Spring Conservatory Display 2011

Our Spring Conservatory Display opens to the public on Saturday, March 12, 2011. Orchids steal the show as usual but look for Begonias and other spring flowers and colorful tropical plants from all colors of the rainbow. Fairy Houses are a hot gardening trend and 33 custom made in house styles will be set in the flower-filled indoor garden.

Miltonia Orchid has a face reminiscent of a pansy and its cheeriness on this springy day really grabs your attention.

This red-leaved Cordyline (sometimes called cabbage palm, though it's not a palm) is native to New Zealand but it's spiky foliage is becoming very popular here as a container plant.

Pastel Ranunculus with crape-paper-like flowers are set with dark red cyclamen for a beautiful composition. Ranunculus are a classic spring only annual with gorgeous flowers. It's hard to believe they are first cousin to our wild buttercups so their other common name Persian Buttercup doesn't belie.

The intricacies of some orchid's flowers make them look unreal. This one is on our tree of cork and I couldn't reach its name.

Moth Orchids (Phalaenopsis) are a great orchid for beginners and new hybrids are giving them more colors and patterns than their ever popular white standard. This is a the new cultivar 'Mei Dar Blackberry.'

Pink Ranunculus with pink-flowered and silvered leaved Cyclamen create a very harmonious combination. The silvery Dusty Miller in between also color echos the cyclamen leaves to make them stand out even more.

Autumn Carnation Encore Azalea is in full bloom and is one of 10 of these popular repeat-flowering azaleas considered hardy through zone 6. We will be planting these 10 hardiest cultivars outdoors in the gardens for the first time this year.

The slipper orchids like this Paphiopedilum are always popular and intriguing.

Colm. Calatante 'Solar Flare' is the label on this interesting orchid in shades of orange.

Golden yellow Ranunculus are as welcome as the sunshine today. These are Persian buttercups for sure.

The stunning fan shaped leaves of Bismarckia nobilis palm are surely a study in texture and form. Their chalky blue coloration makes them a stand out among palms.

This unique orchid is a cross between two Genera and is why the "X" is seen before the Genus of its botanical name: X Degarmoara 'Jay Yamada Kauai'.

The translucency of this orchid makes it look completely different when back-lit. Many orchids are stunning that way so be sure to look at them from many angles.

This Cattleya 'Binosa' with purpled lips and green petals and sepals is another of the 1,000's of the variations in the Orchid Family. Over 25,000 species have been cataloged and many more hybrids and cultivar selections make it the most diverse plant family on Earth. Come enjoy its splendor along with many other flowers and foliage to help chase away the winter blues. On display March 12th through Easter Sunday with an ever changing display as various orchids are rotated in from the greenhouses as they come into bloom. Don't forget to see the small bulbs that are the outdoor harbingers of spring and listen to the new bird arrivals in the garden too. The Eastern Meadowlarks finally sang this morning, a couple weeks later than normal. Spring is almost here!

What Zone are We?

I'm often asked what zone are we: referring to the USDA winter hardiness zone map. The hardiness zone map links areas together that have, on average, similar winter low temperatures. They are broken down into 10F degree intervals; 5F degrees into sub zones a & b. Most plants are given a hardiness zone rating to correspond with this mapped area. On existing maps we are in hardiness zone 5b at Powell Gardens so on average our winter low should be between -10F and -15F. Since we had -11F at our official weather station this past winter that looks right on. The only thing is that if you average our winter lows out for the past 15 years we would average around -5F here. In the past 15 years we've been as cold as -12F and as mild as +17F; with a reading of -27F in 1989! I was just in Wichita where it allegedly got to minus 17F last winter -- but at Botanica, the Wichita Gardens, I saw no or little damage to tender zone 6 plants. Clearly there is more to it than the minimum low.

This Chicagoland Green Boxwood (Buxus hybrid 'Glencoe') is listed as hardy fully through zone 5 (-20F) but burned badly this past winter and has done the same at the Kauffman Memorial Garden in the past. It is a good example why I don't like hardiness zones because as I get more experience under my belt I see why my mentoring professor (Robert W. Dyas) wouldn't teach us winter hardiness zones. I followed his advice: look around and see what is doing well in a particular region, paying most attention to things that have done well for many years.

This badly burned Green Bay (registered trademark) Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana 'Green Shadow')is supposed to stay evergreen to -20F as well but I wouldn't call this evergreen. The plant will be fine as only the leaves are winter burned but it is not living up to its billing here. I'm glad we are here to do a lot of testing for the Greater Kansas City gardening community.

I had to take a picture of our 'Taylor' Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei). We planted this many years ago for trial as a below zero hardy palm. It has always died back but funny thing is this one always sends up a new basal shoot every summer, only to be killed back the next winter. Sure it can survive a rare below zero event in North Carolina but not the predictable and sustained below zero weather here. You could go to a lot of trouble and put winter protection around a plant like this and it might survive better.

Our Bracken's Brown Beauty Southern Magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora) are living up to their name: brown. At least that's the way they look from their southern side where the leaves were winter burned (consistently the most burned of our hardy southern magnolias each year). Evergreen shrub China Girl Hollies are fine at its base.

The same Bracken's Brown Beauty Magnolia is green on its shady side where the leaves weren't burned by the abrupt change in temperatures caused by the sun's warmth after our bitter cold. So our hardiness zone depends on how you look at it. From gardener's I have talked to; local lows ranged from the single digits below zero in the city's heat island and wooded hilltop gardens like my own, while it was a sustained -15F below in low and outlying regions where cold air settled -- a difference of more than 10 degrees across the region that was largely due to microclimates. Where does your garden sit? A visit to Powell Gardens will show you what does well here and what was disheveled by this colder than average winter. Very few things were killed by last winter but we plant things accordingly: plant more tender plants in sheltered microclimates and the tough ones in low, open places. Gardener common sense.

Meteorological Spring!

Today is March 1st so meteorological spring begins!!! March, April and May are by far my favorite time of year. Though I've heard some talk of wanting a divorce with Mother Nature I say bring on her wildest weather so indicative of this season. From the most benevolent beauty to vicious bouts of winter relapses this season is always a wild ride but I dare you to make it fun like a carnival and not let it get you down. Spring and summer WILL come.

Vernal Witchhazel (Hamamelis vernalis) is still in bloom and has been off and on for more than a month (photo from last year). The tiny but fragrant spidery flowers are always welcome this time of year and the petals simply roll up if inclement wintry weather returns.

The Snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) are also in bloom and the first honeybees are out foraging too (photo from last year). Snowdrops are just getting started though some have been in bloom since December. They are not even close to peak in the Rock & Waterfall Garden which has many thousands to carpet the ground with floral snow.

The Pansies (Viola x witrockiana) are also starting to bloom though they look like they just got out of bed -- newly arisen from a blanket of snow that finally was washed away by Sunday's torrents. If you think they don't look good you'd be wrong, these plants are ready to flower and grow with the warmer days. In just a couple weeks they should be stunning -- a good reminder to plant pansies in the fall get ahead of the spring gardening season.

The Starbor Kale (Brassica oleracea) looks stunning with crinkly foliage that survived the winter unscathed. I will say I have never seen kale weather the winter as well! There was some value in having unprecedented snowfall: as mulch!

Here a sweep of Starbor Kale has some bedraggled plants to the left but those plants that may not look so good are actually in great shape too! They are Snapdragons and you can clearly see the alive green basal foliage at the base of each dead stem. The snapdragons too, have weathered the winter at almost 100% -- the highest percentage ever. In a couple weeks we will cut off the dead tops and either transplant or let the plants grow where they are for a peak spring bloom in May.

Most of the hardy, early-flowering shrubs are not quite in bloom but you can see the swelling purplish buds of this White-Forsythia (Abeliophyllum distichum) which is (after the witchhazels) one of our first shrubs to bloom with white or blush pink flowers.

Most evergreens weathered the winter well but you can see some background plants that did not like the winter so well here. The foreground is a Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora 'Gyokoshu hime') in great shape but the Citation Yews (Taxus x media) behind it did not like the wet winter.

'King's Gold' Threadleaf Sawara Falsecypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera "Filifera") is probably our brightest golden evergreen in the Conifer Garden north of the Visitor Center. It got a little bit of winter burn (brown foliage) but we know it will recover quickly in spring and that this particular plant was newly planted last summer so did not have a complete chance to get established. Always make sure to give plants a chance to establish before condemning them from a bit a winter damage.

The related 'Lemon Thread' cultivar has been in the ground a couple years and is in perfect shape. These golden, thread-leaf Chamaecyparis pisifera (pronounced kam-ee-SIP-ah-ris, peh-SIFF-er-ah) are some of the best conifers for gardens in our region and are considered Plants of Merit

This wonderfully cute, tiny and ferny-leaved evergreen is a new cultivar of Hinoki Falsecypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Emelie') named by Larry Stanley of Stanley & Son Nursery after the late Emelie Snyder (wife of Marvin Snyder). This evergreen gem is not as tolerant of our winter winds and does better in a protected location in our region. We put a few cut evergreen boughs over this newly planted one for the winter to make sure it gets established and it did weather the winter in near perfect condition.

This may be our bluest needled evergreen in the Conifer Garden and it was one I was in doubt about how it would weather the winter. It is the 'Silberzwerg' Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) native to the Pacific Northwest. Obviously it weathered the winter in perfect condition and may become a good choice for a blue-needled conifer in sites where blue spruce fails.

This little evergreen groundcover is rarely seen in these parts but is a neat choice for a sheltered spot. It is the Dwarf Sweet Box (Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis) which will have tiny, but wonderfully vanilla scented flowers soon. This plant is in the same family as boxwoods but makes a nice low, evergreen groundcover.

As almost usual, our Nandinas (Nandina domestica 'Compacta') have been completely winter-burned. This plant is NOT dead and will fully recover with new growth later in spring. I have always thought Nandina is only fully hardy in zone 7 where temperatures do not go below zero. Here they are root and often stem hardy but the leaves almost always are killed by winter.

Our Needle Palms (Rhapidophyllum hystrix) seedlings also have survived the winter unscathed. This hardiest of shrub palms still requires a sheltered place against a wall or foundation. I have had this palm for many years here and it is actually better to let it be and DO NOT mulch it heavily in winter which seems to just invite rot which is worse than any winter damage. These palms grow slower than "molasses in January" so give them time! Powell Gardens' plants were purchased from Plant Delights mail order catalog, a great source for needle and other "hardy" palms.

The Southern Magnolias also fared better than last year through the winter. When I look at pictures of them from last March, those on the south side of the Visitor Center had leaves completely burned. This is the Victoria Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) on the north side of the Visitor Center and it's leaves didn't burn much at all despite temperatures near -10F. Many Southern Magnolias leaves burned badly again this winter but be patient because no stem or bud damage appears to have happened just like last year. New growth will quickly usurp any damaged leaves later this spring and the cold winter will be forgotten.

Here Daffodils a.k.a. Narcissus are emerging with Sparkler Monkey Grass below and Goldsturm Rudbeckia above. With the rains of Sunday it was just like magic how many spring bulbs burst through the soil surface. Yes, the winter garden may look tired and flattened by all the snow but the new foliage of the 2011 growing season is set to grow! May all you gardeners have weathered the winter well and be ready to "bloom" this coming spring. A visit to Powell Gardens now is a great inspiration to the beauty of the early spring garden. I just got word the first Iris (Iris reticulata) just opened this afternoon on the Island Garden. With each passing mild day the bulbs of early spring will begin to carpet the gardens and usher in the new season at last. Enjoy!

(All the photographs except the first two were taken on February 28, 2011 by Alan Branhagen at Powell Gardens.)