Tag Archives: sweet tea olive

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’