There are so many other people out there that are in love with the Dogwood.  I would have to say that in all of my years working in retail nurseries the “pink flowering dogwood” is the best seller.

Some time around the end of March customers would start coming in asking for this very specific tree.  The actual name is Cornus florida and more specifically they were looking for Cherokee Brave, Cherokee Chief or Cherokee Sunset.  Those were the most common in the nurseries.

The flowering Dogwood is a lovely tree.  It grows to about 25 feet tall, flowers in late April to early May, fairly easy to care for and has vibrant fall foliage.  It is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect tree… on the surface.  However, like it’s northwest native cousin Cornus florida is susceptible to anthracnose.  An awful canker that kills the trees.

Despite this death sentence we still sold out of the trees.  The nursery owners (and later me as a buyer) would bring in 40-50 dogwoods and sell out of them in a matter of days.  They sold for $40+.  Today they sell for much more and nurseries still sell out.  Like a fuchsia basket everyone wants to buy one for mom.  On Mother’s Day weekend I would take no less than 20 calls from people, “do you have any pink dogwoods?”  They were all met with the same response, “sorry, we sold out in April.”

Luckily, I was able to convince a few people (ok, maybe more than a few) that Cornus florida wasn’t the tree for them.  I had a better solution.  Don’t be like Dick and Jane next door.  Be an individual and buy a dogwood that would stun your neighbors.  Cornus kousa was a much better choice.

Like Cornus florida, Cornus kousa comes in a pink flowering variety.  The difference is that it blooms after it has leafed out in late May to early June.  When most trees are now big and green the Korean Dogwood (also known as Japanese Dogwood) puts on a show and is center stage.  What’s more, the Korean Dogwood is disease resistant.  The other features that make Cornus kousa the better choice is that it has a more upright habit rather than the sprawl of the florida and it produces large red fruit that are edible (and quite sweet and tasty).

Some people have their heart set on the old fashioned Cornus florida.  I applaud you for your stick-to-it-ness.  However, next time you are digging out a dead dogwood consider and Cornus Kousa.  You’ll thank me for it.

The idea is to create a little bit of an information sheet that you could print out and add to a collection of “cool plants I’d like to have.”

Variegated Box Elder or Acer negundo ‘Flamingo’

Height: 20′

Spread: 15′

Hardiness: USDA zone 3 – 9

Habit: rounded pyramidal and often irregular.  Somewhat of a scraggly appearance.  Not your full and bushy tree

Texture: coarse in winter, medium in leaf

Culture: adapts well to many conditions, full sun, wet, dry or poor soils.  Often short lived

Pests: few noted

The Flamingo cultivar of the Box Elder is an interesting form of a rather uninteresting Maple.  Leaves are complex and a beautiful spring green edged in creamy white.  New shoots are a brilliant pink aging to green.  Color is best in cooler weather.  Cut back in late winter to encourage extension growth which is often more pink and cream.

This is an interesting plant for the landscape.  It is not as common as some of the other Maples, but has it’s place in the landscape.  Neighbors often ask us what that tree is and are stunned to hear it is a type of Maple.  Be careful because often times branches will revert to the non-cultivar variety and are not as attractive.  Prune out reverted sprouts.

We have had this tree in our garden since we moved into our house.  It has doubled in height in 5 years, standing 15′ high now.  As it matures it will grow slower and fill out somewhat.  The Variegated Box Elder is a lovely little tree that deserves more attention.

Within the last two days my Thundercloud Plums and Weeping Cherry have fully blossomed.  I also noticed one of my odd primroses has now bloomed and the smell of the hyacinth is a reminder that it is actually spring.  It makes me ignore the fact that it might snow on Friday.

[View with PicLens]

Once I felt like the inside was live-able I moved to the outside.  This house was the first we’d purchase therefore this was the first garden that was totally mine.  The garden was in worse shape than the circa 1982 interior.  I spent weeks in the cold January rain pulling Ivy, Vinca, Fatsia, Honeysuckle Bush and anything else that I could get my hands on.  I also wanted to cut down 1 or two of the three trees in our front, but my husband wouldn’t let me.  However, I still swear something has to go.  Honestly… who puts Thundercloud Flowering Plum next to a Photinia (and this is a 20′ tall Photinia tree).  The Red Hat Society is a great organization.  I just don’t want to be their signature garden.

Unfortunately, all three trees give us a great deal of privacy in the front and the Plums are pretty when they flower.  Everything stays.

Once I had my fun of tearing everything out I started to put back plants that were pretty.  One afternoon my neighbor stopped by to chat.  She asked me why there were no flowers in my garden.  I also heard two women on their walk mentioning that my garden would not look nice in the winter because there were no evergreen shrubs.  I was crushed.  Here I had spent all of this time and money to start creating a garden that was just mine and my neighbors thought it was awful.  Granted, it was better than what was there.  I got to thinking about it and realized that I wasn’t planting my garden to be beautiful to them.  I was planting it to be beautiful to me.

Now notice that I did not say that I planned it.  For a landscape designer my garden is anything but planned.  I was so eager to put plants in the ground I skipped the planning stage.  I would go to the nurseries and have a full on episode of, “oh that’s pretty,” and in it would go.  This proved to be a bad idea in the long run.  I didn’t know where the shady spots were.  I didn’t know what portions would be difficult to water.  It was a mess.  Five years later I’ve almost figured it out.

I also began to realize that my neighbor who told me that my garden had no flowers was wrong.  My garden is full of blooms.  It is also full of amazing textures and shapes.  Her definition of “flowers” was that every garden needs to have a flowering Dogwood.  I would love to have a flowering Dogwood.  I just have a mile long list of other trees that I want first.

Topping my list of favorite trees is the Paperbark Birch (Betula jacquemontii).  The stark white bark and the pyramidal shape make this the most elegant tree (in my opinion).  I love the fine texture of the branches and how it almost glitters in the summer breeze.  Nary a showy pink flower, but still beautiful.

In the shrub category I would have to go with dwarf conifers.  I am a sucker for a dwarf conifer.  I have a huge collection of them.  Some are sited in an area that is far to shady so they are getting leggy, but for the most part they offer that evergreen backdrop that my nosy neighbors failed to see.

For perennials I would have to go with New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax).  There are three of these in my garden and I would love to have more.  The bold texture and color add weight to the garden.  They are easy to grow and wonderfully drought tolerant once established.

I do have flowers in my garden.  I have a little Rose garden (that I truly dislike) and I once had the most beautiful Dahlias in town.  I’ve let the roses go to pot and I decided to divide my Dahlias, but forgot to put them back in the ground.  My cut flower selection if fading.  Re-establishing that is my main focus this year (oh and the weeding).

The point is that you don’t have to have a garden full of bright and bold flowers to make it beautiful.  While I have a large population of weeds, my garden is still spectacular come summer.

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In bloom this week:

Forsythia, Primroses, Pansies, Heath, Daffodils, Christmas Cheer Rhododendron, Grape Hyacinth, Thundercloud Plum (starting), Hyacinth