To all the ladies....

Well I guess Ill have to pick something else, because amalenchier does not grow in Alabama. I remember the June Berries in the woods in Michigan when I was a kid, though. How about:

http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/CAVEP.html

Hows abouts a Stewartia pseudocamellia? I don't know what zone your in thou.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58443/index.html

Willis

Thanks for all the anniversary wishes.

thanks for sharing your anniversary with us, Willis_McKenna

And I'll share the pics when the Wolf Eye arrives in late March as well as its flowering and fall colors. My first order from Whitman Farms. They supposedly have good material.

Willis

Willis, looking forward to it :0) hope your better half was happy with the gift

That calycanthus is very pretty gloria - Is that the sames as a bubby bush? You know I have heard you must buy fragrant plants in flower to be sure you get one with the most scent.

Prairie Girl: Dont know what a bubby bush is. It usually comes with a deep red bloom of the same form and is called sweet shrub.

Thanks for that Bluestone link. I only think of them for perennials but that's the best price I've seen for 'Venus'. With the royalty that has be paid per plant it's almost unbelievable.

Grampapa, yeah the wife is stoked.

I'm going to order that Venus

I'm glad I ordered my calycanthus venus already, along with Calycanthus floridus, Magnolia Leonard Messel, Forsythia koreana Kumson, and two or three spiraeas. Well.....it was my birthday. Bluestone sent me a discount code for being a past customer and they didn't even know it was my birthday!.

well Happy Birthday Gloria

Happy B~day Gloria!

Gloria, Happy B'day and many more!! glad you got yourself some nice plants. Bluestone send me a discount card for your birthday, too LOL

What spiraeas did you get? I thought I was the only one who still liked them, LOL.

Have you tried other calycanthus? I want to try that too. :0)

http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/CAFLP.html

This is calycanthus floridus, good ol' fashioned sweet shrub. the discriptions say it will grow in the north also.

spireas: spiraea Renaissance, which is an "improved" spring blooming white spiraea, and Spiraea fritschiana Pink Parasols, which I love because of the flat oriental looking blooms almost like some of the achelleas. Pink, summer blooming. I already have anthony waterer, which I highly recommend. Pink--summer blooming. There were more, but I already blew my budget. Bluestone has specials of half-price off their already well priced plants, so you can really get hooked and develop a spectacular collection if you check on them every few weeks. Oh, I also got hydrangeas Macroophylia Lemon Wave, and Mariesii Variegata. Not all I wanted of those either. I lost most of my hydrangeas last summer in the heat.

Yeah. Grampapa. Have a calycanthus venus in honor of MY birthday. I would be honored. (Hope Bluestone has a good supply!)

Don't forget to save room in the plant budget, for McKenna's new arrival. We'll have to celebrate all over again!

gloria, it's beautiful, but I don't think I have the space. looks like both calycanthus get pretty good sized. my problem is I want everything, so I need them all in miniature. I'm saving space for an oak-leaf hydrangea. I may have to honor your birthday by showing some restraint, which is no fun at all.

gram ~a girl~

http://www.eiu.edu/~egarden/images/cchs/008-01606.jpg

this is the bigleaf magnolia. the flower makes me laugh, because it looks like a distortion of the Southern Magnolia blossom. I thought about making a planting of these with the oakleaf hydrangea as an understory plant. that is a mega landscape, though. the oak leafs get really big here. there are some mini forms of hydrangea, Alice? that would work in a smaller scale setting. there is also a climbing hydrangea (petiolaris) if you have something for it to climb on. dont know the northern range of these.

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/images/low/A884-0906050tp.jpg

photo of bigleaf magnolia - flower

Is the bigleaf magnolia the same as Umbellatum Magnolia

Donna

I have been looking online for a smaller oak leaf hydrangea, looks like 'Pee Wee' is the smallest. There's also one called 'Sikes Dwarf' in the 4' x 4' range, according to the sources I've read.

The big leaf is macrophylla..the tripetala is called umbrellatree magnolia..(according to Dirr).....similar with large leaves...don't know whether it is umbellatum

http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/63153-product.html

Hydrangea Quercifolia Snow Queen. A little smaller.

Oakleaf Hydrangea Pee Wee grows to 4 ft.

http://www.monrovia.com/PlantInf.nsf/08510e01e61cc962882571a9005a9153/fa7b80bcb41cecb588256a4d007d597f!OpenDocument

I also checked on Oakleaf Hydrangea Alice, but it is a 10 footer.

'Pee Wee' and 'Sikes Dwarf' are the most compact versions here in central KY. 'Alice' is definitely standard sized, and 'Snow Queen' is just slightly slower growing but is ultimately a big plant too. 'Snow Queen' has value in its non-floppy nature when in bloom, compared to other standard Hydrangea quercifolia.

I, for one, vote for a gloria's birthday thread so everyone missing this can join the fray.

Here is a photo of my M. tripetula. I bought and planted it about 15 years ago at my other place. I couldn't bear to leave it so transplanted it to this area, knowing that it would not be happy with no shade and more wind. There wasn't a whole lot of usuable space around my house so had to plant it on the edge of the south bank. It was not happy there, too much wind. So in a couple of years it was transplanted again to the north side of my house, only place with any shade and protected from winds. It is fairly happy now as long as I keep it pruned below the house roof level.

Donna

I couldn't find my summer photo of M. tripetula, so this is the early fall shot.

I have tried growing H. quercifolia several times. I planted H. q. 'Alice' and 'Peewee' and another that I don't remember . Lost them all. Think they need a more acid soil than I seem to provide.

Donna

VV: this doesn't have anything to do with Gloria's birthday. We are still celebrating McKenna's anniversary. Or, any excuse to buy a neat tree/shrub. Why don't you fill us in on your recommendations for some landscape worthy viburnums? Or any plant worthy of thinking up an excuse to buy it?

PGZ5--Sikes Dwarf has been reliably hardy for me here, while PeeWee has not. Just something to make a note on. All of the oakleafs are deer candy if you have that issue. For those with a deer problem, you are likely to never see a bloom. They used to push the deer netting down at my old house till the stems poked out and they could eat the buds.

How big does 'Sikes Dwarf' get Kevin? Now I'm thinking that a taller, more upright plant like 'Snow Queen' would work at the corner of the house say, to soften the edges. I've also been considering an oakleaf in a grouping with a small tree, maybe Japanese maple, or a 'Diablo' ninebark. With smaller shrubs or shrubby perennials at the base.

Have you seen "Woodlander'? It is at Sid's, gets rave reviews on GW.

Happy belated birthday Gloria. By all means save money in that plant budget for the future addition to my family.

Tootles

Willis

Willis - What are you going to name her?

Still up in the air. We probably won't make that decision until the birth.

I need to peruse the japanese maple and conifer cultivar lists to see if there is a girl's name I like. It would be hard for my wife to deny a tree named after our daughter. Who needs those silly books of names when you have J. Vertrees and the conifer society database.

Now that's planning ahead.

Willis

So that's how this thread will continue - suggested names for the baby! A host of a gardening show I used to watch named his daughter Ilex. Good luck with the J. maple names - no one will be able to pronounce it.

Victor (not named after the Crape)

How 'bout Quercus McKenna? Or maybe Fagus McKenna. That should make her a real hit with her peers. ;)

I was thinking more along the lines of Germaine, as in Germaine's Gyration. Although we'll have none of that gyrating stuff till after college.

Willis

Asia? Suzuki?

Shaina.

Hey, all. I am seriously looking at Wolf Eye. Got some different reports on how big it gets. Does 10' sound right?