Tag Archives: foundation plants

Horticulture Report: Calycanthus ‘Venus’

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Plant Name: Calycanthus ‘Venus’Calycanthus Venus
Common Name: Sweetshrub
Plant type: Deciduous shrub
Height: 8-10 ft
Spread:   5-7 ft
Bloom Time:  May to July
Flower Color:  White,  with purple & yellow centers
Exposure: Full Sun or Part Shade (tolerates being almost in full shade)
Soil Requirements: Rich well-drained loam, but tolerates clay soil
Water Needs: Medium moist
Attributes:Showy Magnolia-like fragrant flowers, Glossy green leaves, Fall color
Note: Prune out root suckers to prevent spreading
Uses:  Hedge, Accent or Specimen Plant, Foundation Plantings, Cut Flowers, Naturalizing
Native to: Hybridized patented plant by Dr. Tom Ranney, North Carolina State University
USDA Hardiness Zone: 5-9

 

 

 

(Available at Forest Farms Nursery, Williams Oregon)

Garden of the Month: September 2014

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Garden of the Month: 913 Mary Jane
by Kaaren Anderson

Richard Lee moved into the house at 913 Mary Jane and began the first steps to grow plants and landscape the yard, beginning with the foundation plants of nandina, green spirel euonymus, and Oregon grape.
Paige joined him in 2005 and together the couple created the garden you see today. In that year, the front landscape changed dramatically when the house was remodeled. This process created a mound of excess soil which they creatively decided to leave, adding plants that began with dwarf nandina and mugo pines.

Richard installed a 1400 square foot greenhouse in the backyard where he began raising plants from seed, including perennial geraniums which are planted inside the yard as well as on the street side of the photenia hedge. For color they have annual geraniums, hibiscus, dahlias and zinnias, with the zinnias currently reaching a height of 64”. On the street side, also grown from seed, are echinacea and coreopsis. On the mound was added a cercis tree and a bakers Cyprus which is a native tree to the Siskiyou mountains. In front of the picture window is a coral bark maple.  Access to TID water for part of the summer helped keep the plants happy and healthy.

In the springtime you will also see columbine, lilies, gladiolus, daisies, crocosmia and camilias, which I know would make the garden even more spectacular than it is now. But though Paige worried that her garden wasn’t at its best, I assured her that even at this time of year, and in one of the the hottest summers on record, it stood out as a jewel.

Thank you Paige and Richard for sharing your garden with us!