Featured Plants : large

The Southern Magnolia is a durable and handsome tree!

barb-nhn — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:02:00 GMT

An aristocrat of trees, the Southern Magnolia truly is one of the most handsome and durable native trees for Southern landscapes! It grows up to 80 feet tall and has glossy evergreen foliage with large showy, fragrant, cream-colored blossoms. The Southern Magnolia has a crown that is conical and symmetrical in shape.

The coarse-textured leaves provide an excellent background for shrubs, particularly needle evergreens, but it is most frequently grown as a single specimen tree in the landscape. This Magnolia tree grows well throughout Georgia, is one of the best known trees in Florida, and and can be grown in all zones 6 to 10. Being widely adaptable to a variety of soils, it grows in sun or shade and has few pest problems. It should be planted where lowest branches can grow to the ground because it is difficult to grow anything underneath.

Since the tree sheds old leaves each spring, and seed pods in late summer, it is best to plant it in an ornamental bed instead of an open lawn area. Birds and small mammals love the seeds.

The Profuse Blooming Cleveland Select Flowering Pear Tree

barb-nhn — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:03:00 GMT

There’s nothing more beautiful in spring than a flowering pear tree covered in snowy white blooms. The Cleveland Select Flowering Pear Tree will provide you with this multitudinous display of white blooms. It is a beautiful tree with dark, glossy green leaves and displays its defining feature of white flowers in spring. It is a brilliant orange color in fall. This tree will draw attention to the landscape in all of these seasons. Cleveland Select Flowering Pear Tree is an excellent street tree with beautiful purplish-red fall color. It has an attractive upright oval form, and Cleveland Select Pear reaches a height of 30 feet and width of 15 feet and requires full sun. This ornamental tree has a superior branch structure that withstands ice and wind damage better than the Bradford Pear. It is fruitless, has few pest problems, tolerates urban conditions, and heavy clay soils.

The Beautiful Aristocrat Flowering Pear

barb-nhn — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:59:00 GMT

The Aristocrat Flowering Pear Tree is a large, beautiful tree that is attractive in all four seasons. It produces masses of early spring flowers that are a lovely white, then followed in the summer by bright, glossy green, disease resistant foliage. These wavy leaves turn a deep to reddish-purple in mid to late fall to provide a spectacular fall color. Its clean winter outline is upright to pyramidal when young and becomes broadly oval at maturity.

The fast and vigorous growth of this handsome ornamental tree has superior introduction and forms horizontal branches that produce a strong pyramidal shape. With a more dominant trunk and open form, it is less susceptible to wind damage.

These trees are often placed in a prominent location by homeowners and landscapers so the year-round beauty can be enjoyed. This ornamental requires full sun and is heat and drought tolerant. It reaches a height of 25-40 feet and thrives in zones 5-9. What a display the Aristocrat Flowering Pear puts on when it is covered with multitudinous white flowers in early spring!

Molimba Pink Daisies Have Mounds Of Pink Blooms!

patti-nhn — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:20:00 GMT

The Daisy Molimba Pink really shows off with its mounds of pink blooms. It is a Proven Winners variety that works well in your landscape or even planted in containers. The flowers will continue their show long into the summer. You will want to deadhead these for additional blooming. They make great cut flowers.

The Daisy Molimba Pink matures from 14 to 24 inches tall and spreads from 10 to 12 inches wide. It requires full sun and grows upright. It is adaptable to soil types but does prefer light soil that has adequate lime. Butterflies are attracted to this plant as well as bees and birds. They are deer resistant, moderately frost tolerant as well as drought tolerant. They have a mounded form and can grow from zone 3 to zone 11 and will be an annual in zones 3 to 8 and can be a perennial in zones 9 to 11. Try this out for a very hardy plant.

Purple Supreme Smoketree

patti-nhn — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:29:00 GMT

If you are looking for a large beautiful shrub, this Purple Supreme would be a wonderful choice. The Purple Supreme Smoketree Cotinus coggygria 'Purple Supreme' is also a very hardy tree. Because it is a larger specimen, it may be somewhat hardier than typical Smoketrees. It was grown in Iowa as a specimen and was found to do very well in their cold, freezing temperatures over the winter. It also did well during the hot, humid summers.

This Smoketree has the typical puffy flowers that look like puffs of smoke. The maroon coloring of this Smoketree will continue throughout the summer. It is hardy from zone 5 to zone 8. If you want something that is unique within its variety, this would be a good choice for your landscaping. As a note, you will often notice that the names Smokebush and Smoketree seem to be used interchangeably when you are searching for these trees.

Dura Heat River Birch A Superior Tree

patti-nhn — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:08:00 GMT

The Dura Heat River Birch Betula nigra, 'BNMTF' Dura Heat is a superior Birch tree. In case you are wondering, the Dura Heat in the name is due to the fact that this tree can handle the summer heat like a champ. It is hardy from zones 4 to 9 so it can handle those colder climates just as well and is wind and ice resistant. It's a very tough and versatile tree.

It is considered an ornamental tree for many reasons. The bark is a creamy-white color and it exfoliates in an interesting pattern, curling here and there along the trunk. The branches form a wonderful canopy that is very dense. The Dura Heat will tend to have smaller leaves that are closer together than other Birch trees which gives them that dense quality. The leaves in the fall are a nice yellow color. It will need full sun as it does not tolerate shade well and does prefer a moist soil. This tree can grow to 40 to 50 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet wide. It is a fast growing tree so would fill up your space quickly.

If you are looking for an interesting tree that is not only beautiful but tough, this is the one for you!

Theves Poplar A Fast Growing Privacy/Windbreak Tree

patti-nhn — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:14:00 GMT

If you are looking for a fast growing windbreak or privacy tree, the Theves Poplar Populus nigra 'Afghanica'' is a perfect specimen. It will grow from 40 to 50 feet tall and 8 to 10 feet wide, therefore making a wonderful windbreak or screen. Their upright form looks somewhat like tall columns. These remind me of soldiers standing guard over your home. They grow much faster than most trees to approximately 2-4 feet a year in optimum conditions. It is very hardy from zones 2 to 9.

The Theves Poplar has a nice green foliage that will turn to a pretty yellow in the fall. They are deciduous so they will lose their leaves but that exposes the very interesting bark which when they are older is almost white. They are a narrow tree so would be good for small areas. They do have some tolerance to salt and alkali so you could put them close to sidewalks and streets but you will want to be careful that these areas don't have a lot of activity where there would be lots of salt.

Colorado Blue Spruce - Not Just For Colorado

patti-nhn — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:54:00 GMT

The Colorado Blue Spruce 'Picea Pungens' is native to the inter-mountain states of the west but grows from zones 3-7 which covers a good portion of the United States. These trees are awesome specimens and are very stately trees used often as Christmas trees and also in and around office buildings as well as a great center point in yard landscaping. They work hard as windbreaks or screens for all manner of locations. They are a fairly fast grower in the first few years and then will slow down at a more steady rate of growth. Mature growth tends to be about 30-50 feet tall and spreads it branches out horizontally to 10-20 feet wide.

I love the color of the tree. Blue is my favorite color so with that in mind, this would be one of my favorite spruce trees. The needles are a blue gray color or some consider a blue silver color. The needles start as soft clumps but as they age, they will become stiff and needle sharp. The tree's shape is considered pyramidal. I have seen these used most beautifully as Christmas trees either inside or out. The Colorado Blue Spruce has a moderate salt tolerance and prefers well drained soil. It can grow in full sun to partial sun. Birds love it too, it is a good nesting tree and the cones that it grows are decorative as well as good for crafting and for potpourri.

BUR OAK Trees - A Real Classic!

patti-nhn — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:27:00 GMT

The Bur Oak Quercus macrocarpa is considered a "classic oak tree" in America. It is considered native to the Great Plains but grows well in most of the United States. We have one in our front yard that has probably been there at least 50 years if not more. The Bur Oak has been referred to as an "Old Geezer" for its longevity. It is hardy from the cold zone of 3 up to zone 8 where it is a considerably warmer climate. Its fall color is also beautiful with it's yellows, yellow-green and yellow brown leaves.

One of the things I like about this tree is it's branching. It has a huge trunk and the branches grow upward with the smaller branching coming off the main branches and are considered to look like long arms with long fingers coming off of those branches. It is often one of the trees that is used the most for advertising. Because of it's mature size of 70-80 feet and it's width of the same it will give you lots of shade. It is a perfect tree as an anchor to your landscape.

With its big strong branches the Bur Oak can be used for seated swings and rope swings for kids to play on and adults to enjoy. We have yet to put a swing on ours but once the grandkids get bigger that would be something I would like to do. I remember growing up with a rope swing myself, even as a teenager, and there is something about swinging that both boys and girls, and even adults enjoy. Even at my age, I've been known to jump on the swings at the park (maybe you never outgrow that feeling, at least I haven't!).

The acorns that are produced are considered by some as the largest acorns of all native oaks. The large oak leaves are also widely known and often used by children for school activities. The enjoyment this tree can give goes on and on through many generations.