cover next page > title : author : publisher : isbn10 | asin : print isbn13 : ebook isbn13 : language : subject publication date : lcc : ddc : subject : cover next page > < previous page page_iii next page > Page iii The Winter Garden Planning and Planting for the Southeast Peter Loewer & Larry Mellichamp < previous page page_iii next page > < previous page page_iv next page > Page iv Copyright © 1997 by Peter Loewer and Larry Mellichamp Published by STACKPOLE BOOKS 5067 Ritter Road Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FIRST EDITION Cover design by Tracy Patterson Cover photographs by Larry Mellichamp All photographs within the book are by Larry Mellichamp except as follows: Ann Armstrong: 12, 31, 48, 5052, 58, 63, 7778, 117, 134, 141, 148, 152, 165, 171172, 174175, 177 Peter Loewer: 5, 6 (left), 7, 65, 76, 105, 109, 113, 178, 180, 183184 Jacket photo of Peter Loewer by Lynne Baldwin Jacket photo of Larry Mellichamp by Audrey D. Mellichamp Photo on p. x: Erythronium americanum, trout lily or adder's tongue, is a charming American wildflower found in rich deciduous woods in various forms throughout most of eastern North America. In the woodland garden, it is one of the earliest of our native plants to bloom in late winter, but the attractive, spotted, 6-inch leaves usually disappear within a few weeks, as the plants die back to small, deep bulbs. They slowly form clumps. Not all leafy individuals bloom every year. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Loewer, H. Peter The winter garden : planning and planting for the Southeast / Peter Loewer and Larry Mellichamp. 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 187) and index. ISBN 0-8117-1925-1 1. Winter gardeningSouthern States. 2. Winter garden plants Southern States. I. Mellichamp, Larry. II. Title. SB439.5.L64 1997 635.9′53dc21 97-8311 CIP < previous page page_iv next page > < previous page page_v next page > Page v To the memory of Elizabeth Lawrence and J. C. Raulston < previous page page_v next page > < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi 1 1 Planning Your Winter Garden 2 11 Walks in Winter Gardens 3 21 The Beauties of Texture 4 39 Pods, Fruits, Plumes, and Berries 5 69 Flowers for the Winter Garden 6 99 Winter-Blooming Shrubs, Trees, and Vines 7 137 Fragrance 8 145 Evergreen Foliage Plant Sources 185 References 187 Index 189 < previous page page_vii next page > < previous page page_ix next page > Page ix Acknowledgments A number of gardeners and horticulturists, both amateur and professional, helped gather the information necessary to produce this book, especially because it covers such a large area of our country. Larry and I could not have finished the task this book represents without their help. But for performance above and beyond that of friendship in the garden, we wish to thank not only our wives, Jean Loewer and Audrey Mellichamp, but Ann Armstrong of Charlotte (for her knowledge of plants as well as for her peerless photography) and Peter Gentling of Asheville. The following people also helped Larry with much of the photography, not only by providing marvelous winter gardens but also by assisting in locating various plants: Rob Gardner, Betty Wilson, and Mary Jane Baker in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Sally Cooper and Paul Pawlowski in Charlotte, North Carolina; Donald Rose in Alamo, California; and Dr. Don Jacobs of Eco-Gardens in Decatur, Georgia. The following people and nurseries provided plants featured in various photographs: Kim Hawks of Niche Gardens, Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery, Kay Kincaid of Farmhouse Gardeners, all in North Carolina; Robert Mackintosh and Bob McCartney of Woodlanders Nursery in South Carolina; and Heronswood Nursery near Seattle, Washington. Larry would especially like to thank Dr. Herbert Hechenbleikner of Charlotte for: being his horticultural mentor, taking him on field trips to see native plants of the Carolinas, introducing him to Elizabeth Lawrence, and starting the Botanical Gardens at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1966. Finally, the following southern botanical gardens have good displays of winter plants: The J. C. Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University; The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Botanical Gardens; Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina; The Atlanta Botanical Garden; Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia; Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden, Columbia, South Carolina; Norfolk Botanical Garden, Virginia; The State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens; Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, Maryland; Wing Haven Gardens in Charlotte, North Carolina; Kalmia Gardens, Hartsville, South Carolina; South Carolina Botanical Garden in Clemson; The Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia; Birmingham Botanical Gardens; and U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC. < previous page page_ix next page > < previous page page_x next page > Page x < previous page page_x next page > < previous page page_xi next page > Page xi Introduction And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow. Alfred E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad It's a chilly day just one week before Christmas. A mizzly rain floats through the air, not falling but just drifting through the rhododendron leaves on the pathway that connects the various garden spots on our 9/10-acre garden on the shores of Kenilworth Lake. For most of the Southeast, winter is a time of reduced heat rather than harsh cold (although many people who live in the colder parts of the South would disagree with that viewpoint). If snow does fall or if temperatures do plummet, such weather is usually limited to the mountain regions and rarely in the Piedmont or the coastal parts of the southern states. Yet there is a definite time of winter here. Shadows lengthen, and suddenly it seems we are more aware of the physical sun because it floats lower in the sky. On clear days the sky is bluer, the result of the disappearance of summer humidity, and the air has a shiny glow rather than a misty haze. Leaves change colors from green to an almost infinite range of colors, chiefly purples, maroons, and yellows. Except for the tropical parts of the country, trees shed their leaves and go into dormancy for a few months, temperatures fall, and the days get shorter until December 22, when they begin their lengthy climb to the long days of summer. Which leads to an interesting question: Just what limits are we using to define winter? Well, we decided to begin our garden at the Thanksgiving holiday and extend it through April Fool's Day. So our winter garden in the Southeast covers about 120 days in the year, more or less. But temperature has to be another limitation, so in this book we have chosen the warmer parts of USDA Zone 6, where the lowest winter temperature is usually about 5°F. Our area extends from the Mississippi River on the west; the warm waters of the Gulf and the Atlantic on the south; and Kentucky, a small part of West Virginia, and (regardless of the Mason-Dixon line) a bit of Pennsylvania to New Jersey on the north. This book was written with the Southeast in mind; however, it will also be useful to gardeners living along the East Coast, as far up as Staten Island and the New Jersey shore; the southern section of the Midwest, including parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada; and the West Coast of California, up to Oregon and Washington, and even British Columbia. We have classified the plants in five different categories: 1. Texture: trees, shrubs, and bushes with interesting or beautiful bark, buds, and twigs. 2. Pods, fruits, and berries: plants whose fruits exhibit winter interest from the viewpoint of color, texture, or form. 3. Blossoms: plants that bloom during the winter months. This is subdivided into flowering herbaceous plants and bulbs, and trees and shrubs. 4. Fragrance: plants that perfume the winter garden. 5. Evergreen foliage: a broad category that we have used to include conifers, broad-leaved evergreens, and other plants that continue to have interesting foliage well into the winter. This book is not a primer on making a garden from scratch. It is assumed that readers all have some < previous page page_xi next page > < previous page page_xii next page > Page xii basic horticultural knowledge. For those who are just starting out, there are selected references listed in the Bibliography. There is a trend in publishingespecially popular magazinesto "glitz it up and dumb it down." Many editors and publishers now believe that the public is too ignorant to deal with scientific names for plants, especially because they are in Latin, and therefore, only popular names should be used. That's fine as long as you are dealing with dahlias and delphiniums (those two common names, by the by, are also the Latin names). But as soon as you branch out into more unusual plants, you will find that common names not only change from region to region, but also from country to country. All the plants known to man have been given scientific names, and each name is unique. Even when names change, for what often seem like whimsical reasons, they remain one of a kind.