Add heirloom irises to your landscaping

Here's a great site to stock up on some heirloom iris varieties. Use one variety per drift and arrange drifts in threes. Look at this beauty!

Iris flavescens has a lemon fragrance; circa 1813 http://www.oldhousegardens.com/display.aspx?cat=Iris

Give Winter interest to your landscape with 'Berry Heavy Gold' holly

Berry Heavy® Gold Ilex verticillata Available from http://shrubsource.com/shop-all-shrubs/ilex-berry-heavy-gold TGM recommends this Winter berry holly for seasonal interest as the berries are prolific, and they persist...in other words they tend to stay on the plant long after the leaves have dropped. You get the golden berries plus a dramatic branching structure that can be pruned to perfection. Note that Ilex verticillata comes in red also, so you might try planting both cultivars in an arrangement of 3:1. Give these hollies a space of about 8' x 8'. Plants also attract birds.

Shop for autumn tree bargains, but select the right species

With the advent of September, TGM recommends visits to garden centers to search for tree bargains.  Many maybe marked down as much as 50% simply because owners to not want to carry the stock over the winter.

Resist the temptation to buy most maples.  They are over-planted, some invasive, they create too much shade for the average home sight, and they grow to large.  Select these maples: Japanese or paperbark

Because of disease issues, avoid ash trees, any birch except for river birch (Betula nigra 'Heritage",

For a flowering, low management tree, 'Autumn Brilliance' serviceberry is hard to top.  Avoid callery pears as the are overplanted and may go to 35'.  Most sites require trees that max out at about 25'.

Choose your site carefully and plant for the tree's mature size.  Do not plant a tree too close to the house.  Check the tree's maximum width, divide by 2 and then add 8'.  For example, a tree that maxes out at 30' wide ought to be planted 15' plus 8' from the house.  Use large shrubs to fill up the gap between house and trees, especially viburnums and hydrangeas.

Plant for sunlight, too.  Most trees require plenty of sunlight.  Your soil ought to be slightly acid.

Work in odd numbers based on 3.  A charming combination is Goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria  paniculata, Japanese maple 'Fireglow,' and star magnolias.  Accent with a Korean pine if you can find one, and give it room near the periphery of the site.

Goldenrain tree

Courtesy missouri.extension.edu

End-of-Summer sale at Smokey's Daylily Gardens. Stock up!

One of gardening's great pleasures is to plant daylilies, a grateful plant if there ever was one.  With minimal attention, daylilies provide all-season color and delight if you select reblooming varieties.  Use the Advanced Search to find them.

www.smokeysdaylilygardens.com

Plant now for Spring: Narcissus 'Bath's Flame'

Narcissus 'Bath's Flame'

TGM recommends this favorite daffodil for Spring.  Note how this narcissus resembles alighting doves.  A "must-have."  Plant in a one-variety drift.

"A longtime favorite of the cut-flower trade, this soft yellow Small-cup produces relatively large flowers with orange-rimmed, lightly frilled cups. Early to mid-season" Availble from www.whiteflowerfarm.com .

New 'Centennial Blush' star magnolia for Spring color

TGM recommends this new introduction from First Editions:  'Centennial Blush," a new cultivar of Magnolia stellata, star magnolia.  If you have the space, tuck three of these around the periphery of your site in an asymmetrical triangle.  This small tree will max out about 12' to 18', so always select a location for the mature size.  And, just look at the pink coloration and form.

http://www.soonerplantfarm.com/plant/magnolia-centennial-blush/

Photo courtesy www.bhg.com

Hydrangea 'Gatsby Gal' has compact form with huge blooms

TGM loves oakleaf hydrangea, and here's a new cultivar from Proven Winners:  'Gatsby Gal.'

Note the compact form in comparison to the enormous, upright blooms.  Highly recommended.  Looks great massed.

www.provenwinners.com