Always select landscape trees with purpose, and then focus on features and plant characteristics that suit your space and style. Our Spring Showcase includes shade trees that create the canopy; a functional, beautiful umbrella in your landscape. The many benefits of planting and maintaining shade trees include social, economic, and environmental considerations. We would also add emotional benefits to that list as each year we hear our customers share stories and fond memories of their favorite trees.
Old Classics
Favorites found here at Hornbaker Gardens include stately Oaks, such as Quercus coccinea. The glossy, dark green foliage of this Scarlet Oak is attractive all spring and summer, and then turns brilliant scarlet in the fall, holding its color much later than the maples. It can eventually grow to a majestic 70′ tall with a spread of 40-45′. We would be amiss not to mention Maples with their graceful form and blazing fall colors. We are huge fans of Acer r. Brandywine, a newer variety of red maple from the National Arboretum that is a seedless cross between ‘October Glory’ and ‘Autumn Flame’. Its deep red fall color is always a welcome sight here at the Gardens.
New Favorites
Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum) with their sculptural branches and interesting foliage create a small-scale focal point in any protected corner of a shade garden in the Midwest. In the past, our climate has limited us to finding the perfect microclimate to grow these sought-after, tender beauties in our gardens. Gardeners and designers now have alternatives with new tree introductions coming onto the recent landscape scene in the form of hybrid Korean maples, which are a cross between Japanese and Korean maples.
Acer pseudosieboldianum (Hybrid Korean Maple) grows in various shapes, sizes, and leaf textures. Most can be planted in full sun, and can tolerate the harshest Midwestern winter exposures. These small-scale maples are a great choice for limited garden space and offer four seasons of interest anywhere in the garden. Plant one next to the patio, in a sunny mixed border or flower bed. Most cultivars are hardy to Zone 4 or 5.
Choose a low-growing Japanese/Korean Maple hybrid. Two great picks are Acer x ps. Ice Dragon®, with its finely divided leaves that are durable and tolerant of sun and heat, or the graceful pendulous habit of Acer x ps. Wabi Sabi®. One of our other favorites is First Flame® — true to its name! The first leaves of spring explode onto the scene with hot red-orange tones and begin to cool by mid-spring with swirling flames of orange and yellow and then green with hints of red in summer. Grows up to 20′ tall and 15′ wide. Hardy to Zone 5.
Something for Everyone
A Tested Hardy choice for full sun is Malus Royal Raindrops® (flowering crabapple). A row of these greets you as you drive past the parking lot for The Barn. The bright flowers, dark foliage, and persistent fruit create a spectacular show all season long. Along with those outstanding features, Royal Raindrops® is also extremely disease resistant and low maintenance. They grow to be 20’ tall and 15’ wide at maturity. Hardy to Zone 4.
Visit us to discover a wide variety of other favorites including Beeches (Fagus), such as ‘Roseamarginata’, and Birches (Betula), such as ‘Royal Frost’, or check out the native selections and cultivars suitable for wet soils such as Bald Cyprus (Taxodium) ‘Shawnee Brave’, the weeping ‘Falling Waters’, and Nyssa Sylvatica Northern Splendor®. We will have more on native options in Spring Showcase Part Three. Look for that article in next month’s newsletter in honor of National Pollinator Month. In the meantime, you can see our inventory of Tested Hardy plants here or catch up on part one of the Spring Showcase.