New Plants for 2019

Top and left are the female 'Blue Rug' junipers, lower right is the
supposedly male 'Andorra Compacta'.  Normal bloom time
for these is late May to early June.  So I will keep an eye out..

I had an established planting of creeping juniper, Juniperus horizontalis, die back last year.  This may have been due to a number of factors, but I think mostly the very wet weather causing the soil to stay very moist for most of the year.  While many folks poo poo junipers as too common, they have their place.  They are a durable, low-maintenance ground cover for sunny, dryish locations.  This species is native to the northern third of the US and most of Canada.  Their usefulness and adaptability has, however, made them a staple in the landscape trade.  One thing you don't see too often is berries on these plants.  Like other junipers, creeping junipers have separate male and female plants.  Ever since seeing cedar waxwings last year I have been looking to have more bird berries on our property.  To the extent that I could find gender information, it seems that most creeping juniper cultivars are female, such as the very popular 'Blue Rug' cultivar (aka 'Wiltonii').  Digging through the literature I found mention that the cultivars 'Bar Harbor', 'Blue Horizon', 'Plumosa' and 'Andorra Compacta' are male (or at least may be male).  In addition to a bunch of 'Blue Rug' junipers I was able to get an 'Andorra Compacta' to serve as a breeding partner. Now by having both male and female cultivars there is a better probability that berries will be produce to help support the winter bird population. 

These large-flowered bellworts came into bloom
just after our mid-season daffodils.

In an area just outside our kitchen window we have a large, somewhat wild perennial garden backed up by pine trees.  The shadier areas are dominated by several species of lamium and ground ivy.  I have had some success with shade-tolerant goldenrods here, particularly blue-stemmed and zigzag goldenrods.  To introduce some more natives to this area of potentially dry shade (assuming it will stop raining at some point), I ordered a few large-flowered bellwort, Uvularia grandiflora, as bare root plants.  We'll see how well these compete.  They have done well so far, all of them sprouted and bloomed this first year.

They say, planting trees is planning for the future, even one that I am not likely to see.  I have been dismayed that some of the big old trees here are dying.  Don't know if it's just their time or if there is something going on.  Besides the loss of their biological function, many of these trees are on a slope where they are helping to hold the soil.  Emerald Ash Borer is definitely one of the problems, causing a early death of many established ash trees.  But we have lost some big oaks and black cherries as well.  Besides these trees going away I am also actively targeting the invasive Alianthus trees and this is opening up the canopy even more.  While natural succession is kicking in, this is slowed by the number of deer that eat the tree seedlings.  I am more than a little concerned how many of these seedlings will reach maturity.  So I am looking for some shade tolerant trees that I can put in and protect to help nature along. 

I got these bare root American beech in the
ground the day they arrived. 

In the woods right now there are a lot of new beech trees, Fagus grandifolia.  These are quite shade tolerant, and seem to be well adapted to our location.  I found a source of bare root beech trees in southern Virginia, Mid-Atlantic Natives, so I ordered a few to see how that works out.  They were planted in early March and are just leafing out now, a bit behind the established beeches.  Beech are fairly slow growing trees, but will mature to be dominant elements in the canopy. 

These are the maple seedlings I gathered from around the property.  These may include
Red, Sugar, Silver and the hybrid Freeman maples. (Also one tulip tree in the mix.)

Red maples, Acer rubrum, are also quite shade tolerant but are much faster growing.  I am looking to add a few of these to fill in the gaps.  Sugar maples are another possibility.  These are slower growing, but better adapted to the near neutral soil pH we have here. (Based on the natural distribution of trees here (Box elder, Hickories, American hornbeam and Tulip tree) soil pH is probably running 6-7.5.)  My regular source of native trees, Stadler Nursery, is cutting back on its supply of reforestation plants (I don't know why), so I decided to harvest some of my own seedlings and nurse them along a little before planting them out.  I've got several species of maples growing here, so at this point I can't say for sure what each of these seedlings are.  Tulip trees also do well here and I've got lots of these seedlings too, so I could move those to some of the more open areas in the woods.

This Henry's Garnet Virginia sweetspire has flopped a little due to the weight of the rain. 
It is nearly full height, at 4' and should spread to about 6'. 
The racemes of white flowers are about to pop.

Another area that I have been trying to bulk up with native species is a  slope that has been built up with sandy clay and is dominated with Japanese stiltgrass, Japanese honeysuckle and garlic mustard.  I've been putting divisions of wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, and they are taking hold. I am focusing on shrubs that are colonizers.  These spread out by underground shoots and should help stabilize the soil to erosion.  This year I'm adding a Henry's Garnet sweetspire, Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet', gray dogwood, Cornus racemosa, and some bare root smooth sumac, Rhus glabra.  Unfortunately my deer do like to munch on these so I need to stay on top of these with either fencing or repellent sprays until they get established.

Since deer like to browse on my gray dogwood I
put some fencing around this one right away.

You can see that the leaf buds on this smooth sumac
are about to pop.  I should get some fencing around this
one soon (in addition to the repellent spray).

In my battle with Japanese stiltgrass, I am planting native species to help displace that invasive grass.  One grass that does well in shadier locations is bottlebrush grass, Elymus hystrix.  I started some from seed this winter and planted them out in early spring.  These make take a year to get established, but should help fill in areas where the stiltgrass has been (is being) removed. 

I started this bottlebrush grass from seed in February and planted it out in April.
It may not get too big this year, but should form a dense clump next spring.

Last year I put in a Red Sprite winterberry holly along a sloping path.  I already had a mate, the early blooming Jim Dandy cultivar, Ilex verticillata 'Jim Dandy'.  To improve berry availability for winter time birds I added another early blooming female cultivar called Afterglow, Ilex verticillata 'Afterglow'.  This cultivar is also compact, like 'Red Sprite' and is supposed to be very dense with flowers and berries.

Also on the holly front, I put in some inkberries, Ilex glabra, in a shady location, near an English walnut tree, last year.  Of the three cultivars I put in, Shamrock and Nigra did well, but the Densa cultivar died.  I don't know if it was just the amount of shade or sensitivity to the juglone from the walnut.  I replaced it with another Nigra cultivar this spring, so we'll see if that one does better.  

What worked in 2016

Looking back on how my plans for incorporating the new native plants worked this past year revealed more successes than failures.  Here's a rundown on what worked, what didn't and what I learned.

Plants from seed
Probably my best result came from seed for rose verbena, Glandularia canadensis.  After about 6 weeks of cold stratification I had very good rates germination after a week under lights.  I didn't see any plants from direct seeding outside done at the end of February.  Either that wasn't long enough or the conditions just were not right.  Surpizingly the plants are still leafy green outside (we are on the border of zones 6 and 7).

I also had good results with the annual Texas sage, Salvia coccinea, after a month of cold moist stratification.  We also had a lot of these coming up in pots that had been stored in an unheated garage, but none from seed that was left outdoors.

 The failure here was with Indian blanket, Gaillardia pulchella.  This one germinated during stratification.  I planted the sprouted seeds, but they were weak and didn't amount to much, even after being potted up.

Rose verbena was blooming by mid-July
and continued through the summer.  

This American bellflower is a favorite of native miner bees. 

A biennial that is really happy here is American bellflower, Campanulastrum americanum.  I started a few from seed in 2013 and now have volunteers scattered around the flower beds.  Another name for this species is tall bellflower; mine typically reach 4-5 feet when in bloom.  The deer browse on this a little early in the season, but tend to leave it alone after July.  It can get rather lanky, so it is best toward the back of a border or in the shade where it does not get so tall.





New Perennials

The white flowers of wild strawberry are another way
to distinguish it from mock strawberry, which has yellow flowers.

Since I was seeing good results from a hardy cultivated strawberry from the local master gardeners I thought I would try out some of the native species, wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana.  Planted in mid-spring, these small plants settled in enough to put out runners to start new plants a foot or two away.  Got some flowers but no fruit this first year.  Looks promising as a fruit-bearing ground cover for next year.

These white woodland phlox, growing in my woodlands
are similar to ones I transplanted to under the pines.

I also planted both woodland and creeping phlox, Phlox divaricata and P. stolonifera, in open shade under some pines.  This is an area where I am trying to replace a mass of vinca.  These species do well in the shade of deciduous trees, we'll see how they handle the consistent dry shade of evergreens.  The woodland phlox that I planted in the spring disappeared in the middle of summer but put forth new growth in the fall.  The creeping phlox, which is more tolerant of dry soils, was planted in the fall.  We'll see which of these two species is more successful here.

In this same pine-rich area I added more Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia, and hairy alumroot, Heuchera villosa, as seedlings.  In general the Heuchera survive these conditions much better than the Tiarella.  It was probably too dry for the young plants to get established.  While the Heuchera grow better, they are also more subject to browsing by critters, deer or rabbits of both.  Next time I get some Tiarella I'll try it in a moister location, perhaps under a walnut tree.

The flowers of blunt mountain mint are very attractive to pollinators.

A new native I added to the garden was blunt mountainmint, Pycnanthemum muticum.  I had been trying out hoary mountainmint, P. incanum, for a couple of years.  Planted in a partly sunny location, it has been rather slow to grow.  I planted the blunt mountainmint in a slightly sunnier location nearby and it grew to about 2' and was covered with dense pinkish flowers.  As showy as the flowers are the silvery bracts at the base of each flower.

I have been trying to get some blazing star, Liatris sp., to grow for several years.  It seems they get started, then disappear.  I'm pretty sure I'm losing them to some small mammals, ground hogs or rabbits.  This year I tried plains blazing star, L. squarrosa, with mixed success.  The ones planted in the open disappeared, while the ones surrounded by other plants were able to survive.  We'll see if these can get established.

Plains blazing star in bloom.  This species has
button-like flowers rather than spikes

Another regionally native plant that didn't bloom but seems to be getting established is vasevine, Clematis virona.  I didn't notice them much during the growing season, but when I cheked for them this past week I did find that the wiry vines had grown several feet.  I hope I can share some photos of its bell-shaped flowers next summer.


New Shrubs

This gray dogwood managed to bloom before it got pruned back by deer.

My main 'reclaimation' project last season was to displace invasive wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius, and Japanese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica, from a steeply sloping hedgerow.  I don't want to destabilize the slope, so I have been cutting back the invasives and treating the stumps with herbicide.  In 2014-15 I put in some smooth sumac, Rhus glabra.  This year I added gray dogwood, Cornus racemosa to the top and middle slopes and American hazelnut, Corylus americana, to the shadier lower slope.  Most of these were planted bare root in the spring and they seem to have survived their first year.  The biggest challenge for the dogwood is deer browsing.  This was also a problem the first year I planted red osier dogwood, C. sericea, but after a year the deer seemed to lose interest.  I have read that deer will browse more on new plants, especially those from a nursery, because their leaves are more tender and they are higher in nitrogen.  After the plants settle in, the leaves toughen up and become less appealing.  I hope it will be the case here.

On a disappointing note, only one of the five bare root red cedars, Juniperus virginiana, survived.  I have my lone survivor surrounded by chicken wire to protect it from deer.  I'll probably need to keep it caged up for a few more years, especially during rutting season.

Now its time to start planning for next year.  Let's see, what should I get????

New Plants for 2016

As we are approaching another planting season I've come up with a list a new native plants to add to our landscape.  Most of these plants are to build on the existing communities.  My main goals are to  provide food for wildlife, displace invasive species, stabilize soils and add visual appeal.  To help me determine what is native here near the Potomac River, I am using a guidebook from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for most of my plant selection.

One area, shaded by white pines and red cedar, is densely populated with Vinca minor.  I trying to get rid of that and replace it with a variety of shade loving native species.  I am having some good success with green-and-gold, Chrysogonum virginianum.  It is filling in nicely with a dense mat of evergreen foliage.  Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia, is spreading slowly, so I will be adding more of those to give them a boost.  I brought some hairy alumroot with reddish leaves, Heuchera villosa var. atropurpurea, from my Boston garden and it has survived well.  When I saw it offered by Prairie Nursery I ordered a bunch more.

Here's a mixture of seed grown Heuchera villosa, both green and red-leaf forms.

This woodland phlox grows all around our property,
mostly in the shady woodlands.

I will try adding some woodland phlox, Phlox divaricata, to the mix this year.  It's growing wild nearby, so it will be a truly natural extension into this space.  I thought that this needed moist conditions to do well, but I read somewhere that it could also grow in drier shade conditions.  We will see if that's true.

One species that is not native to this region that I am trying out this year is rose vervain, Glandularia canadensis. It is a native groundcover from the Mid-West and South.  It is a perennial in warmer areas, but otherwise it's a reseeding annual.  I was inspired by the cultivar 'Homestead Purple' that is heavy blooming and hardier than the species in cooler climates.  Rather than buying the individual plants of the named cultivar, I decided to start some from seed.  These plants won't necessarily be the same, but I'll get a feel whether I like it enough to invest in the cultivar.  Deer and rabbits like these too, so we'll see if any survive.  If successful, these would be a nice ground cover to use around shrubs in sunny locations.

I would like to establish some Liatris in our gardens.  The mid-summer blooms are very popular with a variety of pollinators.  Unfortunately, the spike gayfeather, L. spicata, that I've planted has also been popular with our rabbits and/or groundhog.  This year I will try adding scaly blazing star, Liatris squarrosa,  This species is native to the nearby Piedmont region of Virginia.  Maybe its rougher texture will be less palatable with the local herbivores.

Another new addition to the garden will be vasevine, Clematis viorna.  The purple bell-shaped flowers appear in mid-summer.  I will plant these along a fence in open shade/part sun and mesic soil. I planted virgin's bower, C. virginiana, this same area area several years ago and it has taken hold quite well.  If all goes as planned, as the vasevine flowers finish blooming the virgin's bower will kick in.

I am trying out Bushy St. Johnswort, Hypericum densiflorum, for a second time.  I was unsuccessful past, but that was in a fairly shady location.  This time I'll give it more sun and a more consistent supply of moisture.  If it finds this a suitable spot, it is supposed to spread thickly.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am removing invasive plants from a hillside hedgerow and replacing them with natives that spread out forming clonal colonies.  These clonal shrubs will help hold the hillside against erosion.  The two species I'm adding this spring are American hazelnut, Corylus americana, and gray dogwood, Cornus racemosa.

In addition to the soil holding properties, American hazelnut also produces edible nuts
that benefit wildlife, or humans (if we can get them).  In this photo
you can see male catkins emerging above the dried leaves.

Gray dogwood  has small white flowers on terminal racemes
in late spring.  After foliage drops in the fall the shrub is distinguished
by the few remaining white berries on  bright red stems.

At the end of March the lowbush blueberry flowers were just beginning to open.
 No flowers yet on these cultivated strawberries.

Two years ago we planted several native lowbush blueberries, Vaccinium angustifolium, and some cultivated strawberries that I got from a Master Gardener sale along the walk to our front door.  These have performed quite well and are beginning to spread.  Since I am all about native plants, I will be adding some of the native Virginia strawberries, Fragaria virginiana.  This species is one of the two originally hybridized to create the modern cultivated strawberries we all enjoy.  Though small, the Virginia strawberries are packed with flavor.

Got these as bare root plants and potted them up until
the meadow gets its annual mowing.

I never thought I would need to but I am adding some eastern red ceder to the meadow along its wooded edge.  I would like to have a few evergreens growing in that area.  There were some indigenous seedlings, but they disappeared.  I fear the deer have chewed them to the ground.  I'll put some cages around these for a couple of years.

Now I just need to get to work!

Goals for 2016 season

As spring is rapidly approaching I'm finishing up my plans for what I'd like to accomplish this season.  One of my primary goals is to continue to control and eventually eliminate the invasives.  Most management strategies call for eliminating to satellite  populations first to control spread and then work toward the center.  Based on published guidelines such as from the US Forest service, I'm using the following techniques:

• Stilt grass, Microstegium vinineum, by managed mowings, timed pulling in late July or August and displacement with natives/manageable species.
• Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) and autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) by mowing or cutting then treating the stumps with glyphosate at 20% concentration.  (Herbicide treatment is more effective in late summer and fall.)
• Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) by pulling, or cutting back and treating the stubs with glyphosate.
• Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) mostly by pulling when the ground is soft, making spring a good time to work on this.  However, I will do a foliar spray with something like glyphosate for massive infestations.  Later in the season remaining plants will get cut and bagged to prevent seed dispersal.

If I can't get into the base of the plant to kill it, I will cut them back to keep them from setting seed.  Check for local restrictions on pesticide use and follow published instructions for proper use.

Here's how that area looked last September.  The dominant plant here is wingstem, 
Verbesina alternifolia. which is a very common native in this area.

I am managing a meadow conversion with early mowing and adding more native shrubs to the back edges, like Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa).  Invasives to target in this area are oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle and wineberry.  This is an area that I also seeded with some native annuals and perennials I had growing elsewhere on our property.

I initially cleared this area in spring 2014 and have
been cutting back undesired shrubs each spring.

Of the small trees and shrubs I added in previous years the elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) and American plum (Prunus americana) are doing well.  The chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) will still need some protection and nurturing, but they seem to be surviving in this minimally managed area.

At the beginning of March the elderberries are beginning to leaf out.

In the middle of an open lawn we have a mature butternut tree (Juglans cinerea).  It has a nice upright form and open canopy that works well in the middle ground.  It's easy to walk under and you can get glimpses of the distance through the branches, even when the leaves are out.  Unfortunately this tree, like many other butternuts in North America, is in decline.  This is likely due to a fungal infection that currently has no treatment.  Since this tree is still producing fruit I will try to keep it for a few more years.  But, since I know it will fail before too long, it's time to look for a replacement.  After considering a number of possibilities, I have settled on trying a Sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum).

Here's the butternut in fall of 2013,
it's lost a couple of branches since then.

The Sassafras has a similar upright form and is of moderate size (30-40') so it will not monopolize the space.  Also, like the butternut, it has an open canopy.  Instead of nuts, the sassafras is a berry producer.  If I am lucky enough to get a female tree, I should get berry production for the birds, since there is a nearby native population of these trees.  My plan is to put in a small specimen a few feet to the south of the butternut to let it get started before I have to take the butternut down.

Here's a mature Sassafras at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Not only does it have a nice open form, it has great fall color.

Another area that I am focusing on this year is a hedgerow on a steep hillside.  The goal is to remove the invasives without destabilizing slope and to repopulate it with natives.  Japanese honey suckle is the predominate invasive in this area.  Late winter is a good time to spot these vines since they still have green leaves.  The ground is soft and moist so pulling is relatively easy.  For the plants that won't pull out, cutting the stems close to the ground and treating with 20% glyphosate.  This is effective as long as the ground is not frozen and it is less disruptive to the soil.

Other invasives that are easy to spot and pull now include multiflora rose, garlic mustard, wineberrry and Vinca minor.  I've already put in some smooth sumacs and Persimmon trees.  This year I'll add some gray dogwood and bushy St Johnswort, Hypericum densiflorum.  As I fill this area in with native shrubs and perennials that provide full season benefits for the native fauna, I can start eliminating the butterfly bushes that are of limited use to wildlife.

This rather messy area is a tangle of Japanese honeysuckle, wineberry (the red stems)
and butterfly bushes mixed in with desirable plants like wild blackberries and smooth sumac.
There is about a 5' difference in grade between the top and bottom of the slope,
 so I am trying to avoid pulling out all of the existing 'bad' plants.

The green leaves on the Japanese honeysuckle make it easy to target in late winter,
before the other plants begin to leaf out.