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The Garden Life: In April, welcome returning perennials

The Columbian
Published: April 8, 2010, 12:00am
2 Photos
Robb Rosser
Robb Rosser Photo Gallery

For the eager gardener, April’s arrival is like a long-awaited family reunion. Spring flowers reappear like old friends coming home. Each perennial emerges from the soil in its own unique guise. Lilies shoot up thick spikes, sedums form miniature rosettes and the rhubarb opens from a knot of crumpled foliage.

The perennial bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) has always been one of my favorite early-flowering border plants. The distinct, deep pink hearts hang in neat rows along horizontal stems. “Pantaloons” is a lovely white form. “King of Hearts” has bright, rosy pink, heart-shaped flowers floating above blue-green foliage with the texture of parsley.

For gardeners with established gardens, the pleasure of recognition comes with great anticipation. We planted many of these plants specifically for their spring flower show. We selected and planted the perfect plant for a special place in the garden. For long-time gardeners, spring initiates an extended celebration of old ideas coming to fruition.

If this is your first year living in a garden that someone else created, you are in for one surprise after another. Beginning gardeners are often surprised twice in spring. First, with the unexpected impact of a flower they planted re-emerging in spring and next with a sudden understanding of how important plant selection is to the individual garden.

Willows are the first trees to leaf out in spring. The leaves are often shiny and yellow in long, hanging ribbons. The Kilmarnock Willow (Salix caprea “Pendula”) explodes with fat pussywillow buds in rabbit-gray fur. Soon afterward, a golden haze of pollen forms on each bud. On warm days, the bees arrive in droves and cling to the buds in ecstatic gluttony. The drooping branches bob up and down under their weight like a cartoon carousel.

Japanese maples are not planted for their spring flowers but the emerging foliage of each variety is as different from the next as a daisy from a rose. The new leaf of the Full Moon Maple (Acer shirasawanum) is chartreuse in the shade, golden in sunlight. The leaves unfold from yellow buds and in one day, spread open like miniature Japanese fans. “Orangeola” sends out rusty red leaves and “Waterfall” is classic spring green.

The weeping maples (Acer dissectum) make a distinct impression through the winter months with arching stems and an intricate design of geometric branching. In spring, the new leaves expand as if filling in the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Within days, the gaps fill with overlapping leaves and the tree takes on a solid, découpage form. The dainty new leaves undulate in the slightest breeze.

Every year, nursery specialists introduce shrub varieties. Two of my longtime favorites are “Rose Glow” barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and “Magic Carpet” spirea (Spiraea japonica). The mottled burgundy and white foliage of “Rose Glow” truly does glow with translucent color in early spring. “Magic Carpet” keeps its golden-orange foliage through the growing season. Its flat, pink flower heads bloom heavily from late spring through the summer and its compact form is perfect for a border.

Both barberry and spirea are indispensable to the year-round garden. There is a selection of each to fit any exposure conditions in any garden. The barberry flower looks like a decorative berry and masses of tiny spirea flowers float above foliage. Newer varieties include Spiraea japonica “Golden Elf,” with attractive, serrated foliage that emerges coppery bronze in spring. Berberis thunbergii “Golden Sunsation” is a compact shrub. Its golden foliage carries an orange cast all season long.

Forsythia is a classic spring-flowering shrub with a bad reputation in certain garden circles. To some, its hot yellow flowers are brash and it is known to grow twiggy and rampant and, often, too big and tall. This is because most gardeners buy it on impulse and plant it as a garden specimen, a job it cannot carry out all year long. Those who plant it in the proper site, say, away from the house in a large open space against a back fence, have kinder things to say about its valuable spring show.

Most plants take a year to 18 months to show their true form. Trees and shrubs may need more time to establish themselves. Therefore, give your plants the time they need to develop fully. Don’t lose faith if they don’t perform well the first year. Over time, it will happen. When it does, celebrate the return of spring flowers to your garden as a personal homecoming.

Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified Master Gardener. Reach him at Write2Robb@aol.com.

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