Thursday, March 11, 2010

I'm Dreaming of Cold Hardy Shrubs That Can Take the Heat


This past weekend I attended a seminar at a local nursery on cold hardy plants. Pretty savvy nursery to offer just the information Florida gardeners are craving. Of course, they had all the cold hardy plants right on the premises so we could drool over them and hopefully purchase them.

These are my favorites, but by no means are they the complete offering. For a complete listing of cold hardy shrubs offered at this nursery click here.


Firepower Heavenly Bamboo, Nandina domestica 'Firepower"
Height: 2'-3'
Zone: 6-11
Light: Sun - Part Shade
This Nandina is non-invasive according to the University of Florida. The leaf color is lime green on new spring growth changing to bright red in the fall. This shrub definitely has a "wow" factor.



Tea Olive, Osmanthus fragrans
Height: 6'-15'
Zone: 7-9
Light: Sun - Part Shade
This is a very fragrant shrub with small white blooms autumn through spring. It does bloom sporadically during summer.


Dwarf Burford Holly, Ilex cornuta 'Nana'
Height: 4'-6'
Zone: 7-9
Light: Sun - Part Shade
The name alone makes it a must-have for My Garden Path. Shiny green leaves all year, white fragrant flowers in the spring and bright red berries in the fall and winter make this a very desirable shrub. These hollies are self-fertile so they will fruit without having to worry about having male and female specimens.


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(In the foreground)
Frances Mason Abelia, Abelia x grandiflora 'Frances Mason'
Height: 2'-4'
Zone: 6-9
Light: Sun - Part Shade
This plant has bright yellow and green leaves year-round and pink, trumpet shaped flowers in summer.

(In the middle)
Rose Creek Abelia, Abelia x grandiflora 'Rose Creek'
Height: 2'-3'
Zone: 6-9
Light: Sun - Part Shade
This is a very compact grower. The rounded form you see in the picture is its natural shape. Glossy, dark green leaves all year changing to burgundy hues in cold weather and fragrant white flowers in spring and summer make this shrub as beautiful as it is well behaved.

Since the Money and Muscle behind My Garden Path has decreed a gardening budget is necessary, I am refining and reflecting upon just what I must have. This turn of events has also had the positive effect of causing me to actually make a gardening plan. Only good can come from a less impulsive approach but it is hard to live out.

Can't you just picture the Firepower Nandina in front of the Burford Holly 'Nana'? The red berries of the Holly and the red leaves of the Firepower against those dark green glossy Holly leaves would be beautiful. I think this will be my first phase of The Plan.



8 comments:

  1. I've been dreamin' the same dreams!

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  2. Your Firepower Nandina in front of the Burford Holly combination sounds real nice! Show us some pictures when you practice your phase 1 plan.

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  3. Lovely post, and I have the same "garden budget" order. Boo. But, as you said, it forces a plan which is always a good idea. At any rate, I love your post as we're all looking for some cold hardy varieties after this winter. I'm going to look for the sweet olive. The olive tree is my favorite tree, partially for biblical symbolic reasons..I also love it's history. But, a sweet olive shrub could be a great alternative to a tree. Hmmmm....my wheels are turning! :)

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  4. Floridagirl - I think we are finally going to be able to put our dreams into action with the weather change coming this week. At least the working outside part of the dream. On my end, the buying new shrubs part may have to wait for a little while. Yeah Spring!

    Ami - Thanks for commenting on my holly/nandina combo. I actually have implemented "Phase 1/2" by purchasing some hollies that are much smaller than the ones in the photo. They're not fast growers but even though I'm a Nana, I still have more time than money :)

    Kimberly - Nice to know others are in my same budget boat :) Makes us more creative I think.
    The tea olive has a wonderful subtle fragrance that is very nice.

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  5. NanaK,
    You have highlighted some very good specimens here. It is important these days to find plants both cold hardy AND heat tolerant. Technically I guess all the plants that come back even when damaged are cold hardy. I just want more plants that don't die back to the ground in the interim.

    It's a lot more fun to do our projects a little at a time. What would we have to look forward to if we could just get it all done at one time! :-)

    (Kerby's was smart to do a workshop on this subject).
    Meems

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  6. Meems - Yes, what I want is mostly plants that don't die back in winter. I thought that was what cold hardy meant, but I have learned differently this winter. I love my gingers and other tropicals that do disappear in cold weather but I'm trying to have them as accents rather than my whole garden. And yes, what would I do if the garden ever became complete?

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  7. More cold hardy plants - great! I just bought a couple of those new nandina's - they are great looking. And, i bought a tea olive too. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do.

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  8. Susan - I'm hoping to get the nandina's soon. I'll be interested to see what their color is like in summer.

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Thank you for travelling down My Garden Path with me. I love hearing from you. Please leave a comment and share what is going on in your gardens.

NanaK