Many people describe the strawberry as the finest fruit, while others consider the raspberry to be as good, if not better. Nonetheless, raspberries are much less common by far, because the fruits perish so rapidly. Raspberries are among the easiest garden fruit to care for and cultivate and give the home gardener as good a return in delicious fruit as he or she can get from any other fruit plant variety.
Maples have long been favorite choices for shade and ornament, but in the past gardeners were limited almost to tall-growing species. Today, a broad selection is available to the public.
Fothergilla are deciduous shrubs of North America, belonging to the Witch-hazel family. Native to the southeastern United States, Fothergilla are seldom seen in our northern landscapes, although they are frost-hardy and well-suited to the shrub border.
‘Honeygold’ a Sweet Culinary and Dessert Apple.
Many of our customers have included dwarf fruit trees in their landscape plans since fruit trees do double duty as producers of food while adding beauty to the surroundings, even on small lots where every square foot is important.
Dwarf fruit trees, growing to 12 to 18 feet tall and wide, provide ample shade in the summer plus delicate traceries of color and grace in the early spring when blooms appear. Yet they require little more care than trees that are purely ornamental.
Frequently we have customers asking our tree and shrub staff to show them a small tree that they can grow close to their house. The tree must be versatile; decorative, fragrant flowers, interesting shaped leaves, and great fall color. Ideally, they tell us, they want a Japanese Maple, which is not hardy here. We show our customers the Amur Maple, also known as the Siberian Maple, which is extremely hardy and is often planted where the Japanese Maple winter-kills.
Wildlife gardening suits the lazy gardener, as untidiness is often to the benefit of wildlife; long grass left over winter feeds birds and shelters insects, and unpruned shrubs provide good nesting and roosting sites. Ideally, a wildlife garden should be managed to provide balance between being decorative and offering good habitat diversity. It is important that native tree, shrub and wildflower species are predominate in wildlife-oriented gardens.
The species Lonicera is commonly known to our customers as Honeysuckle and is known to them as a hardy vine or a flowering shrub. A new variety of Honeysuckle, Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica, a fruiting variety, is making a name for itself after being introduced to American markets.
There is an ongoing discussion with our tree and shrub staff as to which is the finest garden fruit, the strawberry or the raspberry. Although that question has not been entirely resolved, a new raspberry variety has been introduced making some of our staff look at the raspberry differently.
Hydrangeas are some of the best-loved flowering shrubs grown in gardens and home landscapes. Long-lasting blooms provide months of color from June to the frost of autumn.
Of all the plant varieties growing in the display gardens along the exterior of our greenhouses, the most noticeable during the winter months is an uncommon semi-dwarf Norway spruce with an unusual name; Picea abies ‘Acrocona’.
