The Green Thumb

By Cheryl Doyle Kearns

Already some of the earliest spring flowers are fading and others are coming along. If you were envious of all the beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowers blooming in your neighbors’ gardens last month, now is an ideal time to add some glory of your own.

Let’s start with trees. Magnolia ‘Sunsation’ is a tulip tree that can be tucked into a sunny corner where it will produce fragrant blooms well after our last average frost date of April 23. The flowers are flushed a soft rose at the base and blend into a creamy yellow, reminiscent of a Monet painting.

Of course, native dogwoods are now adding elegance to the spectacle, too. An extra treat for gardeners with little space and afternoon shade is the variegated dogwood Cornus kousa ‘Wolf Eyes.’ (Some plants you just have to get because of the name!) This Korean dogwood’s cream and green leaves extend the beauty long after the June blooms have faded. It stays small, reaching only 6’-10’. 

Nor would I be without redbuds in my garden. They grow wild along the edges of roads and are highly visible due to the bright reddish-purple flowers along bare branches. A species redbud, Cercis canadensis, takes center stage in my sunny front lawn and draws exclamation marks from my neighbors. It is about 20’ tall and 25’ wide, but to extend the season for these beauties, I have added the Chinese redbud, Cercis chinensis, to my woodland gardens. This is a multi-stemmed shrub, reaching about 10’ in height. I grow another of my favorites, a cultivar called ‘Forest Pansy,’ for its large purple leaves as well as its blossoms. It gradually becomes green-leaved as summer advances, but all the new growth emerges shiny deep purple.

For understory plants, I have come to appreciate some of the viburnums. Again, some of the common names are fascinating: arrowhead viburnum, hobblebush, witherod, and wayfaringtree viburnum, to name a few. Most of the viburnums have coarsely textured leaves and are deciduous (meaning they lose their leaves in the fall), but it is the shapes of the leaves, the floral displays, and the berries that are highly prized. Blooming from spring through summer, some viburnums have a fragrance that would be a parfumiere’s delight.

Other deciduous flowering shrubs include Deutzia, Spirea, and Weigela. Breeders have produced varying heights, shapes, and bloom colors as well as variegated or colored leaves for all of these. A shrub especially prized for its fragrance is the mock orange (Philadelphus coronaria), whose large white blooms appear in May and June.

Evergreen shrubs include hollies, false cypresses (Chamaecyparis obtusa), Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria), junipers, and a particularly lovely short blue form of Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica ‘Silver Smoke’). A relatively new plant to hit the market, Thujopsis dealbata, is an evergreen with flat, fan-shaped branches that are silvery-blue on the underside. It does well in light shade and tolerates considerable moisture. The overall shape is rotund and the effect delightfully soft. These all-season plants form foils for the more sparkly deciduous flowering shrubs, and are subtly beautiful in their own way, often forming interesting cones or berries.

Perennials, those non-woody flowers that generally play dead during winter months and happily delight us with new growth when we’ve really had just about enough of colder weather, are especially glorious during the spring months. One of my favorites is the peony. Although a very old plant, there are several new colors and forms being bred. The keys to success in growing peonies is to plant them very shallow and to purchase cultivars labeled “early,” as they need a certain amount of cold to make them bloom. A lovely new one called ‘Sorbet’ has blended layers of white and deep pink petals. 

In May, the earliest of the daylilies begins to bloom. There are a few with a light fragrance, but most of these beauties are grown for their colorful blossoms. However, the exceptional fragrance of the night-blooming daylily (Hemerocallis citrina) is worth a place near your patio or deck.

Another of my old-fashioned favorites with a new lease on life is the iris. Several species grow well in this area. The range of colors is truly spectacular, from the soft pastel pinks and lavenders of Iris siberica to the deep, dark mysterious colors of the Louisiana iris. If variety is the spice of life, then irises answer to that calling: irises grow at the edges of swamps, in very dry conditions, from dwarf to nearly 4’ tall, and in all colors. One of my favorites is a bearded iris called ‘Immortality.’ Its large pure white blooms last a long time, and the fragrance is light but clear; its second bloom in late fall is spectacular, especially if located so it can be seen near a plant with brilliant fall color. Among other bearded irises, I grow ‘Batik’ for both its name and its royal blue and white tie-dye effect.

Summer bulbs have been on the market for weeks, but there are still some good buys. Elephant ears with green veins or yellow spots will add spark to the garden. Asiatic and trumpet lilies, dahlia, and gladiola bulbs will add rainbows of color. Still got that Easter lily? Plant it to bloom next summer.
This spring the forecast is for containers with lots of lush, tropical-looking foliage plants. Try combining some of the striking colors of coleus or New Zealand flax with lily bulbs in a large pot for a summer-long spectacle of color. Conifers look wonderful with Zinnia angustifolia, a short and prolific white or orange flower. Those run-away plants that you like (bamboo, mint, ivy) but don’t want going wild in your garden? Container them!

Spring is, indeed, a glorious time. Dress your garden in its prettiest colors and enjoy the compliments!

Cheryl Doyle Kearns is a member of the Garden Writers of America. She frequently lectures on gardening topics and teaches horticulture through Wake Technical College’s evening program. She is the perennials buyer and does landscape design work through Martin House and Garden in Youngsville. In her spare time, she tends a garden of unusual and rare plants at her home in Franklin County.