Starting a few years ago, I went on a pretty huge Annabelle hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’) kick. I think this mass planting I saw at Barren Ridge Vineyards is partly to blame. The thing is, Annabelle hydrangea has a lot…
Every time I plant a Pin Oak (Quercus palustris), I feel like the subject of a Buzzfeed article. “This designer planted a Pin Oak and you won’t believe what happened next.” What happened next is it did great! They’re just…
Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia ‘Lynwood’) is somehow underappreciated and overused. How does that even happen? The first yellow blooms you see in Virginia, often as early as February, are Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). They’re a pale, sort of washed-out yellow.…
I just started planting Ruby Falls redbuds two years ago. We were working on a pond and landscape installation in Sperryville and I needed some special trees. I was walking the wholesale nursery with my sales rep when, in the…
I love Forest Pansy redbuds (Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’). It’s as if someone was admiring an Eastern redbud and thought “this is a great tree, but you know what would make it better? PURPLE LEAVES BABY!” The leaves are what…
Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) is a sign to start getting excited, another winter is ending! My work as a Virginia landscape designer takes me all over Virginia, and I love seeing those flashes of bright pinkish-purple blooms lighting up the…