I'm often asked about my favorite small trees. Here's a list of those that I like the best with a bit of information about each.
For different textures I like to mix deciduous, ornamentals and evergreens.
There are some clumping bamboos, like Bambusa glaucescens 'Fernleaf' which grow to 10x6. They sway in the breeze, the birds love to hang out there, they are evergreen.
Osmanthus fragrans is a wonderful evergreen, fragrant shrub that grows to 25x15.
Cryptomeria japonica 'Sekkan Sugi' 30x15, has very graceful needles.
You can mix these evergreens in with some ornamentals:
magnolia virginiana: sweetbay magnolia, semi-evergreen, fragrant blossoms in March. Can take wet feet or not. 30x20
Chionanthus retusus: Chinese fringetree, deciduous, fragrant in May/June, well-drained soil. 20x15.
Evodia danellii : Korean Evodia, deciduous, average/fast growth, white flowers in summer, red fruit after. 30x30.
Franklinia alatamaha: Franklin tree, deciduous, fragrant July/August white flowers. 20x15. This one may be best for the experienced gardeners.
hepaticodium miconiodes: seven-son shrub, deciduous, fragrant white flowers. 20x10 \
Vitex (chaste tree); very drought tolerant and great in a butterfly garden
Large buddleia (butterfly bush); very drought tolerant and highly attractive to butterflies.
Betula nigra Fox Valley™ 'Little King' is 10x12.
Cercis canadensis 'Covey' is a weeping form 6x8.
Magnolia x 'Ann' is 10x10
Prunus x 'Snow Fountain' is 10x15.
D4-Exceptional Drought (rethink our landscapes)
Our county is one of the many in North Carolina in stage D4-Exceptional Drought. This is worse than D3-Severe Drought. You can track the drought at NC Drought.
The impact and damage is at many levels: water supplies, native plants, landscapes, gardens and those who earn their livelihood at professions that rely upon water such as nurseries that keep plant inventory. Some public water systems allow new landscape for new construction to be watered for 30 days. However, there is no way to know what rain will fall after those grace periods. Therefore, the builders and homeowners are running the risk of losing whatever they have planted. With no possibility of rain in the forecast for another five days, we are faced with new challenges that we have not experienced in this area in a very long time, perhaps in my lifetime. I’ll have to do some more research on past droughts for an accurate history.
We no longer use weekly drip irrigation for the few plants that were on our system as we can’t be assured as to the water level of our private well. If some of the surrounding water systems have only 80 days of water supply left, what does that mean for private well owners? It will vary from site to site, of course.
We are keeping buckets in our showers to collect water before the water turns hot. We are collecting pots of water in the kitchen as well. This water is providing selective watering to plants and shrubs that would be very expensive to replace. Otherwise, the garden is going to have to survive on its own. In the last few weeks I’ve noticed that the morning dew has been heavy. This small amount of moisture is actually providing some benefit to the garden.
This week I set about checking for dead plants. I could literally pull some of these out of the ground without digging. I dug down into the soil in several places. Our garden is heavily mulched. The soil is dry. It is too dry to plant anything. In the lowest places, I found some moist soil still down below the mulch.
That’s the bad news and a big wake-up call about this precious resource. We can learn from other parts of the country that experience drought or low-water conditions on a regular basis. Xeriscape™! The best resource that I have found to explain xeriscape is Colorado WaterWise Council.
In a nutshell, the site explains the principles of xericaping your lawn and garden (paraphrasing the Colorado source):
1. Plan and design from the beginning for water conservation and beauty
2. Create practical turf areas of manageable sizes with appropriate grasses
3. Select low water plants for your zone and soil conditions
4. Use appropriate soil amendments such as compost
5. Layer mulches to retain moisture and prevent evaporation
6. Irrigate efficiently with the right amount of water at the right time
7. Maintain the landscape
Please take time to visit the Colorado WaterWise Council site to understand their suggested Xeriscape™ Colorado principles. I have posted many blogs regarding drought tolerant plants for our zone. I will continue to provide drought, deer and butterfly gardening updates.
With good xeriscaping principles we will save water and continue to create beautiful gardens for our homes.
Happy Xeriscaping!
Cameron
Xeriscape™ and the Xeriscape logo are trademarks of Denver Water.
The impact and damage is at many levels: water supplies, native plants, landscapes, gardens and those who earn their livelihood at professions that rely upon water such as nurseries that keep plant inventory. Some public water systems allow new landscape for new construction to be watered for 30 days. However, there is no way to know what rain will fall after those grace periods. Therefore, the builders and homeowners are running the risk of losing whatever they have planted. With no possibility of rain in the forecast for another five days, we are faced with new challenges that we have not experienced in this area in a very long time, perhaps in my lifetime. I’ll have to do some more research on past droughts for an accurate history.
We no longer use weekly drip irrigation for the few plants that were on our system as we can’t be assured as to the water level of our private well. If some of the surrounding water systems have only 80 days of water supply left, what does that mean for private well owners? It will vary from site to site, of course.
We are keeping buckets in our showers to collect water before the water turns hot. We are collecting pots of water in the kitchen as well. This water is providing selective watering to plants and shrubs that would be very expensive to replace. Otherwise, the garden is going to have to survive on its own. In the last few weeks I’ve noticed that the morning dew has been heavy. This small amount of moisture is actually providing some benefit to the garden.
This week I set about checking for dead plants. I could literally pull some of these out of the ground without digging. I dug down into the soil in several places. Our garden is heavily mulched. The soil is dry. It is too dry to plant anything. In the lowest places, I found some moist soil still down below the mulch.
That’s the bad news and a big wake-up call about this precious resource. We can learn from other parts of the country that experience drought or low-water conditions on a regular basis. Xeriscape™! The best resource that I have found to explain xeriscape is Colorado WaterWise Council.
In a nutshell, the site explains the principles of xericaping your lawn and garden (paraphrasing the Colorado source):
1. Plan and design from the beginning for water conservation and beauty
2. Create practical turf areas of manageable sizes with appropriate grasses
3. Select low water plants for your zone and soil conditions
4. Use appropriate soil amendments such as compost
5. Layer mulches to retain moisture and prevent evaporation
6. Irrigate efficiently with the right amount of water at the right time
7. Maintain the landscape
Please take time to visit the Colorado WaterWise Council site to understand their suggested Xeriscape™ Colorado principles. I have posted many blogs regarding drought tolerant plants for our zone. I will continue to provide drought, deer and butterfly gardening updates.
With good xeriscaping principles we will save water and continue to create beautiful gardens for our homes.
Happy Xeriscaping!
Cameron
Xeriscape™ and the Xeriscape logo are trademarks of Denver Water.
Deer Me: The Garden Thrives
The deer are out and about all hours of the day. With the drought conditions, they continue to have to forage more often. They have very little fear of us. Our greyhound doesn't bark at deer nor does she chase the deer. As a result, they just amble out of the way when we go outside. They bed down in our front meadow at night. They drink from our manmade stream. Our natural stream in the woods continues to have some water as it is fed by underground springs.
The outer garden continues to do well with the deer and the drought. We've had very little rain, but what little we did get has set off the fall blooms.
Currently blooming in the outer garden and recommended for deer and drought tolerant:
Pineapple sage, tender perennial, red blooms
Salvia gregii Navajo Red, red blooms
Salvia black & blue, blue blooms
Buddliea, all colors
Osmanthus fragrans, evergreen shrub, white blooms, very fragrant
Lantana 'Miss Huff', tender perennial, shrub size, pink/yellow blooms
Hypericum x hidcote, semi-evergreen, perennial, yellow blooms
Spirea 'Neon Flash', deciduous shrub, magenta blooms on dark green foliage
Caryopteris (Blue Mist Shrub), blue blooms on bright foliage
Creeping perennial heliotrope, lavender blooms, groundcover
Vitex (Chaste Tree) is still blooming lavender flowers and looking
great
Nepeta keeps on blooming as long as it gets a trim after each bloom, a terrific perennial
Currently blooming in the fragrance garden, but on drip irrigation. This area is not fenced off, but the deer aren't bothering these plants:
Gardenia 'August Beauty', evergreen shrub, white blooms, very fragrant
Colocasia esculenta 'Fontanesii', perennial elephant ears, gold blooms, fragrant
Butterfly Ginger, perennial, fragrant white blooms
Swamp sunflower, perennial, hundreds of yellow blooms with dark centers
Ornamental grasses doing well in spite of drought, no irrigation, no deer problems:
Clump bamboo, evergreen here
Miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan', variegated white/green, bronze tassels
Miscanthus 'Little Zebra', gold bands on green, tassels starting up
Eragostis (love grass), blue green foliage and airy tassels
Pampas grass, green foliage, white plumes
The perennials that were deadheaded before the drought are finally starting to come back to life with green foliage at the base. Those include the coneflowers and coreopsis 'Creme Brulee'.
The lavender and rosemary plantings all have great foliage through the drought. The yucca is doing fine as expected. The smoke tree is doing well.
In the rain garden, on drip irrigation during droughts, is flourishing. The perennials include pseudocorus, Japanese and Siberian irises (no blooms this time of year), canna 'Tropical Rose' (still blooming), perennial ageratum (blooming), salvia ulignosa (bog salvia, still blooming).
The foliage of amsonia hubrechtii, a perennial is still lush and I'm looking forward to the fall color. This perennial is planted in both dry and moist settings. The deer leave this one alone.
After all of those winners, there are some losers. After years of successfully growing penstemon, they are looking bad and haven't bloomed as well as in previous years.
Inside my cottage garden (away from deer), the Japanese Beetles and the drought have done the most damage to my roses and weeping cherry. I continue to reassess the flower beds around our stream. Receving full sun all day, it was difficult to keep some flowers alive and I couldn't water them sufficiently. I'm starting to see some comeback, but I've been discouraged enough to decide to replant with drought tolerant plants next spring. I think I'd be happy with a mass planting of saliva greggii 'Navajo Red'! I may even move the weeping cherry out and replace it with a sweet bay magnolia (which is doing great in the fragrance garden on drip irrigation -- no pests).
Meanwhile, we're getting ready to plan and plant some more beds and looking at fall bulbs to plant (when the weather turns cool).
The butterflies are still around and I'm seeing more Monarchs again. We have three hummingbirds still hanging around the garden. Fortunately, the salvias are helping out in addition to the feeder.
Happy Gardening!
Cameron
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)