Garden Oscars

February 14th, 2012

   The motion-picture industry gives out its annual Academy Awards for best performances on Feb. 26.

   If I could give out Oscars for the best stars of our central-Pennsylvania landscapes, here’s what would get my vote:

Shrub rose 'Pink Double Knock Out'

   * Best Lead Actor (Sun): ‘Knock Out’ roses. Yeah, they’ve become so common they’re almost over-used, but these no-spray, long-blooming roses do so well with so little care in so many places that they’re already a legend. They’re the Tom Hanks of horticulture.

   The four best ones are the original ‘Knock Out,’ ‘Double Knock Out’ (twice the petals), ‘Pink Knock Out’ and ‘Pink Double Knock Out.’

   * Best Lead Actor (Shade): ‘Forever and Ever’ hydrangeas.Also low-care and very showy, this seven-color series of mophead hydrangeas blooms on both old and new wood. That means it’s in flower most of the season.

Hydrangea 'Forever and Ever Blue Heaven'

   Especially nice: the rich blue ‘Forever and Ever Blue Heaven.’ These all do best in morning sun and afternoon shade.

   * Best New Actor: Dwarf butterfly bush ‘Lo and Behold Blue Chip.’ This compact new butterfly bush blooms its head off all summer and fall in classic cone-shaped blue-purple flowers. But it does it at a size of about 2 feet tall and maybe 4 feet wide.

   It’s also supposed to be sterile, meaning no unwanted seeding around like so many butterfly bushes.

   * Best Supporting Actor: Creeping sedum ‘Angelina.’ Showy enough to be a star, this 3-inch-tall, gold-leafed, succulent, ferny-looking groundcover looks great as a carpet under just about any tree, shrub, evergreen or tall perennial where I’ve seen it used.

   It’ll take heat, sun, drought, some shade, and it turns orangey-red in winter before golding back up again in spring. The only precaution: it does creep, so you may need to shovel it out if it goes where you don’t want it.

Spirea 'Ogon' (Mellow Yellow) in bloom.

   * Best Foreign Plant: Spirea ‘Ogon’ (Mellow Yellow). This golden, willowy-leafed, Japanese flowering shrub has been out for several years, but it’s just now catching on – as it should.

   It starts out in early spring with pure white flowers all along its gently arching bare stems, then it’s a gold to green-gold 5-footer throughout the growing season before turning a russet gold in fall.

   * Best Short Subject: Dwarf weigela ‘My Monet.’ This super-dwarf cutie is a flowering shrub that only grows 2 to 3 feet tall and wide – and it takes years to get to that. Definitely a welcome addition for anyone who hates to prune or who has a postage-stamp-sized yard.

   ‘My Monet’ has creamy-edged leaves of light green and magenta tubular flowers in May. It grows best in morning sun and afternoon shade.

Golden variegated Japanese forestgrass.

   * Best Visual Effects: the swishing blades of golden variegated Japanese forestgrass. Also known as Hakone grass, this is a well-behaved ornamental grass that grows only about 18 inches tall and has an arching habit.

   This particular one is a nice limey-green in color and makes an excellent, soft edging along any shady path.

   * Best Picture of the Year: gardeners planting the new Ames True Temper community garden. The Ames True Temper plant along Railroad Avenue just outside of Shiremanstown in Cumberland County had a useless acre or so grass.

   Thanks to a gift from the former company that owned the business, the land was turned into a fenced-in garden of more than 100 raised beds – complete with free water, free use of tools and no charge for using the space.

   What a great project. The photo that did my heart the most good of the year was the one of dozens of gardeners – many of them new ones – planting their beds that first weekend.

   Wouldn’t it be nice if more companies – and home-owners, for that matter – put more of our excess grass to this kind of productive use.