How to Train a Flowering Shrub into a Distinctive Ornamental Tree

Lime Soda(TM) Hydrangea

Who wouldn’t want an extremely surprising, head-turning small tree covered with massive, fluffy panicles of white flowers in July that change to vivid pink over the next few months? Easy pruning over a season or two can turn an unusual shrub into a tree form that is perfect for small gardens, as well as being distinctive and unique.  

Generally, shrubs have very different growth habits than trees. While both are woody ornamentals, shrubs are lower growing and have multiple stems that sprout from the base of the plant, while trees are typically taller and single-trunked. But Mother Nature is anything but black and white.

Certain tree species commonly have multiple trunks—such as river birch (Betula), cherry laurel (Prunus) or Chinese Elm (Zelkova).  Conversely, some woody plants that normally grow as shrubs can be pruned or “trained” to have only one trunk-- like tree roses, Rose of Sharon, Viburnum or Althea. Even woody vines such as Wisteria can be trained into a tree form, as explained in our popular blog from 2010.  In these cases the distinctions between the landscape forms become blurred.

multi-stemmed shrub

A robust new shrub appealingly named Lime Soda™ Hydrangea is the perfect choice to prune into a dramatic landscape tree for smaller gardens across the country. Hardy from U.S.D.A. Zone 3 to 8, Lime Soda™ Hydrangea from Garden Debut® has mammoth flower heads that open white in July and change to vivid pink in the next couple of months. 

Lime Soda™ Hydrangea: 

is naturally upright

responds well to pruning

has strong, stiff branches

is fast growing

reaches about 10 feet, ideal for a small tree

pruned to single trunk

Step by Step Creative Pruning to achieve a tree form

+ Before you buy, examine young nursery plants and choose one with a strong central leader
+ Eliminate all the branches arising from the crown at ground level except this leader, which will become the tree-form trunk

+ Prune off branches from the lower 1/3 of the remaining leader flush with the trunk, known as “limbing-up”

+ Guide a strong nursery stake down along the main trunk, hammering in securely, then loosely tie the plant to the stake using a soft tie and a figure 8 around both stake and trunk

+ Allow the top 2/3 of foliage to photosynthesize and the plant to establish a good root system during the rest of the year

+ The following season, limb-up another third of the lateral branches from the trunk. Repeat Step 5 for another year or two until the trunk has reached the desired height, perhaps 5 to 7 feet. Remove the stake.

lower branches removed

+ Select about 5 scaffold branches evenly spaced around the trunk that will become the canopy of the tree, and pinch each of those back about 3 inches to encourage lateral branching  

+ Keep the trunk clean with no branches below the canopy. That is all there is to it!

+ Mulch or underplant Lime Soda(TM) Hydrangea with Snow N Summer Asian Jasmine in warmer climates, or with annuals or Lenten roses for year round appeal. 

How to Use Broadleaf Evergreens in Garden Design

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In the warmer half of the country, Broad-Leaf Evergreens take center stage. Northern gardens are filled with hardy but deciduous trees and shrubs that drop their leaves at the onset of winter, leaving the garden with a bleak appearance,. Garden design in southern gardens relies on the cheerful appearance of year-round gardening. Contributing to the effect are Boxwood, Nandina, Mahonia, Southern Magnolia, Tea Olive, Wax Myrtle, Holly and Cherry Laurel. 

Broadleaf evergreens are valued both as specimens and as hedges to provide structure, often called the “bones” of the landscape, year round. Taller broadleaf evergreens function well as privacy screens, or may be planted into rows as hedges to separate garden rooms. Other broad leaf evergreens are better for low hedges, parterres or more airy applications.  

One example is Centre Court™ Cherry Laurel, Prunus caroliniana, selected by Garden Debut® for its tight, compact branching structure, oval habit and fragrant white flowers in spring. This broadleaf evergreen is hardy to Zone 7 and can be pruned up into a tree form eventually reaching 30 feet.

Centre Court™ CherryLaurel may also be kept as an informal flowering hedge, or sheared occasionally into a formal hedge. Its dark green, glossy foliage and fragrant white flowers are followed by stone fruit that is relished by wild birds. Due to the Prussic Acid (hydrogen cyanide) content of its leaves, Centre Court™ is reliably deer proof.  

Photos courtesy WikiCommons and Garden Debut(R)

Founding Father & Gardener Thomas Jefferson

On Independence Day 2012 we look back to 1776 to think of the Founding Fathers and in particular, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. Eponym of Jeffersonian democracy, Jefferson was a political philosopher, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, inventor, scientist, horticulturist and gardener.

The third president of the United States idealized the independent farmer and grew 250+ varieties of vegetables in his 2-acre kitchen garden and 170+ varieties of apples, peaches, grapes, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries figs and so forth in Monticello's orchards, along with ornamentals such as pinks and iris, and his most beloved “pet trees” carefully sited around his landscape. For Jefferson, Monticello’s gardens were a source of endless experimentation and enjoyment.

Jefferson kept a detailed Garden Kalendar and recorded successes and failures in his Garden Book, an invaluable primary source today. His garden at Monticello was a botanical laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world. For example, he experimented with imported broccoli and squash from Italy, salsify and beans collected by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, French figs and artichokes, Mexican peppers and so forth, selectively eliminating inferior types and choosing the best species or varieties for the hot, humid Virginia climate. In this same tradition, new Garden Debut® ornamental plant introductions have been selected as the best of the best.

According to the official Jefferson Monticello website, the kitchen garden was terraced and leveled to overlook the Virginia Piedmont, “the main part of the two-acre garden is divided into twenty-four "squares," or growing plots arranged according to which part of the plant was being harvested -- whether "fruits" (tomatoes, beans), "roots" (beets, carrots), or "leaves" (lettuce, cabbage). The site and situation of the garden enabled Jefferson to extend the growing season into the winter months and provided a microclimate for tender vegetables such as the artichoke. Jefferson successfully grew figs in Submural Beds, which were also situated to create a uniquely warm setting.”

Perhaps Jefferson’s most beloved quote and the one most gardeners understand best is found in a letter to Charles Wilson Peal in August 20, 1811. Jefferson declared, “But though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener. “ Be sure to visit the website for the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants,  to learn more about heirloom plants and seeds. Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826.

Wood of the Gods! Sterling Frost Deodar Cedar

Deodar Cedar is a true Cedrus with a long history and multiple uses. The new cultivar, Sterling Frost, offers all this background, plus attractive silvery-blue needles that stand out in landscape use. 

Naming

The variety name, Deodar, goes all the way back to the Indo-Arian language of Sanksrit where the word devadaru comes from combining deva (god) and daru (wood). The tree is worshipped as a divine tree among Hindus. Sumerians believed Cedrus groves were the dwelling place of the gods. This tree is mentioned in both the Bible and the Talmud.

Aromatherapy

Cedrus deodorus is often called the incense cedar because the inner wood is aromatic is used as incense and the resinous oil has been used by humans for millennia.  Cedrus has a camphor-like top note with a woodsy, balsamic undertone. Essential oil of cedar is used in aromatherapy for its aromatic properties, and in soaps, household sprays, floor polishes insecticides and as a low note in perfumes.

The bark was used to make baskets, while cedar twigs were made into brooms. Fine wood powder can be bound into incense cones and burned for the aromatic smoke, plus simple wood chips are great for potpourri.

Historical Medicinal Uses

Historically, cedar oil was used medicinally in steam to treat respiratory infections, as well as used as an astringent in facial preparation, and as a sedative for the nerves.

Construction and Uses

The Old Testament relates that wood of the majestic Cedrus was used to build King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem in about the 10^th century BCE and was selected because its aromatic qualities were thought to lead worshipers to prayer and closeness to God. Cedar timbers are also durable, rot-resistant, close-grained and can be burnished to take on a high- gloss polish; all qualities excellent for construction. In the landscape the tree grows 40 to 70 feet, while in their native Himalayas they reach 250 feet. The wood. Deodor Cedar had many other construction and ship-building uses.

 

Landscaping Uses

Today, the landscape industry is enhanced by the silvery-needles of new Sterling Frost Deodar Cedar by Garden Debut®, trees with all of the weight of history behind them. With slow to moderate growth rate, Sterling Frost has a pyramidal shape in youth but is wide-spreading flat-topped at maturity.  Enjoy the silvery foliage effect in the landscape, or add the needles to holiday wreaths.

Christmas Jewel® Holly PP14477 Wards Off Evil Spirits

Ever wonder why Decembers are typically filled with evergreen swags and holly wreaths with bright red berries? The color red was revered as the color against evil and the evergreen quality was believed to keep evil spirits away during the dark part of the year.  Red rosehips, red mountain ash, red haws of hawthorns and particularly red holly berries, have long been hung around house doors and windows and on barns and livestock fences to keep people and animals safe.

Holly, plant of power, was thought to ward off the evil eye and to provide protection during the dark of the year. Ancient Romans associated holly with Saturn, their god of time, justice and strength and gifts of holly were given during Saturnalia. In the first century C.E., Pliny the Elder, author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, wrote that Holly planted by the house kept away witchcraft.

Celtic people used the fresh, evergreen, undying holly leaves and branches to adorn their homes during the Winter solstice and to crown their Celtic chieftains. They believed that fairies would take shelter in the evergreen branches and bring good luck because of the hospitality. 

Holly’s protection was also adopted by the early Christian church. Holly was known as holy tree or Christ thorn, while the name, holly, comes from the Old English holm or holen. Prickly holly with its red berries like drops of blood commemorated Christ’s Crown of Thorns. Other legends told that the berries had been white before Christ’s blood stained them red, or that the Cross was made of wood from the holly. Another Christian parable told how holly miraculously grew leaves in order to hide the Holy Family from Herod’s soldiers, and afterward it became evergreen in gratitude.

In medieval times, holly was used medicinally for ailments including arthritis, kidney stones and bronchitis, and was calming for meditation. Holly’s apotropaic power was used to preserve children from whooping cough if they drank milk out of a cup carved from the close-grained white holly wood, and holly joined with bittersweet cured “hag-ridden’ horses and stopped their abuse by pixies, elves and little folk.

As late as 1640 John Parkinson wrote about holly in his Theatrum Botanicum that ‘the branches with berries are used at Christmas-tide to decke our houses withall, but that they should defend the house from lightning and keepe themselves from witchcraft. . . .’

In the twenty-first century, keep the traditions alive while beautifying your landscape with Christmas Jewel® Holly PP14477, renowned for large, brilliant red berries and glossy foliage. Plant several Christmas Jewel(R) shrubs in order to have plenty of berried holly boughs to cut for treasured winter decorations for years to come.

http://www.gardendebut.com/christmas-jewel-holly.php

Lore adapted from The Englishman's Flora, Geoffrey Grigson, J.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1953, London.

How To Dry Nantucket Blue™ Hydrangea Flowers for Winter Arrangements

The ocean of fresh blue blooms in the landscape all summer is provided by long-lasting NantucketBlue™ Hydrangea.

Nantucket Blue™ prolongs the display,continuing with fresh flowers for months. Unlike common hydrangeas, this unique beauty blooms repeatedly on new growht throughout the growing seson and may bloom from early summer well into early fall. 

However, even Nantucket Blue™ will not go on forever. A great option is to preserve those blue mopheads for winter arrangements by drying when the flower heads are fully mature and beginning to dry on the shrubs.  

Step 1

Evaluate blossoms. In order to dry without wilting, flowers should be fully mature, beginning to dry on the plant, with the first few florets just beginning to brown

Step 2

Cut blossoms with about a foot of stem

Step 3

Strip the leaves

Step 4

Place in a vase and dry in place, or else hang upside down to dry. Some swear by adding an inch of water and allowing the flowers to slowly dry as the water evaporates.

These dried flowers will retain the rich New England Blue for years if they are kept out of direct sunlight. Mix them in dried arrangements, or wire the flowerheads into wreaths on a springtime will wreath.  

If you like the flower form but don’t need the blue color, and you wish the flowers to remain flexible, a second option is to dry using glycerin. Prepare the flower stems as before, but put in a vase with room temperature water, Meanwhile, mix glycerin from the craft supply store with hot water, fill a roomy vase and allow to cool to lukewarm. Add the hydrated hydrangeas to the glycerin mixture, and when they are leathery golden brown they are ready. (Note: the remaining glycerin mixture can be re-used..) 

Post photos of your dried Nantucket Blue(TM) Hydrangea creations on the Garden Debut(TM) Facebook Page. 

Photos courtesy Garden Debut(R), Wiki Commons, HydrangeasHydrangeas.com AnemoneWeddingBouquet.Blog 

How to Make Gardenia Perfume Oil with Crown Jewel(R) Gardenia PP19896

Fragrance is a highly prized feature in my garden. I select plants and shrubs based on their fragrances, such as the new perfumed Crown Jewel Gardenia PP19896 or the compact lemony Teddy Bear® MagnoliaPP13049, both from Garden Debut®. In addition to enjoying them on garden strolls, I have been using these flowers for more than thirty years to make fragrant gifts like potpourri, flower infusions and essential oils for use in herb crafts and perfumery.

Gardenia Perfume Oil, akso known as Scented Flower Infusion or Enfleurage

Making gardenia perfume oil, also known as flower infusion or enfleurage, is the craft of steeping flowers in a carrier oil in order to remove the scent from the petals and deposit it in the oil. It is a method of making essential oil or perfume oil by extracting the fragrance from selected scented flowers such as fresh gardenias submerging them in pure oil because they are too fragile to withstand heat-facilitated extraction.

Historically, flowers and fats (even rendered lard) were placed between glass sheets and pressed. Fat-soluble fragrance molecules in the thick petals dissolve and transfer their fragrance from the flowers into the oil they are soaking in. (Water-soluble fragrance molecules will not dissolve using this method; steam distillation is an entirely different process.) Essentialoilscompany.com notes that rose oil is a yellow or colorless liquid and the major component, phenyl-ethyl alcohol, is extracted from the petals in distillation. 

Some recipes indicate specialty non-scented oils such as coconut, jojoba, almond, grape seed or safflower oil, later fixed with Vitamin E oil, but beginners can use any oil (such as baby oil or even hydrogenated vegetable fat such as Crisco) to try out the technique.

How to Make Flower Perfume Oil using Crown Jewel(R) Gardenia PP19896

Collect perfumed flowers 

 Remove green calyxes, leaving petals

 Place flowers in a ceramic bowl or glass jar 

 Bruise or macerate petals slightly with a wooden spoon

 Submerge them in a small quantity of non-scented oil; a ceramic bowl or mason jar is good for this step

Cover with a cup of oil and steep for a few days  

Remove the first batch of fragrant petals using a very fine stainless steel tea strainer and repeat adding fresh petals, but re-using the same oil to increase the fragrance intensity

Strain any remaining petals or fragments from the oil using the stainless steel strainer; can add a small amount of vitamin E or tocopherol as a preservative

Bottle the finished flower perfume oil in a tightly closed glass bottle or an eyedropper bottle

Store at an even, cool temperature such as a fruit cellar

Use the gardenia enfleurage sparingly to scent dry potpourri, Epsom salts for the bath or glycerin hand lotion.  Or add a small amount to high-test (150-proof or higher) alcohol to make cologne out of the infused oil.   

In addition to gardenia flowers, magnolias, roses, lily-of-the-valley, lavender, lilacs and whatever fragrant flowers which appeal to the crafter can be used. All the aromatic herbs such as sweet marjoram, lemon verbena, oregano, basil, plus spices like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, may all be used to scent oils. On the internet today, Deborah Dolen points out that even saw dust (albeit from scented woods), can be used to make a perfume in a fatty Effleurage method.  So give it a whirl.  

 I have a library of books on the topic of fragrant crafts and perfumes dating back to Ann Tucker Fettener’s Potpourri, Incense and Other Fragrant Concoctions published by Workman in 1977; Edwin T. Morris, Fragrance, the Story of Perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel by E.T. Morris & Company in 1984; Guiseppe Donato and Monique Seefried’s The Fragrant Past put out in association with an exhibition by Emory University Museum of Art and Archeology in 1989; Gail Duff’s Personalized Perfumes by Simon and Schuster in 1994; and Donna Maria’s Making Aromatherapy Creams and Lotions by Storey Books in 2000 (to name just a few my dozens). Each adds a different perspective or contributes additional knowledge to the mix. I'd like to hear about your crafting!