How about some gorgeous spring blooming bushes?  A couple that are outstanding due to their many blossoms are Rhododendrons and Azaleas.   Azaleas do best with morning sun and afternoon shade.  Their blooms are vibrant colors, i.e. oranges, yellows, pinks and reds, with a mild fragrance.  Plant a couple of these together and they will be showstoppers.

Rhododendrons are an elegant spring blooming shrub.   They will do ok in full sun but do nicely with afternoon shade.  The common one is PJM, a soft purple/lavender.   New varieties have sensational larger blossoms.   Both of these shrubs come in various sizes.  Click on the shrub name below to read more about it.

Northern Hi-Lights Azalea
Photo courtesy of Bailey Nursery

Azalea Mandarin Lights
Photo compliments of Baileys Nursery

Azalea Rosy Lights

PJM Rhododendron
Photo courtesy of Bailey Nurseries

Nova Zembla Rhododendron
Photo courtesy of Monrovia 

Rhododendron (Ramapo)
Photo courtesy of Monrovia Nursery

Aglo Rhododendron

Purple Gem  Rhododendron
Photo courtesy of Baileys Nursery

Witch hazel is a vase-like shrub that can grow to 15′ tall.  However, with pruning you can keep it shorter and shaped.  The spring and summer foliage is green.   In fall the leaves turn to a stunning yellow/gold and apricot.  Then in mid-October to mid-November (or later) the tree produces its spidery yellow spicy fragrant flowers.  This particular witch hazel (common) needs cooler weather before it blooms, tolerating 20 degrees.  Flowers are pollinated by flies, moths, bees, wind and also self-pollination. Even though the flowers were already pollinated in fall,  fertilization of the ovaries doesn’t occur until spring when fruits (brown capsules containing seeds that develop over summer)  are formed and then explode in early fall.   The seeds are consumed by wild turkeys, northern bobwhites, jays, chickadees, woodpeckers, titmice, nuthatches and others.  Interestingly, the forked stems of this plant has been used as “divining rods,” where the stems dip down when held over underground water.  This plant is a real stand out winner in fall.

common witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
Photo compliments of Bailey Nursery

Witch Hazel flower
Photo by Eva Bronzini (pexels)

If you like to try new plants, we have some new ones we hope you like.  They each have interesting characteristics. 

Achillea (yarrow) Desert Eve Terracotta is an early blooming yarrow with big clusters of tiny rusty orange/yellow flowers.  Butterflies are attracted to this plant.

Veronica Dark Blue has abundant, full spikes of violet-blue flowers that bloom continuously throughout summer.  Attracts butterflies and bees.

Hosta Fantasy Island is a dwarf hosta for planting in front of the shade garden.  There are only a few dwarf hostas so this is a welcome addition for our hosta gardeners.

See You Tomorrow daylily (hemerocallis) produces yellow clusters of blooms that last for FIVE days.   Daylily blooms only last for one day, hence the name daylily.

Dianthus American Pie Berry a’la Mode has large pure white flowers with a magenta center on sturdy stems.  Great cut flower.  Very eye appealing

Click on the italics plant name below for more information:

Achillea Desert Eve Terracotta

Veronica Dark Blue

Fantasy Island Hosta

See You Tomorrow Daylily

Dianthus American Pie Berry a’la Mode

Since “Spring is in the Air” here are two new, exciting plants that we fell in love with and that hummingbirds and butterflies will love, too.

If you are a delphinium fan, you are going to love this new variety “Red Lark”.  Instead of all the usual blue delphiniums, this one is coral red. It is gorgeous.  Red Lark will grow to about 30″ tall.

Buddleia True Blue (butterfly bush) is another plant that will bloom from early summer to a frost.  Butterflies, especially Monarchs, love butterfly bushes.  The foliage is silver green and will grow to about a height of 6′ in one season.  Most butterfly bushes will survive our winters but can be quite late emerging in spring.

To read more about these plants, click on the red links below.

Red Lark

Delphinium Red Lark
Courtesy of Proven Winners – www.provenwinners.com

True Blue

Buddleia True Blue
Photo cortesy of Monrovia Nursery

Winter is the time for gardeners to sit back, relax and dream about next year’s garden. Look through pinterest, garden books, the internet and get ideas for improving or changing your garden. This is a fun time to dream. Visit our website as we have so many photos and descriptions of most of the plants we carry. Remember, when dreaming, that sunlight or shade and soil type play a very important part of garden design. Have fun dreaming and see you in spring!

Fall is a beautiful time of the year when the outdoors is changed into shades of reds, oranges and yellows.  Some fall shrubs and trees with their attributes for fall and winter are:

SHRUBS:
Dogwoods: red stems in winter
Viburnums:   leaf color
Chokeberry:  red leaves
Fothergilla: various leaf color
Serviceberry:  leaf color
St. John’s wort:  berries
Sumac:  colorful leaves
Winterberry:  Red berries

TREES:
Aspen:  yellow leaves
Beech:  red leaves
Birch:  yellow leaves
Gingko:  yellow leaves
Maples:  various leaf color, red to yellow
Oaks:  leaf color
Serviceberry:  leaf color

Below are some photos:  For more photos, go to Trees Today Nursery home page and select Plants and Products, then select trees or shrubs and that will take you to the individual shrubs and trees which you can then click on to take you to that specific page.

Berry Poppins
Photo courtesy of www.provenwinners.com

Arctic Fire Dogwood
Photo compliments Bailey Nursery

Firedance Dogwood

Blue Beech
Photo compliments Bailey Nursery

Fall Fiesta Maple
Photo by Trees Today

Hydrangeas have become almost the number one selling plant.  This is due to their easy maintenance and the many colors that have been developed.  Rather then go into the various kinds of hydrangeas, this article is just going to talk about the woody kind (they are shrubs that lose their leaves in fall but do not die back to the ground) and the ones that have soft stems (not woody) and generally have lots of die back over winter.  The shrub kind can grow in full sun and sun with some shade.  They can get 2.5 ft tall to over 8 ft, depending on the variety.  Generally this hydrangea has more subtle colors, like white with pink or a tinge of green.  The soft stems ones have more brilliant colors and want morning sun but definitely afternoon shade.  They come in shades from white to pink to dark pink to blue to purple and various other shades.  Generally this type of hydrangea gets only about 2 ft to 4 ft high.  The woody ones are super easy to grow and the only maintenance is shaping them or trimming them if you wish to keep them more uniform looking.   The soft stems ones  should be mulched for winter protection and cut back to about 12″ in fall and in spring cut back stems that do not turn green.

Take a look at all the landscaping ideas on the Internet.   Just type in something like “Landscaping with Hydrangeas” or go to Pinterest and look for hydrangeas.  You will get so many ideas of how to add interest and color to your yard or foundation.  Presently we have the following hydrangeas in stock.  Just click on the name and you will be taken to a page with further descriptions.  Please ask our staff if you are new to planting hydrangeas and they will help you find the perfect one for your area.  Also ask for a sheet on hydrangeas that will give you additional information.

Annabelle
Berry White
Bloomstruck
Bobo
Candy Apple
Early Evolution
Little Lime
Little Quickfire
Quickfire
Razzlberri
Strawberry Shake
Strawberry Sundae
Summer Crush
Twist n Shout

What is a pollinator?   A pollinator is an insect or any agent that conveys pollen from one plant to another for fertilization.  Without fertilization, plants would not have any fruits or seeds.   Simply put, if we want apples, we need pollinators.  If we want sweet corn, we need pollinators.  What are some pollinators?   Bees, birds, moths, butterflies, wind and any insects that transfer pollen from one plant to another. So what can we do?  We can plant plants that attract pollinators.  Clover, milkweed, coneflowers, Joe Pye Weed, bee balms, etc. are great pollinator plants.  If you are unsure, please ask our staff to help you find some good pollinator plants. As more and more homes are being built, these pollinators are losing their undeveloped land with wildflowers and clover to pristine lawns.   Every homeowner should plant at least a small garden with some pollinator plants to help keep these pollinators around for successful crops. 

There are 13 planting zones in the U.S., each are divided into two segments, a and b, with 5 degrees separating the two segments. We are now Zone 5a but not Zone 5B.  Zone 5a’s average annual extreme low temperature, between years 1991 and 2020, is -20 to -15 with Zone 5b average low temperatures of -15 to -10.  The very northern part of La Crosse County is Zone 4b, with -25 to -20 temperatures.  These temperatures are based on 30 year averages.

So what does this mean?   You now have an opportunity to plant some of those  Zone 5 plants you have been drooling over the past years.  However, be careful.  Do not overdo it.  Winters are unpredictable and we still may experience some really cold winters.   Some plants have information tags on them.  Read them and if the tag lists the minimum temperature for the plant, choose the plants that are in  Zone 5a, not Zone 5b.  In the past we have carried some Zone 5 plants that have proven to survive in this area.  This year more Zone 5 plants will be added so PLEASE ask staff if you are uncertain about what zone that plant is in.   Occasionally we do carry Zone 5B or higher Zone plants as customers ask for them.  

Most trees and shrubs are warranted for one year.    Staff should inform you if that particular plant is not warranted.     We do not warrantee any perennials.

Happy planting and please ask staff for Assistance if you are unsure about any plant.