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Landscape for Leisure

Spring is finally here, which means those of us with lawns and landscapes are longing for the days and temperatures when we can reengage with our yards.

It's not the same world as 15 years ago, when home gardeners wanted perennials that need to be divided every year, according to Donna Christensen, Christensen Landscape Services in Northford.

We'd rather enjoy life while lounging in our outdoor oasis, looking out on swaths of interesting, low maintenance native plants as they attract pollinators and birds, but aren't devoured by deer.

Christensen sees converging forces of convenience, conservation and color.

""We're all interested in creating our outdoor rooms, it's been a movement" says Christensen, whose orientation to outdoor design is shaped by a background in fashion.

The Balenise-inspired oasis is hot now, even in New England, she says.   The look can be achieved through furniture, fabric patterns, lanterns and lighted planters and accent pieces.  Or, it could be as simple as hanging a chair under a tree and tossing in some exotic accent pillows.

"I am seeing much more exciting materials, there are wonderful outdoor fabrics, woven and wicker furniture that is more durable, containers made of fibers that can stay outside longer, more water features," she says. "There are more choices, and a wider range of prices."

While our tastes may be for exotic fabrics and patterns, she says the movement in plant materials and landscaping in general is driven by the quest to conserve resources and to go more native with plants.

"The reality is that people are very busy, they want convenience and low maintenance but something that is still interesting to look at," she says.  "So everything is going in the direction of landscaping with natives, with grasses, which have great architectural features, more meadows, and mass sweeps or swaths of plantings."

Native perennials fit the bill because they are less likely to need watering, they have evolved to survive without added fertilizers or pesticides and native wildlife depends on them.

You can still get colors that pop with native plants, because plant breeders can't resist teasing out the traits for different flower colors, variegated leaves and dwarf sizes.

Christensen is a big fan of cone flowers, hardy natives that are showing up in new hot reds and oranges. She recommends Echinacea purpurea 'Sombrero Salsa Red' for its hot tomato color, 'Baja Burgundy' for its deep red tone and 'Flamenco Orange.'  She also likes to mix in Asclepias tuberosa, an orange butterfly weed, not to be confused with the much larger butterfly bush or Buddleja.

She says the color palette for American landscapes is moving away from the blues, whites and yellows to these bolder, warmer colors.  Her favorite new perennial is Lavendula 'Phenominal, a large and extremely hardy form of lavender that grows to almost 30 inches and is deer resistant.

Jason Scire, who's worked with trees and shrubs for 15 years at Van Wilgen's Garden Center in North Branford, expects Hydrangeas to continue to be popular in Connecticut landscapes.  In recent years, the Endless Summer series of re-blooming hydrangeas has made this the official Connecticut shoreline shrub.

Scire expects Bloom Struck, a cross between the original Endless summer mop and the lace-capped Twist and Shout, will be very popular.

"It's a perfect match of the two, disease resistant, easy to grow, it flowers continuously the entire season into the fall," he says. "The stems and the foliage are more reminiscent of the Twist and Shout, so you have that great contrast of the reddish stem and the green leaves, even when it is not in bloom."

In addition to the 56-acre farm and garden center in North Branford, Van Wilgen's has seasonal garden marts at Bishop's Orchard in Guilford and at the corner of Spencer Road and Route 1 in Old Saybrook.  The family business was started in 1920 by William C. Van Wilgen, who came to the United States from Boskoop, Holland after serving in World War I.  Grandson William, who took over the business responsibilities in 1976, launched the Van Wilgen Grown brand of plants in 1992.

"Local is very popular now, so our biggest supplier is ourselves," says Scire.  "That way we can be confident that the Van Wilgen Grown, top quality, locally-grown material."

Wake up the garden

Regardless of how you fashion your outdoor oasis, the professionals offer this advice for reawakening the garden this spring.

Scire expects woody plants to wake up well-hydrated this spring because of all of the snow. That means less desiccation and dieback that the previous winter, which followed a dry fall.

Patches of desiccated or dead broadleaf evergreens this year could be a tell-tale sign that voles were also protected under the snow pack and feasted on shrub and perennial roots.

If you're discovering broken branches, thanks to the weight of melting snow, Scire recommends trimming up as you find the damage.

"Anytime you come across a broken branch or limb on a tree or shrub, you can go ahead and prune that off immediately," he says. "You want to make a nice, clean cut, with the proper tools, as soon as possible."

Make sure bypass pruners and loppers are sharp and clean, and move up to chain saws for larger limbs.

For those of us who can't wait to get out and dig or divide something, Donna Christensen cautions to tread lightly, or not at all, until the soils have dried out enough to be worked.  That means keeping the lawn tractor off of a soggy lawn and not tramping around in wet flower beds.

"You're going to damage the plants' root systems and compact the soil," she says. "The plants are not going to be happy."

While Christensen's professional landscaping and maintenance service puts down large compaction mats to protect the soil and root zones, she says homeowners who must get out there could improvise by laying boards or pallets over flower beds to provide temporary paths.