Flowers, Fruit, Foliage …

Flower & Garden Magazine, Sept, 2001 by Molly Dean

THE BEST ALL-SEASON SHRUBS AND SMALL TREES

One of my favorite garden plants, an ancient Damask rose, has a special, but fleeting beauty, its shower of soft pink blooms seeming to vanish almost overnight with the first hint of summer. Another favorite shrub, a spirea called `Bridal Wreath' or `Shoe Button' plant, has a completely different appeal, providing varied styles of attractiveness throughout most of the year. The show starts in earliest spring with an airy coating of tiny white flowers, like miniature roses. Throughout summer the shrub retains a graceful, billowing shape, like that of a cool green fountain. With October comes the most spectacular phase of all, as the leaves of `Bridal Wreath' turn to golds, oranges and reds: these hues are slightly different each year, but always fiery. During winter, this plant, when draped beneath cloaks of snow, is one of the most eye-catching plants in the garden.

Multi-seasonal shrubs and small trees represent an excellent garden investment. Here are a few, appealing in their own ways, as is `Bridal Wreath.'

* CRABAPPLES

Crabapple trees, during their seasonal peaks, hum with life. In spring, the pale or deep rosy blooms act as magnets to bees. The fall season brings dangling fruits attracting birds in droves, especially robins and mockingbirds. And all throughout the year, the trees themselves etch graceful shapes, lending shade and character to gardens.

There is great variety among crabapples in terms of the looks of flowers, fruit and foliage. `Narragansett,' introduced by the National Arboretum, is unusually disease resistant and a good choice for gardens. This crab boasts flowers and, later, small cherry-like fruits, highlighted by gold to orange foliage. `Brandywine' flaunts sweet-smelling, rose-like blossoms; the foliage during spring and summer is tinged with burgundy which changes during fall to russet-orange, offsetting pale green fruits. A good pick for gardens in cold regions is `Dolgo' (extra hardy to Zone 3). This charmer produces large white, extra early flowers and bright red apples in fall, often used for making jelly.

* CRAPE MYRTLE

Lagerstroemia indica has been a notable shrub on the southern garden scene ever since it was imported from Asia 150 years ago. It is popularly known as crape or crepe myrtle because of the resemblance of its crinkly textured summer flowers to crepe paper. These shrubs lend year-round interest, with their vase-like forms, exfoliating barks in mottled patterns of light and dark, bright gold, orange or maroon foliage, and clustered flowers of white, lavender, rose or red, that appear at a time when flowers of other shrubs have gone by. Some standard favorites, frequently grown in mild-region gardens, include `Catawba,' with striking dark purple flowers and yellow to orange autumn leaf color, and `Tuscanora,' with blossoms of watermelon red. The good news for northern gardeners is the introduction of many new cold hardy hybrids. `Hopi,' for example, can be grown through Zone 6; this shrub has attractive rose-colored flowers and orange to red fall foliage.

Hybridizers have also developed miniature varieties, and crape myrtles are also being used increasingly, not only as small trees or shrubs, but also in hanging baskets, rock gardens and perennial borders. `Chickasaw,' with deep rose buds opening to lavender flowers, is a good container choice, growing only to about 20 inches after seven years.

* DOGWOOD

The dogwood, that proverbial tree of all seasons, always makes an elegant impression because of its graceful form and pleasingly asymmetrical branching habit. It is hard to beat native dogwoods (Cornus florida) which lace woodlands and gardens in spring with snowy flower bracts, and later, in fall, lend hues of roses, burgundies and purples, giving a stained glass effect, every tree slightly different. The bright berries linger into winter, luring plenty of birds, especially cardinals.

For added interest, it's fun to grow an unusual dogwood or two. For pink flower bracts, try `Apple Blossom' or red `Cherokee Chief.' Both of these cultivars have beautiful autumn foliage.

Oriental dogwoods (Cornus kousa) also have good fall color and the added bonus of disease resistance, especially to anthracnose, a notorious plague of native dogwoods. Oriental dogwoods, like `Wolf Eyes' and `Chinensis,' bloom later than the natives and have curiously pointed flowerheads, giving a starry effect. Even more surprising are the berries, which resemble big, bright raspberries. Especially late-blooming `Summer Stars' retains many of its flower bracts, even after the fruits have appeared.

For character and color during deepest winter, try a Siberian dogwood, like `Westonbirt,' whose spiky red stems etch bold lines against snows or cold gray backdrops. These shrubs also have handsome summer foliage and pale blue berries in autumn.

* FORSYTHIA

Gardeners tend to take forsythias for granted, yet, it's hard to envision a flowering shrub more symbolic of the beginning of spring. The appearance of forsythia's masses of golden bell-like flowers, among the earliest to appear, cheer the heart after long, dreary winters. Forsythia is also one of those classic shrubs whose boughs are often cut and brought inside during winter to be forced into bloom for a special spring preview. Forsythia's seasonal charms extend into autumn when the foliage changes to yellows and purples, often seen in conjunction with an errant hanging flower bell or two.