When I first got into gardening I was attacted to large blooming perennials, and planted mostly those. I have come a long way since then, namely I appreciate things like edibles more, interesting foliage, and length of bloom time as much as bloom shape, size, or color.

But sometimes that interest in large blooming perennials rears up. Enter Kniphofia, other wise known as Red Hot Poker plant. A few years ago on a walk I saw it in bloom, thought it looked cool, and wondered why I had never seen it before. I couldn’t find a good source for plants, so I bought some seeds and started them.

Unlike many of my seed starting endeavors this worked out, and I transplanted them outside, and generally took care of them. Three years later they got big and bushy and were ready to bloom. For a perennial from seed that sort of length is typical. I was pretty excited as I watched the scapes rise.

In the end this plant only bloomed for about three days, and it never got “red hot” remaining more a muted salmon color at best. What is more it had the bloom habit of a gladiolus where the lower flowers bloom and close before the uppers open, so the whole “poker” was never in bloom at once.

It bloomed for such a little amount of time, that I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of it, so below you see it not in bloom.

Now, if I’m going to give roughly 4 or 5 square feet to a plant in my garden it better bloom for more than 3 days, or provide me something edible.

A few days after it had stopped blooming, I dug it up… oops.

A rabbit had taken advantage of the messy foliage mound and dug a burrow directly underneath it, which I had now destroyed. Luckily my shovel did not crush any of the 4 eyes-still-closed baby bunnies inside of it.

I reconstructed a fake burrow by cutting a black plastic nursery pot in half and then covering it with mulch. I placed the babies back inside and on advice put down markers so I could tell if the mother returned. After two days the mother had not returned so I took the babies to a local wildlife rescue place where they could be nursed. Apparently they were really closed to being weaned naturally, despite still having their eyes closed, so they had a good chance at survival I was told.

This just shows you never know what you’ll find when digging in your garden, though next time I’d rather it be gold coins.

In the place of the horrible Red Hot Poker plant I ordered something truly hot, a double echinacea called ‘Hot Papaya’. Coneflowers have a long bloom period, which I like, but I dislike the big brown center on the standard coneflower. The double varietes are like much more attractive to me and I grow one of the original pink cultivars already. I noticed my neighbor had one of these the other day, and it was doing well, and it seems like it would be the perfect plant for the spot where the kniphofia was. I had originally wanted a nicely blooming bright red perennial for that spot after all.

Long time readers of this blog will I know that for years and years I have wanted a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar, Paul James had one on his property and it showed up often in his TV show and I wanted it bad. Unfortunately, they aren’t quite hardy here. I eventually got a different cedar, an upright version, that was hardy, but I was still missing that architectural interest of the weeper.

Then I discovered larches. They are hardy here, hardy to zone 4, not the zone 6 of the atlas cedar. They have very similar needles (short, soft), and while they are a deciduous conifer, I don’t mind that. So, today I bought one.

Often you will see these grown in an overgrown, mop head, or dreadlock-y fashion, where the plant looks like some swamp thing reaching out of the ground with tendril-like branches draping it from head to toe. I didn’t want this. I wanted to show off the interesting growth habit, and an interesting trunk. So I bought a tree that emphasized the trunk, and then I did some additional pruning to expose more of the trunk to view.

Untrained, these trees will grow along the ground, so you have to train them to grow upright, and if you have to train them anyways, you might as well train them to grow in an interesting way, like you would with a bonsai.

So this tree is very very similar in shape and form to a nice bonsai you might buy, only it is 6 or 7 feet tall. Check out that contorted trunk. Of course, to get a bonsai this big or old you’d pay a fortune, tens of thousands of dollars. Whereas this tree was only $200ish, I call that a bargain. Check out that cortorted trunk.

Good for me the needles even are slightly blue, though not as blue as the atlas cedar. Still, compared to the bald cypress needles (which is growing behind it) it looks quite blue. The cypress will grow formal and upright, so this will be a nice contrast, and good garden design is all about contrast. I’m really excited about this new tree.

The color is spectacular, just as I had hoped. This is basically a conifer that “flowers”, in the sense that it puts out some bright yellow color, not unlike the yellow of a “Happy Returns” daylily, for at least 2 months here in the Spring. It grows very slow, only a couple inches per year. But, by measuring the candle length the top growth on mine gained at least 6 inches, which is above the norm for this hybrid. So I think planting it in high quality soil, as I talk about in my original post on the tree, worked.

Interestingly, new branch nodes on the candles are coming in hot pink. I never knew about this feature of this cultivar, didn’t see it mentioned anywhere, but there are definitely hot pink spots on the candles as in the below picture.

It is always nice finding out about an unknown but attractive feature of a new plant.

If you notice on the first picture, the candles (that is, by the way, what new growth on such pines is called, “candles”) are longer on top for the vertical growth, than on the sides for the lateral growth. This tells me that this tree will tend to grow tall and skinny, more columnar, than wide and spreading (or short and squat). It is important to note this growth habit. Not all pines, or all conifers, will behave the same way, and how they grow will affect the optimal planting locations. This tree, for me, is right near a path, so it is good it grows tall, and not wide, because if it got too wide it would block the path. On the flip side, for a foundation planting, or underneath a window, it may not work as well because it would get too tall, blocking the house. Growth habit is another attribute to pay attention to when planting a tree or shrub.

Pinus Contorta “Taylor’s Sunburst” is definitely a plant I recommend, being only a couple decades old as a cultivar though it can be hard to find, and it on the expensive end, but where else can you find a conifer that provides year round interest, Spring “flowers”, a cool structure (naturally bonsai-ish, hence the contorta species name), and possibly even, when it gets big, food for wildlife via the cones. I know of few other conifers that get this bright in Spring, especially with the contrast between the old growth and new (a few, very very fragile and less hardy conifers can be bright yellow, but they’ll be all bright yellow), and I certainly know of no Spring flowering trees that are evergreen (atleast here in zone 5). This tree is definitely unique.

A North American native it can be found growing wild in the south, but it has been hybridized and many beautiful cultivars are available for the entire country. It is related to the tropical hibiscus but is hardy and has much larger flowers. These flowers can get to a foot across, a full 12 inches, outside of dahlias, which are a huge labor to grow, what else gets so big?

Kopper King

These plants are fairly carefree. They need sun, and water, that is about it. I’ve given some to my Mom and while deer eat most other things I’ve given her, the deer near her house (and she has a lot of deer) have never touched these. Maybe, because they’re native, they evolved with deer and so have defenses.

They get a late start in Spring, I often worry they have died (and I sometimes protect them with a styrofoam cone to allow them to get an earlier start, but they don’t need it), by late May they’re growing, reaching as high as 4 feet by late summer, then the blooms come. Mostly in shades of white, red, and pink. The plant also has a very pleasing golden fall color to the leaves.

Kopper King Fall Color

Standard hardy hibiscus have heart shaped leaves like other members of the mallow family. However some hybridizations have occured for leaf interest as well. My favorite of the lot is called ‘Pinot Noir’ it has very deep cut foliage remisicent of a Japanese maple, the leaves are also mottled green and purple, though the purple is very subtle. There is also ‘Kopper King’ which has three lobed leaves like a standard maple that feature a bronze or burgundy sheen. I also grow a variety called ‘Turn of the Century’ that has green leaves otherwise deeply cut like ‘Pinot Noir’ or maybe even more so. ‘Turn of the Century’ also features striped red and white blooms that look like peppermints. Finally I grow a white one that I’m unsure the cultivar of.

Pinot Noir

Of the four I grow ‘Pinor Noir’ my favorite for it’s deep red blooms and colorful leaves, is also the hardiest, and the best grower for me (though perhaps that is my fertilization bias). We had a spat of cold weather about 10 days ago with our first frost. It affected the other ones slightly, but ‘Pinot Noir’ is still sitting pretty like we’re in mid August.

In the Spring or early Winter after you’ve had some hard freezes you should prune back the growth to the ground, those canes are dead and you don’t need to keep them (this isn’t a hydrangea).

Make sure the plant gets plenty of water when growing, and they should grow well, with plant and bloom size being related to soil fertility. I also have anecdotal evidence they like banana peels, I toss a few into my garden daily, and the plants really seem to respond to that potassium.

All told I can’t recommend the plant enough. It is easy to grow, carefree, and provides showstopping blooms. It is also very easy to start from seed, every year one or two volunteers crop up in my garden (enough to be a bonus, way too few to be invasive). After blooming small seed clusters develop which eventually turn brown and crack open, harvest the seeds then and try planting them, maybe you’ll discover a new color! Or perhaps, you’ll just get free plants.

Green Giant Thuja’s are fast becoming one of the most popular plants for the landscape, and for good reason. They are one of the fastest growing known evergreen trees. They can grow as much as 5 feet per year or more.

The result from a supposed cross between a Japanese thuja and the US native western redcedar (not a real cedar, actually thuja plicata,) it looks strongly like the plicata and definitely different from the (at this point) more commonly planted eastern white cedar (also not a real cedar) which is thuja occidentalis most commonly seen in garden centers as Emerald Green Arborvitae.

This plant family has really confusing common names, but hopefully you can follow along.

Anyways, probably about 6 years ago I bought one, just one, and planted it. Then moved it, then moved it, then moved it. I moved it three times in three years, finally planting it on the north side of a fence where it had good soil, but little sun.

The last two years once it reached a “critical mass” of growth and started getting some sun thanks to it’s height, it started taking off. It is growing really fast now, and is getting big. In the picture, the fence is 6 feet. So my 2 foot tree ordered online, transplanted three times, and planted in shade, has grown that fast, as an evergreen.

Deciduous trees can often grow that fast or faster, I’ve seen trees put up multiple feet of new growth in a year, the cherry tree immediately to the right of the thuja is only about 3 years old, but it is getting near it’s top (and is in extremely improved soil). But such deciduous trees cannot top this thuja for attractiveness, and in the winter, it is still there.

For a hedge, or a border, there is nothing better.

In the below pictures I found when doing some reading the trees were planted in 2005 at 10 inches high only, now the biggest are over 12 feet.

When Thuja Green Giant first started being offered by nurseries and garden centers it was somewhat expensive, and many places still overcharge not realizing it. But I just bought a few weeks ago on ebay 12 of them, 3 feet high, shipped free, for $50. Around $4 a tree, really good deal.

Deer will eat them, of course, perhaps the only downside of this plant, but they will grow tall, they will grow fast, they are very attractive, and the lumber is valuable and useful. All around an excellent tree to grow. And yes, only $4 each.

Some times a tree or plant is marketed and sold by nurseries in their catalogs and it doesn’t live up to the hype. Green Giant definitely does, highly recommended.

What gardener doesn’t dream about having a massive redwood in their yard, and if we could live for a thousand years we might be able to get one, but instead I guess we must just relinquish ourselves to younger versions of the trees, which yes, you can grow outside of California.

There are three species known as redwoods or sequoias. Sequoia sempervirens or Coast Redwood, is the tallest known tree in the world and is the one you think of when you think of giant redwoods. The Sequoiadendron giganteum or Giant Sequoia is also one of the biggest trees and while there aren’t any known ones taller than a coast redwood, they are the biggest, by volume, trees in the world.

The third one, the one I bought is Metasequoia glyptostroboides or Dawn Redwood which I will call ‘metasequoia’ because I hate typing the rest of it out. I paid $32 for it, a 3 footer in a 1 gallon container. Got it from Gee Farms here in Michigan.

Metasequoias were thought to be extinct. There are fossil records of them all over the world, but no known survivors were located until 1944 when they were found growing in a secluded valley in china. It has since been exported for gardeners to grow all over the world. It is perhaps a good ecological choice to grow too, considering how close to extinction it is.

It is the smallest of the lot, alas, topping out, it is believed, at 200 feet (in many many years) but like it’s relatives it is a very fast grower to 50 or 100 feet. The fact is we just don’t know how big this tree can get because we have no 1000 year old samples to check out.

It is also the hardiest of the three. I have seen reports of it being hardy in zone 6, or 5, but quite a few sources stating zone 4, including some university sources which I consider to be accurate. Coast redwoods are the least hardy, but Sequiadendrons will supposedly take zone 5 (until you get a really really cold winter I suppose).

Sheltering and putting it in a microclimate such as on the south side of a hill where it will be protected from northern winds will probably help. Additionally, it needs full sun, so a hill is good there to, and it needs lots of water, so the base of a hill is also usually pretty damp. I do not have a hill, so it is going in my backyard. However I also bought a couple for my parents, and they have a hill (and are almost zone 4) so I told them to plant it as I described above.

There are a variety of Metasequoia cultivars now, many of which do not grow as fast as the species variety. The one I bought, ‘Gold Rush’ is supposed to grow as fast or only slightly slower, so that is good. It also has striking golden foliage which it is supposed to keep all year, which is rare for a sun lover. I like designing with contrasting foliage colors so this is a good choice for those applications.

Like a bald cypress (a cousin) the plants are deciduous conifers, so they lose their needles in the winter and go dormant (which probably aids their hardiness). Also like a bald cypress, they develop gorgeous trunks when older, which have to be my favorite feature of the plant. Corded, complex, reddish trunks, very pretty.

I have a small yard, and if my house still stands in 200 years the tree will probably be too big. But whomever the current owner is I suppose can always cut it down and use the valuable wood to build a deck or something.

In the meantime I will enjoy, consequently, I also think they may do well as bonsai. I have a dream of going out and planting cuttings on public land near my house, which should be preserved forever. So in generations there will be some huge trees growing there, my footprint on the future.

I have wanted a cedar for years, even since I saw Paul James’ on his show. Paul has a weeping Blue Atlas cedar, Cedrus atlantica, and it is absolutely gorgeous… and not hardy in zone 5. No matter how often I now see HomeDepot or Lowes carrying it, it is not hardy here. Now… perhaps in a microclimate it might survive, a courtyard, or if you give it serious winter protection, but it really needs zone 6.

However in doing some research I discovered another variety, Cedrus deodara the Himalayan cedar, that is more cold hardy and one specific cultivatar, ‘Karl Fuchs’ definitely so. It is blue, which I wanted, not as blue as the atlas, and the needles aren’t quite the same, but I’ll make do. It is my only choice really, so I have to don’t I?

Anyways, I really like these true cedars. They have very short and tightly packed needles so you really see a lot of the tree structure. As my gardening tastes have evolved I find myself attracted more to the form or structure of plants such as in Japanese gardens where the stem or trunk and branching is as important and beautiful as the foliage.

So the cedars, with their short needles that cling in clumps to the trunk and branches, really show off the form, and it is a unique look for the garden. I wanted one specifically for the spot in which I planted it. In that area of the garden I’ve got a Japanese maple with red foliage, some yellow heucheras, and all sorts of green plants, but not a single plant with blue foliage. The closest plant with blue foliage was probagly 40 feet away, and using contrasting foliage colors in the landscape is always a good idea, so I needed something.

They do need some care to make sure they survive, even if they’re supposed to be hardy. The reason evergreens can survive the winter isn’t just because they handle the cold, but because their needles have adapted to handle the dryness. Winter is the dryest season, cold winter sun, drying winter wind, air without any humidity to it, it all takes a toll on plants. Most evergreens have a waxy coating on their needles or foliage to help prevent moisture loss and it is this that allows them to be evergreens. When an evergreen gets dried out it is called winter burn and you’ll notice it as a browning or bronzing of the leaf tips or exposed sections of the plant.

Well, cedars are less able to deal with these stresses than other evergreens, they just evolved where the winters aren’t so cold and dry.

So they need protection from the winter sun, and need protection from the winter wind. I have a very sheltered backyard with the house to the west and big trees pretty much all the rest around the perimeter. So my backyard is relatively low on wind, and I planted this Cedrus deodara on the north side of a large spruce which should protect it fully from the winter sun. I may also do a loose burlap wrap this winter to help it too. You might think that a plant that is marginally hardy in your area might do better with a southern exposure, and in most cases you would be correct, because it is warmer on a southern exposure, but for evergreens, especially Cedrus, the sun is more damaging than the cold.

If I have any problems with the tree in the future I will be sure to post an update, if anyone has any tips for growing one in z5, please leave a comment.

People are confused, I was confused, confusion abounds, what is a cedar? What isn’t? I’ve even seen articles, writing by some sweatshop overseas writing shops I’m sure, that are completely mishmashed confusing true cedars with fake ones. That is the quality you get I guess when you pay by the word at one of these generic article spam sites, and don’t give any bonuses for accuracy.

A Thuja, not a Cedar

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A True Cedar

Anyways, what I mean to say, is that what you think is a cedar, probably isn’t. If it is native to North America, it isn’t a cedar, if it is growing in zone 5 or colder, it probably isn’t a cedar (though, there are a few exceptions).

True cedars have the genus cedrus and are native to North Africa, the Middle East, and regions around the Himalayas. If it isn’t a cedrus it isn’t a cedar.

Eastern Red Cedar

Eastern Red Cedar, the most common non-cedar cedar. Is what most people in North America think of when we think of the word cedar. This tree is native to most of the eastern US and Canada. It is evergreen, has blue berries (not cones) and scaly green leaves, not needles. The scientific name of Eastern Red Cedar is Juniperus virginiana for you see, it is a juniper, not a cedar.

However, if you want to be really confused. This is the tree that gives us the smelly and rot resistant “cedar” wood we all know and love, but again, it isn’t an actual cedar.

Western Red Cedar

Western Red Cedar also produces aromatic and rot resistant wood. It grows larger typically than the Eastern Red Cedar. It is a conifer, producing little cones as opposed to the berries found on the Easter Red Cedar. The scientific name of Western Red Cedar is Thuja plicata for you see, it is a thuja, not a cedar.

Western Red Cedar can also sometimes be called Arborvitae, which at least, is accurate if generic.

Northern White Cedar

Northern White Cedar is a tree which is again native to the Eastern parts of North America, it has cones, often starting yellowish before maturing, and scaly leaves again. It is, of course, not a cedar, but another thuja, Thuja occidentalis specifically. It is also often called Arborvitae. The lumber of Northern White Cedar is often used for log cabins and the like. It also has very many cultivars and is widely planted in landscapes.

So what is a cedar?

A cedar has to be in the genus Cedrus there are only a few types, worldwide: Cedrus atlantica or Atlas Cedar; Cedrus libani or Lebanon Cedar; Cedrus deodara or Himalayan Cedar. Others just aren’t true cedars. Additionally, most non-cedar cedars are the type of evergreen with scaly leaves, not needles. Cedars have needles. So an easy way to remember if it is a real cedar or just pretending, is if it has needles or not.

True cedars are very unique looking plants and make excellent specimens if they can grow where you live. They generally need mild winters (most can’t live in zone 5 or colder, there are a handful of exceptions) and shelter from drying winter sun. They certainly look nothing like the false ones most people think of.

1. Expect to spend around $5 a linear foot for a 2 brick above ground (3 rows total) retaining wall as in the video. This assumes $1.50 per brick.

2. Use high quality soil for back filling. I used composted cow manure, it is like $1-$2 a bag, not much more expensive than standard topsoil, but oh, so much better. You rarely get the opportunity to fertilize beneath plants, do it when you can. It all starts with soil. This isn’t poop, it isn’t smelly. It is cow manure that has been composted for a year or more. Its just some of the richest darkest earth you’ll find.

3. Raised beds rule! Sod busting sucks, critters eating plants suck, tilling sucks. With a raised bed you only need to cut up a little sod and can instead dump dirt in instead of tilling or tearing dirt out. Much much easier, much better for the plants. Raised beds also increase drainage, lift your plants off the ground and away from munching rodents (though, obviously, they can climb, so it isn’t foolproof protection. But… rodents also don’t like to sit on top of things exposed to owls and cats and the like). The buried course of bricks can also confound moles and gophers (yes!). If you want to really confound them lay a layer of hardware cloth (fence-like metal sheeting) at the bottom to prevent tunneling up into it. A raised bed also makes it easier to weed (less bending) and can even provide a little freeze protection since cold air sinks.

4. Stone raised beds are the most awesome, but the hardest to make and really really expensive. Wood raised beds are the cheapest and the easiest, but aren’t at all good looking. Retaining wall bricks I think are a good compromise of ease and affordability with attractiveness. By the way, one the size I made in the video is perfect for a dwarf fruit tree.

Full text construction directions to follow soon.

I planted some carpet phlox way back then too though, and it is still going strong and spreading, and while it doesn’t flower all summer (Spring only) I still love it, and think it may be my favorite flowering ground cover.

It forms a nicely evergreen spreading mat of foliage that keeps weeds down and otherwise acts like a mulch for the soil. In spring, concurrent with tulips usually, it’ll be covered in blooms, absolutely covered. It also has a scent, and looks great cascading down walls.

I have three varieties, though I do not recall they’re specific names. One is pink, but it is sold as red. One is lavendar, but it is sold as blue, and the third is a candy-cane like white with red stripes.

The best performer for me as been the lavendar (aka blue). It grows the fastest, flowers nicely, and is very hardy and evergreen here in my mid-south Michigan zone 5 garden. Pink (aka red) has the same hardiness as the blue, but grows perhaps a little slower. The flowers are brighter though (you can’t out-bright hot pink).

The “candy cane” looking one is a poor performer. It is the least hardy, getting some die back here, it grows slower, and seems much more susceptible to drought than the other two (or, it needs more water) all told it has been a poor performer and I do not recommend it.

The other two I recommend fully.

Carpet phlox spreads like other ground covers by slowly creeping and having new roots get formed where it touches the ground. I also believe there is some seed based spreading going on as well. It seems to grow a foot or two in a year, depending on the variety and the health. Supposedly hardy to zone 3. I’ve seen some people pooh-pooh it because it doesn’t flower all summer, but the foliage is not unnattractive and the plant is largely carefree, no weeding, no seeding, no watering, no fertilizing. That has to be worth something. Sure, there are plenty of annual groundcovers that’ll bloom all summer, but those are annuals, and so much more work.

All told, next to some golden lysimachia, I think carpet phlox is my favorite ground cover. But then again, it is Spring, and it is really beautiful right now (everyone who walks by the yard turns their head). Maybe I’ll feel different in the fall.