Grower News

What is a gardener to do during the gray days of winter? For many of us, it’s all about planning. This is the perfect time to scout around for plants that provide winter interest to the landscape. Put them on your list of things to get in the ground this spring, and you’ll be rewarded for decades to come, making the season a little more bearable. Winterberry holly One of the more spectacular displays of winterberry is in a mass planting in front of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. In the wild, the native shrub loves moist acidic soil, but it is adaptable to a wide range of growing conditions in the landscape. Winterberry prefers full sun, but the deciduous plant will put on berries in part sun too. ‘Berry Heavy’ is a great cultivar. ‘Berry Heavy Gold’ produces unique gold-colored berries. ‘Berry Poppins’ only reaches about 4 feet tall and wide for gardeners who don’t have room for full-sized cultivars that can be twice that size. All are available from Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs and some are sold at local nurseries. Another native shrub has varieties that can bloom anywhere from October into late winter with yellow or red flowers. It is such a wonderful surprise to see the flowers appear in January or February, giving us hope that spring is right around the corner. Witch hazel is easy to grow in the sun or as an understory shrub. In my garden the deer have been known to nibble on the buds, so protection is in order, like a physical barrier or by using a repellent like Bobbex. These long-lived plants can get 20 to 30 feet tall, but ‘Little Suzie’ only grows 4 to 5 feet tall and wide. Red twig dogwood Not to be confused with dogwood trees, red twig dogwoods (Cornus stolonifera) are multi-stemmed shrubs that have either bright red or yellow stems, which make a perfect presentation against white snow. The shrub is simple to grow in partial to full sun, with many cultivars to choose from, even some with variegated foliage for spring […]

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