Six Poplar Trees to Grow

While gardeners often extol the virtues of outstanding bark and winter interest, let’s not kid ourselves—flower power reigns supreme. A tree that is a stately focal point most of the year will be transformed into an awe-inspiring centerpiece by spectacular blooms. Spring-flowering trees often occupy prime garden real estate, but for some easy, unexpected floral elegance, it is truly worthwhile to plant trees that bloom in summer, fall, or even late winter. Many of my favorites even have dazzling displays when they aren’t in bloom. Here are some excellent choices for you to consider.

If you’re a gardener—and since you picked up this magazine I’m guessing you are—you probably get peppered with plant questions all the time. I know I do. Take Thanksgiving just this past year. My dad was looking for some trees that would “subtly block” his neighbors who had recently put a pool in their backyard. So in between doling out mashed potatoes and deciding if I wanted apple or pumpkin pie for dessert, I pulled out Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs from the nearby bookshelf to spark some suggestions. (That illustrated encyclopedia was a Christmas gift a few years back to help my dad make plant choices without my help. Its successfulness in doing so is still up for debate.) This same scenario takes place at summer picnics, children’s birthday parties, or even on planes when my seatmate asks what I do for a living. After I answer, it’s common to hear, “Wow, that’s so interesting. Listen, I have this spot where I need something …” Most of these inquiries center around trees too—and I get it. A tree is an investment with a capital “I.” Not only is a tree the single most expensive plant you will likely purchase for your landscape, but it is also the longest lived. Trees don’t like to be moved, they generally require a bit more effort to get established than a perennial or shrub, and they are usually the focal point of a specific area. For all of these reasons, everyone wants to choose the right tree.

The Victoria plum, Prunus domestica ‘Victoria’, is Britain’s best-known plum variety. It produces heavy crops of delicious, egg-shaped fruits, ideal for use in jams and chutneys, as well as eating straight from the tree.

Learn how to grow a cute mini lavender tree that not only looks pretty but also smells lovely! Choose the right variety like Hidcote Blue or Munstead, find a sunny spot, and use well-draining soil with occasional watering. Give it a trim after blooming, and watch out for pests. Simple, right?

Cherries make a wonderful tree for all sizes of garden. Many varieties are attractive trees, bearing spring blossom, colourful fruit, interesting bark and leafy foliage that turns orange, red and yellow in autumn.

If there is a lesson to be learned about the rose above, ‘Phyllis Bide’, it is not to overlook what is in front of your face. Planted outside the front door a few years ago to replace, on a whim, the bright pink ‘Pink Perpetue’, the bud that this bloom opened from must have been in evidence before I noticed the fully open flower on Thursday, but I hadn’t seen it. Not that I was expecting to see any roses in bloom halfway through January, although it does sometimes happen – and admittedly it tells me that this is a rose I had forgotten to prune when I did my climbers back in the late autumn! The front of the house is in full sun for most of the morning, so the sunshine that accompanied some bitterly cold days this last week has clearly given Phyllis a boost. Overall, however, she has still been outperformed by her predecessor, and needs to pull her socks up to justify her front-of-house position.

How to Grow and Care for Ironweed (Vernonia) Vernonia spp.

The pear grown in Britain is the European Pear which derives from Pyrus communis, native of the temperate parts of Europe and the western part of southern Asia as far as the Himalayas. In America some varieties are grown which are hybrids between the European Pear (as represented by ‘William’s Bon Chrdtien’, known in America as ‘Bartlett’) and Pyrus serotina, the Japanesesand pear.

Two main groups of cherries are cultivated for the merit of their fruit, the `sweet’, dessert (Prunus avium) and the `sour’, culinary (Prunus cerasus); a third group, the ‘Duke’ cherries, form an intermediate class. The sweets are subdivided into the ‘black’ and ‘white’ varieties. All fruiting cherries are hardy in the British Isles, though the blossom may be damaged by spring frosts.

How to Grow and Care for Freesia Flowers Freesia spp.

Lipstick plant (Aeschynanthus radicans) is a popular house plant with an almost constant display of bright red, tubular flowers, that resemble lipsticks, against trailing, green foliage. Native to the rainforests of South East Asia, Aeschynanthus is an epiphytic plant, which means it doesn’t grow in the ground but instead is found hanging from tree branches, where it gets its moisture from rain water vapour. As a house plant in the UK, it grows well in a free-draining, peat-free potting mix.

Witch hazels (Hamamelis) are one of winter’s most distinctive shrubs, their quirky, spidery blooms making them instantly recognisable even before you’ve breathed in their scent. At their peak, these are shrubs that make a lasting impression.