Welcome to The Weeding Gnome

Brought to you by Plants Nouveau

In today's Issue:
Why do people hate forsythia?
Introducing Helianthus x multiflorus 'Sunshine Daydream'.
--- The Garden Rant ---
It's about time...
Time to put the top down in the "interchange yellow" mini cooper and let the coo
l spring breeze blow through my hair, Princess Grace-like, that is, with a scarf
and sunglasses. It was a fun way to celebrate the warm weather with yesterday
being my first top-down day of 2010.
I’ve never had a convertible before, so pardon my enthusiasm – it’s our first sp
ring together. It’s quite the glamorous vision until you realize there’s a toddl
er car seat in the back, totally ruining the “I’m so cool” look?
Ha-ha…I crack myself up – a glam-mom, that’s me!
It’s also time for all yellow flowers to burst open and brighten your day with t
heir happy spring-time tones.
After that horrendous snow fall and all the damage that was done, it s good to s
ee the garden is aglow with interesting selections of forsythia like Golden Pee
p and Lynwood Gold . I like both of these selections because they are not you
r grandmother s forsythia. Golden Peep ‘Coutdijau’ grows to only 2 1/2 feet tall
and Lynwood Gold has sturdy blooms that are truly golden in color.
One of my other favorites is Gold Tide ‘Courtasol’. Gold tide and Golden Peep we
re introduced in the US by The Conard-Pyle Co. They were bred in France. Gold
Tide is a very useful ground cover selection that looks just as gorgeous in the
summer without blooms as it does in March, blanketed in golden yellow blooms.
I long for yellow this time of year and nothing says spring like the golden yell
ow blossoms of forsythia on a chilly spring day.
Why do people hate forsythia?
Perhaps it’s because it is so common. Perhaps it’s because they are quite possib
ly one of the most tortured ornamental plants in America’s gardens. When I stud
ied landscape design in college, we would rather have died than spec something a
s common as forsythia in a design.
It was taboo… and we thought we were way too cool.
Imagine life without them?
Box stores and garden centers still sell them, but it’s such an impulse item. O
nce they stop blooming, you can hardly give them away. Designers and architects
have stopped specifying them in their plans. I bet it’s been 20 years since th
ey were planted heavily, yet you still see them dotted from garden to garden, mo
stly in older neighborhoods and in many older urban plantings.
I’ve come to love and appreciate them for what they are – a concept that seems f
oreign to many these days. I imagine modern, minimalist landscapes using season
al drifts of magical color. One of the plants I would use is plain old fosythia
. I might use one of the fancy new selections that doesn’t grow like a weed, bu
t I’d use them for all of their golden yellow glory.
Their foliage is a lovely shade of grass green all summer followed by a surprisi
ngly lovely shade of deep maroon in the fall. They sit in the back of the garde
n, providing the perfect backdrop for other plants. They are the most unpretent
ious garden guests. Forsythia are commonly disease free, terribly drought tolera
nt, and they bloom reliably year-after-year.
What more could you ask for? Talk about a carefree plant…
The only way to hurt them is to prune in the fall – and that doesn’t hurt, but t
here will be no blooms in spring.
So tell your neighbors, spread the word…
If yours is too big, chop it off in the spring! Don’t wait till fall or you’ll g
et nothing at all – blooms, that is.
There’s nothing more pathetic than a hacked-up forsythia with only a handful of
blooms in the spring. Sort of defeats the whole purpose, don’t you think?

Po-tay-to, po-ta-to, to-may-to, to-ma-to…

For-sith-ia, For-sigh-thia?
Really?
Named after William Forsyth (1737–1804), a Scottish Botanist, who was a royal he
ad gardener and founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society. This genus o
f flowering plants, forsythia, is named in his honor.
Webster’s pronounces forsythia the way most Americans do, but they pronounce the
name of the founder, Forsyth, as if the word has a silent “e”, making it for-si
gh-th.
So what is the correct pronunciation? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
You’d think the pronunciation of the founder’s last name would make it certain,
but the jury’s out on this one for sure – even in my circle of plant geek botani
c garden friends.
So plant some forsythia, no matter how you say it, and spread the joy of spring.
We need those yellow blooms to bring us out of our winter doom. Future genera
tions will thank you.
Back to the garden…
Blooming in tandem with the forsythia is my beloved winter hazel (Corylopsis spi
cata), with its tough, yet delicate looking butter yellow, bell shaped blooms.
The winter hazel is followed by the awesome flower power of my Carolina jessamin
e (Gelsemium sempervirens ‘Margarita’). This uncommon, yet hardy, evergreen vin
e has tubular, golden yellow blooms and deep green, leathery foliage. It’s a to
tally cool plant that loves to twine and it blooms before any hardy vine I know.

Last, but certainly not least, don t forget the daffodils... a true harbinger th
at warmer weather is within reach.
Spring has definitely sprung, here in Baltimore. I m hoping it s not too far awa
y for you and your gardens.
Now down to business, but first, a little ditty to brighten your day.
“Sunshine, daydream, walking in the tall trees, going where the wind goes, bloom
ing like a red rose.
Now come on over sweetly, ride out singin , “I got you in the morning sunshine.”
” ~ Grateful Dead
Although I have no yellow, spring flowering plants in my line-up yet (there’s on
e coming real soon…stay tuned!), here s a yellow, summer-flowering selection I m
really excited to share. I am proud to be representing North Creek Nurseries f
or their introduction of a fantabulous new false sunflower (Helianthus x multifl
orus) called Sunshine Daydream . This new selection has many, completely doubl
e yellow blooms and deep green foliage on a tall, sturdy plant.
Here s to a very prosperous spring!
Until next week…

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

--- Angela’s Garden Notes ---

Sunshine Daydream caught my eye while visiting the trial gardens at North Creek
on a trip during the Perennial Plant Conference Symposium last July in Philadel
phia. We had one of the most memorable PPA picnics in my memory. Good food, ta
sty libations and a kick-ass band. The weather was phenomenal for July in Philly
and the trial gardens had been manicured to death.
Everything was prefect.
This plant really stood out in the trials and I had to know what it was. I star
ted begging. It was covered in blooms and standing there - a group of three pla
nts - straight and strong and 5 feet tall - in perfect form. The foliage was pe
rfectly clean and there were leaves all the way down the stems - even after the
wretchedly hot, dry summer it had already endured. It immediately stood out as
a possible gem for the mid-summer garden.
Size: 5 to 6 feet tall by 2 to 4 feet wide
USDA hardiness Zones: 4-8
Sun/shade: Full Sun
Soil: Average garden soil
Moisture: mist, but well drained
Diseases and Pests: This selection is generally free of powdery mildew
Landscape use: Middle of the border, foundation plantings, mass
plantings, butterfly gardens, cutting gardens, cottage gardens.
Market appeal/Uniqueness: Sunshine Daydream was found as a branch sport of Cap
enoch Star . This selection has fully double blooms with petals that re-curve t
oward the stem. Capenoch Star has small, true sunflower-like blooms. This sele
ction has also been compared to Flore Pleno . Sunshine Daydream has fully roun
ded, dahlia-like blooms that are a tiny bit smaller in diameter, but much more n
umerous. In comparison to Loddon s Gold , the blooms of Sunshine Daydream have
 a much more pincushion or dome-like appearance and a much more uniform shape.
This selection is also the most golden-yellow of the three.
I know there are a lot of yellow, summer-blooming perennials, but most of them c
an t withstand the torture of an East Coast summer and still stand tall with suc
h clean foliage. I believe it is a winner and I do think it could very well rep
lace all other helianthus of this type on the market. We’ve also seen it bloomin
g in a pot on an 18-24” tall plant – something that never happens with helianthu
s of this type. Blooming at less than 2 feet in a pot on a retail shelf is a rea
lly great selling point.