BARK AND BUDS ABOUND IN THE WINTER GARDEN

For year round interest in gardens in woodlands, look for every detail offered up by the trees and shrubs. The bark of my magnificent trees are doubly enhanced when an interesting branch of a flowering shrub full of next springs buds crosses in front. Above is an almost perfectly horizontal budded branch of 'Shasta' Viburnum in front of an impressive Loblolly Pine.  The evergreen behind is Canadian Hemlock. 

Two smoothed barked trees with pointed buds from their own branches are: Stewartia monodelpha, left, and native Magnolia tripetala, right. 

Tulip Magnolia Buds in the Coker Arboretum at UNC Chappell Hill NC. 

I grow my gardens under native Dogwood, left, and Loblolly Pine with sprinklings of Sweet Gum trees shown on the right.

Winter flower buds of Mahonia bealei, left, are breaking out in upright yellow clusters of tiny fragrant bells while a dwarf 'Temple Bell' Pieris , right, holds tightly on to decorative buds until early spring.  These two shrubs also keep their leaves through the coldest temperatures. 

On the left, snowy dots of a Corylopsis shrub add a textural depth to this part of the border along the driveway. On the right is an all time favorite.  A show stopping display of twin pairs of silvery satan buds are seemingly adrift on the tips of Edgeworthia 'Cream Ball'. The buds will open in March and flower for a month perfuming the front courtyard. 

Did you guess that these are both Tulip Poplars? On the left is our native Liriodendron tulipifera and on the right, from China, Liriodendron chinense.  The difference in the bark is striking as are the size and shape of the leaves. I consider them sister trees uniting from around the world.  In my garden they grow almost side by side. 

I was introduced to this green barked Maple seedling at Camellia Forest Nursery and had to try it.  It is flourishing in fairly deep shade on 4.9 pH soil.  On the right is the sensuous bark of Magnolia x loebneri 'Merrill'.  It is an upright tulip type Magnolia with reliably hardy buds that casts its flowery fragrance 300 yards away.   

Rhododendrons hold their buds in the center of wonderful splashes of leaves.  R. catawbiense, on the left, is evergreen while R. australis, on the right, will drop its leaves as the weather cools to winter temperatures. 

 Showy buds of two other evergreen shrubs are on Winter Honeysuckle, left, where single buds sit in each  leaf axil along the stems blooming off and on through the warm spells of winter. The plant on the right is an Agarista, previously known as Leucothoe, showing sprays of buds nestled in the leaf axils and the very tip of arching stems.  The buds wait all winter to expand in the spring. 

Chunky or flakey bark on two very different trees always catch my eye in winter. On the left is the stately single trunked native Persimmon and on the right, hailing from Europe, is the flaking bark of multi trunked Cornus mas. If you love the bark of a River Birch but haven't the room and want a shorter tree this is one to consider for smaller spaces. 

The left hand picture shows our native Red Cedar which is actually a Juniper. The peeling bark is prized by birds for nest making. On the right is a fantastic ornamental shrub/tree that can be pruned and managed as more upright to be able to better appreciate its mystical white exfoliating bark in the winter. Hepticodiym miconoides is hardy from USDA zones 5-8 and is a wonderful pollinator that blooms in late summer. Google:  Chicago Botanic Garden and Seven-Son-Flower in the same line for more information on the reintroduction of this unusual plant into our western gardens. 

Above is a distant early spring view of Hepticodium on the left and Cornus mas on the right in a south facing border at the edge of the woods.

Finally, the bark of two of my finest trees. On the left, looking for all the world like a giraffe, is Lagerstromea fauriei, the Japanese Crape Myrtle. Standing 25' tall, exfoliating cinnamon bark envelopes the trunk to the uppermost branches. Summer blooms are fragrant white. I love the carpet of tiny falling petals without any messy seed capsules later. You must have lots of room in your garden to grow this tree. On the right see how rough and almost charred looking the trunk of Prunus mume 'Peggy Clark' is. 

  

Above, buds along the stems of Prunus mume 'Peggy Clark' fatten and burst reliably in December with a delicious spicy scent.  It will flower for a month and produce a summer fruit that the Japanese love to pickle and eat daily.  Thus, it's common name, Japanese Flowering Apricot. 

Let us end this conversation with the showy yellow of autumn leaves carpeting the ground beneath, from left to right, Magnolia x loebneri 'Merrill', Lagerstroemia fauriei and Cornus mas. Planted 18-20 years ago, their arching branches have made a small woodland garden space all their own where they continue to delight on winter walks with their very own unique characteristics of unusual barks. 

STRETCHING THE DEFINITION OF 'CANOPY'

After much of the southern forests were cleared to grow cotton and tobacco many grand houses were constructed with deep porches that provided much needed shade from the relentless summer sun. The porches were oriented to catch the south eastern breezes. 

I am fortunate to live near many of these homes built around the turn of the last century and have been able to experience a lazy midday sitting with the owners who have lovingly taken up the gauntlet of restoring and maintaining the old beauties. 

Notice the dark green shutters on the house as they are repeated in a landscape feature to come. 

I visited this local home all dolled up for the holidays and as I walked around it's porch I reveled  in the charming spaciousness of the floors and ceilings that rambled around the front and sides of the main house. 

I entered at the side where the original porte cochere had been given a floor and gracious side steps up. 

Through the columns facing the road the owner had cleverly repurposed the driveway into a semi-secluded terrace under a pair of mature Hollies and an Eastern Red Cedar. 

The real treat that day was to reveal itself at the other side of the house. 

Backed by an enormous Southern Magnolia was a raised open dining arbor.  

Moving off the main porch and into the open boxed arbor closed in on two sides with the same dark green shutters on the house I was at first enchanted by dreaming of past afternoon teas and intimate evening dinners at the simple but elegant table and chairs. 

Then stepping off the other side of the arbor onto a beautifully crafted pea gravel path I was completely enveloped by the Magnolia. In the dining arbor I felt in control with the human scale structure around me, but within seconds, only two feet away standing on the path, the huge Magnolia took charge. 12' long branches dipped to the ground from the massive trunk reaching out to make It's presence felt. 

The owner had enlisted this magnificent specimen to make a spectacular garden experience. First the arbor had replaced the canopy of the porch and second, the Magnolia had replaced the canopy of the arbor.  What a masterful transition from house to garden it was. 

The owner had enlisted one tree to make a spectacular garden experience. I knew then that even one tree can help you feel like you are in a garden in a woodland. 

EXPERIENCING A CANOPY OF WORLDWIDE NATIVES

On a crisp fall day I found myself walking through the JC Raulston Arboretum's Mixed Border in Raleigh, NC.  It's always so exciting to revisit trees planted over 20 years ago that are still thriving.

The old trees are now mingled with a few of our own North America native species and newer specimens of cultivars and varieties ranging in origins from eastern Russia, Europe,Turkey, many Asian countries including: Japan, China, Taiwan,  Vietnam,  Korea. Look for the complete name tags (below) that identify the plants and the parts of the world where they grow naturally. 

Euonymous europeaus 'Red Cascade' (above) is naturally found in the infamous hedge rows of England but underused in our landscapes. 

Let me take you on a ramble over the a rustic stone path, through a central arbor and under this unique collection of trees with a series of images that I took a few weeks ago. 

The specimens are old enough now to enjoy the unusual bark on limbed up trees planted close to the path edge. 

I planted this Lagerstroemia limii (above) when The Mixed Border was first established in 1994-5. The seeds of this species of Crape Myrtle coming to the National Arboretum in 1981 from the Shanghai Botanical Garden , people's Republic of China were the beginnings of a breakthrough breeding program that brought the colorful mildew resistant Crape Myrtles we know today by American Indian cultivar names. The first to be introduced was the vibrant deep red flowering L. 'Arapaho'. 

Pinus wallichiana 'Zebrina' is a touch of the Himalayas in Central NC. It was another of the first trees to go in.

Below, see it on the right side of the path.

Pinus wallichiana 'Zebrinus' sprays of soft looking variegated needles hoover over the path as we continue to the central arbor. 

The central arbor seen from the east and west sides. 

The arbor is a central feature of the Mixed Border where you can sit for awhile and contemplate the framed living pictures of plants. There are many shrubs and perennials under the larger trees. Two familiar plants that grow contentedly in the shade and root competition of these trees are Gardenia and Spirea. 

Gardenias are considered an  'old timey' Southern standard. This unusual variegated Gardenia (above) surely had it's evergreen origins in China. In my limited research I found out that the pure green leaved type was first grown in Charleston, SC in 1762.  

Below, you can see a successful combination of a few of the woody plants at the west entrance to the Mixed Border. From the top down is Chinese Tulip Poplar tree and to the right of the Tulip Poplar the Nellie R. Stevens hedge with an arched passageway cut through. Progressing down see evergreen Daphniphyllum macropodum, Illicium, and closest to the ground, Spirea thunbergii 'Ogon'. 

Fine golden leaves of Ogon Spirea can be a great textural change in a mixed border of shrubs and trees. Look up this plant to understand its origins and find out how Carl Peter Thunberg traveled from Sweden to Japan to bring back  then unknown plants to European gardens. In 1775 Thunberg used the term 'Japonica' as an epithet for 254 species collected from Japan that had been introduced by the Japanese into their own country from China. How many times have you heard someone say "I have a Japonica."? 

The Mixed Border is situated opposite The JC Raulston Arboretum's renowned Perennial Border. Thus it is a stellar example of how plants perform on the north side of a Nellie R. Stevens hedge that casts a 15' to 30' shadow over the entire 200' of garden.  Homeowners can walk this border and take away ideas to implement in their own gardens that may have similar shady growing situations. 

Visit The JC Raulston Arboretum any day of the year to experience this long narrow woodland garden walk in the presence of trees from all over the world. 

Ps,  The Mixed Border garden is cared for by Garden Leader Amelia Lane and "The Border Babes".... A dedicated group of talented gardeners in their own right. Staff support ranges from interpretive signage to propagation of new plants to trial. Additional vibrant volunteer groups of labelers, mappers and construction crew and others are vital to the overall success of this garden experience. 

WOODLAND RAMBLE ON A HILLSIDE OF OAKS

Today I visited my good and talented gardening friend Rita Mercer in her garden under a mature canopy of Oaks. Her house sits at the top of the hill nestled under the canopy of these majestic trees.

The overwhelming theme at this time of the year is red with touches of chartreuse seen below with Yucca 'Colorguard', designer Abelias, Lantana, Caster Bean and cultivars of Japanese Maples with leaves coloring to red each Autumn. 

The garden tumbles down the steep south facing hill to a placid pond carved out of a gently flowing stream. 

The last dots of red Lantana bloom greet you at the street before crossing over a bridge to climb the driveway on the western edge. 

Rita has been gardening here over 20 years and still finds working in her garden a thrilling experience always experimenting with adding and editing for glorious color as the seasons come and go.  

Thanks Rita for an inspiring afternoon.