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Japanese Maples for Spring Color

Japanese Maples for Spring Color

Japanese Maples come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, colors, growth habits and foliage types, offering the home gardener a myriad of choices to suit each individual’s taste.  All of these trees get outstanding autumn color, but gardeners should note their spring foliage tones as well…

What Exactly Is A "Tree"?

What Exactly Is A "Tree"?

What is the image that comes to your mind when I say the word ‘tree’?  Is it one of our towering conifers like a Doug Fir or Western Red Cedar, or maybe our native Big Leaf Maple?  Or perhaps your thoughts go to the mighty Oak or Weeping Willow or Sycamore.  These are all large specimens that have the classic morphology of what most of us think of as a tree.  But, can a ‘tree’ also be…

A June Standout - Korean Dogwoods And Their Hybrids

A June Standout - Korean Dogwoods And Their Hybrids

Starting in late March our native dogwood tree, Cornus nutallii, starts bloomin and then in the month of May we can observe the eastern dogwood tree, Cornus florida. Finally, in the month of June the Korean dogwoods, Cornus kousa, come into bloom. They are a slightly larger tree with more of a rounded form and can also bloom in either white or shades of pink…

2021 - The Year Of The Hardy Hibiscus

2021 - The Year Of The Hardy Hibiscus

Due to the National Gardening Bureau declaring 2021 the Year of the Hardy Hibiscus, I find myself back once again visiting these reliable and late blooming perennial and shrubby plants. For color well into the end of summer, they are hard to beat. Let’s start with the perennial form first…