A plant I fancy: Oxydendrum arboreum

*Updated to ensure pictures are properly credited
Scientific name: Oxydendrum arboreum
Common name(s): Sourwood, sorrel tree
Height x Width: 25-30' x 20'
Growth rate: slow
Hardiness: Zones 5-9
Soil: Prefers acidic, well-drained soil that is high in organic matter
Light: Full sun to partial shade



Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

 Reasons I like it:

• It's a native plant and although it normally appears in more mountainous areas, sourwood is local to Maryland
• It provides multi-season interest with flowers midsummer, bright red foliage in the fall, and interesting fruit capsules and bark during winter
• It has a fairly narrow canopy



Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

 Where would I put it?
In the front yard, either in the island or along the left property line


Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

I've been considering a combination of serviceberries and a redbud for the front yard island bed, but now I'm leaning towards a sourwood instead of the redbud.  It's a more slow-growing tree, so it probably wouldn't outgrow the space any time soon.  Furthermore, it has a much more narrow canopy, so it wouldn't shade out all of the grass my husband is working so diligently to grow.  Finally, it's a little more unique and a little less showy than a redbud. 

We have so many other flowering shrubs in the front yard, a redbud that flowers pinkish purple at the exact same time wouldn't make as much of an impact as a tree that blooms when everything has finished and then has really brilliant fall color.  Since it has similar soil preferences to azaleas, it should do well in a bed with them.  I've also see the suggestion to plant it with pieris japonica and lily of the valley which would echo the delicate urn-shaped flowers. 

Although it is a native tree, I can't remember ever seeing it and I'm not even sure it's available in the local nurseries.  Have you ever see a sourwood tree?  How do you think it holds up against a redbud?

Garden Parts: The Driveway

This bed is on the opposite side of the driveway from the mailbox bed.  It's a quite a jumble of plants and weeds.

I would like to make this bed match the mailbox bed as much as possible.  One thing I like about it is that it has the bright red azalea, which is also in the mailbox bed and on the far corner of our front yard.  I think those three azaleas help show the boundaries of our front yard and unify three seperate areas.  Another great thing about this bed is it doesn't look quite so dead over the winter because of all the evergreen shrubs.

Right now, the bed features a mugo pine and a bird's nest spruce up front, which I plan on keeping and trimming.  There's another unidentified evergreen shrub which I'll keep, a clump of volunteer holly I will probably pull up, and a fairly stunted nandina .  As far as perennials go, there are some fall chrysanthemums practically underneath the Mugo Pine (I'll try to move these), there are some plants that look like they could be daylillies, and there's  a cluster of Sedum.  In addition to the large red azalea, I found a tiny pink azalea (basically one stick, three leaves, and one flower).  There are also a lot of weeds, saplings, and debris that need to be cleaned up.



A tree growing through an azalea.

Since the mailbox bed is not going to be designed until next year, I guess I'll focus on weeding in this bed for now.  Next year, I'll edge it with whatever perennials are used in the mailbox bed.  I'm especially leaning towards monarda, perovskia, bearded iris, shasta daisies, lavender, rosemary, creeping phlox and thyme.  If I end up using nandina behind the mailbox, I'll probably mirror that in this bed as well. 

Look what I found: Rhododendron catawbiense (?)

I think this is Rhododendron catawbiense, or Catawba Rhododendron.  I looked at hundreds of pictures of rhododendrons and evaluated things like leaf size, plant habit, bud and bark.  I still kind of feel like I'm guessing.  I'm going to record the characteristics of our rhododendrons/azaleas in more detail and over the winter I will try to identify/classify them.

The Catawba rhododendron is a large rounded shrub native to the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.  Its flowers range from white to pinkish purple and bloom towards the late midseason.  Its broad, leathery, hairless leaves grow up to five inches long.  After ten years, the Catawba rhododendron should reach a height of about five feet.

I enjoyed watching the flowers emerge from their buds.  The blooms are bright and the huge pom-poms of flowers are quite flashy.  However, since they're only scattered about on the shrub, they don't seem as garish to me as the azaleas did.  I also prefer the broad leaves of this rhododendron to our smaller azaelas.

We only have one "adult" Catawba rhododendron and it's in the backyard understory between the lawn and the woods.  However, immediately behind the Catawba Rhododendron, I found at least a dozen baby plants.  It looks like I need to start researching how to transplant rhododendrons!

Wordless Wednesday

Favorites: William Paca House Plant Sale

The William Paca House and Garden is a landmark in Annapolis.  It was built by William Paca between 1763 and 1765 and was one of the first five-part Georgian homes in Annapolis.  After Paca sold the house in 1780, it changed hands several times until it was acquired by William A. Larned and restyled as a hotel in 1901.  The hotel, known as "Carvel Hall", was in operation until the 1960's. 

 

 

In 1965, there were plans to demolish Carvel Hall, but the Historic Annapolis Foundation purchased it and restored the house and garden to their original colonial-era state.  The William Paca House and Garden was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

 

The William Paca House and Garden is a great resource in Annapolis.  It is open for tours daily and there are concerts, summer camps, art classes and more hosted on the grounds.  It is even possible to use the house and garden for weddings or other special occasions.

 

It is probably no surprise that my favorite event at the Paca House is their plant sale, which is held on Mother's Day weekend every year.


This plant sale is crazy.  Even thought it opens at 10:00am, people start lining up at 9:00am.  Certain plants have very limited numbers, and as soon as the gates open, people charge through the garden to get them first.  All of the plants are grown locally by Paca Garden volunteers.  Most plants are native, heirloom, or hold some historical interest (for instance - cuttings of William Paca Holly or Washington's Buckeye).

A list of plants available for sale this weekend is available online at www.pacagarden.org.

I've had very good luck with the plants I've gotten at this sale in previous years.  The prices are also quite good - from what I can remember, the plants are usually between $3 and $6.  The only problem I've ever had with the sale is that the shrubs and trees they offer are a bit on the small side.  Again, though, if you're paying $5 for an oakleaf hydrangea, you can't expect it to be in a gallon pot.

Although I'm not supposed to buy any plants until July, I am willing to make an exception for the sake of tradition.  I've looked through the plant catalogue and will try to get a couple of of the following:

• Asarum canadense - Wild Ginger
• Chelone lyonii - Turtlehead
• Sanguinaira canadensis - Bloodroot
• Sedum sp. - Creeping sedum
• Sedum ternatum 'Larineum Park'
• Stylophorum diphyllum - Celandine or Wood Poppy

If you're going to attend the plant sale this weekend, I recommend getting there early.  

1 Martin Street
Annapolis, MD

 

Saturday 10:00am - 4:00pm
Sunday 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Look what I found: Arisaema triphyllum

Also known as Jack-in-the-Pulpit

I was so excited to find an arisaema triphyllum, or Jack-in-the-Pulpit, along the woodland path.  It's a native plant, but it looks really exotic...almost tropical.  Starting next month or so, the spadix (which is the little pokey thing the ant is crawling on in the photo above) will start growing a cluster of fruits which should turn bright red in the fall.

Although arisaemas are supposed to naturalize, I found a lot of people posting online that they only have one or two specimens that come back every year.  One of my plant propagation books, (Making More Plants, by Ken Druse), had detailed instructions for harvesting and cleaning the fruits and growing arisaema from seed.  Future project?  Probably.


In this photo, you can see a smaller plant in the bottom right

I only found two in the woods, but I hope to make a little patch out of them.

Flashback

We've had a busy non-gardening weekend, so here are a few of my favorite photos from the garden at the old house.