Snow Falling on Cornus

The snow that fell last Sunday looked beautiful on many of the trees at the Arnold Arboretum. As far as I could tell, there was little damage done. This is my favorite specimen of Cornus officinalis dusted with snow. I liked the way the sun made it look both silver and gold.

I wasn't familiar with this Chinese species of winter-hazel called Corylopsis glandulifera. It was burning bright in the plantings from Asia on Bussey Hill.

 This Cornus kousa tree looked spectacular covered in snow.

I had mixed feelings about the snow covering the tender and vulnerable white buds and blossoms of this saucer magnolia in front of the Hunnewell Building. This cultivar called Magnolia ×soulangeana 'Candolleana' came to the Arnold Arboretum from the Biltmore Estate in 1895.

Pairs, Spares and Bears

Before plants leaf out is the perfect time to examine the placement of hardscape elements and evergreens in the garden. It is the logical place that I like to begin when I design a garden: make it look good in the the winter and you are off to a good start. New Hampshire granite and round boxwoods are the unifying elements in my garden. I contemplate box placement this time of year; perhaps too much. My garden has many classical symmetrical design elements. There are multiple focal points in the garden that call for some symmetry. In the Upper Garden, I placed a pair of boxwoods to frame the focal point, a Cornus officinalis tree. The symmetry was too 'perfect' and several years later, I added another single boxwood creating symmetry and asymmetry simultaneously. I call it 'a pair and a spare'. In other parts of the gardens I have designed, I have placed boxwoods in 'one', 'twos' and 'threes'. When I do that, it reminds me of the three bears; Papa bear, Mama bear, and Baby bear. In the Upper Garden the far end has 'a pair and a spare'. To the right there is a 'two' or a Mama bear/Baby bear combo and a single 'one' by itself to the far right.

The pair of stewartias on either side of the granite bench focal, a central focal point, were supposed to be symmetrical. However, I planted them from seed collected at the Arnold Arboretum and they were siblings with the same mother but different fathers. Clones would have been symmetrical, if I had thought of that, I may have done that. For many years there different size and bark attributes of each plant bothered me. A couple years ago, I added a third very small stewartia to the right of the midline. The third stewartia created a simultaneous symmetrical and asymmetric dynamic again.

The Upper Garden from the bedroom window. The tumble of boxwoods appear to be 'rolling" down the hill in the Hall with Balls

A pair and a spare configuration looking into the Hall with Balls from the Upper Garden

A Mama bear/Bady bear combination in the Upper Garden

Balls "rolling" down the hill

Another view looking down the steps in the Hall with Balls

 

The third stewartia is barely visible from above. I like the idea that the original pair are placed symmetrically and the third smaller tree will create a Papa bear/Mama bear/Baby bear grove one day.

At the steps leading from the Blue Bench Terrace, I planted a pair of cherry trees, Prunus x 'Hally Jolivette’, that will create an archway over time. I added a third on the left, and slightly down hill to create a grove, while the top two trees remain symmetrical. There was just a pair of boxwoods flanking the stairs when I first planted this garden. In some ways it felt too perfect and it didn't stop the eye from proceeding to the next garden. I added a single on the right and a pair, one larger, the other smaller, on the left. I this way, I kept the symmetry and created a grouping at the same time.

This year I began to add a handfull of boxwoods in the lowest garden, the Woodland Garden. I don't want it to appear too formal but I was interested in creating the impression that several balls escaped their formal confines in the two upper gardens and rolled into the wild garden. Time will tell if this was a good idea.

The Aftereffects of Subtraction in The Hall With Balls

The Hall with Balls was particularly serene this past week. I always love the round boxwoods dusted with snow. The Cornus officinalis tree can be seen off center in this view and to the far left below.

Several posts ago, I made a decision to remove two upright Junipers. In the process, a granite wall, which can be seen to the left of the steps, was revealed. I am very pleased with the simplicity that resulted.

The  granite post in the Woodland Garden can be seen through the two archways looking particularly beautiful as a focal point calling the eye and the visitor forward.

Allowing a Shrub to Become a Small Tree

The Cornus officinalis in the Hall with Balls is the focal point as you cross the Upper Garden to the granite steps leading to the Lower Garden. It has had a full shrubby appearance that worked well as the hedge behind it grew and the boxwoods became larger. This tree, in many years, will become 20 feet tall and up to 30 feet wide.  As the flowers were just about to fade away, it was an excellent time to see what I was doing as I pruned the tree. The idea is to remove the lower limbs to allow more light for the box woods, to make the space seem less cluttered, and allow a large shrub transform into the elegant small tree it is destined to become.  

Groundcovers Die

July 2011

November 2013

I was getting awfully proud of my planting of native Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny spurge) in the Hall with Balls. I had gotten my original plants from Charles Cresson's Swarthmore garden over a decade ago. Year after year, I divided the plant until it created a carpet underplanting the boxwood rounds in the Hall with Balls. Just as the carpet had nearly filled in, it began to falter and gradually, then more rapidly, it disappeared. This summer it was entirely gone.

My post-mortem evaluation revealed vole activity, but more importantly, mushy roots. I knew this part of the garden was too sunny for Pachysandra procumbens but I thought as the enclosing yew hedges grew and the central Cornus officinalis matured, the garden would become progressively more shady making the Pachysandra procumbens increasingly more happy. My hypothesis is that the pachysandra had succumbed to Volutella blight, caused by the fungus Volutella pachysandricola, because it was stressed from being in too hot and dry of a situation. I will watching this part of the garden carefully because pachysandra may also be a host for boxwood blight and the Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum fungus. Apparently, plant species within the genera Buxus, Pachysandra and Sarcococca have been reported as hosts to this fungus.  Fortunately the boxwoods appear to be healthy so far.

I have replaced the pachysandra with Carex flacca 'Blue Zinger', a sedge from Europe and North Africa which has fine narrow glaucous leaves. The whispy texure of 'Blue Zinger' will contrast well against the dark green foliage of the boxwoods in the Hall with Balls and should form a clumping groundcover in about five years.

Cornus Officinalis and Hellebores in Early April

Pruning Inspiration From Pack Monadnock

Gnarly Oaks at the Peak of Pack Monadnock

The silhouette of Oaks in the Direction of Mount Washinghton

A Crabapple tree that was on the Property when we bought the House in 1989

Magnolia sieboldii Artfully (I hope) pruned

Limbed up Cornus officinalis

I hike Pack Monadnock, a mountain near my house, about 5 or 6 mornings a week. It is a 1.3 mile march up the road to the peak of the mountain--I think of it as my personal outdoor stair-master. At the top of Pack, there is a group of oak trees that, due to the extreme weather, have never gotten a chance to reach their mature size and have developed a gnarly shape over the years. I love the silhouette they produce in the sky. I often refer to my memory of them as I am pruning the small trees in my garden. Now that the leaves have fallen off the trees, it is an excellent time to evaluate the lines of the trunks and make some adjustments in order to make the branches on the trees just a little more intriguing.

Visiting an Old Friend at the Arnold Arboretum

Cornus officinalis in bud along Meadow Road at the Arnold Arboretum

Am I the only one who feels a deep kinship to certain trees? I was in Jamaica Plain yesterday for an art class and visited the Arnold Arboretum primarily to see if the Cornus officinalis was in bloom. I first met this tree about 15 years ago and it has had a lasting imprint on my gardening life.

Two decades ago, the only shrub I knew with very early yellow flowers was the ubiquitous forsythia. I had no idea a plant like Cornus officinalis existed. Like its Asian sibling, Cornus mas, it has clusters of golden yellow flowers in April, long before the more flamboyant blossoms of crab apples and magnolias come onto the scene. Later in autumn, it will have bright red fruit and striking exfoliating bark as its winter asset.

I had read about this small tree and finally got to see it in person at the Arnold Arboretum. This particular plant originated from seed collected in Japan in 1919, the year my father was born. I fell in love with its subtle charms and located a small plant for my own garden. As much as I love my tree, which finally making a presence in my garden, the Arnold tree is my favorite. It reminds me of the excitement of discovery and wonders of plants and places I had never dreamed of.

Good Combo in the Hall with Balls

Cornus officinalis and Chionodoxa sardensis are the perfect companions in the April garden. Cornus officinalis is a close relative to Cornus mas which has showier exfoliating bark and flowers about a week earlier. I have planted it in front of a yew hedge and Pinus koraiensis 'Morris Blue' to accentuate both the bark and spring flowering. Chionodxa sardensis forms a bright bluish carpet which faultlessly compliments this extraordinary dogwood.

Time to Shovel the Boxwoods

The front garden before

The front garden after

The hall with balls

We got 18 inches of wet snow today, so it is time to shovel the boxwoods. I have 37 rounded boxwoods in my garden. They are mostly a Sheridan hybrid called Buxus x 'Green Gem'. The Sheridan hybrids were developed at the Sheridan Nursery in Oakville, Ontario. They are a cross of English box, B. sempervirens, which gives them a nice dark green color, and the excellent hardiness of B. var. koreana. They have been quite happy in the exposed areas of my garden which often experience extended periods of -20 degrees F.

I first fell for boxwoods while visiting North Hill, the Readsboro, VT garden of Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd. Near the house and throughout the garden, they planted rounded boxwoods. Sixteen boxwoods add punctuation and provide a repeated rhythm in their rose garden. In 1997, I took a design class at North Hill and Joe and Wayne were talking about the importance of repetition in the garden. I decided to add spherical boxwoods to my garden to provide a unifying presence throughout the property.

In the upper front garden, I copied Bunny Williams' paired rows boxwoods on either side of the pathway. I have under-planted them with Epimedium pinnatum ssp.colchicum. I selected that plant because it is a distinctive but vigorous ground cover with handsome foliage and yellow flowers in May.

I planted 17 boxwoods on the step garden which links the upper garden to the lower garden. I like to call it the Hall with Balls. This time, I under-planted the boxwoods with the lesser known native American pachysandra, Pachysandra procumbens . I wanted to emulate the mass of round shrubs that I had read about in the late Nicole de Vesian's garden in Provence. I felt that garden should not be busy with flowers but should be an area where the visitor would "cleanse their palate" before entering the floriferous lower garden. I have also been working on pruning the Cornus officinalis tree to accentuate the bark and branching pattern of the trunks. Another Provence gardener and land artist, named Marc Nucera, has inspired me to pay closer attention to the pruning the trees as if they were sculpture.

When all the shoveling is done, I find the dark green rounds popping their heads out of the snow quite satisfying. For me, it is a subtle reminder that come summer these rounds will be popping out of foliage textures and flowers.

You might like these two books by Eck and Winterrowd: Our Life in Gardens and A Year at North Hill. Louisa Jones has two books that include the work of Nicole se Vesian and Marc Nucera: The French Country Garden and New Gardens in Provence. By the way, I think Joe Eck has written one of the most concise books on garden design called Elements of Garden Design. It has about 30 4-5 page essays on topics like intention, structure, repose and children in the garden. Each a very quick, enjoyable and informative read.

Their bark is better than their bite (Part 2)

Cercidiphyllum japonicum

January is a great time to think about interesting trees and structure in the garden. When I began making my garden, one of my first objectives was to select trees that would have beautiful characteristics in all four seasons. Gardening in New Hampshire makes the structure of the trees very important because there are no leaves on the trees from October to May.

In 1996, I took a propagation class at the Arnold Arboretum. The instructor, Jack Alexander, led us around the grounds collecting seeds from some of the most beautiful trees that are hardy to New England. One of the trees that he chose was Stewartia psuedocallia. I had six seeds germinate and become viable seedlings. I selected the two plants that seemed the most alike because I intended to plant my two trees symmetrically behind a granite bench in the garden. My trees are now about ten feet tall and are beginning to show fantastic bark that looks like camouflage or perhaps a muscular boa constrictor. When they are placed in front of a dark background the bark is a stunning feature for half the year. They also have camellia-like showy white flowers blooming in early July. Finally, they boast gorgeous autumn foliage with red and orange coloring.

The trifoliate maples, Acer griseum , Acer triflorum and Acer nikonese are all trees that are magnificent features for the winter garden. These maples mature into small trees about 25 feet tall. They have no flowers to speak of but have spectacular red and orange fall foliage. Acer triflorum, is the hardiest of the three and is robust growing in Zone 5. The bark is tan and exfoliates with age. Acer griseum , also known as the paperbark maple, has the most exquisite bark. It has beautiful reddish brown bark that exfoliates in large ribbons. It is slow-growing and takes many years to become an impressive specimen. However, Acer griseum crossed with Acer nikonese, has the unique bark of the paperbark maple with increased vigor. My first experience with the cross was a magnificent specimen along Meadow Road not far from the visitor center at the Arnold Arboretum . Acer griseum x 'Gingerbread' is an excellent hybrid. I finally tracked it down at Twombly Nursery in Monroe, CT. I rented a Uhaul truck and brought a small tree home in 1998. My tree is now over 20 feet tall and lightly shades our terrace.

Heptacodium miconioides, also known as seven sons flower, is a large shrub growing about 15-20 feet tall and is quite hardy. It is a relatively new plant to cultivation. It has white flowers that bloom simultaneously with my sweet autumn clematis vine. After the flowers fade, it has a second "bloom" of reddish purple drupes crowned with showy calyxes which elongate after the flowers bloom. The bark is whitish gray and peels off in long strips.

Cornus officinalis is a little known member of the dogwood family. It is closely related to Cornus mas and has yellow flowers around the time the forsythias bloom in April. The have large red edible fruit in autumn. The tart fruit can be used to make a delicious jelly. My tree is just taking off and I look forward to the year when I will be able to harvest enough berries to make preserves. The bark is considered more handsome than that of Cornus mas. It has a mixture of oranges, grays and browns and slowly exfoliates in small curlicues.

Their bark is better than their bite (Part 1)

Acer triflorum

Acer griseum x 'Gingerbread'

Heptacodium miconioides

Stewartia pseudocamellia

Cornus officinalis