COMPACT REBLOOMING LILAC 'BLOOMERANG'

Monticello
www.monticello.org



5/7/10 UPDATE: Some confusion exists as to the common name of this cultivar. Since, this lilac is trademarked as 'Bloomerang,' we're going with that. Either way it's a winner: "'Boomerang' BLOOMS all season." or "'Bloomerang' BOOMS all season."

Thank you!

The Green Man recommends this exciting new cultivar for several reasons. First, lilac is tough. It's relatively low-management and pest-free when grown in the right location with plenty of sunshine. Second, the 'Bloomerang' introduction is a rebloomer in the late months of summer when garden color dwindles, and it continues to bloom into early Fall. Third, it's compact so it can be used near the house. Fourth, 'Bloomerang' is fragrant. Fifth, the colors of pink shading into violet work with The Green Man's recommended "tie-together" color for flowers and shrubs all the way around the site: yellow. Hence, this formidable collection of positive attributes makes lilac 'Bloomerang' virtually de rigueur for today's landscapes.

Common Name: 'Bloomerang' Lilac
Hardiness Zone: 4-7 S / 4-8 W
Height: 4-5'
Fragrance: Yes
Exposure: Full Sun
Blooms In: May-Sept
Spacing: 3-4'


















A recommended carefree companion: 'Blushing' Knock Out rose [Do not use Knock Out red.]

"We can find a lot of garden opportunities for this dwarf, reblooming Lilac, and we think you will, too. Clusters of purple-pink, sweet-scented flowers cover its branches in spring and continue off and on until frost. Bloomerang™ fits in small spaces and is an excellent choice for a fragrant, low hedge. 'Penda' PPAF














Complete the 'Bloomerang' lilac, 'Blushing' Knock Out rose shrub triad with 'Annabelle' hydrangeas.

Bloomerang™ forms a bushy plant with small leaves. Its bloodline includes four different Lilac species (it's a hybrid of Syringa patula x macrophylla x meyeri x juliana). Plants bloom heavily in the spring, take a resting period, and then start up again in mid-summer and continue until cold weather. The second period of bloom is not as full as that in the spring, but still showy.

Plants are best pruned right after the spring bloom, as this creates a fuller shrub with more branches and thus more flowers. Every stem can produce flowers in summer. Bloomerang™ is mildew resistant, too.













www.gilberthwild.com

Accent the triad with carefree, ever-blooming daylily 'Happy Returns' in primary yellow. [Do not use 'Stella d'Oro.']

Lilacs are among the best-known, classic spring-flowering shrubs. For generations of reliable bloom and sweet fragrance, generally before Memorial Day, these sturdy shrubs are in a class by themselves. Most Lilacs prefer full sun and neutral to slightly alkaline soil."

Available from White Flower Farm:

www.whiteflowerfarm.com

ORDER YOUR 2010 MONTICELLO PLANTS NOW

Monticello in Winter
Greetings from Charlottesville, Virginia!



"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth,
no culture comparable to that of the garden ...
But though an old man, I am but a young gardener."

Thomas Jefferson, Garden Book, 1811












www.monticellocatalog.org/outdoor---garden-plants---seeds-plants.html

WHITE FORSYTHIA TO HASTEN SPRING BLOOMS

Graceful and elegant white forsythia in bloom.

Abeliophyllum distichum, known as "white forsythia" is not a true forsythia but displays a similar blooming habit...however, about 2 weeks before yellow forsythia announces the arrival of Spring.

The Green Man encourages the incorporation of white forsythia into clients' landscaping mix for several reasons: First, the blooms of white forsythia supply hope to the human spirit at the end of a long and tiring Winter. Second, the shrub provides classic and elegant white in the landscape color pallete. Third, white forsythia is fragrant and easily forced into bloom indoors in the waning days of Winter. Forth, white forsythia stays a manageable size, maxing out at 3' x 5'. Finally, becasue white forsythia is underused and highly-desirable at the onset of early Spring, the shrub adds equity to your landscaping investment.


"There is only one species in this Korean genus, which belongs to the same family as the common Forsythia, but there is nothing common about this plant. A. distichum is an open, spreading shrub that grows to 3-5ft and produces an abundance of delightfully fragrant, pure white, star-shaped flowers at the very beginning of spring, at least two weeks before Forsythia.

The blooms are followed by foliage of a cool bluish green. Branches cut in late winter are easily forced into bloom, and the perfume is much more pronounced indoors. Grow in full sun or partial shade and average soil, and underplant with early-flowering spring bulbs such as Scilla and Muscari."

www.whiteflowerfarm.com

TOO MUCH SHADE? CREATE AN INEXPENSIVE "INSTANT WOODLAND GARDEN"

Monticello in Winter
Greetings from Charlottesville, Virginia!





Use large hosta 'Sum and Substance' at the center of your beds.













The Green Man enjoys landscaping challenges, and he knows many homeowners want to beautify their sites but feel constrained by heavy shade.

Many houses are surrounded by large, deciduous trees such as Norway maple, sugar maple, red oak, and sycamore...all of which can create dense shade issues below the canopy. If the trees are vigorous and in good condition, obviously, they are part of your landscaping equity. To digress for a moment, The Green Man stresses again and again: select young trees that will add value to your home equity rather than detract. However, let's say you do have a densely-shaded site. Here's what to do:

Fern bank

The Green Man likes the phrase "If you're given lemons, make lemonade." Let's do it. Let's create a gracious and elegant woodland garden in the public area or the "front yard" of your property. OK, let's say you have a cluster of large shade trees on both the right and left sides sited in soil or anemic turf.

First, plan to tie the trees together aesthetically with a lozenge or kidney bean shaped bed 6 to 8 feet wide that cuts right across the front sidewalk in the center to the trees on the otherside. Use a tree spade-type shovel (flat-edged) to determine the edges of this giant lozenge until the sides are even and smooth. Leave no "saw teeth" on the edges. Use the kidney bean analogy, and make the edges smoothly-rounded. Keep the lozenge under 6-8' wide at its maximum. Remove what ever remains of the turf or groundcover. Turn over the soil until the new bed is ready to be planted.



White bleeding hearts

Second, here's the fun part of the challenge: optimizing the use of your landscaping dollars! Use inexpensive plants, obviously, but also the ones that add equity! Here, The Green Man can assist you.

What prompted today's post was the arrival of a garden catalog from a budget nursery plant supplier, Interstate. So, the Green Man perused the booklet, and he selected the best plant values for your "instant woodland garden" as the creative challenge.

Consider using these plants to create a small woodland garden beneath several trees:

1 "Handful of Hostas" (8 plants) for $10.99
2 Hardy Japanese lily for $2.96
2 Hosta 'Regal Blue' for $3.50
2 Mixed Trillium for $1.96
4 Hardy Ferns for $5.99
3 White Bleeding Hearts for $10.99
2 Hosta 'Sum and Substance' for $7.75
2 Hosta Francee' for $5.79

The above basic "instant woodland garden" comes in at a grand total of 25 plants for $49.93, and that's optimzing your landscaping investment dollar!

Plant the largest hostas at the center of the bed, the smaller hostas and ferns in front and in between them, and save the bleeding hearts, trilliums, and Japanese lilies for the front in a step-down arrangement.

There you have it: an "instant woodland garden" for $50. Once installed, select a few items to accenuate. Remember less is more. To complete "The Green Man Woodland Garden Triad," you will need at least 1 Solomon's Seal.



Solomon's Seal
Use ONE in a focal point. Remember, in a woodland garden, "Less is more." Keep it simple.

For color, use the reblooming daylily 'Happy Returns," which will give you some color the entire season even in shade. Do not use 'Stella d'Oro' as the color is wrong.














REBLOOMING daylily 'Happy Returns' in primary yellow. Do not use 'Stella d'Oro.'
www.gilbertwild.com

So, by the time you've purchased everything, including a few bags of brown mulch, your equity enhancing "instant woodland garden" should cost you less than $100. Start planning!

www.interstatenurseries.com

THIRD NOTICE: CONVERT YOUR BACKYARD INTO A POTAGER

Monticello in Winter
Greetings from Charlottesville, Virginia!



"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth,
no culture comparable to that of the garden ...
But though an old man, I am but a young gardener."

Thomas Jefferson, Garden Book, 1811










The Green Man was delighted by this new post from White Flower Farm! Basically, it encourages clients to begin what The Green Man told you to do LAST year: convert protected areas of the site that receive 6 hours of sun per day into a formal potager. Clients may have been mulling over a "vegetable patch" and shuddering. Thus, here is the IDEAL solution that is finally catching on. Read on!



"DINE AND DANCE WITH FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES"

In an era long past, the opportunity to dine and dance at the same venue was considered a compelling proposition. As we faintly recall, some of these establishments actually served alcohol, which served slightly to enhance the pleasure of separating the courses of a fine meal with a tango or a fox trot. That model is now obsolete (so we are told), and our culture is diminished by its passing.

In modern gardening, there seems to be a division between flower and vegetable enthusiasts, a gap we'd like to discourage in favor of the "dine and dance" approach. If you will accept the premise than any flower garden has the space and conditions for a few vegetables, you will likely accept the reverse as well. Once the barrier is breached, there is no end of fun to be had by blending the two pursuits into the same garden. Yes, there are design challenges, since not all vegetables are beautiful in conventional ways, nor do "row crops" blend easily into the blowsy informality of cottage gardens. All of that being said, there are many ways to integrate the two, including but surely not limited to the following:

-- Edging formal borders or herb and vegetable gardens with Fraises des Bois

-- Installing containers of tomatoes, peppers, or herbs along sunny walks and terraces

-- Circling flowering annuals in containers with salad greens

-- Adding herbs with interesting texture or color, like Golden Sage or 'Hi-Ho' Silver Thyme, to the front of borders

-- Placing pots of mint near paths or doorways where the plants can be pinched and sniffed by passersby

-- Creating a hedge from blueberry bushes to enjoy their fruit as well as fall color

-- Adding a rhubarb plant to a perennial bed









We will be pleased to enable this experiment in creativity by delivering healthy, vigorous plants of vegetables, herbs, and small fruits at whatever time and place you choose. With 130 varieties of mostly heirloom Tomatoes and 40 varieties of Peppers, our list provides options that are not available elsewhere."

Visit here: www.whiteflowerfarm

Think "potager." A vegetable garden should be elegant.

WHITE BLEEDING HEARTS 'SNOWDRIFT' FOR SHADE

Dicentra eximina 'Snowdrift'

The Green Man recommends highly this cultivar ("cultivated variety") of old-fashioned bleeding hearts for your shady, "woodland garden" areas around the site. Use it in a asymmetrical trianagle to accent the basic The Green Man woodland garden traid of hostas (sans yellow), ferns, and Solomon's Seal varieties.

Do not use pink or red bleeding hearts in the woodland garden or the effect is ruined. Reserve them for locations closer to the house. Also, for extensive woodland gardens, use an additional triangle of bleeding hearts. Remember: "Less is more," and more than 6 bleeding hearts in a typical woodland garden area will dilute the effect. Keep it simple, and in areas away from a formal entry way or terrace, work in a 1,3,5,7 series to maintain the natural look.

Available here: www.whiteflowerfarm.com