A Whole Bunch of Gardening Gurus

I am thrilled to have been invited back to speak at one of the Outdoor Living Extravaganza events hosted by Proven Winners. This year I will be giving a talk called 'The Hunt for New Plants" on April 8th at the Milwaukee Event. Other venues this year include Atlanta on March 4th, Seattle on March 18th and Toronto on April 15th. If you have a chance to go to one of these, do so. They're good fun for those that love plants and gardens. 


Perhaps you recognize some of the OLE speakers shown above. I'm thrilled that the Milwaukee event will include gardening expert and TV host Melinda Myers. She will  be speaking on Small Space Gardens. Stunning Solutions for Every Garden is the title of P. Allen Smith's presentation. And everyone loves the enthusiasm and passion that Kerry Meyer bring to the stage. I only wish I had the time to go to each event because each venue has great speakers; Walter Reeves, Marianne Binetti, Mark Cullen and more. I can't mention them all by name so check it out yourself and make plans for a really fun day that will get you pumped up for spring. 

Now you can access The Plant Hunter on your Smart Phone

For those of you that use a Blackberry, IPhone or an Android, I’ve created simple mobile blog. It’s a lot easier to read.  The easiest way to access it is to use your QR reader to snap a picture of the QR Code above. If you don't have a QR reader search your apps for a reader and download it. These little codes are real handy for Smart Phone users. We're even going to add them to our Proven Winners ColorChoice tags to give shoppers even more information. Let me know how it works for you.

Good Gardens start with Foliage, not Flowers

It’s easy to find new plants. What’s hard is finding better plants. When I hunt for new plants it’s easy to get overly excited. I have to show some discipline, otherwise, I’ll end up with lots of plants that are interesting for collectors, but useless for gardeners.

Good gardens should based on form and foliage, and not just flowers.

Some years back I heard J. C. Raulston lamenting that no one wanted to grow all the cool plants he collected and distributed. He examined the problem and then developed a list attributes that he felt made a plant a successful.  This prompted me to develop my own list. My list gives me the discipline I spoke of earlier. I also use it shape and guide our Proven Winners shrub program. The vision I have for this program goes beyond novelty or new.  My goal is to reinvent flowering shrubs; to change the way people perceive and use flowering shrubs; to make them more useful. My plant selection criterion helps to keep this vision on track. So my next few posts will examine some of the attributes I consider important when hunting out new selections. Today we’ll examine the importance of foliage.

Plants with Attractive Foliage

 Spilled Wine Weigela has black leaves with ruffled margins

Shrubs and perennials typically flower for three to six weeks. Sure there are exceptions, but flowers are fleeting and foliage is not. A lesson I learned when grew and sold perennials is that they sell great when they’re in bloom. But after they’ve finished flowering - no one wants to buy them. This was not the case for perennials with interesting foliage.  I could sell Hosta, Heuchera, Artemesia, Festuca, Japanese Ferms (Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum) and Variegated Iris (Iris pallida 'Variegata') all season long.  

As a landscape designer I learned that the most interesting gardens were those based on form and foliage, and not the flowers. Flowers should be considered as icing on the cake, not the cake itself.  Attractive foliage, be it colorful, variegated, textured, fall color, or glossy can make a garden attractive even when it’s not in bloom. These plants are good for the garden centers because they extend the selling season. And they’re good for gardeners and landscapers because they make for interesting gardens.

This is a powerful, yet largely untapped, goal for plant breeders. Consider daylilies (Hemerocallis), which has more plant breeding activity than any other species. Sure it’s a glorious plant in bloom, but when the flowers are spent it is one of the saddest of all plants.  At one point in my life I managed a daylily collection that contained over 500 cultivars; many of them award winners. Once the flowers were gone the collection was an ugly mess. But if you looked closely, you would discover that, while most of the plants turned yellow and collapsed to the ground, a few stood tall and remained deep green. Look even closer and you would find a few plants with bluish leaves or glossy foliage.  So why can’t these plants have better foliage?

 Lil' Miss Sunshine Caryopteris is colorful all season long

Clearly, foliage alone will never be as sexy as a flower, but can’t we have both?   I think we can. Here is just a small sampling of shrubs that give you both the icing and the cake. 

Black Lace Elderberry has black, lacy leaves and big flowers.

Variegated Plants like My Monet Weigela provide long lasting color.

Glossy foliage was a selection criteria for Oso Easy Roses.  

Fall Foliage is a bonus. Arctic Sun dogwood has peach autumn hues.

Spring color can be as good as fall color, as on Spirea Double Play Big Bang

Fred Case: Outstanding Teacher

Fred Case once told me he choose to be a High School teacher instead of a college professor because it afforded him more time to be out in the field studying plants.  He could have been a great college professor, but instead he became an outstanding high school teacher.  You have to be an outstanding teacher to win The Outstanding Teacher Award and Fred was honored twice.  He was named Outstanding Biology Teacher in 1971 and Outstanding Science Teacher in 1987.  Fred Case was not your typical high school teacher. 

Fred Case in his garden

I was never a student at Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw Michigan, however, I was fortunate enough to be his pupil for two lectures at Michigan State.  I consider myself lucky to have known Fred and to have been his student, even if it was just for two days.  His passion for plants and nature was contagious. He left me with an overpowering desire to be out in the woods studying plants.  He did much more than teach, he inspired.  Fred Case, teacher and botanist passed away Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at the age of 83 years.


Fred was an internationally acclaimed expert on North American native orchids, trillium and insectivorous plants.  He and his wife Roberta authored three books and authored or co-authored many articles for magazines and scientific publications about native orchids, trilliums, insectivorous plants, wildflowers and gardening.  He received numerous awards and recognition for his achievements in botany and lectured extensively.  He had been associated with Cranbrook Institute of Science, The University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Longwood Gardens, The Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources Committee on Endangered and Threatened Plants, the Michigan Botanical Club, North American Rock Garden Society, the Saginaw Valley Audubon Society, Saginaw Valley Orchid Society and The Nature Conservancy. In short, he was he was an icon in the field of botany. 

Trillium cuneatum the Whippoorwill Flower

Fred was good enough to trust me to introduce one of his most beautiful plant discoveries. Berry Heavy Gold® (Ilex verticillata 'Roberta Case'). Commonly known as Michigan holly or winterberry, Fred's selection has the brightest and largest berries of all the gold selections introduced. Older selections such as Winter Gold are really more orange than gold, but Berry Heavy Gold is the real deal. It shines in the garden. Heavy fruiting, this native deciduous holly is great for mass plantings, providing winter interest, especially when mixed in with red fruited varieties such as Berry Heavy Red. I love that this outstanding landscape plant is a living legacy to this great plantsman.

Berry Heavy Gold® Ilex verticillata

Berry Heavy Gold® Ilex verticillata in the snow

The last time I saw Fred, I was on my way home from a weekend of steelhead fishing on the Au Sable river.  The trillium were in full glory that perfect spring day.  A camera crew from Martha Steward Living had been scheduled to photograph his Trillium collection but the deal fell through, so I had the teacher to myself.  He showed me every plant in his garden, chiming "This one's a really good garden plant," or "Your nursery should offer this Viburnum."  And then it was time to rest. We sat down on the veranda for iced tea and warm conversation. There was no more talk of plants, but rather friends and family; the important things in life.     

Schizophragma Climbs in Popularity

Schizophragma hydrangeoides, while called the Japanese Hydrangea-vine, is not actually a hydrangea. It is, however, in the Hydrangea family. At first glance, at a distance or when out flower, it can look very much like Hydrangea anomala petiolaris the Climbing Hydrangea. But upon closer inspection the two are easy to distinguished because true Hydrangea has 4 petals (actually sepals) while Schizophragma has one solitary heart-shaped sepal. Another useful clue is that Schizophragma hugs a tree or wall more closely than does Climbing Hydrangea. Both are beautiful vines to be sure, but if I had to choose between the two I would choose Schizophragma because the flowers are showier and there are more cultivars to choose from. 

Schizophragma climbs and clings by means of small aerial roots. It looks great growing on a wall or on a tree. It is hardy to zone 5 making it a bit less hardy than Climbing Hydrangea. It can be slow to get started but grows rapidly once it gets going. It can take full sun, partial shade or shade but seems to do best in partial shade.

An elegant vine when grown on brick

This vine is a tower of white when grown on a large tree

The blooms range from 8 to 10 inches in diameter. They appear in late June to early-July and last for around four weeks.

Schizophragma has showy pure white blooms with tear-drop sepals

The cultivar 'Moonlight has the added bonus of attractive, colorful foliage. The leaves are steel-blue with contrasting green veins. The sepals are typically larger and showier. This is perhaps the most popular cultivar.

'Moonlight' has showy steel-blue leaves

The cultivar 'Rosea' is, as the name indicates, pink. The sepal color can vary from year to year based on the weather. It can range from pure white to a rich pink. Every years is a surprise! The sepal size is larger than typical and can be quite showy.

The cultivar 'Rosea' has pink sepals

The cultivar 'Strawberry leaf has distinct foliage with deeply toothed leaf margins. The sepals are pure white and typical in size.

'Straberryleaf' has a distinctive dentate leaf margin.

There are two variegated selections, however, I don't think they are yet available in the United States.  I found the gold variegated form at Liss Forest Nursery in England and a Silver form at a small nursery in Japan. Both plants add extra color after the flowers have faded.

Liss Forest Gold

A silver variegated form

Windmills-TM is a new selection of Schizophragma integrifolium commonly called the Chinese Hydrangea vine. It has long narrow, pure white sepals. It is rated as a zone 7 plant so it is best reserved for milder climates. I selected this plant out of a batch of seedlings and have been evaluating it over the last 10 years. The extra large flowers are both remarkable and elegant.

Windmills is a new selection of Schizophragma integrifolium

Schizophragma is gaining in popularity, however, it is not easily found at your local garden center. If you want to try this vine you will most likely have to buy it via mail-order or over the internet. I really like this vine and I think you will too.

I Get The Blues in The Fall Blues

This post was written by my friend Stephanie Cohen aka the Perennial Diva. Stephanie is an award winning garden writer and plant dynamo. The is the author of three books; “The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer”, "The NonStop Garden” and "Fallscaping". She lectures coast to coast, and has taught herbaceous plants and perennial design at Temple University for over 20 years. She was the founder and director of the Landscape Arboretum at Temple University, Ambler. She is a contributing editor for “Fine Gardening” magazine.  

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I Get The Blues in The Fall Blues

This is not an essay about depression in the fall when we know winter is on its way. I love fall and am invigorated by the wonderful weather and the array of colors in the landscape. Some gardeners think fall is the time for kales, cabbages, and pumpkins. It certainly is, but there are so many other choices to give us fall color.

When I think of fall I always think of shades of gold, yellow, bronze, orange, and reds that the trees deliver. A few perennials have that same capability. For contrast I love blue and my favorite “short” blue shrub happens to be Caryopteris.

Caryopteris, goes by several common names, Bluebeard, Blue-mist Shrub, and Blue Spirea, and it is a small shrub that fits into a mixed or perennial border quite readily because they generally range from 2’ to a little over 3 ‘ tall. It blooms profusely in full sun, needs average garden soil that is not heavily enriched with fertilizer or it gets a case of the flopsies. This is one of my favorite low maintenance plants. It flowers late summer to early fall and puts on a show for several weeks. Do not touch when you do fall cleanup. In the spring come out and do your favorite whack and hack pruning. If you want plants a little taller don’t cut back as much. I vary from severe cut backs to leaving quite a bit of the bush every other year. It does bloom on new wood so the old part will not flower. I practice this on Vitex (Chaste Tree) and Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) to keep them vigorous. This is just my opinion on the subject. Caryopteris is hardy to zone 5 and some to zone 4.

The common color for Caryopteris is generally shades of blue. It is an aromatic deciduous shrub and flowers, leaves, and stems give off a faintly pleasant odor. It is fairly heat and drought tolerant. It has no major pests or diseases. Best of all, butterflies will enjoy them as much as you do.

Two of the tried and true cultivars that are still around are ‘Dark Knight’, with deep blue flowers, and ‘Longwood Blue’, which has lovely foliage and beautiful sky blue flowers. Selected at Longwood Gardens it has been a favorite of gardeners for a long time.

Newer cultivars are ‘Grand Bleu’ and ‘Petit Blue’ two outstanding cultivars from France. The main difference is size, as “Gran’ at 31/2’ and ‘Petit’ is 2/1/2’ both have deep blue blossoms and shiny foliage. ‘Petite’ works very well as a container plant because of its demure size. 

Now for something different. We now are switching gears to a new take on the same familiar species. It is called ‘Sunshine Blue’. ‘Worcester Gold’ is a yellow foliage form that tended to lose its intense coloration by midsummer. ‘Sunshine Blue’, an English cultivar, manages to keep its yellow foliage while producing amethyst blue flowers.  Lil' Miss Sunshine is a  new cross between Petit Blue and Sunshine Blue. This variety gives you the best of both worlds. It has the small habit of Petit Blue but with the bright yellow foliage of Sunshine Blue.

So I suggest getting the blues for a late summer fall finale. It’s fun to add to the razzle dazzle of this show stopping season

Saul Brothers on the Cutting Edge

Bobby Saul with Route 66 

While I specialize in new and improved flowering shrubs, I can appreciate a good new plant be it an annual, perennial, tree or shrub. I also appreciate the people that develop a good new plants.

Two weeks ago, I made a trip down to Atlanta to give a talk to the American Hydrangea Society. It was a talk I was suppose to give last year, but due to mechanical problems my flight was cancelled and I missed my appointment. This time around I flew into Atlanta a day early so I was certain to get there on time. That extra day gave me the opportunity to visit with Bobby and Richard Soul. 

The Saul brothers are active plant breeders and are best known for breeding new and interesting Echinacea or coneflower. During my visit I got the opportunity see some of the other new plants they've been developing. I was not disappointed in what I found. Some pretty cool stuff. 

Route 66' is hardy

Coreopsis verticillata 'Route 66' is a new threadleaf Coreopsis with blood red petals with yellow highlighted tips. The plant was developed, trailed and tested in Lucinda, Pennsylvania by Patti Bauer and has proven itself to be a hardy perennial in zone 5. This is good news. While there have been other red cultivars of Coreopsis, these plants unfortunately turned out to be annuals.     

Candlelight in bloom in October

Also of interest was Candlelight Kniphofia which to my knowledge is the only reblooming torch lily. This hardy and heat tolerant perennial blooms from May right through to October. The flowers are creamy yellow and lighten to white as they age. The flower stems can reach 24 to 30" in height. 

A new take on Snapdragon 

I was quite impressed with 'Snapdaddy' Snapdragon (Antirrhinum). This is a new snap with bright yellow flowers and attractive blue-green leaves edged with a creamy yellow margin. This annual matures at about 18"-24" making it a great plant for the garden or mixed container. They also have a pink version on the way called 'Snap happy'.

Kaleidescope Kale 

Kaleidescope Kale is another cool annual for the garden or mixed container. This cool season annual lights up the garden with it blend of pink and purple hues and frilly leaves. I have idea how it tastes, but it certainly would make for a colorful garnish.

So my trip to Atlanta was a success! I made it to my talk on time. I met a lot of very nice Hydrangea enthusiasts. And to top it off, I got to see some very cool, new plants.