April | 2013 | floragloria

PIERIS x ‘Spring Snow’ (z. 5-8)

I love all things Pieris! With handsome evergreen foliage, vibrant, colorful new growth, and fragrant early Spring bell flowers that attract both fat bumble bees and stunning white-edged, dark-chocolate-brown Mourning Cloak butterflies, no wonder it’s one of my all time favorite garden plants. Oh, and did I fail to mention that it’s deer resistant? (Actually, over 25 years, I’ve planted a good number of Pieris and they have all been deer-proof.) Moreover, all my Pieris are grown in shade and have been disease free. (Be aware that Pieris grown in sun is vulnerable to lace-bug attack which can cause serious damage.)

Pieris x ‘Spring Snow’ is a cross between our native Pieris floribunda and Pieris japonica and inherited outstanding attributes from both parents: rich dark green foliage from japonica and masses of upright, luminous, snowy-white flowers from floribunda. But this hybrid-child also surpasses its parents with a profusion of bloom that cloaks the shrub with dazzling, dense, very fragrant white flowers in early Spring.

And Spring Snow is a slow, compact grower, never exceeding three feet in height, making it an ideal plant for a small or large garden. Moreover, it’s a can-do, easy-care plant. Good winter, bad winter—it doesn’t matter. P. x ‘Spring Snow’ will bloom reliably for you every year and its foliage will be bright, healthy green. Just provide well-drained acid soil and shade. And enjoy.

A few other Pieris favorites are: P. japonica ‘Mountain Fire’ which flaunts fire-engine-red new growth that turns bronze and then dark green; P. x ‘Brouwer’s Beauty’, another floribunda-japonica hybrid with light green new growth, an exquisite contrast with its mature dark green foliage; and P.’Flaming Silver’ which astonishes with scarlet-red new growth that turns pink, then yellow, and finally variegated green and white. All fabulous woody ornamental shrubs.

Finally, please indulge me. Magnolia x loebneri ‘Merrill’ demands a mention—and a photo shoot. So, if you want a beautiful, vigorous, hardy tree, that blooms with an abundance of pristine white flowers that perfume the air with sweet fragrance, at roughly the same time as P. ‘Spring Snow,’ you can’t do better than my “very pushy”, albeit beloved, Merrill. (See also my previous post on M. x loebneri ‘Merrill’, entitled Identity Theft, November 26, 2012.)

One of my favorite garden writers, Alan Lacy, once said: “Gardening is complicated, and prejudice simplifies it enormously.”

Very true — as a general rule. But when circumstances change, it may complicate things again. As for example, while I have recently spoken unkindly about hellebores (See Blog post of March 3, 2012, ‘Hellebores and Naming Names”), it hasn’t always been that way. Years ago, I was seduced by the beauty of the glorious doubles and planted a goodly selection.

Not one had the decency to show up for the second season. Maybe voles got them, maybe not. ( According to the garden literature, hellebores are toxic and anathema to rodents. But then again, voles don’t read — too busy eating.) No matter. I was disenchanted with double hellebores and never replaced the plants.

Well imagine my surprise a week ago — the first time the weather permitted an inspection of the garden — when I discovered an exquisite double hellebore in full bloom, in exactly the same area as the previous no-shows. While the ID tag is gone — along with my memory — I think it’s one of the doubles I originally planted in 2009, Helleborus x hybridus ‘Elegance White’.

Moreover, after the horrific, ruinous winter, the hellebore was a joy to behold. See what I mean? Circumstances can change the way you feel about plants.

But there’s no ambivalence about a recent alert from Cornell University’s Department of Plant Pathology: In the Fall of 2012, warm, wet, humid conditions led to the rapid spread of the destructive new boxwood blight, caused by the fungus Calonectria pseudonaviculata. Equally troubling is the discovery that Pachysandra is a host for the fungus. Ditto for Sarcococca, according to a report from the UK. Cornell suggests gardeners look for alternatives to boxwood.

And finally, I was baffled by a New York Times article about a brain wave pattern study from Scotland that found “going for a walk in a green space or just sitting, or even viewing green spaces….is likely to have a restorative effect and help with attention fatigue and stress recovery.” (April 2, 2013, p.D5). Did the Brits really need a new-age brain study to prove what we gardeners have always known?

In fact, decades ago, it was a British plantswoman, Gertrude Jekyll, who said it best: “The first purpose of a garden is to be a place of quiet beauty such as will give delight to the eye and repose and refreshment to the mind.” Amen!

floragloria

A Garden Blog by Lois Sheinfeld

Archive | April 2013

Early Spring: Snowy White Dazzle For Shade

2013 Early Spring Surprise and Alert