Date: Fri 07-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Illustration: C

Location: A10

Quick Words:

Suburban-Gardener-winter-class

Full Text:

(Gardener column on possibilities w/ a garden in winter, 3/7/97)

Suburban Gardener-

The Beauty Of A Garden In Winter

By Anthony C. Bleach

"I do not go so far as to say God's in his heaven or anything of the sort that

I know nothing about. But I do say it takes very little to convince a gardener

he will make it right into spring."

Henry Mitchell,

The Essential Earthman

I teach a class on "The Garden in Winter" in the Landscaping Small Properties

course at Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical College. But as my wife and I

make our daily inspection of broken branches, smashed stems and general mess,

I wonder if this is in fact an oxymoron.

Certainly the majesty of the landscape can be savored more, now that woods and

rocks are stripped of leaf.

Sydney Eddison writes so well of her "wild, white desert," in Horticulture

this month. But it does not speak to the farmer in me. The White Flower Farm

Garden Book arouses my interest mildly. It is still in my briefcase.

What really brings me out of the purgatory of winter after Christmas is the

Connecticut Nurserymen's Association Winter School. It was held in January but

school kept me too busy to think of spring. On St. Valentine's Day we saw the

first snowdrop; a poor little lump, like a frozen tear drop, but a treasure

all the same. Now a week later it is six-inches and the corolla is open to

show the fine green markings.

Deer (is it one or a dozen?) have chewed off a "Windbeam" Rhododendron as

cleanly as asparagus, so we carefully spread out Ross garden netting to save

our favorite Scintillation , and also over Azaleas and the tips of tulips

coming through. They leave daffodils alone.

Let me share some of the good things of the Winter School with you. Dr Peter

Tredici of Harvard introduced some trees and shrubs that are established at

The Arnold Arboretum and deserve to be better known. "Perkins Pink" yellow

wood is a light pink variant of the normally white flowering tree. This a

modest description of a most graceful tree for all seasons.

The white pannicles are fragrant, cascading in June, the low branches, rounded

crown and bright green leaves are all very handsome and the gray bark in

winter looks like sculptured muscle. There is a superb one growing on the

right of the entrance of Taft School in Watertown. The original was first

found on the grounds of Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, Mass.

The Cyclamen Cherry pink variant: Zone 6 is a tree that has a 30-foot spread

that is an early prolific bloomer with small, pale to rosy-pink flowers;

striking orange-yellow color in fall and dark reddish mahogany colored bark.

"Lilac Sunday" Persian lilac: Zone 3 is a large open shrub to 12 feet; long

racemes of light purple flowers in mid-May. This species is very heat

tolerant.

"Harlequin" weigela is a multi-stemmed shrub that grows to ten feet. This

unusual species from Korea produces flowers that vary in color yellow to

lavender, depending on their age.

Yellowhorn: Zone 4 is a striking tree that is almost unknown in gardens. It is

a 15-foot shrub with ‹- to 1-inch flowers that occur in 6- to 10-inch racemes.

Each flower is composed of five petals with a blotch at the base that changes

from yellow to red.

A very fast growing ground cover that used to be grown a lot is yellowroot. It

grows under all sorts of conditions and spreads vigorously from underground

stems. Dr Tredici remarks this is a sustainable shrub if ever there was one.

He also noted a weeping katsura, Zone 4, Cercidiphyllum magnificum "Pendulum."

But I have a prejudice against weepers. For me there is no more noble tree

than the standard, upright Katsura growing in the rectory garden of the

Episcopal Church in Watertown.

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates the horticulture degree program at Naugatuck

Valley Community-Technical College in Waterbury.)