There’s nothing in the world that beats a car trunk full of new plants. Gail and I went off today to try and find a couple of things to fill a couple of holes in the Rose Garden – where three of our new(ish) daphnes bit the dust. – They do that, don’tcha-know. It’s a heart-breaker but we still love them. Anyway, we came back with some things that probably won’t be permanent solutions for that bed but that we couldn’t possibly live without – even though, at least in one instance, we didn’t even know such plants existed. But isn’t that all the fun of going plant shopping?

Along with a thing or two that we couldn’t resist for our own gardens at home (what is it with me and aggressive plants? Don’t even ask about the wisteria peeking out from the truck – at least it’s the native one), we noticed a delicate shrub with a tag that read “Wikstroemia (very rare)”. Well, call it rare and we call it ours: We bought the last two. Wikstroemia trichotoma, I just found out, is closely related to Daphne (hmmmm…) and will grow to a 3′ or so mound and blooms from mid to late summer. The blooms are just visible in the photo – on the branch tips. Use your magnifier because they’re the cutest, tiniest things.

Now is such a great time for renewing a diminished interest in the garden with a little shop therapy. Not only are many nurseries and garden centers slashing prices in hopes of reducing stock before winter but heading into the cool, rainy season just happens to be the most perfect time to plant.

Speaking of perfect timing, we came back to the potting shed to find William Cullina‘s latest tome on our desk. In Understanding Perennials – A New Look at an Old Favorite, he goes into the science of herbaceous perennials from roots to stems to leaves to flowers and he answers questions I’ve had like, “why are some leaves fuzzy?” and “why does the pitcher plant have spots?” Not only that but because his chapter called “Cultivation With an Ecological Eye” has the subheadings “They Are My Babies!” and Why Do the Most Expensive Plants Die the Fastest?” I just know from that that he is my kind – our kind – of people. And how happy am I that Bill is coming to Blithewold to speak at our Garden Design Luncheon? – So happy! Save the date (Thursday, November 12th) or better yet, register right now.

I’m not sure I should admit to how much time I spend thinking about my own garden while I’m working in this one. I can’t help but distractedly eyeball all of the plants that I want for myself. Why is that? I’m surrounded by thousands of beautiful plants here at work – why do I have the burning desire to have so many of them at home too? I guess gardening must be more obsession than profession – probably people in other lines of work are more able to separate themselves from it when they go home. (Booksellers might have a tough time too, come to think of it…)

But then it can hardly be helped – what is a public garden for, if not to bring home ideas? Right now Viburnum carlesii (Koreanspice bush also known as Mayflower viburnum) is at the top of the list of plants on the property for which I would pay full price. Michael Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants says, “A garden without a viburnum is akin to life without music and art.” – so obviously my garden shouldn’t go another day without one.  Dirr does imply in Viburnums: Flowering Shrubs for Every Season that the Koreanspice is rather pedestrian as viburnums go. But with such a perfume, who wouldn’t want one of their very own?  The shrubs are also pleasingly rounded, dense and typically 4-8′ tall – ours are in the 6-8′ range. They can take sun or shade (I imagine they are more floriferous in the sun) and a range of soil conditions – excepting wet according to Dirr. They are hardy from USDA zones 4-8ish. A couple of years ago we planted V. carlesii ‘Compactum’ in the Rose Garden and that’s the one for me. Not only is it a dwarf that grows only to 3-4′ but it was introduced by my great-grandfather’s friends and colleagues at Hoogendoorn Nurseries in Middletown, RI back in 1953.

Anne Raver, mentions Koreanspice bush in this NY Times article about attracting pollinators.  She noticed that as delicious as the scent is to us, her bee population was not as hungry for it. I feel strongly, like she does, about planting natives – which are generally more attractive to our wildlife – and so my plan is, for every exotic I plant in my garden, I’ll plant two natives. How’s that for justifying some serious plant shopping this weekend?

Do thoughts about your garden distract you while you’re at work? What’s at the top of your full-price wishlist right now?

“There is of course no such thing as a green thumb. Gardening is a vocation like any other – a calling, if you like, but not a gift from heaven.”                                            – Eleanor Perenyi (1918-2009)

Just in time for Freaky Friday and Valentine’s day (I love that these days are back to back this year), my favorite Tim Burton creation, the Witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’) has just begun unscrunching little paper heart shaped flowers.  I’m in love!  — I guess it doesn’t take much, especially this time of year.

And in honor of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day even though it’s still days away, here are a few other bloomers from the greenhouse.  Please accept them as a special Valentine from all of us at Blithewold.  As (almost) always, hover over over for captions and click on for a dramatic display.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!   (be mine?)

and have a wonderful extra long weekend full of hearts and flowers

It might all be eye candy but it’s delicious outside!  Yesterday was one of those amazing, quintessentially New England, fall days – cloudless cerulean sky framing the blazing end of the earth’s color spectrum – and I ate it up.  As soon as I could, I hightailed it out of the greenhouse (where spray mounted bubble wrap is peeling off the panes like a bad sunburn — we’ve conceded failure, alas) and went for an afternoon photo-op walk in search of some major and minor things worth planting for extra special fall color.  (Today is the other kind of New England fall day:  chill grey bluster and rain.  The kind of day to stay inside and write about yesterday.)

Common witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is turning a sort of ordinary yellow but if you take the trouble to move in for a closer look, you’ll see the extraordinary yellow blooms uncrimping.  It’s native to the eastern U.S., hardy in zones 3-8 and ours is a sizable shrub about the size of the potting shed.

Another blooming beauty – and again you have to have your eyes peeled for the blooms – is the Franklinia alatamaha.  It’s also worth stepping up to this tree to see the subtle slow burn of the leaf colors.  Native to Georgia and possibly extinct in the wild, this small tree is truly a beauty worth preserving.  Hardy from zones 6-9, our Franklinia is tucked in a sunny protected spot on the front lawn of the house.

The Katsuras (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) are eye candy that happen to smell like candy.  Every time I walk under this tree I am struck by the shadows it casts (there’s no prettier silhouette on the ground), the blaze of fall color that lights it like a candle and the mysterious sugar scent of its fallen leaves (I can’t detect it from a single crushed leaf – it takes a path-full evidently).  Hardy zones 4-8, Katsuras can reach 70′.  We also have a Weeping Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Pendulum’) which reminds me of Cousin It.

Fall flame colors need a foil and I know I’ve gone on about Chrysanthemum (or Dendranthema) ‘Sheffield Pink’ before (full sun, zones 4-8).  It’s a perfectly autumnal pink and I wish I had a patch at my house to reverberate against my burgundy-wine dipped flowering dogwood.

Amsonia hubrechtii is an autumn must-have native perennial (zones 5-9).  It has a pale blue star flower moment in the spring, a lengthy summer plain green featheriness and then a bright blaze now.  It’s the flash of yellow along the wall of the North Garden in the picture below.  As always, click on images for a larger view. The Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) against the house is one of my other major fall favorites because it starts the whole show in August with a few well placed red patches high in the canopy and then keeps on coloring.

The Linden viburnum (Viburnum dilatatum) is turning shades of peachy orange so of course it made it on my list and the bright red fruit is an added eye treat.  (A good sized shrub – ours are about 10′ tall.  Zones 5-8)  Seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides) is another star for the showy bracts left over from the sweet September flowers. Some don’t find the scent altogether pleasing but it reminds me of honey soap.  (Tall shrub to 20′ and hardy in zones 6-9)

I could go on and on – I haven’t even mentioned a single maple yet!  That’ll be for another post perhaps.  Meanwhile I’m going to try to picture where in my own garden I can fit a few of these delicious plants and where in my neighbor’s yard I could sneak a Tupelo…  What’s your favorite eye candy this fall?  Are you planning on planting anything specifically to satisfy a fall craving?