Tag Archives: hollies

A Hedge of Hollies and Wax Myrtles…A Peek At Billy’s New Yard

imageSome of you may know that the owner of Oak Street Garden Shop, Billy Angell,  recently moved into a new house on Euclid Avenue  – quite visible to all of you who live in the area! Coming from his old house at which he’d created an extensive woodland, cutting, vegetable, and herb garden was quite a drastic change. This yard is nice and flat, but that was pretty much it. Now, if you know Billy, you also know that a nice, flat yard is one thing, but he needs a few plants out there too!

Billy's newly planted holly hedge

Billy’s newly planted holly hedge

He’s only been there a year or so, but already there are shrubs going in around the perimeter of his corner lot. His vision is to create a mixed border of hollies, magnolias, viburnum and wax myrtle for the outer edge, to screen the road and the back of his property His plans for the rest of the yard will unfold for all to see…and we’ll be watching!

Here are some pictures of the beginning of his new landscape: He invites any of you to come by and take a look at the shrubs he’s planted so far, many of which we have in stock now. These include:

Southern Wax Myrtle: This is a beautiful screening shrub. He’s using this on the back and side of his property to compliment the neighbor’s already large wax myrtle hedge. The only warning about wax myrtle is that the stems are brittle and they will break if we get heavy, wet snow (Rare, but it could happen!) You also need to be aware that they do sucker, so if you don’t want them to spread, remove suckers as they form.

The neighbors established wax myrtles show the size Billy's will get...

The neighbors established wax myrtles show the size Billy’s will get…

Hollies: These are large, and will grow 20′-30′, effectively screening his property from the busy road. They are drought resistant once established and are a haven for wildlife, creating nesting sites,  as well as food for birds.

Three of Billy’s favorite hollies planted along the streetside are ‘Nellie Stevens’, Emily Bruner’, and ‘Mary Nell’. These are all hybrids created by crossing two old hollies, Ilex cornuta and Ilex latifolia. The results are these excellent plants, bred for hardiness, berry production and growth habit.

‘Foster’ holly, is another that Billy has chosen for his landscape. This is another old holly developed by Mr. Foster, a plant breeder for Fraser’s Nursery of Birmingham many year’s ago.

'Nellie Stevens' and 'WillowLeaf' hollies

‘Nellie Stevens’ hollies

All of these hollies (and more), are available now for you to try in your own landscape…Billy invites you to come by and look at his if you’d like to see what they look like as they grow.

He pointed out that we also have one ‘Miss Patricia’ holly left in stock at this time – he has used it in the border but commented that it would be beautiful in a large container.

 

 

 

 

Select Shrubs To Plant Now!

leucothoe

leucothoe

Here are a few highlights from a walk through the nursery to showcase some favorite southern shrubs, though these are just a few of many!

Tough and durable, we start with a shade garden stalwart, leucothoe, a wonderful evergreen screening plant that reaches 8′-10′. Cut stems are long lasting in flower arrangements, and it’s utilized by Birmingham florists throughout the year, culminating in gorgeous additions to holiday arrangements. The long arching stems are quite graceful, and some companions include azaleas, pieris, mountain laurel and hydrangeas, just to name a few.

Oak leaf hydrangea lights up a woodland path...

Oak leaf hydrangea lights up a woodland path…

 

 

If you live in Birmingham and have an area in your landscape with some afternoon shade (though they tolerate sun with adequate water) you really should have an oak leaf hydrangea or many! With their dramatic, oak leaf shaped leaves, white blossoms fading to pink, and gorgeous red fall foliage color, they add year round interest – not to mention beautiful winter bark and form. A must have! Or, you might prefer the ‘Nikko Blue’ french hydrangeas? We have those too!

Osmanthus fragrans, sweet tea olive

Osmanthus fragrans, sweet tea olive

 

Sweet tea olive, Osmanthus fragrans, has a bloom you might miss while walking through the garden, but you won’t miss their fragrance! A broad leaf evergreen growing 8′-10′ (sometimes taller) these are best situated where their unbelievable fragrance can be enjoyed – near your home, which also will offer cold protection, and in a spot that offers some sun. Enjoy their blooms fall, winter and spring and sporadically through the summer.

Osmanthus 'Goshiki' is useful as a cut stem in holiday arrangements....

Osmanthus ‘Goshiki’ is useful as a cut stem in holiday arrangements….

Another Osmanthus we have now  is the yellow variagated false holly, ‘Goshiki’. This is one tough plant – useful for those hot spots in the yard where you’d like an evergreen shrub that grows to roughly 6′ and almost as wide. This is another that is beautiful used as a cut specimen in floral arrangements any time of the year. It’s very prickly though! (Hence the name, false holly…)

Osmanthus 'Goshiki' this is a tough shrub!

Osmanthus ‘Goshiki’ this is a tough shrub!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to those listed above, we have a very good selection of hollies and gardenias in stock. Take a walk down to the end of the nursery near the pinestraw and you’ll see the selection. Have a question about them? Billy loves hollies and is very well versed on them – he’d love to help you!

We’ll continue our tour of tough shrubs and vines in our next post..meanwhile, take a look through your landscape – maybe you could you use one of these southern gems too!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

 

Spring Shrubs! From Azaleas to Vitex…

some of our hollies...

some of our hollies…
fresh off the truck!

Recently some of our favorite nurseries in Alabama  sent spring shipments of shrubs, a few trees and the beginning of our perennial stock…perhaps you’ve seen the mass of green in the parking lot!

In addition to old southern favorites like oak leaf hydrangeas, gardenias and azaleas, (among them the deciduous, fragrant  Florida Flame and ‘Varnadoe’  azaleas) and sweet tea olives, including Osmanthus fragrans ‘Fudzhingou’ (a particularly floriferous selection), we also offer the tough, tried and true cleyera, some pyramid hollies that would be great in containers,  and the  blue flowered butterfly and bee magnet, Vitex ‘Shoal Creek’.

Viburnum 'Awabuki' Beautiful as a screening shrub

Viburnum ‘Awabuki’
Beautiful as a screening shrub

If you need even more tough plants  we have ‘Mary Nell’, ‘Nellie Stephens, and ‘Emily Bruner’ hollies. Or, if you have a spot or large planter  for a specimen plant, the limbed up Burford hollies are beautiful.  ‘Snowball’ and  ‘Awabuki’ viburnums,  anise and leucothoe…so much more that could be beautiful additions to your landscape!

Knockout roses have been around for a few years – if you haven’t tried the yellow or white selections, we have them now. And, if  you need more ornamental shrubs have you tried blueberries? In addition to white blooms in the spring and delicious fruit in early summer they also have wonderful fall color – we have some beautiful plants here if this is something you’d like to try.

These blueberries are loaded with buds!

These blueberries are loaded with buds!

Finally, what could be more southern than a magnolia? The hybrid Magnolia ‘Butterflies’ is a small, deciduous magnolia with fragrant, white blooms in early spring…

Fragrant tea olives... Osmanthus 'Fudzinghou'

Fragrant tea olives…
Osmanthus ‘Fudzinghou’

This is a small sampling of what we have in stock. Please stop in to see the other offerings – new arrivals will be coming in weekly!

Magnolia 'Butterflies'

Magnolia ‘Butterflies’