Last week, I shared some late color from my USDA zone 7 garden in the green and yellow range; this week, we'll blaze out! Get out your sunglasses and enjoy the color.
Glowing Towards Red
Dwarf Fothergilla is a grand plant for the shady garden, if you garden between USDA zones 5 - 8, and can provide the acid soil they want. They prefer a peaty, sandy loam, but mine have accommodated themselves to well-amended clay. These mildly suckering shrubs do well in partial shade, although they will flower better and their leaves will color more with some sun. You can see the difference in this image. The leaf that's a rosy apricot-orange is from the sunny side of the shrub. Even more sun will produce reds, too. Although it's obvious that somebody nibbled on these leaves, these plants aren't troubled by insects or diseases. Their white, honey-scented, bottle-brush flowers perfume the garden in spring. According to Dirr, they require good drainage; then he goes on to say that they are a Coastal Plain species, often found around the edges of ponds or boggy depressions called pocasins. This seems a bit contradictory to me. Do any of you grow this in a damp spot?
Maples Maples are noted for fall color, and the Paperbark Maple is no exception. This is a choice small tree, slowly reaching twenty to thirty feet (6.09 - 9.14m) in height. Spread will be about half the height. The common name comes from the exfoliating bark, a trait that starts in about the second or third year and gets more pronounced with age. Bark color can vary, but it's usually a nice cinnamon brown. Hardy to USDA zones 4 or 5 to 8, it prefers a well-drained, moist soil, but does well in clay and is pH adaptable. This is another plant that supposedly requires full sun, but is doing well for me in partial shade. Mine is still small (and living in a 5 gal. nursery container). This is the first year it's produced the large, velvety seed pods. I'm going to sow the seed and see if anything comes of it. I don't have my hopes too high since seed viability is low and the seed wall is so tough that the emerging root radical has a hard time penetrating it. But, I always figure it's worth a try. The seed does require at least three months stratification at 41F (5C).
If you don't grow deciduous Azaleas, you really should treat yourself to one. This one is 'Strawberry Ice'. I'm pretty certain it's a Knap Hill hybrid, although when I got it from Bluestone, years ago, they didn't actually say what it was. The flowers in spring are pretty spectacular; the foliage stays nice all season and you get the bonus of fall color, lasting into November for me. In winter, the branching habit is good and the fat flower buds for next year are full of promise. They have the same soil requirements as all of this genera and do well in dappled shade - true woodland conditions. Most of the hybrids will be hardy to -10F (-23C). The species can be a tad pickier about location and conditions. I've managed to kill a few of those that I let get too dry.
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