Garden News

PA Native Plants & Invasive Plants

Barbara May, the NGC, Inc. president, has selected "Nuture the Earth-Plant Natives" as the theme for her 2007-2009 administration. To help support her theme, you may download, PA Native Plants & Invasive Plants. This list will be helpful when considering what plants to use in a landscape project, educating the community about native plants, or when educating your club members about which native plants to use in their yards.

2008 Perennial Plant of the Year

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

The Perennial Plant Association has awarded the title of Perennial Plant of the Year® to Geranium ‘Rozanne’. Donald and Rozanne Waterer discovered this strong performing hardy geranium in their garden in Somerset, England in 1989. It has 2 ½ inch, iridescent violet-blue, saucer-shaped flowers with purple-violet veins and radiant white centers. Bloom time is from late spring to mid fall.

• Hardiness – USDA Zones 5 to 8

• Size – 20 to 24 inches tall and 24 to 28 inches wide

• Light – Best in full sun to partial shade, afternoon shade is advisable in hot climates

• Soil – Prefers moist, well-drained soil

• Uses - Geranium ‘Rozanne’ may be used as a dynamic ground cover or as an attractive specimen plant. It is a good companion plant to Shasta daisy, perennial salvia, speedwell, hostas, and short ornamental grasses. Rozanne’senergetic habit makes it a worthy tenant of patio containers, window boxes,and hanging baskets.

• Unique Qualities – The large violet-blue flowers with purple-violet veins and small white centers offer non-stop flowering through the growing season. It has one of the longest flowering periods of any of the hardy geraniums.

2008 Gold Medal Plant Award Winners Announced

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Gold Medal Plant Award committee has added three exceptional plants to its list of winning ‘Gold Medal’ ornamental trees, shrubs and vines. To date, a total of 98 outstanding plants have received this prestigious award since it was introduced in 1978.

Founded by Dr. J. Franklin Styer, a long-time member of PHS and a horticulturist of national reputation, the Gold Medal Plant Award promotes ornamental woody plants with extraordinary garden merit. The following specimens have been chosen for their proven performance and hardiness in the growing region from New York to Washington, D.C.:

• Common Boxwood--Buxus sempervirens 'Dee Runk'
• Gold Rush Dawn Redwood--Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Ogon'
• Japanese Hornbeam--Carpinus japonica
• Japanese Plum Yew--Cephalotaxus harringtonii 'Duke Gardens'
• Sweetbay Magnolia--Magnolia virginiana 'Jim Wilson' Moonglow™

Common Boxwood--Buxus sempervirens 'Dee Runk'

Plant Type: Evergreen Shrub Description: Upright conical evergreen shrub with blue-green foliage. Deer-resistant and pollution tolerant, ‘Dee Runk’ also adapts well to full sun and poor soils. A reliable, stately choice for the formal garden or foundations, as a specimen, or in containers. Tolerates all light conditions.

Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8

Gold Rush Dawn Redwood--Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Ogon'

Plant Type: Deciduous Tree Description: This is a bright-yellow-needled cultivar of the majestic “living fossil”. Growing lightly smaller and slower than the species, ‘Ogon’, also known as ‘Gold Rush’, contrasts well with blues and burgundies in the landscape, eventually turning a coppery orange in the fall before shedding its needles. It has no pest or disease problems and tolerates soil types from dry to boggy and acid to alkaline. It prefers full sun and will eventually grow to 80’ x 30’(in 60 years).

Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8

Japanese Hornbeam--Carpinus japonica Plant Type: Deciduous Tree

Description: A small deciduous tree characterized by its fan-shaped branching structure and wide-spreading rounded habit. Its exotic, Asian demeanor makes it a desirable under-story or small accent tree. Carpinus japonica provides year-round interest. In the spring, the tree is profusely adorned with thumb-size cone-shaped nutlets in shades of cream, tan, and green; they turn brown upon maturity and persist into fall. Its clean serrated foliage is dark green in the summer and turns yellowish in the fall. Plant in full or part sun.

Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8

Japanese Plum Yew--Cephalotaxus harringtonii 'Duke Gardens'

Plant Type: Evergreen Shrub Description: This is an attractive evergreen shrub with dark green needles. An extremely deer-resistant alternative to the common Yew, ‘Duke Gardens’ is identified by a more disciplined upright habit than ‘Prostrata’ and is useful as a foundation plant or in mass. It tolerates all light conditions from shade to full sun.

Hardiness Zones: 6 to 8

Sweetbay Magnolia--Magnolia virginiana 'Jim Wilson' Moonglow™

Plant Type: Evergreen Tree Description: Retaining most of its leaves throughout a normal Mid-Atlantic winter, this almost-evergreen native Magnolia was selected for its fast growth, cold hardiness, and lush dark green foliage. The unique upright habit of ‘Jim Wilson’ is enhanced by beautiful creamy-white flowers in late spring. These 2-3” long-lasting blooms lace the air with a pleasant lemony scent. Pest-resistance and adaptability to wet sites, characteristics shared by the well-respected species, add to the versatility of Moonglow™. It prefers acid soil and a part-sun location.

Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8

Nurseries and garden centers endorse Gold Medal Plants with a small gold “medal” that assigns the highest recommendations for landscaping and adaptability. Gold Medal plant lists and retail/wholesale outlets are listed online at www.goldmedalplants.com. This site  features an exciting new look with a searchable plant database and a complete image library. To find out more about all Gold Medal Plant selections, call (215) 988-8774, visit www.goldmedalplants.com, or send a 60 cent SASE to Gold Medal Plants c/o PHS, 100 N. 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. 

Joe Ziccardi, the PHS Gold Medal Coordinator, can be reached at (215) 988-8824.

American Horticulture Society

2007 Growing Good Kids Book Awards

A Seed Is Sleepy

Dianna Hutts Aston, author

Sylvia Long, illus

Ages 4-12

“A seed is sleepy. It lies there, tucked inside its flower, on its cone, or beneath the soil. Snug. Still.”  

Poetic in voice and elegant in design, A Seed is Sleepy is a gorgeous and informative introduction to seeds that is equally at home being read on a parent's lap as in a classroom reading circle.

Josias, Hold the Book

Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren, author

Nicole Tadgell, illus

Ages 4-12

This moving story of a Haitian boy determined to make his garden grow is brought to lifethrough luminous watercolor illustrations. Every morning Josias is hard at work in the family's garden under the hot sun. His friend asks,” When will you join us and hold the book?" With his garden failing, Josias has no time to learn how to read and write. There may not be enough food for his family. Soon, Josias realizes a book might hold the solution to his problem. 

Once Around the Sun

Bobbi Katz, author

LeUyen Pham, illus

Ages4-12

Children don't need a calendar to tell them which season it is. Every month has its own distinct clues, like in September "when yellow pencils in brand-new eraser hats / bravely wait on perfect points." In a dozen unforgettable poems, this fresh yet nostalgic collection captures the excitement of each season, spinning us once around the sun – twelve months, four seasons, one amazing year.


The Junior Master Gardener Program and the American Horticultural Society honor engaging, inspiring works of plant, garden and ecology-themed children's literature through the new "Growing Good Kids - Excellence in Children's Literature Awards" Program.