Every landscape designer wants their customers to be successful with their plantings. That can be hard when our clients want plants that are a little fussy or finicky. I like recommending nearly bulletproof plants like Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa). Kousa…
Globosa blue spruce (Picea pungens ‘Globosa’) provides a pop of color in a green, green, green landscape. Contrast is important in landscape design. Globosa blue spruce is a cultivar of Colorado blue spruce, so it has that characteristic bright blue…
If you were to tell me that you don’t like Virginia native plants, I’d say to check out Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) and then see if you feel the same way. It’s at home in all sorts of landscapes, from…
When I was a kid, with a very active imagination, my friend’s parents bought a new fridge. Seeing that cardboard monolith that I could turn into a fighter plane. I couldn’t help but say “dude, sweet box!” Nowadays, when I…
Green Giant Arborvitae (Thuja ‘Green Giant’) actually has nothing to do with the jolly green giant, which is kind of a bummer. I used to love those commercials as a kid, although I wondered how “ho ho ho” could sound…
Emerald Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’) is one of those trees that everyone seems to know. They’re a really popular screening tree, which is why you see them all over neighborhoods in Virginia. As I’ve been researching plants for these blog…