Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, May 11

Happy Mother's Day Weekend! Bouquets like the one above are sort of traditional for Mother's Day, but there are other possibilities for gifts as well, depending on the characteristics of the mother or mother figure you have in mind:

Live plants (either in containers or planted with love and a promise of future care)

Or maybe some work around the house that has been neglected.

That brings us to a special video:

Puttering

We are between seasons here in the GreatWhiteNorth. The wild flowers are blooming in the woods & the trees are exploding with leaves. The population of furry & feathered critters has increased because, I'm sure, the news leaked out that we give away free food. It would be a nice time of year to be outside if not for the annual visit of the worst of our biting insects - the black fly. But they won't be here long - a couple hot days will end them for another year.

One of the benefits of being forced into the house is that it makes me catch up on little inside projects I've been putting off. Like organizing the puttering video clips I've collected for the past couple years. This video has no birds, no bugs & no plants. Just tools & equipment in SloMo.

PointyHairedBoss

Love the music! Visually compelling, too. What a great reminder to pay attention to what is really going on when you use tools and equipment.

Your Mom might enjoy this video, too!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

From By-Tor:

First red tomatoes and peppers from my container garden this season. This tomato was super sweet. I didn't try the peppers but I don't think they are particularly hot .

They look great!

Old Shrubs, New Shrubs

The word "shrub" sounds sort of unappealing to me. But there are many shrubs that are very attractive in the garden, if given a little care. Below, a few fragrant ones for various climates and conditions.

Here's an old shrub I just encountered this year: EDGEWORTHIA.

Ever heard of it?

North Carolina Extension Gardener: Edgeworthia Chrysantha

Common Name(s): Oriental Paper Bush, Paperbush, Paperbush Plant

Previously known as: Edgeworthia papyrifera

Description

The Irish botanist Michael Pakenham Edgeworth and his half sister Maria Edgeworth were both honored with the naming of this plant. Chrysantha refers to its golden yellow flowers. The common name, Paperbush, comes from its use to produce quality paper. In Japan, the paper is used to make banknotes.

Edgeworthia is a shrub native to China and the Himalayas that provides superb fall and winter interest and a gardenia-like fragrance. This well-branched, well-formed shrub begins forming its silvery buds in late summer into fall, adding interest to your fall garden. It begins to bloom in December, when it's nothing but a bare silhouette in the garden, and continues through the winter. The individual florets are tiny, but a few dozen make up a 1 to 2 inch cluster of beautiful yellow flowers.

Edgeworthia thrives in partial shade and appreciates well-enriched, moist soil. In spring, after the blooms pass, it sports lovely bluish foliage with silvery undertones that are both eye-catching and soothing. The foliage turns a nice yellow in the fall.

I haven't seen the yellow fall foliage photos. Maybe it's just on some cultivars.

The plant has pliable stems. I wonder if that has something to do with its use in making paper? (photo credit Jim Robbins)

I hope making paper with the Paper Bush is easier than the ancient method of making paper from bamboo.

Edgeworthia plant form in early fall - you can see the white flower buds beginning to form before the leaves even fall. (Photo credit Susan Strine)

Don't see how you could make a lot of paper from one plant.

The Grumpy Gardener in Southern Living: Plant a Paper Bush

Paper bush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) produces highly fragrant flowers in late winter, thriving as a shade garden plant in moderate climates. Native to Asia, the paper bush, named for its bark, is a durable shrub often used to make paper goods, including banknotes, books, and wallpaper.

This deciduous shrub features showy blooms that last four to six weeks and emerge from equally beautiful silver flower buds. Paper bush is a sweet-smelling plant with minimal upkeep. The plant's structure makes it suitable for hedges or as a feature plant with well-formed branches filling the shape.

Taking fragrant blossoms indoors in winter sounds like a good idea.

Paper Bush Care

Paper bush is suited to the Middle, Lower, and Coastal South (USDA Zones 7-9), although with protection, it might get by in the Upper South (USDA Zone 6). Give it light shade and moist, fertile, acidic, well-drained soil containing lots of organic material. It can tolerate more sun to provide more blooms if the plant gets enough water. Water regularly during summer and fall to keep the soil consistently moist, and water during summer droughts. It is cold-hardy to 5°F degrees. It has no serious pests, and pruning is seldom required, but do so to remove damaged or diseased branches.

Paper bush spreads by rhizomes but isn't invasive and generally forms a dense, slowly expanding clump of long, pliable stems. Cuttings root easily in moist soil. The rapidly growing paper bush grows five to eight feet tall and wide, depending on the selection. Take cuttings to display indoors.

Paper bush is available in various showy blooms, each with distinct colors and sizes.

'Snow Cream': Boasting large clusters of highly fragrant, golden-yellow flowers, this variety is supposedly more cold-hardy than regular paper bush (down to 0°F).

'Akebono' (or 'Red Dragon'): This variety features orange-red flowers and grows slower and more compact than other species.

'Grandiflora': The species with the largest flowers.

'Ruby Splash': This variety is rare and contains red flowers.

I imagine that 'Snow Cream' is the variety growing by the East River in NYC.

Back to Southern Living:

How to Get Paper Bush to Bloom

Although it's an attractive plant throughout the year, paper bush, a perennial, starts to shine in late fall. Drooping, rounded flower buds covered with silky, silvery hairs appear on top of naked stems. When sunlight hits the buds, the paper bush seems to bloom already. The flower buds grow in size and prominence all winter.

Then, in late winter, they pop open to reveal pendant clusters of dainty white tubular blooms on the outside, tipped with yellow. The sweet fragrance reminds you that paper bush is kin to winter daphne (but it's much easier to grow). Flowering can last four to six weeks.

The more sunlight exposure, the more blooms--just make sure to keep the plant hydrated. You do not need to deadhead these flowers.

Does anybody grow the famous, but touchy, Winter Daphne?

More at the link.

A DESERT ORCHID?

Chitalpa El Niño is new on the market this year. Like the two existing marketed tree-form Chitalpas that I know of, it is a cross between to genera in the same family - not just a cross between species. But they did not call the tree forms "Desert Orchids".

Do you think these flowers qualify?

This is the new one:

A truly unique option for your garden or landscape.
1. Intricate pink/purple flowers resemble orchids.
2. Flowers emit a delicious vanilla-melon fragrance.
3. Heat tolerant and deer resistant.
4. Zones 6-9, sun to part sun, 5-8' tall x 4-6' wide at maturity.

See this 10 minute video discussion starting at 10 minutes, from a test garden in Western Michigan. Western Michigan doesn't sound exactly like "Desert Orchid" territory to me.

Fragrant, attracts bees and hummingbirds, maybe not so attractive to deer. Sounds great.

For comparison, this is another chitalpa photo from Nan in AZ last year. I think this must be one of the earlier tree forms. It's nice, too! Probably 'Morning Cloud'.

Should we start calling it a 'Desert Orchid', too? It's planted as a street tree in California.

By the way, what if orchids and plants that sorta look like orchids inspired the creators of Star Wars?

So this is what inspired the creators of Star Wars!pic.twitter.com/APzgl3ghWW

— Figen (@TheFigen_) May 8, 2024

Here's a Mock Orange 'Pearls of Perfume'. It blooms on both old and new wood, so it has a longer bloom season that most Philadelphus plants.

From Pennsylvania, more new shrubs and trees.

For those in really cold climates, a hardier mock orange (P. lewisii), 'Blizzard'

And to go with it, a Wedgewood Blue lilac. Since we're doing fragrant shrubs.

Adventure

Arizona friends went biking on a trail in the Santa Barbara area.

Ventura river

Pier is still closed from the storm, lots of debris on the beach.

There are attractive plants along the trail.

Gardens of The Horde

Purple iris from 40 Miles North

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening and Adventure Thread, May 4

Highlights:

• Nan in AZ had an adventure with a more refined type of orchid tree, this one native to the Southwest. Great near patios:
  

• Martini Farmer had a bumper crop of dandelions.

• Great discussion about toxic honey, including history of a disabled army (Rhododendron honey)

• Check out the great garden recommendation from The Famous Pat*
  

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.