Each spring I am amazed by the selection and qualities of the new plants for our west coast gardens.  I spend much of the fall and winter sorting through to choose the very best ones for our nursery; the ones that suit Campbell River and the ones that really sound like improvements on old favourites.  For 2013 we have many new items so let's get started!

... and Buddleia 'Peach Cobbler Flutterby Grande'

Two new repeat blooming buddleias that are more compact and bushy than the original in fresh new colours.  Hardy to zone 5 these buddleias will mature in your garden to 4' tall and up to 5' wide.  The flowering is also heavier with extra large flowers of either pink or peach that butterflies love.

Autumn is such a magical time in the garden.  With summer behind us the light is softening to golden hues and the shadows are getting long and a lot of plants are preparing for winter.  At the same time some plants have been waiting all spring and summer to delight us with their showiest season - Autumn.

Some plants will dazzle us with fall colours of rich burgundy, red, gold and orange and others will more delicately change to apricot, soft yellows and dusty rose.  All in my mind are beautiful but finding stunning combinations is as important as the plants themselves.  For example; I love the way the deep, dark, plum leaves of Cotinus (Smoke Bush) illuminate in the fall to salmon-pink tones.  However when Smoke Bush are combined with Pampas Grass (and maybe a little bit of a wrought iron fence or railing in behind) you have a gorgeous vignette to look upon, not only in the summer but also in the fall.  This is a little combo I've been looking for a place around my house for a while. 

Here are just a few of the plants that I think are interesting for using for fall and winter interest.  Some have interesting leaves or fall colour, some have beautiful stems and some have gorgeous berries.

Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' (Twig Dogwood)

The best thing about these new hydrangeas is that they re-bloom all summer long!  The wonderful plant breeders at Proven Winner and Ball Horticulture have developed some truly amazing new plants for your garden. 

The following hydrangeas all bloom on new growth, meaning that they begin to bloom in June (instead of July) and continue to bloom all summer long, then into the fall and right up until the frost stops 'em.

If you like to cut hydrangeas to enjoy indoors these hydrangeas will quickly re-set their blooms and be back in flower before you know it.

Pruning is also easy with these re-blooming hydrangeas.  Simply trim them to the height you require in Spring and they will bloom that same summer.  This makes them also ideal container plants.

Hydrangea arborescens Bella Anna

Sugar Moon

 Hybrid Tea - Super fragrant pure white

This rose is a beauty!  I was lucky enough to get to trial this rose last year and it is the nicest fragrant white rose I have ever come across.  Lovely deep, dark green leaves compliment the classic white roses.  Sugar Moon showed good vigor and good re-bloom but it will be the fragrance you will love...  

Ketchup & Mustard

Floribunda - Ketchup red/mustard yellow bicolour

Most gardeners are very well acquainted with evergreen Azaleas and they are truly beautiful however, it is the deciduous varieties (bare stems in winter) that I would like to share with you today.

Deciduous Azalea shrubs grows about 4-7' tall but can easily be trained to stay at about 4' in height. Their shape is vase like at the base with the top filling out with asymmetrical layers that are very picturesque. This artistic shape lends itself well to being planted behind low growing shrubs that reach only 2 or 3 feet in height.

The flowers of the deciduous azalea are similar in shape to the more common evergreen varieties but they tend to be slightly larger, often beautifully fragrant and glowing in colour rather than deep coloured. They are available in colours ranging from pure white, through yellow, peach, orange, red and pink. The sweet scent of the plant near my front door engulfs the entranceway and wafts into any nearby open windows.

Perhaps the best part of these wonderful plants is how they attract butterflies. It is the only shrub in my garden that the swallowtail and monarch butterflies visit every year. It is wonderful to sit and watch them light and set onto the flowers while they are in bloom.

Plant these easy to grow shrubs in sun or shade, with bonemeal, peatmoss, and manure. Water well until established.

Enjoy!

One of the most delightful additions to the autumn garden are shrubs that produce an abundance of ornamental berries. These berries are often loved by birds as well as humans and therefore bring nature a step closer to our homes as well as being colourful. Garden shrubs have berries in a full range of colours such as red, black, white, pink and purple. Some of our favourite berried treasures are as follows:-

Aronia melicarpa 'Autumn Magic'

This plant is very much loved by birds! Tiny bright white flowers turn to large shiny black berries in fall while glossy green leaves in fall turn brilliant red. Grows easily in sun or part sun to 5 or 6 feet tall. Zone 3

Callicarpa bodinieri 'Profusion' ~ Beauty Berry

Callicarpa is probably the berried shrub that gets the most fuss when it is discovered by gardeners. The berries are really purple! Small polished purple berries in large clusters adorn the bare branches of callicarpa. Callicarpa is easy to grow. Plant it in part to full sun. Grows 6-8 feet tall. Zone 5

Cotoneaster

Burning bush is simply spectacular when it turns colour in the fall and the glowing pinkish-red leaves give no doubt to why the name was chosen. The branches radiate in an upright to slightly arching form so that it's shape has beautiful symmetry 12 months of the year.

It has small yellow flowers in late Spring and red berries that open to show off small but interesting orange coated seeds in the fall. It can be used as a specimen plant, deciduous hedge or mass planted for it's dramatic fall show.

Campbell Riverites enjoy the fiery red colour of the burning bush mass planted at the Strathcona Pool/Arena. Although slightly stressed from hot summers and surrounded by hot pavement these plants are quite beautiful in early fall.

In the home garden you will find your plants to be a little bit more lush and although a little later to colour-up, the fall coloured leaves will hold a little longer before falling for winter.

Burning bush usually grow to about 5 feet tall and wide although we have a spectacular specimen at the Garden Centre that is about 5 foot tall and 8 feet across. Never fear, burning bush can be pruned although it is rarely necessary. Pruning (if necessary) would consist of trimming any growth that mars the plants symmetry or a light pruning over all to keep the size in balance with your garden.

Camellias are definitely one of the most beautiful early blooming shrubs for the coastal garden. Like rhododendrons they prefer a lightly shaded or morning sun location and they are perfectly at home in our naturally acidic soil. Shiny dark green leaves adorn this plant year round creating a wonderful backdrop to the spectacular spring blooms. Pink, red, white, coral and yellow blooms surprise and delight many gardeners in the very early spring (March) with their truly gorgeous colours and forms.

Camellias like moist acidic soil and a position out of the hot afternoon sun. They usually grow 6-8 feet in height and 4-6 feet in width. They are easily pruned to maintain a smaller size by removing 1/3 of the height and width immediately after blooming.

Plant your new Camellia with a large handful of bonemeal, peat moss and steer manure right in the hole with your plant and then add a handful of rock phosphate on the ground surface after planting to encourage flower formation for the next season. Rock phosphate is also beneficial to mature Camellias that are setting too few blooms.

Many gardeners love Hydrangeas! Just a few of the reasons why are because they love our climate, they look great in the garden and they make wonderful cut flowers both fresh and dried. I must confess I am not an indoor gardener so my home is filled with baskets and pots of dried blooms that keep the summer garden a lovely memory.

One of the most popular varieties of Hydrangea is the lovely P.G. Hydrangea. The blooms on these are very large cone shape blooms that begin white with a faint greenish ting, turning pure white next for most of the time and then aging to a dusky pink.

To grow P. G. Hydrangeas choose a site that is either half sun and shade or full sun. These hydrangeas can handle much more sun then the well know mop head (Hydrangea macrophylla) varieties. In fact because these are hardy to -30F/-34C these are often grown in the hot summer climates of the BC interior.

They can be grown as a shrub or a standard (single trunk tree with full top). P.G. Hydrangeas bloom on new wood so therefore are pruned in the early Spring because they will form their flower buds on the new growth (unlike many mophead types). They are not fussy for soil type but still add a bit of peat and manure with your bonemeal and water regularly especially when it is hot.