Comments on: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – December 2008

By: kerri

kerri — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:18:35 +0000

Wonderful comparison shots, Nan. Great idea, and thanks for taking the tedious time to find and fit them together. I can just imagine what a lovely time the birds have with all those seeds and berries. Bird heaven!
Your garden looks glorious in both sets of pics….always full of interesting shapes, texures and colors.
Inspiring!! You always give me lots of ideas.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Wishing you joy and many blessings in the new year. Happy seed ordering!

Thanks, Kerri; I’m glad you enjoyed the comparisons. And you’re right: The birds are always busy picking up the seeds and berries that are left. Happy New Year to you and your family, too!
-Nan

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:08:17 +0000

Nancy: Looking at the shot of the heather, can I ask what you have planted with it? It looks like a sedum, but I may be mistaken. The reason I ask, is that I planted my own little heather last fall, and intermingled it with Angelina sedum. The foliage of the heather contrasted so “neatly” with the texture of the sedum and the orange tones both had taken on were gorgeous together — I thought I was being so original and clever. Looking at your photo, maybe not . . .

With regards to the commentator enquiring about Cornus “Midwinter Flame.” I added three to my crowd of plants this year, having been inspired by a lovely photo spread of a Winter Walk that appeared in an issue of the British magazine Gardens Illustrated last year. The shrubs are relatively non-descript in both foliage and stem during the summer months but as soon as the weather starts getting cool, the stems begin to glow orange-coral, and stay like that until it starts getting warm again in May. Absolutely gorgeous colour and a welcome sight right now with all the grey weather, the rain and snow and ice!!

The sedum in that shot was one of the first self-sown seedlings from my ‘Angelina’, and it looked so good there that I let it stay. But you get bonus points for seeing the possibilities and creating the combination on purpose.

I *definitely* need to get some ‘Midwinter Flame’. The dogwoods sure are good at withstanding this awful ice.
-Nan

By: PrairieGirl

PrairieGirl — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:02:16 +0000

Hi!*waving* from the (now muddy) midwest. Have you ever tried the two-toned dogwoods? ‘Winter Flame’ is one. I’m curious because I’m considering these for my own garden, and also for use as cut branches in arrangements. I’ve made note of ‘Silver and Gold’ for the yellow stems. I have ‘Elegantissima’ and a dappled willow that has okay color. Another shrub with really nice red stems is ‘Henry’s Garnet’ sweetspire, a sweet surprise!

Hi back from equally muddy Pennsylvania! I planted what I thought was ‘Winter Flame’, but the silly things are 7 years old now and barely 18 inches tall, so I’m guessing they were mislabeled. (Gee, Nan, ya think?) I’ll have to try again to get the correct cultivar this year. You’re right that the red stems of itea are great. An even brighter red is Salix alba ‘Chermesina’.
-Nan