June 2009 Newsletter©
Some really cool plants!
Plus the EPA’s decision on
MSMA.
This month, I want to introduce you to some plants you may not have seen before. Some are perennial, some are tropical, some are ‘iffy’ but they have unique flowers or foliage and worth a try. You’ll notice several USDA Zone 8 plants. Later this year, the USDA will release an updated Zone Hardiness Map. If you remember, the USDA funded the 2003 map adopted by The National Arbor Day Foundation, but it was rejected by the USDA. It placed Shelby County in Zone 8. The rumor was the Bush Administration had it pulled because it showed the nation warming. It made for good press, but wasn’t true. There was flawed data in some of the findings, just as there was in the 1990 map. The new map will be as detailed as zip codes, and will probably show some northward shifting zones, but I’m
not sure we will make it to Zone 8. That said, I have a number of Zone 8 plants in my yard and one Zone 9 plant that has come through 5 winters. It’s a foxtail fern, Asparagus meyeri, planted next to my front walk with an eastern exposure. In any yard, there is probably as much as 10 degrees difference (a full Hardiness Zone) from the north
to the south side. Planted near concrete or rock, many borderline plants do quite well. I know of one instance where
a mountain papaya came up in rock next to a pond. It died to the ground each winter but was root hardy for several years.
Aristolochia baetica Asclepias curassavica Asclepias incarnata
Ductchman’s Pipe Bloodflower Swamp Milkweed
Dutchman’s Pipe - This is a woody, twining climber with small, heart shaped, gray-green leaves. It’s covered with small, purple funnel-shaped flowers followed by an attractive, ribbed, seed capsule. Grows 8’ – 12’ tall and is USDA zone 5 hardy.
Bloodflower - Vivid orange red flowers. Related to the butterflyweed, but this one is not hardy. However, butterflies love it. Blooms summer to fall. To 3’ tall.
Swamp Milkweed - This one is hardy. Dusky pink flowers to 4’ tall. Likes a moist location. Both of these attract the Monarch butterfly and are a food source for the larvae.
Begonia grandis Dalechampia dioscoreifolia Clematis fruiticosa
‘evansiana’ Bowtie Vine ‘Mongolian Gold’
Hardy Begonia
Hardy Begonia - This is a truly hardy begonia. In fact, it can be quite aggressive. It grows to 24” tall and has abundant pink flowers from mid summer until fall. USDA Zone 6 hardy.
Bowtie Vine - This is one of my favorites. It’s USDA Zone 8 hardy, so in mild winters it may be (but not dependably) root hardy, but further south it’s evergreen. It can grow to 15’ or more in a single season and blooms from early summer through the fall. It tolerates a little shade, but blooms best in full sun.
Clematis ‘Mongolian Gold’ - This is a shrub form of clematis that grows to about 3’ tall. It has glossy dark green foliage and yellow flowers in the summer. USDA Zone 4 hardy.
Dature Purple Petticoats Datura Double Yellow Brugmansia
Datura - Here are two double flowering Datura cultivars. Datura flowers stand out and up, rather than pendulous like Brugmansia on the right. Best treated as a tropical, although some are fairly dependably root hardy.
Dicentra scandens Eupatorium Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides
Climbing Bleeding altissimum Mexican Flame Vine
Heart ‘Prairie Jewel’
Climbing Bleeding Heart - This is a perennial vine to 8’ or more. It grows best with morning sun and afternoon shade. Blue/green foliage and produces hundreds of yellow flowers from early summer until fall. USDA Zone 6 hardy.
Variegated Jo Pye Weed – This has very attractive variegated foliage and white flowers in late summer. Grows to 3’ tall and wide. Plant in full sun. USDA Zone 4 hardy.
Mexican Flame Vine - This one is tropical, but a butterfly magnet. It‘s a twining climber and grows to 10’ tall. Masses of orange flowers all summer. USDA Zone 10 hardy. Suffers at 45 degrees.
Solidago Buddleja x Opuntia Viburnum
Wichita Mountains weyeriana santa-rita odoratissima
Honeycomb’ ‘Tupac’ Sweet Viburnum
Wichita Mountains Goldenrod - Unique tubular rods of yellow flowers on this goldenrod in late summer and fall. Grows to 30” tall in full sun. Worried about hay fever? Don’t be. Goldenrod pollen is very sticky and doesn’t blow in the wind. It’s wrongfully blamed for hay fever just because it’s in bloom with ragweed. USDA Zone 4 hardy.
Honeycomb Butterfly Bush - The best yellow butterfly bush. Grows to 8’ tall. USDA Zone 6 hardy. It’s beautiful, but the least hardy Buddleja. (Still argument on whether it’s Buddleia or Buddleja).
Santa-rita Prickly Pear Cactus - The new growth on this prickly pear comes out red and then turns green. This plant likes hot, dry locations. Must have good drainage. USDA Zone 8 hardy.
Sweet Viburnum - This is an evergreen Viburnum that can make a small tree. Early spring flowers are very fragrant. It needs full sun and best planted on the south side away from northwest winds. Zone 8 hardy.
Agave ‘Kara’s Stripes’ Agave ‘Green Goblet’ Agave ‘Cornelius’
Agave – Agave americana is technically hardy here. As with palms, it’s not the cold that kills them, it’s poor winter drainage. The varieties above are not hardy here, but great container plants for sunny areas.
‘Kara’s Stripes’ – Spectacular lime green foliage with lighter variegation.
‘Green Goblet’ – Large heavily spined leaves.
‘Cornelius’ – Long thin variegated foliage.
FYI… Lichens are two organisms living together…a fungus and
an alga (or sometimes a bacterium). They don’t hurt trees when you see them
on the trunk. But when they colonize a limb, like the azalea above, it’s
a sign of other problems. “Thanks” to one of our customers for the azalea
sample.
Sunny Knock Out Rose
Lichens… Ever wonder what that blue/green stuff is on the bark of
a tree?
Here it is in case you haven’t
Seen the yellow Knock Out.
Oh, and by the way, we have all of the plants above at Dan West Garden Center, but you had to know that!
Now the bad news: On April 22nd, 2009 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a final
decision regarding the use of monosodium methanearsonate (MSMA). Sales of MSMA for residential, commercial
and sports turf weed control will end on December 31, 2009. Inventory may be used until December 31, 2010.
At this time, we have quinclorac for postemerge crabgrass control, but we don’t have anything to control dallisgrass, wild barley or other grassy weeds in turfgrass. Pre-emerge herbicides will be even more important now.
We have Drexar and ferti-lome Crabgrass Killer in stock but I suspect our inventory will be depleted soon.
So if you need MSMA, don’t wait.
Last month’s contest. Three flowers…name them.
From left to right they are Dahlia, Gerbera Daisy and Gazania.
Most people missed Gazania.
Here’s this month’s contest…
Let’s play again. Here are four flowers and I’ll give you a hint…they’re all tropical.
The contest ends on June 15th. Drop by either store to enter or you can email your entry to
questions@danwestonline.com. One winner, selected from all correct entries, will receive a
$25 Dan West Gift Certificate.
Thanks for shopping with us at Dan West.