Using Bare Root Plants

Over the 5 years or so that I've been here in Pleasant Valley (Zone 6b) I've been augmenting our grounds with more native species.  In order to get some of the species I wanted I've been getting more bare root plants than in the past.  What I like about them is that you can find many species that are not available in containers and that they are much less expensive, averaging about 1/3 the cost of the same plant in a container.  This lower cost is due in part to the lower costs of shipping, only the plant without the soil, and to lower production costs at the supplier.  The down side is that these plants are only available when they are dormant and that they need to be planted while it is still pretty chilly out, either in late fall or very early spring. So right now (January) is a great time to get in an order, in time for early spring planting.

I've had mixed success with these bare root plants.  Reasons for failure include not planting them in the right place, competition from existing plantings, deer browsing and some poor technique.   I won't go into the steps of planting bare root plants, they often come with detailed care and planting instructions.  You can also find instructions on the web. 

Here are some things I've learned from my experiences:

Get plants in the ground quickly.  If possible get them in the ground within a day or two of when they arrive.  While you can keep them in cool storage for a time as long as the roots stay moist, or you can heel them in, by laying them in a shallow hole and covering the roots with moist soil.  I seem to be having better results with plants that I put in place quickly.  It is important to get plants in the ground while they are still dormant.  This way roots can get in good contact with the soil before the buds open and put a greater stress on the plant.  I have planted bare root stock in both late fall and early spring.

This Canaan fir has been in the ground for about 2.5 years. 
It started at about 6 inches.  The chicken wire and steel posts help
protect it from male deer who will rub off the branches
as they clean their antlers.

Get good soil contact with the roots.  When planting in the garden make sure that soil is well packed around the roots and spread the roots out in the hole as you layer in the soil.  What I have been doing lately is carefully spreading out the roots as I have been adding in the soil.  After about half of the hole is filled I fill the hole with water and let it settle.  This removes air pockets and improves soil contact with the roots.  I continue to fill in around the plant with soil, continuing to spread out the roots, followed by another through watering. 

Plants in pots need time to develop a good root system.  For bare root plants that I haven't had time to plant, I've potted up with container mix, watered them well and left them in a cool protected location.  Only about half of the plants survive until the weather warms up.  Not a particularly good record.  The survival rate of these potted up plants after transplanting has not been great either.  What I believe to be happening is that the roots have not had a chance to develop while in the pot and there is too much damage done to these weak roots when they are transplanted into the garden.  I've had better success with plants that I've allowed to grow in the pot for a full season before going out in the yard.

Protect plants from critters and competition.  I've lost a number of young plants to deer browse, so now I put a little chicken wire cage around most of my new plants.  I've also lost a number that have been shaded out by surrounding vegetation.  When planting in mid-fall or early spring it is not obvious how much crowding there will be come June and July.  I need to remember that these are still little plants and they are easily over-shadowed by larger established vegetation.  Like any new plant, bare root plants need extra water while they are getting established.  I also tie a fluorescent pink ribbon around each new plant so that I can locate them more easily when clearing out the competition.

Close examination of this Juneberry shows that the leaf buds
are still plump and healthy looking.  A good sign
that it will survive the winter.  The pink ribbon helps me keep
track of these new additions in the landscape.

Here are some of the species I've worked with:

Here is the Twinleaf in bloom.  This is one of the first bare root plants
I put in.  It's now 4 years old.

Perennials:  Celendine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), Merrybells (Uvularia sessilifolia), Twin leaf (Jeffersonia diphylla),and Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) have performed quite well.   Mayapple (Podophylum peltatum) and  Large-flowered bellwort (Uvularia grandifolium) are in dryish soils and have been struggling.  The wild ginger (Asarum canadense) was planted in a very challenging location, under an English walnut and surrounded by vinca, and has faded away. Alleghany pachysandra (Pachysandra procumbens) was planted in November in a dry shady location, so we'll see how that works.

Shrubs:  Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa),  Gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa),  American hazelnut (Corylus americana), Witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana), Spicebush (Lindera benzoin),  Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana),  Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), Red elderberry (Sambucus pubens),  and Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba v. latifolia).  The meadowsweet and hazelnuts have been the most successful at getting established.  Smooth sumac has suffered from both deer browse and being over shadowed by other aggressive plants.  The red elderberries and witchhazel which did not make it were in very shady spots.  The chokecherries were potted up when they got here and only 2 of the 6 survived.  Those 2 were planted out 3 months later.  Soon we'll see how they made it through their first winter.   

This American hazelnut has been in the ground
for about a year now.  In the inset you can see the swollen leaf bud
that indicates that this branch is still alive.

Trees:   Canaan fir (Abies balsamea v. phanerolepis),  Concolor fir (Abies concolor),  Juneberry (Amelanchier canadensis),  Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica),  Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana), American plum (Prunus americana), and  Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) .   The best performers of this group are the tupelo and the Douglas and Canaan firs.  Ones that have not worked out here are the Virginia pine (wrong soil type here), Redbud (location had too much shade from competition), Red cedar  and  the Concolor fir (uncertain).  The American plum was just planted this fall, so the jury is out, but they look OK so far. 

Remembering Bloom Times -my Gardening Oops

The first of every month is Gardening Oops day at Joene's Garden blog.  There she describes a recent garden miscues with the goal of educating other gardeners.  This month I found a garden oops of my own to share.

Early Tulips:  Added Apricot Emperor Tulips
to a large mass of early yellow Tulips and Daffodils

While I work primarily with native plants, I have also been doing more and more bulb plantings.  The intense color of bulbs in the spring brings a welcome end to winter.  I've tried to make things interesting by putting together some less common color combinations.  In addition to working out colors, you also need to consider bloom times to get those combos to show up together.

Putting in a few orange tulips was pretty effective for adding a little more interest to a nearly all yellow bed.  These also went well with the few grape hyacinths scattered around.

Late Tulips: Orangy 'Dordogne' with purple 'Cum Laude'
and some mid-season 'Purple Prince' in the background.

Another combination I thought long and hard about was combining orangy and purple shades.  In this example I used late season varieties (normally blooming in May).  Some late season Daffodils in the background crank up the color intensity of this combination.

I really like the color of the 'Dordogne' tulip.  I got a bunch of these bulbs and used them in several clients gardens.  I had a few left over so I decided I should use them in my own yard.  This is where the Oops comes in.   Since I don't have too much extra space I looked hard for a place to put them.  I finally settled on putting a few clumps under the Moss Phlox in the front border.  This seem to be the perfect space.  I imagined these beautiful tulips coming up through the mossy green foliage of the Phlox.  At least that what I thought when I planted them in October.

It turns out that this tulip blooms at the same time as the 'Emerald Blue' Phlox.  This is not a combo I would have consciously put together.

'Dordogne' with blue Moss Phlox,
not the prettiest picture.

OOPS.  Not what I expected last October!

But if you zoom back a little further on this scene, you can really get assaulted by adding in the intense red of this Azalea.  So while I did find a great place in space for my new tulips, it turned out to be the wrong place in time, considering the colors of the existing plants.  

Other options for planting tulips in front of intensely colored shrubs are to use bulbs that aren't blooming when the shrub is in flower, or to better match the color of the bulbs to the shrubs.  Perhaps an all white tulip or one with red streaks in it would work better.

Well, when it gets too intense in the front yard I can always head around to the back yard where the native ephemerals paint a much more calming scene.

Fiddleheads of Christmas Fern unfurling in front
of some Large Flowered Bellwort and  Twinleaf

What's Up in April

The mild winter and warm spring have thrown off the normal times for plants to reemerge.  Most of may natives are at least 2 weeks, if not more early this year.  I found that I need to pay attention about how plants are coming along, because if I wait a couple of days I might miss some of the spring ephemerals.  So here are some of the botanical things happening with my native plants during the first two weeks of April.

These Celandine Poppies are heavy spring bloomers

The star of the spring this year are the Celandine Poppies, Stylophorum diphyllum, I planted last year.  The bright yellow blooms were opening at the same time as the foliage was coming out.  In the shady spot I have these in, they continued sporadic blooming all summer.  We'll see if they can keep up that pace this year.

The flowers are as white as
the flowers of Bloodroot.

I nearly missed the blooms on the Twin Leaf, Jeffersonia diphylla.  The incredibly white flowers are only open for a day, fortunately I spotted these at a distance and ran to get my camera.  I would not recommend growing these for the flowers, they don't last long enough, but the foliage is what really makes this a useful garden plant.  The leaves on this plant usually form a mound about 10" tall.  Also this one is growing under the Norway Maple, so it can handle some adversity.

Note the spotted foliage of the Trout Lily

I had to take this photo of the inside of the flower
with its raised petal.

This year I had 3 Trout Lilies, Erythronium americanum, come up, but only one bloomed.  I have these planted in with some tulips, so it is very easy to miss seeing the plant, since the leaves are of similar shape.  The Trout Lily does have subtle spots on the foliage that is the tip off.  Of course the flower is the real give away.  These flowers only last a few of days under normal conditions.





Last year I finally got good germination of Brown-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia triloba.  It takes a year to get established before it blooms, so I am looking forward to seeing it in action this year.  It has smaller, 'softer' blooms than the more common Rudbeckias.  I took these photos to document the difference between the Brown-eyed Susan and Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta.

The arrow points to one of the three-lobed leaves.
As the plant grows taller this leaf form is harder to find.

Black-eyed Susan leaves are not lobed.  Also,
 you can see the stiff hair no the leaves (hirsute).

I have been trying to get some Woodland Sunflower, Helianthus divaricatus, to try under the Norway Maple for a number of years.  Last year I finally got some started.  The plant grew up to about 18", but did not bloom.  So I thought it was just settling in.  Looking in the area this spring I noted a number of seedlings that I am pretty sure are the sunflower.  So it appears that it has started colonizing already, even without blooming.  This can be a very aggressive plant and so far that looks to be the case.  But under this Maple, that is fine with me.

The form of these sprouts is consistent with Woodland Sunflower

Pennsylvania Sedge, in bloom.

I have also be experimenting with some native sedges, particularly Pennsylvania and Appalachian Sedges, Carex pensylvanica and C. appalachica.  These look pretty similar in leaf, but you can distinguish them by their flowers.  Pennsylvania Sedge blooms in early spring, right after it begins to green up.  Appalachian sedge blooms about a month later, after the foliage is well established.

I'll close with the Low Bush Blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium.  Again, these are in a pretty marginal site, under the Maple.  The plants that are growing the best are the ones getting the most sunlight.  This year the blooming is better, so maybe I'll need to keep an eye out for a berry or two. 

Rebirth-- Spring in New England

I had a wonderful visit to St. John, USVI, with all of its lush vegetation and quiet beaches, but you can’t beat coming back to springtime in New England. After 5+ months of grayness, color has popped out everywhere. All that new foliage is fresh and green and many of the trees and shrubs are blooming. As Laurrie commented in a recent blog post ‘The Thrill is Gone’ . We in zone 5 and below have to wait longer than many – but experiencing the rebirth first hand sure beats looking a pictures.

Here’s a look at some of the native plants that are coming out around my house in the past few days.

The common blue violet, which I used to battle against until I learned that it was a native species, was popping up through my unmown lawn. Eastern columbine is about to bloom. This one is the result of self seeding. I also caught this sweetfern in bloom with the small red female flower below the male catkins.  This little flower is really easy to miss.

In my ‘woodland’ garden there are a number of perennials returning. This garden is under a Norway Maple, so it is hardly a natural environment for these plants, but the ones that grow here are tough competitors.

Best results go to the Wild Bleeding Heart, which is actually expanding its bounds. Lowbush blueberry is blooming well this year. The Twinleaf and Bellwort have been coming back for 3-4 years now, with some indication that they are beginning to spread. Last year I was fortunate to capture the Twinleaf in bloom. The intense white flowers only last a day, but the foliage alone can carry the show.  There are also a variety of native ferns putting up their fiddleheads.

Coming soon are the huckleberry and barren strawberry. I’ll get to those later.