March Early Spring Bloomers/Garden Style nw

Hi everybody, Debbie with Garden Style here. So today I thought I would cover some early spring blooming plants that I'm sure a lot of you are anxious to either hear about or get started on. So I'm gonna have a selection here of plants that are for the shade and I also selected some for the Sun. And the first one I'm gonna start with is this little guy right here. Get him out of here in front of me. And this is called a forsythia. And a lot of you may have seen these in bloom already in your neighborhood and wondering what they are or some of you may already know what they are. But forsythias are probably the first, one of the first shrubs to start blooming in the very early spring. And I use these kind of as my marker as well to tell me that as soon as I see these starting to bloom it's probably time for me to get out and prune. And that's probably the easiest way to remember it. When the forsythia blooms it's time to prune. And it's kind of my signal to get out and start trimming up my rose bushes, lots of trees and shrubs that aren't blooming currently or do not bloom here in the early spring but bloom later on in season. And that way you're assured of not cutting off blooms that are getting ready to open at least in the next five to six weeks. So forsythias primarily come in yellow and they're a pretty good size shrub. I have one growing already over here in my sun garden. They do prefer full sun. And the average size of these can get about five feet tall to four feet wide. And their hardiness zones are from zone five to eight or minus 20 degrees to ten degrees. But I absolutely love these shrubs as they start to bloom at the time of the year when we really are hungry for some color. And they just get coated in them as you can see here. And I'm not planting this guy in my yard but I brought him from the nursery just so I could introduce him to you. They make a fabulous shrub and one thing I really like to do is start cutting the stems before the buds actually start to open. And you can cut them and put them in the vase and bring them inside. And I'll actually force them to bloom a little sooner. And you can enjoy some of those blooms inside as well as outside. So that's kind of a fun little thing to do. And you can also do it with cherry trees, plum trees. Just start trimming the twigs before they're fully open like you see this one here at the top. And just bring them inside and just because they're in the warm temperatures that will help those buds to open up sooner. And you can enjoy flowers inside as well as out in your garden. So definitely want to introduce the forsythia to you. And I have it spelled out for you down there at the bottom so you can see how to spell it. But if you don't own one of these you should have at least one in your yard just because they are an early bloomer and they're just fun. They're a lot of fun to play with and they certainly add a lot of brightness to the early spring garden when nothing else is blooming yet. So there's your first introduction. Okay he's got a little weight to him. The other plant I want to introduce you to is called lithodora. And this particular variety is called lithodora grace ward. And this is actually a ground cover and they don't get much higher than 24 inches. And you space them about 6 to 12 inches apart. And in about two years they'll have the entire area covered. And they sit low which is nice. And what I have done before is I have combined the yellow forsythia, if I can get them over here, here with the lithodora. And of course the blue and the yellow really accent each other. And the cool thing is is they both start to bloom right about the same time. Sometimes the lithodora will bloom a little later than the forsythia. But either way they make a nice combination together. They both take full sun. And this guy's pretty hardy. The lithodoras are good down to minus 20 degrees which is great. And here on this tag it says it blooms in late spring. But I'm already seeing mine starting to bloom here in the yard now. I think it all depends on the temperature and of course the light. How much light they're getting. So this lovely little ground cover is also an evergreen. So it doesn't lose its leaves during the wintertime. And they just offer these beautiful blue blooms. And I find they hang on for a long time. Probably about six to eight weeks. I have seen mine stay in bloom. And then you have the nice evergreen foliage to help cover that space for the rest of the season. But what a beautiful flower. And I've seen these also in a blue and a white kind of variegated flower. So get out in your nurseries and go hunt these down. This makes an excellent ground cover and they're just beautiful underneath flowering shrubs like forsythia for example. And of course full sun. These also require really good drainage. So they don't like having their feet too wet. So when you do go to plant them, make sure it's kind of a sandy loam that you're putting them into. And they will reward you with blooms year after year after year. And I find after a while if I go and trim the edges when their blooms stop, that helps it to bush out, fluff out. And they won't get so leggy in a couple of years when they've been in the ground for a while. So Lithodora Grace Ward. Excellent little ground cover for full sun. And the next one I'm going to show you, this is called Candy Tuft. And a lot of you may have seen this in bloom in your neighborhoods. I see it all over the place. Some people get it confused with alyssum, which is actually more of an annual than it is a perennial shrub. That's kind of what I call this, a perennial shrublet. As this doesn't get very high either. This can be a very good ground cover. And they will only get maybe 24 to 30 inches high and about 36 inches wide. So this is something else that's great for covering the ground in the lower areas like in the front of your borders. And of course they stand out. They're amazing the way they stand out. And they're not too fussy about light. I find they do well in full sun and they do well in the shade. They just aren't too fussy that way. I know they're real anxious to get blooming in the early spring. And this is another great bloomer to put with the forsythia or the lithodora if you're looking for some other colors. And I always like having white out in the garden as it gives the eye a place to rest within the landscape by not having so much obnoxious color going on. The white helps to calm that down a little bit. And needless to say it goes with everything. And as you can see they just get covered in blooms. And again this is another ground cover or shrublet as you would call it that stays in bloom for a good five to six weeks before it's done. And it's evergreen. So it holds on to its green leaves and they just make beautiful little mounds in the front of your beds. And they're beautiful with bulbs too. I love mixing these with tulips and daffodils in the early spring just to give us that extra shot of spring color that we're all desperate for. Now did I cover the hardiness? Yeah this is really hardy down to minus 30 to 20 degrees. And it's also very drought tolerant once it's established. So it doesn't require a lot of water once it gets where it's in. Of course don't give it plenty of water during its first year So another real pretty ground cover that's very versatile either in the shade or the sun. There's not too particular. Not too fussy. These also have a tendency to be deer resistant which is great. And of course hummingbirds love them. The butterflies love them. So just a great addition to your garden. Just kind of a staple type of shrublet that you want to put in your yard. So candy tuft. Now this is a new variety of candy tuft. It's not currently in bloom right now but I will shoot a picture down at the bottom to show you when it gets in full bloom. But look how cute and neat the little tuft is. And this is kind of a newer variety. A lot of folks don't know that candy tuft can come in pink as well. So it'll look just like the white one that I showed you only it comes in a real light pink. And the leaves are slightly different too. They're a little bit smaller which gives it this compact shape. And just cute all by itself. It doesn't even need to bloom and it's cute. And again not real fussy. And they call this variety pink ice candy tuft. And let's see. It's not quite as hardy as the white one. This is hardy down to zero degrees. But again it's still drought tolerant. Long blooming. And it will probably repeat its bloom also in the fall. I think a lot of it has to do with the light that it's receiving. So that would be a neat surprise to see these coming to bloom again in the spring. So let's see if I can give you the botanical name which is Iberis sempervirens pink ice. And of course I'll have that name down at the bottom for you as well. But this is a great little addition for us at the nursery. A lot of folks were surprised to see that it came in pink. And the leaves are slightly different. Let me hold this one up again so you can kind of see the difference in the foliage. Hopefully you can. I'm not too far away. But another great addition to the early spring garden. And this guy's got little buds on him but he's not quite ready to open up yet. So it might be a good idea for me to just flash a picture down there so you can get an idea of what they look like. It's just super cute and I like the name too. Candy tuft. Okay so there's some full sun to sun or shade. And then I'm gonna move to the shade and I'm gonna pick up this pretty guy right here. And this is called an Andromeda. It's part of the Pieris japonica family. And these come in a variety of blooms. And they're almost like tissue papery type of blooms. But you can get these in white, deep dark pink, you can get them in shades of off-white, a little bit of yellow. And I chose this one. I'm a sucker for variegated leaves. But this one has green and white leaves on it. And you can see it's just coated in blooms. And this makes an excellent shrub or an excellent addition to the garden for early spring blooms as well. And this guy, give you a heartiness on him, he is hardy to zones five and nine. So that's like minus 20 degrees. And his average height would probably be about four to five feet tall by two to three feet wide. So I have a row of these that sit in the front of my house. They're dark green and their blooms are actually a white. And I have another variety similar to this, where when the blooms are gone and the new growth starts coming up, it'll come up like a really super bright red. And then gradually fades to a pink and then to a light green. And then eventually down to where it has this variegated leaves. So these come in a variety of shades and colors. And they basically have four seasons of interest to them. Not only do they bloom in the spring, but their new growth that comes out can be the opposite color when the leaves are in a pale pink to just bright fiery red. And then they'll turn to a dark green. And of course they're evergreen, so they hang on to their leaves year-round. And it's probably just one of the most stunning additions you can put into the garden. They do prefer shade. They can take some morning sun, but prefer to be in the shade after about two o'clock in the afternoon so they don't singe their leaves. But what a fabulous addition. And they're just gorgeous. It's really pretty. So I wanted to introduce that one to you. And then another guy I was going to introduce to you here. This is called a variegated Japanese Aurelia, or Afatia japonica. You'll see it under a couple of different names. And he doesn't bloom, but I really like the variegation in leaves. And this is a fairly newer variety that has come out. It's called spiderweb. It also comes with just a dark green leaf. You could treat these like a houseplant if you wanted to in the wintertime. They do tend to be a little more tender, so be careful where you place them. They like shade. So anywhere on the north or the east side of the house is the perfect place to plant one of these. I have one over here that has turned into a monster. He's actually three to four feet high. I was gonna look to see how high this guy gets. This guy can get five to eight feet high, if you let it. I find they do much better if you trim them every now and then, and just cut out the center, and it'll start sending out some new branches on it. What else can I tell you? Of course in the shade, it's hardy down to zone seven, or zero degrees. So I find they get a little fussy if we get temperatures right around 20 to 0 degrees. It may injure the leaves a little bit. So that's why I say just try and put them in a protected spot. I have mine on the north side of the house, and it actually kind of sits under the eaves, so it doesn't get zapped too badly. But this was just an interesting variety, and I really like the variegation, kind of like a spiderweb, which is why they give it that name. But yeah, Japanese Aurelia, and they come with beautiful golden white variegated leaves, and white and green, or just solid green leaves. There's a big variety of these out now. And I know at the nursery, we pulled all of ours in from outside, and we just brought them inside during the wintertime, and treated them like a houseplant. And you can do that. You can keep it inside, and treat it like a houseplant. But just warning you, these have a tendency to be a little more tender. And if you want to go plant them, and you live in an area where it gets really cold in the wintertime, just put them in a container that you can bring inside during the wintertime. That way you can still enjoy this beautiful variegation, and these gorgeous leaves. It kind of has a little bit of a tropical feel to it, at the same time. So just wanted to introduce that guy to you. All right, so that's just a few in my collection today that I wanted to introduce you to. I'm certainly going to be coming up with a whole lot more, as we have been absolutely slammed at the nursery the last two to three weeks, which is why I haven't been able to stay in touch with you. We went from 28 degrees as a day high, in about two weeks, somebody just turned the switch, and we suddenly went to 80 degrees for about three or four days in a row, here in the Northwest. So it's like, all of a sudden, spring has arrived. And folks were very itchy and antsy to get to the nursery and start buying up plants, which has made us very busy. And needless to say, because of all the snow we had during the wintertime, a lot of our early deliveries ended up getting pushed back. So not only were we busy with customers, but we were also busy trying to unload trucks, two to three a day sometimes, just because everything was running late and they all just hit us all at once. So, whew, I'm finally able to breathe a little bit today, spend some time with you guys, start introducing you to some of these new specimens that we've received in the nursery. A lot of these aren't real new, they've been around for a long time, but for those of you who are getting started in the garden, or you just need some more ideas, hopefully this will help fill some of those voids for you if you're looking for some early spring color, especially in plants that you know are going to be coming back year after year. Okay, I may run a little video towards the end here if you guys want to get an idea of what we're up to at the nursery. It's quickly filling up as we've been unloading truck after truck. Finally got some new benches in for our lath house, so I'm excited about that. Can't wait to set them up for tomorrow. And of course lots of new trees, shrubs, perennials, and things are starting to bloom here. We've got all our cherry trees in bloom, our plum trees are starting to bloom, and once that gets started it just isn't gonna quit until we get well into the summer. So my favorite time of the year is finally here, and I hope I can spend more time with you guys and start introducing you to more specimens as I start receiving them in at the nursery. Some new unusual really cool stuff is starting to come in, as well as some container ideas as we're finally at that time of the year to start filling up a lot of our empty containers after we were done cleaning them out, of course. All right you guys, so that's all I have for you today. Of course if you have any questions or comments you can leave those in the description box down below, or you can get a hold of me at GardenStyleNW.com or at my email at GardenStyleNWest at gmail.com. I hope all of you have had a chance to get out the garden, get your hands dirty, and I'm hoping to be pushing some more videos your direction with some more new plants and ideas as we start to get 2019 spring underway. Finally the snow is gone. All right you guys, talk to you later. Bye for now.