Browsed by
Category: About Trees

Articles involving trees, shrubs, bushes, woods and hedges plus related subjects

Mahonia the Attractive Spiky Shrub

Mahonia the Attractive Spiky Shrub

Scented winter blossom attractive to early bees. Dark berries attractive to birds and sharp prickles unattractive to trespassers are just three of the reasons to grow Mahonia.

Flowering early this year this spiky shrub is renown for its winter blossom. On a still winters day the yellow flowers give off a delicate scent.

What You need to know about Mahonia

  • Growing to around 4 foot these evergreen shrubs give all year around interest.
  • I grow mine in an acid soil with Rhododendrons but they seem happy in all soils.
  • The spiky leaves make them a deterrent to intruders when planted in a mixed hedge
  • There are several varieties so try see your purchase in bloom.
  • The stems do not have spines but the leaves make up for this.
  • After flowering there are black berries loved by our local birds.

Mahonia leaves
see Early blossom on shrubs

Mahonia

Names and Named Varieties

Mahonia Japonica and Mahonia aquifolium are species to watchout for.
Mahonia nervosa is a low growing species, Creeping Oregon grape is called Mahonia repens.
The berries give rise to the name ‘Oregon Grape’ for the Mahonia
Mahonia Oregan Grape

Decorative Callicarpa Berries

Decorative Callicarpa Berries

Callicarpa bodinieri
Callicarpa bodinieri

Callicarpa Beautiful Berries

  • The violet-purple beads formed in clusters make these Callicarpa berries look exotic.
  • Every branch is strung with these bead like berries through autumn and early winter and lasts for a month once cut for indoor decoration.
  • This deciduous  shrubs can grow to 10 feet tall and may be lightly tidied up with a bit of trimming or pruning when the buds begin to swell in spring.
  • Plant in a sheltered position and avoid any excessive conditions. Put several plants together for good pollination.
  • The variety Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’ is freely available and flowers pink in July and has attractive young and old leaves.
  • Callicarpa dichotoma is commonly called the Beauty Berry.
  • The seeds are attractive to birds.

Callicarpa

Callicarpa Varieties

  • Callicarpa bodinieri or Bodinier’s Beautyberry is an ornamental shrub. It is grown in gardens for its decorative purple light-berries.
  • Callicarpa dichotoma is also called Purple Beautyberry or Early Amethyst.
  • Callicarpa japonica is related to Verbenas
  • While the Callicarpa berries are not poisonous to humans they are very bitter. You never see blue fruit (or do you know better?)

Callicarpa (Beautyberry) at Streissguth Garden in Winter

Credits
Callicarpa (Beautyberry) at Streissguth Garden in Winter by brewbooks CC BY-SA 2.0

When to Move Shrubs and Small Trees

When to Move Shrubs and Small Trees

barrow 011

A plant in the wrong place is one definition of a weed. All is not lost if this happens to be a favoured shrub or small tree. However it is nearly too late to move your shrubs this year if you want to give them the best chance of survival.

Season By Season Shrub Moving

    Autumn from late September until mid November is a good time to move shrubs and trees. The soil is still warm and you can pick a time when the soil has been soaked with Autumn rain. This encourages plants to reestablish themselves more rapidly and give them a good start into growth in Spring.
    Avoid transplanting tender or borderline hardy plants as disturbance can damage and rot roots. Frost can also penetrate broken soil more easily.

    Winter is considered too cold and wet to move even hardy specimens. From December to February you are likely to mix cold top soil with lower soil and on clay you may exacerbate water logging problems.

    Spring from March to May is the prime time for transplants. The temperatures are rising, the sunlight lasts longer and there is still moisture in the soil. Borderline hardy plants can now be moved as the chance of prolonged frost has receeded.

    Summer moving risks a shortage of water which can be very harmful to larger plants. If you must move at this time cut back previous seasons growth to reduce the leaf area, reduce wilting and speed up re-establishment. Mulch well and keep watering through to winter. It may be necessary to cover foliage with fleece in hot summer sunshine to cut water loss.

Gardeners Tips on How to Move Shrubs

  • For special shrubs cut a channel, at least 1 foot from the main stem, all around the root ball during autumn. Leave until spring when it should have grown more fibrous roots to help the transplanting. Then lift with the rootball cutting under the shrub.
  • Soak the roots the day before you plan to move and have the new hole ready so the roots do not dry out.
  • Lift a block of soil with the roots as a root ball
  • Watering the new position is more important than feeding the plant. Add slow release fertilizer if required but avoid encouraging too much soft fleshy new growth
  • Mix garden soil, compost and water retaining granules with the soil you use to back fill the new hole.
  • Prune and pinch back new shoots to get a balance between roots and top growth.

Replanting Aftercare

  • Ensure your planting hole is large enough to accommodate the new plant with space to back fill with good compost or soil.
  • Tamp the soil down as you replant, water well and mulch around the newly planted shrub
  • In the first year after replanting keep well watered with copious quantities of water. Provide a through soaking rather than a light spray that may bring roots to the surface.
  • Provide some support if the new location is windy
Winter Tree Treatment

Winter Tree Treatment

Hamamelis intermedia

Winter treatment of trees and shrubs should be well under way as we reach the middle of Autumn.

Basic Husbandry

    Prune established trees and shrubs removing dead or diseased branches. On Apple and Crab Apple trees remove inward growing shoots and badly shaped branches.
    Thin out weak shoots from climbing shrubs and hard prune misshapen or neglected plants like Solanum. Vines should be pruned by mid February or they will bleed sap. Cut back straggly Hamamellis lightly after flowering if required.

    Water during autumn. Drying winds and lack of rain water can create drought-like conditions. Evergreens, such as hollies and rhododendrons are especially susceptible to dehydration since they lose moisture through the pores in the undersides of their leaves. Kkeep watering your newly planted trees and shrubs right up until the ground freezes

    Mulch is a natural treatment for your trees in winter. It is no surprise that woodlands are covered in a thick, natural layer of rotting leaves from Autumn onwards.

    Tidy up deciduous hedges with a light trim while you can still see the frame work. Collect any remaining loose leaves for composting.
    Stake any trees that have suffered from wind rock during winter. Water young trees if the soil is dry.

Safety Treatment

    Protect trunks and the bark of delicate ornamental trees from cracking by wrapping the trunk with strips of sacking. Wind them diagonally around the trunk, and secure the strips with twine. Protect young trees from Rabbits and Deer with chicken wire or a mesh surround.

    Chemical treatments for winter coddling moth such as tar oil or proprietary sprays can be applied. Alternatively use grease bands on fruit trees.

    Fertilisers are best kept until early spring but I do spread my compost heap and wood ash around trees in winter.

Far away tree

Prepare sites for planting.
Plant bare root roses when there is no frost in the ground, soak them in water for an hour first. Add compost and Blood Fish and Bone fertilizer and Mycorrhizal Fungi to encourage health root growth to a wide hole.
Plant seeds of trees and shrubs but be prepared for long germination periods.
Propagate Clerodendrum and Rhus from root cuttings.
Maintain good drainage and improve soil conditions

My Seed Purchase for Cloud Pruning

My Seed Purchase for Cloud Pruning

I have just updated my 50 Top Seed Companies published in 2010.

A new entrant in my list, RP Seeds, offered Ilex crenata that I want to try for small topiary projects. As usual I am not content with buying just one packet of seeds so I ordered the following.

Expensive topiary ...

 

Ilex crenata (Japanese Holly)

Evergreen small tree / shrub, native to Japan, China and Korea with very small, dark green, glossy leaves and white flowers and black fruits on mature trees.  Famous for its use as Topiary Cloud Trees and widely seen in Japanese gardens.  Makes a good alternative to box for topiary and an excellent species for Bonsai.  Note: Patience needed as seeds can take many months to germinate.

  • Hardy Tree
  • Height: 3-5m
  • Position: Sun or semi-shade

Packet of 10 seeds

Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair Tree)

Fantastic tree for any garden which is one of the world’s oldest species dating back 180 million years to prehistoric times.  Has very ornate, fan shaped, lime green leaves which turn clear yellow in autumn.  Grows rapidly from seed, is very hardy and extremely tolerant of pollution. A favourite for Bonsai.

  • Hardy Tree
  • Height: to 25m but can be pruned to any size
  • Position: Semi-shade

Standard packet  -  5 seeds

Zelkova serrata (Japanese Grey Bark Elm)

Fantastic tree for autumn colour with sharply-toothed, finely-pointed foliage turning many shades of yellow and orange in autumn. A Bonsai classic (see photo), remarkable for how well it mimics its full grown shape in miniature. Easy to grow from seed and fully hardy when mature. Will need frost protection for the first couple of winters.
Winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit

  • Hardy Tree
  • Height: 5m if not pruned
  • Position: Sun

Standard packet  -  20 seeds

Koelreuteria paniculata (Golden Rain Tree)

Unusual and interesting tree with pinnate foliage which emerges green in spring and turns bright yellow in autumn.  Bears lovely panicles of yellow flowers in summer followed by strange, yet attractive lantern-like, inflated, bronze-pink fruits.  Easy to grow from seed.

Winner of the Award of Garden Merit.

  • Hardy Tree (to -5C) Protect when young and in extreme winters until mature
  • Height: up to 10m
  • Position: Sun and well drained soil

Standard packet  -  25 seeds

Lupinus cruikshankii Sunrise (Lupin)

Striking annual Lupin with blue-green foliage and rising tiers of azure-blue, white and gold flowers.  Very different to the usual Lupin and excellent for cutting.  Easy to grow and can be direct sown outdoors.

  • Hardy annual
  • Height: 90-100cm
  • Flowers: Summer
  • Position: Sun or semi shade

The lupins I ordered to make up the cost to £10 to avoid paying any postage.

I am still waiting for my biennial and hardy perennial seeds to arrive from Wallis seeds who seem a bit slower than usual after I ordered on the internet for the first time.

Acknowledgments Photo Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) by wallygrom

    ‘Expensive topiary …

    An Ilex crenata topiary creation – costing £3999 … imagine forgetting to water it one day … This was at Wisley Gardens, in the garden center.

    Ilex crenata is also known as Japanese Holly. It is a small-leaved evergreen Holly of slow growth, eventually reaching 4-6 metres. It is ideal for topiary, or as a tightly clipped low hedge. The fruits are small, shiny black berries. There are a number of cultivars from this species.

    Native to Japan, Korea, and the Sakhalin Islands. Introduced to the UK in about 1864.’

I need a deal of patience and a lot of gardeners luck to succeed with theses trees but I am an eternal optimist when it comes to gardening.

How To Take Cuttings for Big Shrubs

How To Take Cuttings for Big Shrubs

Forget 6 inch cuttings, for bigger shrubs use bigger cuttings. Giant cuttings of 18-36 inches may be worthwhile on the following:- Cistus, Euonymous, Hebe, Leycesteria, Weigelia, Pyracantha or Kerria japonica. I have a friend who excels with Roses taken this way.
Also read Gardeners tips Taking cuttings for beginners

Proceedure for Cuttings

  • Water the host plant well the evening before taking cuttings.
  • Take cutting early in the day, keep out of the sun and spray with water to minimise wilting.
  • Select a shoot with plenty of new growth. Cut it off cleanly at the base where it comes from a branch or cut below a swelling leaf node instead.
  • Remove any flowers, lower leaves and soft tips by pinching out
  • If the cutting has a woody bark remove a sliver an inch long to aid rooting.
  • Have available one litre pots full of a free draining mix of grit and multipurpose compost.
  • Dip the end of the cutting in fresh hormone rooting compound, such as Murphy’s, plant and water in
  • Place in a humid environment eg. a plastic bag over the pot supported by canes, so leaves don’t touch the sides, and tied with a rubber band.
  • Keep in a shady spot removing dead leaves regularly.
  • In about 5-6 weeks, when rooted, acclimatise to outside conditions and overwinter in a sheltered spot
  • Plant out in March

Climber Cutting Tips …

Read More Read More

Spotted Laurel Acuba Japonica Crotonifolia

Spotted Laurel Acuba Japonica Crotonifolia

Spotted Laurel

A good sized shrub the Laurels are sold under several family names.

The Spotted Laurel Acuba is an evergreen shrub for almost anywhere in the garden.

  • I grow mine 5 feet tall in quite dark shade.
  • It is quite slow growing but very hardy.
  • Shade helps the yellow spots – strong sun encourages green chlorophyll
  • The soil is moist and rich but it would also do as a hedge plant in ground.
  • Shrubs may be strictly pruned as hedges, left to grow unchecked, or lightly trimmed to shape once annually, always using secateurs to avoid cutting the large leaves.
  • All parts of the plant are poisonous, take care with the seeds.
  • Propagate by softwood cuttings in spring/summer or less reliably by seed.
  • Crotonifolia and Variegata are the best varieties. Both are female so they produce red berries which usually last from the autumn  through to spring.

 

More images

Magic and Green Simmia

Magic and Green Simmia

Magic Marlot Skimmia

‘Magic Marlot’

  • Compact evergreen shrub grows perfectly in containers to give a wonderful display. Forms a  mounded, upright, evergreen that works for the border, garden bed or large containers.
  • The variegated foliage is medium green with a cream edge.
  • Autumn produces green-white buds that turn wine red as the temperature drops.
  • Spring brings rich-flowering, pink tinged white blooms.
  • Tolerant of heat, frost, shade and dry soils.
  • Spacing   24 – 36″,  Height : 12 – 18″,  Width : 12 – 24″

 

Kew Green Skimmia

Skimmia ‘Kew Green’

  • This low to medium sized shade tolerant shrub provides much needed winter blossom.
  • Scent from male plants  is followed by attractive berries on the female form.
  • Attractive foliage and makes Skimmias ideal as ground cover in problematic shady areas.
  • Skimmia ‘Kew Green’ prefers a well drained neutral to acidic soil that is reasonably fertile yet well drained,
  • Skimmia flourishes in full or partial shade.
  • Trim to shape after flowering and mulch occasionally.
  • Ideal flowering shrub for problem clay soils.

Rubella Skimmia

 

Rubella’  Award of Garden Merit (AGM)

  • There are numerous lovely skimmias, generally from the Himalayas and the Far East. Skimmias form evergreen shrubs of varying heights.
  • Most are ‘dioecious’, meaning they have male and female flowers on different plants, and both sexes must be planted to ensure a crop of fruits.
  • ‘Rubella’ is a compact male variety with attractive red-margined, dark green leaves.
  • The flower buds, which appear in autumn and winter, are a prominent feature of the plant, as are the scented flowers which open in spring.
  • It is perfect for growing in containers and provides good all year round colour.

 

Read about other Skimmia species and Skimmia for buds and berries.

Be Witch Hazels Hamamelis in Bloom

Be Witch Hazels Hamamelis in Bloom

Hamamelis x intermedia primavera
Hamamelis x intermedia primavera was flowering on an open shrub. It was about 5 feet high and had a 7-9 feet circumference.

Hamamelis x intermedia Orange Beauty

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Orange Beauty’ was 8 feet tall and well furnished with scented blossom.

Hamamelis x intermedia Jelena
Hamamelis x intermedia Jelena was the star of the display at Harlow Carr gardens on the 1st February. They obviously like the acid soil conditions and showed no sign of the cold December spell we all suffered.

…

Read More Read More