Two Pink Flowering Crabapples

Two Pink Flowering Crabapples

As usual I enjoyed the Crabapples this year even though their flowers were cut short by the wind and rain we had. These two pink-red Crabs were outstanding and I am glad that I planted both of them. The first one is Malus x 'Prairie Fire' and it is a hardy tree (US Zone 3), which gets to about 15-20 feet tall. Although I have been keeping it a little smaller. It is disease resistant which maybe the most important cultivar selection criteria for me now. ‘Prairiefire’ has been around for some time now, it was introduced in 1982.


This second Crabapple was new to me but it performed nicely the last two years. 'Cardinal' Crabapple (Malus 'Cardinal') was introduced by Princeton Nurseries of New jersey and is also considered disease resistant. The flowers a deep pink but the best thing about this tree is the purple color of the leaves. Mine didn’t set a lot of fruit and I hope that changes but overall I am very happy with this tree.

'What A Peach' Rose

'What A Peach' Rose

I saw this strongly fragrant Miniature Shrub rose at the nursery when I was buying a 8 to 9 foot Norway Spruce. The tag said it was a Shrublet rose, which is something I hadn’t heard before. It was bigger than what I would normally call think of as a miniature rose and the final height was listed at 4.5 feet tall. The color was gorgeous and overall it had a classy and cultured look. Right after I took this picture I walked further down the line of roses and when I turned around someone was taking it home.

Christopher H. Warner bred this rose in the UK in 2000. Weeks Roses introduced it into the US in 2002.

Parentage: Laura Ford ® × Sweet Magic
Synonyms: CHEwpeachdell

Dahlia 'Bishop of York'

Dahlia
Dahlia 'Bishop of York'
(DAHL-ya)

I planted the Dahlias in Claire’s garden the other day. For the first time in 24 years I bought some pre-finished plants as opposed to potting up the tubers in early spring. It just has been that type of year. I bought 12 different types and this one of three dark leafed varieites. It was already stunning to me so I can’t wait until we get deeper in the season. Having always admired the bronze leafed (is bronze leaf, purple leaf or dark leaf the proper way to refer to these?) varieties I am happy to finally be trying some. I got a couple of the other ‘Bishop’ series and I am sure you will be seeing them here soon, although this is my favorite.

Apparently there is no ‘Bishop of York’ in real life, only an Archbishop. This variety was hybridized by Van Der Linden in the Netherlands and was introduced in 2002.

I have another big day planned. I have three meetings with people and probably won’t get much gardening done.

Wordless Wednesday - Fuchsia 'Eden Rock'

Fuchsia 'Eden Rock'

Hybrid Tuberous Begonia

Hybrid Tuberous Begonia
Begonia x tuberhybrida
(be-GON-yuh) (too-ber-HY-brid-uh)
Synonyms: Non-stop Begonias

This year I decided to plant a lot of these and they seem to be a big hit. Valley View grew a mix of yellow, salmon, pink and a couple of bi-colors. They also had some of the Mocca series, which has a dark leaf. I just have been putting the colors together in some big mixed plantings and it makes a colorful carpet in the moist shade. I have read that they are deer resistant and will report back with my actual experience as some of the plants are in pretty heavy grazing territory.


Previously I grown these in containers with good results so I am anxious to see how they do in a bedding situation.

White Crabapple

White Crabapple
Malus sp.

This Crabapple had the most enticing fragrance. I shot this picture at the little farm. At 25 acres it really isn’t little but it smaller than the other farms we work on. I call it the little farm since it has a smaller garden then the others. I am not sure what variety of Crab this is and trying to figure it out was impossible. It might be 'Snowdrift' but that is just a guess. I knew that Crabapples are fragrant but this one went a little beyond what I consider normal. It was extra nice since there was a patch of white Lilacs blooming nearby and this tree was overpowering them.

Going through the archives of shot but not selected pictures I found this Orchid. (Asian Corsage Orchid, Cymbidium 'Milk Tea').


I finished another house yesterday but my appointments yielded more work so it was a wash. One of the houses I visited had a collection of yellow Rhododendrons, which I found quite interesting. I wish I had my camera with me! They will probably be done blooming by the time I get back to do the work. Sigh.

Geranium 'Stephanie'

Geranium 'Stephanie'

This is another beautiful hybrid perennial Geranium. It was developed from a seedling at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland and is a distinct cross between Geranium peloponnesiacum and G. renardii. They like moist sites and full sum but I have grown them in less than ideal conditions and been happy with them. This cultivar is very floriferous and can rebloom later in the season with a little light shearing after the first wave of flowers.

I know last Sunday I said I was going to work this Sunday but oh well. I have a job I will be finishing off today which is always a plus. I have a couple of appointments, also. The planting job went well on Saturday and we got everything in. I need a couple of more trees and some mulch and that job will be finished up too.


It was funny to see this daisy in a sea of Alyssum. I wish I had a wider angle to show the 100's of flats of Alyssum.

Mountain Cornflower

Mountain Cornflower
Centaurea montana 'Amethyst in Snow'
(sen-TAR-ee-uh) (MON-tah-nuh)
Synonyms: Mountain Bluet, Perennial Cornflower

This is a new variety for me. The contrast between the two colors is very eye catching. I will have to try some in the garden. One thing I like about Centaureas are the fact they are low maintenance and thrive in poor and somewhat dry soils. I have read that they will also live in part shade but don’t have any experience with that. The foliage is interesting as the leaves get quite long (6+ inches) and has kind of a silvery grey appearance. This plant was introduced in 2005 from the breeding work of Kees Sahin. The breeding on this genus is really starting to amaze me.

I don’t have much time to write today since I have to leave early. The people I am working with like to get to work early and leave late. They want me to pick them up at 5:30 am but that is just too early for me. I haven’t had time to respond to the comments here but I want everyone to know that I read them all and appreciate hearing what you have to say about the pictures and the flowers.

I have a planting job today. Here is a list of what we have to plant:

6 Dwarf Norway Spruce (Picea abies ‘Ohlendorffii’). These are about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide. 20-gallon pots.

3 Baby Blue Spruce (Picea pungens 'Baby Blue'). This tree has its own website . It is a seed grown strain of Blue Spruce. They are about 6 feet tall now. This is worst tree to plant as far as having sharp needles.

3 White Pines (Pinus strobus). 6-8 feet and heavily sheared.

Not too many trees except they have to go on top of a four-foot high stonewall into a narrow planting strip. They are some 10-foot tall ‘Hoopsi’ Blue Spruce planted up there already to add to the fun.

Valley View Greenhouses

Valley View Greenhouses
South Salem, New York

This is where I buy about 80% of my annuals and a lot of my perennials. I started going there when I first started working on the Estate in 1985 and it is amazing to me how much it has grown since then. Well I guess it isn’t amazing as they produce great plants and offer people in the trade a good deal. Lately I have noticed that they have upped their personal and friendly service. That makes the shopping experience a whole lot better.

Valley View offers a wide range of annuals. Some trendy items as well as some hard to find items and there are always a few surprises. If I can’t find exactly what I am looking for a good substitute is usally available. It is self-service which I like especially if I only have idea of the area I want to fill up as opposed to having an exact plant list. You can get help if you need some information about the plants.

Their selection of perennials is great and the stuff always seems to do well after you plant it. I like they often carry several cultivars of the same plant. The shrub and ornamental grass offerings are expanding and if I remember correctly this is something that they didn’t even have when I first started going. There are also a few trees for sale, so basically all that you need to make a beautiful garden.

To sum it up if you are looking for healthy, reasonably priced flowers in Westchester County head over to Valley View Greenhouses in South Salem.

Here is a link to their website:
vvgh.com

If you have time send an email to them saying they need more pictures on their website.

I just wanted to add that this isn’t a paid endorsement. I feel it is the least I could to do after they have supplied me with so much nice plant material over the years. Also for some of the flower pictures that have appeared on this site.

This is the shrub and perennial yard.

I call these two the Flower Girls, although not to their face :lol: They were too busy to ask them to stop and pose for a proper picture. Debbie (left) is the one in charge. She knows her stuff and runs a tight ship. For many years she seemed to be the only one at the front. Carly (on the right) is always friendly and a real sweet heart. She is also helpful and efficient. I happened to snap this during the one second of the day when she wasn’t smiling. They are as nice to a business customer as to the little old lady buying a couple of Petunias. Way to get us people back on the road and making money, girls. Please keep it up. I, for one, appreciate your hard work.

This is a shot of the main greenhouse. It is a great building and kind of a wonderland to me. It reminds me of the commercial greenhouses and nursery I grew up at. This picture only shows about half the space and was as wide as I could get with a 17mm lens.

In addition to the Main Greenhouse there are a lot of smaller ones with plants in various stages of development.

Yoshino Cherry

Yoshino Cherry
Prunus x yedoensis
(PROO-nus) (yed-oh-EN-sis)

While I was cleaning off one of memory cards I came across these photos of Yoshino Cherry. It is a spectacular tree that was in full bloom the day I took the photos (April 18th, just north of NYC). This tree grows to about 50 feet although if you start out pruning it when it is young it can be held much lower. It is easy to get a nice shape out of the Oriental branching pattern. I was surprised this tree is hardy to USDA Zone 5. They should be planted in full sun with good drainage. The bark and yellow fall color are nice for the fall and winter seasons. These photos were taken of one tree out of a group of several. I noticed some of the others had a slight pink tinge to the flowers.


This is the tree (along with the Kwanzan Cherry) of the Washington, DC Cherry Blossom Festival. I read recently that actually Macon, Georgia has more of these trees than DC does. There are a few cultivars available including ‘Akebona’ (soft pink flowers), ‘Perpendens’ (irregular weeping branches) and ‘Shidare Yoshino’.

In Japan there is a legend that each spring a fairy maiden hovers low in the warm sky to wake the sleeping Cherry trees to life with her delicate breath.

“Break open a cherry tree and there are no flowers, but the spring breeze brings forth myriad blossoms.”
Ikkyu Sojun