Re: Flowering Shrubs

Virginia Sweetspire or Itea virginica has white flowers towards the end 
of June up here and has very nice red foliage in the fall.  It does 
sucker-so will nedd some space, but mine has been in the ground for about 
three years now and is not too bad.
By barberries I do mean Barberis.  The red foliage types need quite a lot 
of sun to develop their foliage color.  The standard green variety is 
what I would recommend for shade.  Like I said they have reseeded all 
over the woods here!.  They grow about 5 feet tall and get quite bushy.  
Michael Dirr mentioned the common Barberry asBerberis vulgaris, but you 
probably want Barberis thunbergii.  This one has berries and there are a 
number of cultivars.  A good nursery should be able to point you in the 
right direction as to which cultivar will do well in the shade/sun 
conditions you have.  My mother has them growing "wild" through out her 
woods and her gardener got her a more "cultivated" grenn leaved one that 
didn;t do well.  Dirr also lists Berbaris as growing zones 4 to 8 
although he warns that they are not as robust in the heat.  


Denise Leonard
Tanstaafl Farm
Greenfield, MA
dal@shaysnet.com


On Tue, 3 Nov 1998 Liliaceae4@aol.com wrote:

> Hi Denise
> The information you sent was very helpful.  I have never seen Virginia
> Sweetspire. What color are the flowers?
> Are the Barberries you were referring to Berberis?  I was thinking about
> trying a couple, but didn't know if they would be hardy to zone 7.  What kinds
> do you like?
> I am thinking about ordering one of the pink flowered Clethras this spring.
> Do they leaf out real late?
> I tried one Deutzia, but it didn't like my conditions and died.  I don't know
> if it was my heavy soil or too much shade.  I planted it in the fall and it
> died during the winter. As I am in zone 7, I don't think that it was the cold
> that killed it.
> Lillian
> zone 7
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE WOODYPLANTS
> 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE WOODYPLANTS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index