With apologies for how unclear the photo is, please get excited about my less-than-a-year-old Viburnum about to make its first flowers! At least they are her first in our back yard.

I always worry a little about shrubs and whether or not they will make it through their first winter.

This one was grown by Greenleaf Nursery in Tahlequah OK and I got it from Blossom's Garden Center in Muskogee. Buying locally grown plants makes their adjustment easier on the gardener because we don't have to try to recreate their environment of origin in order for them to thrive.

The past few days have been full time gardening. Well, except for writing garden columns, teaching yoga and doing life stuff.

New beds were dug. trees planted, vegetable starts put in the new beds, and the pruning!
One of my favorite plants is Sweetspire Henry's Garnet (Itea virginica).

Ours was bought at Sanders Nursery in Bixby, eight years ago because Southern Living ran an article about how great Sweetspire is for wet places in the yard.

Here is its winter look after pruning - red-brown stems are beautiful without the Bermuda grass growing all through it.

Missouri Botanical Garden gave Henry's Garnet their Plant of Merit rating.
Click here to see photo of how pretty it is in bloom, leaf color, and to read more.
MOBOT's page says it will spread to form colonies and they are not kidding. We put in two one-gallon plants and now have about an 8-feet wide shrub row.

It is 80 and breezy and delightful being out in the garden weeding, watering and planting.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Very nice. We get so excited when we see the blooms beginning don't we? I think I have that sweetspire, but I'm not sure. I've killed some shrubs before. Happy Spring!~~Dee
Anonymous said…
Hi Dee -

I'm a total sucker for early spring blooms. We have had 1,000 daffodils blooming in the back yard. As one group fades another begins to bloom.

What a thrill!

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