants in our region that no matter what the conditions, were always doing well—even with deer browse.They were thi

Q. Everybody’s getting their vegetable gardens going, and there were multiple questions about raised beds in particular—such as this one from Tracey, who was building new ones at her garden: How deep should a raised bed be, and what is best to make them out of? A.  I recently did a story about hugelkultur, building raised beds out of fallen wood debris such as logs and branches, but I suspect Tracey wants the more conventional solution, which is what I have used to grow vegetables in my garden the last 20-plus years.I like 10-inch-deep raised beds, but 8 inches is also absolutely fine, and of course saves o

My choice was the Chaenomeles named ‘Cameo’ (above photo) as this double-flowered cultivar is called. It is variously identified as Chaenomeles x superba (a hybrid between the Japanese species C. japonica and the taller C. speciosa, a Chinese type, says the Missouri Botanical Garden) or simply C. speciosa (by woody plant expert Michael Dirr, author of the industry “bible” of woody plants). Dirr says it’s one of his favorite quinces, and “a long a prized plant in the Dirr garden.”Of course nobody agrees on the habit or size of ‘Cameo,’ either, with wholesale nursery Monrovia calling it “good for a mounding groundcover or on a slope,” at a mature size of maybe 3 feet high and 5 wide, about what Missouri Botanical lists. Nonsense, Dirr apparently believes, writing that it’s twice that. Hardiness? The opinion poll says Zones 4 or 5 to 8 or 9.As ever, with this kind of conflicting “expert” help, it’s a wonder that gardeners ever know where to place a plant or how much ro

Dan Hinkley is a longtime plant explorer (that’s him in the Himalayas, below), nurseryman, teacher and gardener. Above all, he says, he’s committed to “above-average garden plants.” I found out from Dan just what, when the subject is hydrangeas, qualifies as above average and even exceptional, and we took a peek into the future of what traits hydrangeas of tomorrow might show off, too. Sneak peek: red flowers, or foliage that’s evergreen or felted or even purple are just some of the standout features we might see more of in hydrangeas of the future.Plus: at the bottom of the page, learn about how to visit Dan’s garden undertakings at Heronswood—the former specialty nursery he founded that is now a public garden—and at Windcliff, his home garden, both across Puget Sound from Seattle.Read along as you listen to our conversation on the August 28, 2017 edition of my public-radio s

A splashily cream-variegated shrub of maybe 6 or 8 feet high and wide for any condition but waterlogged soil—sun to substantial shade—it’s moderately deer-resistant, too. It’s so cooperative, you can even shear Eleutherococcus as a hedge. I bet you have a spot for such a wonderful and willing thing, deserving not just of problem-solving garden spots but also front-and-center placement.I first saw Acanthopanax, as Eleutherococcus was then known (and still is to those of us who can’t get with all the name changes), in the garden of my friend Marco, who knows that a garden needs “doers,” as he calls reliable types. (Tip: One of his other doers is Aucuba japonica, a broadleaf evergreen with varying degrees of yel

Bob was VP of Horticulture at Brooklyn Botanic Garden before opening Loomis Creek Nursery a few minutes’ drive from me about 10 years ago.  He has since relocated to Portland, Oregon, and debuted a new container-garden business in 2013 in South Portland. It’s a 4,500-square-foot indoor-outdoor pop-up shop specializing in great containers, ready-to-go pot designs, and plants for containers, too, in collaboration with the until-now-wholesale-only growers at Xera Plants. (Bob still designs gardens, too–in a pot or not!)‘keep it simple’ doesn’t mean boringLET GO OF THE “IDEAL” that is so often seen in books, magazines, catalogs—the notion that you can have 7 or 9 or 10 kinds of plants in one container “all perfectly blooming in unison and perfectly coiffed,” as Bob describes this semi-fantasy.Let go of the notion, too, that annuals are exclusively what belong in pots.

I CAN’T WAIT FOR THEM to announce themselves noisily, though readers have been writing in, expressing varying degrees of cicada anxiety. Brood II of the periodical 17-year cicadas—the brood that returns on that uncanny schedule specifically to parts of the East, from Georgia to Connecticut, are already being sighted where soil temperatures have warmed to the preferred 64 degrees.

The selection is unlike in the early 1990s, when Ken published his first big shade-garden book and most people knew maybe two, hostas and astibles. Then, gardeners cursed shady areas of their yards as a liability to be eliminated instead of a refuge to be celebrated and expanded upon.Ken has been called the “guru of natural gardening” by “The New York Times,” but I just call him my old friend and the longtime master of the shade, and I’m was glad to welcome him back to my public-radio program to talk about making gardens in th

Lee Reich, a longtime friend and author of many exceptional garden books, including “Grow Fruit Naturally,” (Amazon affiliate link) lives on his “farmden”–that’s half garden, half farm—in New Paltz, New York. Some highlights from our Q&A on my weekly radio program, about backyard berry gardening:backyard berries: a q&a with lee reichQ. What fruits should I considering making room for in my yard—not just for flavor, Lee, but for success? A. One thing first, that I always remind people: Around here—meaning probably East of the Rocky Mountains, don’t plant apples. They are just about the hardest fruits to manage because of pest proble

As Propagation and Plant Development Manager at Broken Arrow Nursery in Connecticut, Adam Wheeler has to know which ones have built-in deer resistance, because most customers aren’t living behind 8-foot protection (which by the way, doesn’t deter woodchucks and rabbits, so I am not off the pest-control hook).I called Adam for advice about a hugely popular subject that he calls:Read along as you listen to the May 30, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below, and learn about some of Adam’s favorite conifers, small trees,

In Part 2 (transcript at this link coming shortly) we tackled powdery mildew prevention and aftercare, and what to do when an abundance of roly-poly or sowbugs and pillbugs has descended on the garden. Should you use copper-based fungicides against tomato blight—and what to do after an infestation by the garlic bloat nematode?Ken, of Ken Druse dot com, is a longtime garden writer, author and photographer and all-around great gardener—and great friend. If you have a question for a future show, you can submit it in the comments on either of our websites, or use the contact form to send us an email from either site, or ask us on

My “simple question”—really the same question, asked in two phases—was to Marco Polo Stufano, a far more expert and fearless garden-maker. I’d lost one trunk of a very large, wide-reaching old apple tree last fall, exposing a large circle of shade perennials to the sun.Do I have to move all thehellebores, the gold Hakonechloa grass and other things that once enjoyed the apple’s shade, I’d asked then? After some discussion and some plant-shopping, I’d begun the remediation with a female fringe tree, Chionanthus virginicus (a native with fragrant white June flowers, good fall color and dark blue fruits).This spring I called for help again, still fretting a

The other day, I had to finally reckon with a 40-foot-tall old, twin-trunk birch that was in decline, and dropping massive portions of its crown on two small outbuildings. To the arborist crew’s surprise, I didn’t let them take it all down, or even cart away most of what had to be cut. Here’s why:Biomass.Removing all that living or recently living mass of organic material would be a big loss, biologically speaking, for the complex organism I call my Northeastern garden, the one corner of the world I am completely responsible for.“By some estimates,” the National Wildlife Fe

FULL SUN (or light shade in hotter zones), and well-drained soil that’s high in organic matter is the basic regimen (though the sweetbay magnolia, M. virginiana, can also take a wet spot). Give the others those requirements, plus a light layer of aged organic mulch, and they generally will thrive. Fertilizing isn’t needed, says Andrew. (At Scott they only mulch the circles of trees in lawn areas, using a combination of leaf compost and one-year-old composted wood chips.)Magnolias are not the easiest to plant under, however, because of their fleshy, moisture-hogging root systems.  “Some plants that can take dry shade will make a go of it,” he says, suggesting Epimedium, or Asarum, or Christmas fern. Among bulbs, try Scilla, or Chionodoxa, or even toadlilies (Tricyrtis), he recommends.Magnolia grandiflora, the so-called Southern magnol

But which ones to choose from among the daunting selection out there, and how to care for them, anyhow? I’m so often asked about the particulars of pruning and of soil chemistry when it comes to the genus Hydrangea, so for all those questions and more, I invited Chanticleer’s Eric Hsu to my public-radio program.Eric became plant information coordinator at Chanticleer in 2011, and before that came stints at some of the most prestigious woody-plant collections in the Eastern United States: Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College; the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and the Polly Hill Arboretum on Martha’s Vineyard.He has his bachelor’s from Cornell, and master’s degrees from both the University of Reading in England, and the Universi