Monthly Archives: April 2017

Holiday Tree for the Birds

Celebrate the season with your feathered friends by decorating a tree in your yard, or even one in a container, with special treats they’ll love.

Bird-Friendly Ornaments

There are several types of delicious “ornaments” birds will love, and they can be fun, easy projects to brighten up a winter day.

Pine Cone Feeders
Pine cones are easy to turn into impromptu bird feeders. Gather some pine or spruce cones. Tie a loop of twine or colorful holiday yarn around the top to use as a hanger. Fill the crevices with peanut butter, then roll in bird seed or cornmeal.
Orange Halves
Don’t toss out that orange rind – turn it into a bird feeder! Fill scooped out orange halves with a mixture of peanut butter, suet and seed. Poke a length of wire, yarn or twine through the top to attach to the tree. Coconut halves are another great option.
Bird Cakes and Muffins
Make “bird cakes” to set in the branches: Melt 2 cups of suet in a saucepan. Mix in 2 cups of peanut butter and several cups of cornmeal, until the mixture is soft but not too sticky. Spoon mixture into muffin cups and decorate with black oil sunflower seed. Cool before using.

Great Garlands

What’s a holiday tree without garland? To make a bird-friendly, edible decoration, string unsalted, unbuttered popcorn on lengths of heavy-duty thread, twine or yard (avoid fishing line that birds can get tangled in too easily). For more color and variety, add whole peanuts, cranberries, grapes and raisins to the garland as well, or even a few loops of whole grain, unsweetened cereal such as plain Cheerios. You can even include other dried fruits, but avoid any seasoned or sweetened options (those foods aren’t good for birds). Weave your edible garland among the branches.

And Lastly, the Tree Topper!

Top your bird-friendly feeder tree with a grapefruit “star” the birds will love. Slice the ends off a grapefruit, leaving a 1″ slice in the middle (use the ends to fill with seed or peanut butter mixture, a larger version of the filled orange halves). Wire 5 cranberries around the edge of the slice to form the points of a star, trimming away the excess rind in between if desired. Then, wire the whole thing to the top of your tree.

Now stand back and watch as your feathered friends enjoy their holiday feast!

Entrance Way Evergreens

Cool and classic or chic and contemporary, no matter what your style, you’ll always be proud of an entrance flanked with beautiful containers highlighting just-right evergreens. In this case, “evergreen” doesn’t necessarily mean a conifer, either – many other shrubs remain green in the winter and can be beautiful showpieces welcoming guests to your home.

Planting Your Container

Entrance way evergreens are generally planted in containers and frame a doorway, walkway or arch. If you truly want your evergreens to take center stage, opt for more understated, neutral containers, but select shapes that match the architecture of your home. You can opt for a boldly colored container, but take care that the container’s decorations won’t overwhelm your evergreens.

You will want to use high quality potting soil for the container to provide adequate nutrition for your evergreens to thrive. Also pay careful attention to the moisture levels, watering the plants appropriately – containers often need more frequent watering than plants in your landscape. You can rotate the containers regularly to help the plants get even sun exposure, and regular fertilizing will help keep them healthy.

If you’re not sure how to plant a container, try this simple formula: “Use a thriller, filler and spiller.” Thriller refers to the tallest or showiest plant, the one that immediately catches the eye. The fillers are the plants surrounding the thriller that add more structure and bulk to the arrangement, filling in empty spaces. The spillers are plants to grow over, and soften, the edge of the container, giving it a more natural, organic look.

Here’s a listing of “thriller” plants to consider for your door decor. We can make recommendations of dwarf cultivars of many of these plants. Dwarfs will take longer to out-grow their container. Happy potting!

Shade
Azalea*
Boxwood
Camellia*
Evergreen Viburnum*
Japanese Andromeda*
Heavenly Bamboo*
Mountain Laurel*

Sun
Arborvitae
False Cypress
Juniper
Heavenly Bamboo*
Holly
Pine
Spruce
Yews
Yucca*

* These plants flower!

Accents for Your Entrance Evergreens

In addition to welcoming your visitors with a beautiful entrance, it’s easy to entertain them and show your style when you accessorize your evergreens. Festively dress your plants to coordinate with seasons or holidays. Fun and creative options include…

Spring: Small bunnies, silk spring blooms such as daffodils, pastel Easter eggs
Summer: Patriotic flags or ribbons for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July
Fall: Scarecrows, pumpkins, Indian corn, Halloween decorations
Winter: Holly sprigs, tiny twinkling lights, beaded garlands, snowflake ornaments

You can also personalize your entrance evergreens for birthdays, anniversaries or to showcase your favorite teams, colleges, hobbies and more. All are easy to do, fun, and affordable, and make your entrance truly eye-catching.

Caring for Orchids

Orchids can be an amazing addition to your indoor landscape, but unfortunately they have a reputation for being finicky and difficult. While they do require precise care, if you know what their needs are, you can easily grow a variety of beautiful orchids and enjoy their exotic loveliness throughout the year. To care for orchids properly…

Provide Good Light
Orchids need at least 6-8 hours of bright indirect light or morning sun. Light is the key with growing orchids – without enough proper light, an orchid may live 20 years but never rebloom.

Increase Humidity
Orchids are tropical and some varieties require from 65-75 percent humidity. The plant can sit on pebbles in a water-filled tray that is kept filled up as it evaporates. Grouping orchids can also improve their collective humidity.

Adjust Temperature
Ideal orchid temperatures vary depending on the type of orchid and the time of year. Warm orchids require 55-65 degrees temperatures at night with daytime warmth reaching 75-85 degrees. Cool orchids need the same night time temperatures, but only 65-75 degrees during the day.

Water Appropriately
Water the plant every 5-7 days in the sink, as the growing medium has fast drainage. Smaller orchids may need watered every 3-4 days. The water should be room temperature and without any additives other than fertilizer.

Fertilizing
Use a Blossom Booster fertilizer with every other watering while in bloom. When not in bloom, use 30-10-10 fertilizer every two weeks.

Repotting
Use only a potting mixture designed for orchids. These mixes are made up of different size fir bark pieces, perlite and even charcoal. Repot your orchid when it is nearly overgrown with roots and is not in bloom. This will average about every 2-4 years.

Resting Period
After blooming or producing new growth, most orchid varieties go into a rest period. Reduce the watering slightly and maintain good lighting to allow them to reenergize.

Blooming Orchids

Each type of orchid requires different conditions to bloom (example: Phalenopsis need 6 weeks of cold nights). When you achieve that delicate balance and your orchid bursts forth with a delicate bloom, make sure you do not change your cultural practices or the plant will abort the buds. Even a small change in humidity, temperature or light can cause the plant to abort its bloom, but when you keep the conditions stable, you’ll enjoy the reward these exotic flowers offer.

caring-orchid-2

caring-orchid-3

Now For Something Completely Different… Poinsettias!

They have traditionally been the winter holiday’s most popular plant, the sure and steady standby, but have you seen poinsettias lately? These are not your mother’s poinsettias! Endless selections of bract colors and shapes combined with unique foliage offerings and a wide variety of forms and sizes make this year’s collection spectacular. Furthermore, to fit the most unusual of tastes, poinsettias may be painted just about any color to match your holiday decor and finished off with glitter to complete the festive look.

Poinsettias are now available in a tremendous range of colors, shapes and sizes, as illustrated by this table (any color may be found in any bract feature or plant form)…

Cut Poinsettias

To use poinsettias as cut flowers, the stems must be treated right away. The milky sap must congeal inside the stems to prevent the plants from wilting. Immediately after cutting, dunk the cut ends of the stems into boiling water for about one minute and then immediately place them in cool water. Keep the flowers away from the steam to prevent them from being damaged. You may also singe the cut ends of the stems with a flame for a few seconds before placing them in cool water. Place vase of treated flowers in a cool place for at least 18-24 hours before they are used in arrangements.

Poinsettia Fun Facts

Other than their use as stunning holiday decorations, how much do you really know about poinsettias?

Native to Mexico, the poinsettia was first introduced into the United States in 1825 by Joel Poinsett.
In its natural surroundings, the poinsettia is a perennial flowering shrub that grows up to 10 feet tall.
The showy part of the plant, the part that most of us call flowers, are actually colored bracts or modified leaves.
Poinsettias have been called ‘lobster flower’ or ‘flame leaf flower’ by many in the past.
Poinsettias are mildly poisonous. The milky sap can cause a skin irritation for some and an upset stomach if consumed in large quantities.
Poinsettias represent 85 percent of holiday season potted plant sales and are the best selling flowering potted plant in the U.S., even though most are sold in only a six week period before the holidays.
Dec 12^th is National Poinsettia Day!

Ideas for Creating Winter Interest in the Garden

How does your winter landscape look from inside your home? Even if it’s bleak and uninteresting, it can be easy to renovate and redecorate – just treat it like your home! Perk it up by using your indoor decorating skills outdoors.

When you decorate your house, you make it interesting and inviting by hanging pictures on the walls, creating focal points with houseplants or statuary, adding color and displaying collections. A garden is no different. Texture, layers, colors, scents, sounds and movement all combine to create a wonderful space to enjoy when outside in the summer and from inside the house during the winter.

If the temperatures are low and the snow is deep you can’t plant right now, but these plants could go on your wish list in your gardening journal to enhance the view next winter. Here are some suggestions to get your dreaming started…

Colorful Berries

Not only can berries add an easy burst of color to the landscape no matter which direction you view it from, but they can attract winter wildlife as well. Winter berries may be black, white, red, orange, pink, purple, blue or golden. Popular options include…

Hollies (Ilex spp.)
Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia)
Korean Barberry (Berberis koreana)
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
Florida Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Cotoneaster varieties
Creeping Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina domestica)
Winter King Hawthorn (Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’)
Linden Viburnum (Viburnum dilatatum)
European Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus)
Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)
Crabapples (Malus spp.)

Ornamental Bark

Exfoliating, or peeling, barks may reveal underlying bark of the same or differing color. Patterned, ridged or furrowed bark offers visual interest, especially against snow. Consider…

Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum)
Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum)
Arctic Fire Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera)
Redosier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)
Cinnamon Clethra (Clethra acuminata)
Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera)
Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)

Seed Heads

Although we often deadhead plants as blossoms die, leaving a few to overwinter is a fabulous idea. Not only do they provide uniquely organic winter sculptural interest to the garden, but they also provide feed and protection for birds. Winter seed heads, when backlit by the low winter sun, really add pop in the landscape. Try leaving some seed heads on the following plants…

Hydrangeas
Roses
Sedums such as Autumn Joy
Rudbeckias
Echinacea
Astilbe
Caryopteris

Unusual Branching

Especially beautiful when encased in ice, unusual branching patterns create natural focal points pulling the viewer’s vision through the winter garden. These plants prove a winter garden doesn’t need to be boring…

Twisting Growth:

Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’)
Curly Willow (Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’)
Twisty Cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica ‘Rasen-Sugi’)
Dwarf Twisty Baby Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Lacy Lady’)
Contorted White Pine (Pinus strobus ‘Contorta’)

Weeping Shape:

Weeping Cherry (Prunus subhirtella varieties)
‘Lavender Twist’ Weeping Redbud (Cersis canadensis ‘Covey’)
Weeping Crabapples (Malus spp.)
Maples (Acer spp.)

Ornamental Grasses

Nothing adds structure to the winter garden like ornamental grasses. Whether blowing in the breeze and adding movement or covered with reflective ice, grasses add texture, volume and the subtle colors of seed heads. Great options include…

Silvergrass (Miscanthus spp.)
Switchgrass (Panicum spp.)
Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium)
Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’)
Fountaingrass (Pennisetum alopecuroides or P. setaceum ‘Purpureum’)
Tufted Hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa)
Pampas Grass (Cortaderia selloana ‘Pumila’)

Evergreens

No garden is complete without evergreens. Broadleaf evergreens and conifers establish the garden’s foundation. They anchor the beds when the perennials disappear, define boundaries and pathways and soften hard edges. Many broadleaf evergreens also provide summer flowers and fragrance.

Broadleaf Evergreens:

Aucuba japonica
Azalea and Rhododendron varieties
Boxwood varieties
Holly varieties
Laurels
Leucothue
Pieris varieties
Skimmia
Yucca

Conifers:

Spruces such as Dwarf Alberta Spruce (Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’)
Silver Korean Fir (Abies koreana ‘Horstmann’s Silberlocke’)
Umbrella Pines such as Japanese Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys verticillata)
Junipers such as Blue Star Juniper (Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’)

Bulbs

Several early bulbs emerge in the winter. Planted in the fall near entrances and along walkways, they offer their promise spring is just around the corner and can add a burst of color to the end of winter. Popular options include…

Crocus varieties
Yellow Danford Iris (Iris dandordiae)
Snowdrops
Blue Silberian Squills (Scilla)
Snow Glories (Chionodoxa)
Grape Hyacinth (Muscari)
Hyacinths

Even though you can’t being planting now, you can begin planning, and perhaps even installing, non-plant garden features such as benches, yard art or lighting. LED lighting along pathways may be high on your list and we have the newest products to help your guests navigate to your doorway in any season. A bench, arbor or trellis adds structure and interest to the garden and will make a perfect meditation spot or reading nook when the weather warms up. You might want to plan a pond, the perfect spot for a fountain or even consider adding a sundial, fire pit or other unique feature to the yard. Whatever your garden dreams, we can help you achieve them, and you’ll never look out at your winter garden and wonder what could be again!

CreatingWinterInterest_4

CreatingWinterInterest_5

7 Top Trees for Multi-Season Interest

7trees_2 What’s not to love about a tree? As they grow, their photosynthesis removes and stores carbon dioxide, maintaining a safe oxygen level for us to breathe and cleaning pollutants out of the air. They provide beauty in our gardens and parks. Many provide shade, fruit, syrup, nesting places and animal refuges. They can be a windbreak or a privacy screen. They can be ornamental and practical all at once, and can thrive with little or no care.

We want you to get the most enjoyment out of your trees. Therefore, we have selected seven underused but special trees for you to consider in your landscape. Very hardy, these trees provide all-year interest in mid-Atlantic gardens.

Of course, these aren’t the only trees with year-round interest. Harry Lauder’s Walkingstick, paperbark maple, tri-colored beech, ‘JN Strain’ musclewood and the various cherries are just a few others that can be showstoppers in your landscape throughout the year.

Come on in to see our diverse and incredible selection of beautiful trees. We’ll help you select the perfect one for your landscaping needs and ensure you enjoy it throughout the year.

Perennial Gardens, Inc.