Re: Snowberry

In a message dated 7/10/04 8:51:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time, stedman@RCN.COM
writes:


> Any other ideas? What about sarcocca (sweet box)? I don't have much
> space--the beds are only 2-3 feet deep--but I have a little room left. And
> for some reason, I have an aversion to hollies.

Why not look into the boxwoods?   For your zone you have a wide choice.  If
you are not averse to clipping once in a while the clipped boxwood adds a note
of order to any garden.  You can keep them a small size and place them as you
wish as they do not interfere with other plants.  Cotoneasters also berry but
are not neat in a small garden. Blueberries are neat and can be kept small.
They will not fruit without half day sun though you might be surprised some
years.  Daphne  mezereum will grow in shade and produces berries.  This Daphne
does not die out easily as the others do and will become quite large.
I am listing plants that grow in my garden and get little care.  Recently we
have acquired a gasoline powered hedge clipper and go about cutting back those
shrubs that outgrow their space.  It is quickly done and helps a lot when
the arms get sore with the loppers.  The small Spireas will also grow in shade.
The small Spireas usually grow larger than rated.  Pieris is touted as being
deer proof though this is not true.  It is not hardy in zone 4 though should
be hardy for you.  All of these plants are grown in the Northeast without much
care.

Take care that West coast plants that are so pleasant to have in gardens are
often utterly destroyed in Northeast winters.  One more small and very
attractive shrub, a real asset to a shady place, is one of the variegated Sambucus or
elderberries.  They do not grow very large and are smashingly beautiful
things in a shrub mixture.  I cannot remember the name of the one we have but I can
say it never exceeds four feet and never spreads around.  It is happier in
shade.  Take care to avoid the species, they are giant plants and coarse,
seeding all over the place.

One more plant that likes some shade is Viburnum.  There are so many
Viburnums that you would need to look through catalogs for a size you want and one
that produces fruit if that is what you want.  I think we have Shoshone
(plicatum), something like that.  Much hardier than the species and about five feet
tall, maximum.  Does not like hot dry slopes.  There is also another hybrid of
plicatum which is even smaller.

While I am rambling on, I would also mention native azaleas.  Native azaleas
tend to be leggy so need underplanting.  Since you already have lots of lower
plants, a few native Azaleas might be happy in your garden.  I have a bunch
since a rock garden member is a rhodie lover and grows them from seed donating
to the sales.  The native pinkster bush is right at home in your zone.  The
name keeps changing so I am not putting up here the one I remember. The pinkster
bush is not spare and leggy, it is a great shrub.   Also look at Kalmia.  The
mountain laurels are now available in all sizes and several shades of
pink/rose.  Buy a big one, they are slow growers.  You are near the best Kalmia
nursery in the country,  in CT (Broken Arrow),  and they are best in your zone.

Some of the low pH plants must be OK if you are sucessfully growing rhodies
so I would not worry about them too much.  Nearly all eastern soils are not
alkaline.  The only place I see the problem is near the ocean.

Eastern gardeners have the pleasure of two or three years of incessant rain
which I guess we should not count on for the future so plant your shrubs well
the first time and hope we continue to see sufficient rain while they become
established.

Claire Peplowski
NYS zone 4 mountains
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