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STAYCATIONS : CREATING A SANCTUARY

5/31/2025

When we find it necessary to stay and vacation at home, we can also create landscape features which make our home a place to enjoy in new ways, more than just landscape planting. Adding walks, benches, and patios can provide a beautiful, peaceful retreat, a reading area, or just an area to experience the solitude of nature. Properly landscaped areas can not only function as living space but also can provide added solitude and enjoyment. Choosing the right combination of plants – considering types of flowers, color, time of flowering, texture of leaves, and the use of companion plants -is an important part of your décor. Plants continue to appeal to the eye throughout the year and not just vacation time. A proper mixture of plants can accent your total landscaping through each season. Some plants can bring nature to you, worth fruits, flowers, stems, and roots that help draw wild birds and animals. Trees can provide shade to cool your home; windbreaks with evergreens can protect the intrusion of wind and create a courtyard to keep your area secluded. They also serve to insulate your house from the winter cold and bring down the cost of heating.

Dorian

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FLOWERING CRAB APPLES

5/13/2025

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Flowering crab apple trees are still some of the most beautiful spring flowering trees. Their flower color can be white, light pink, pink to red, and have single or double flowers. They can be naturally dwarf size or dwarfed by grafting, and some are weeping. They can grow from 4 foot to 30 foot. An ornamental flowering crab is defined by the size of the fruit. They are considered ornamental if the fruit is less than ½ inch in diameter. Although, whether a crab apple tree or apple tree is considered ornamental, can be defined by “the eye of the beholder”. Trees that produce fruit that are over ½ inch in diameter and up to approximately 2 inches may be used for spiced crab apples or crab apple jam. ’Dolgo’ produces a small apple often used in crab apple fruit processing.’ Dolgo’ flowers are also intensely fragrant! Remember crab apples are apple trees with just smaller fruit. Like trees with larger apples, most are very hardy in our Northern Michigan climate.

Mature growing size, form, and flowering color are probably the main characteristics when choosing a flowering crab for your landscape. And like apple trees, they prefer a sunny location. Some of the flowering crabs have fruit that persists- that means the fruit stays on the trees well into the winter months. This gives the birds a chance to devour the fruit throughout a longer period of time. With fruit color from yellow, orange blush to red, they stand out in the winter months after losing their leaves in the Fall. At this time ‘Spring Snow’ is the only variety that I know of that flowers (white) and does not produce fruit.

Some of the varieties that we typically carry are Sargent Flowering Crab (white flower), Sargentina (grafted Sargent w/ white flowers), Red Jewell Flowering Crab (white flower),) and Prairie Fire Flowering Crab (bright pink), Coral Burst (red), and Thunderchild (rose red flowers w/ purple leaves).

Dorian

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ARBORVITAE

5/7/2025

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Upright Arborvitae

There are several varieties of Arborvitae in the nursery trade. These trees narrow leaf evergreens and are related to our native White Cedar. The Arborvitae most readily available in Garden Center are Dark Green
(Thuja occidentalis ‘nigra’), Emerald (Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’). and Green Giant. These varieties are readily available and are therefore less expensive at the consumer. Dark Green can grow 20+ feet tall and 4+feet wide with dark green foliage and Emeralds grow 10-15 feet and 3+feet wide with lighter green foliage. Dark Green can withstand heavy pruning/shearing and kept to a small size four’ to five’ tall. Pruning also helps keep them from” opening up” as they grow older. Unlike the Native White Cedar that grows in swampy areas, they do not respond well to excessive watering. When planting to create a solid hedge, we suggest planning Emerald Arborvitae 2 ½ to3 feet apart and Dark Greens 4 to 4 ½ feet apart. Arborvitae can create a relatively narrow evergreen screen. They are often planted on or next to property lines for years around privacy-especially useful when space is an issue.

If you desire a wider growing Arborvitae there is Techny Arborvitae (also called Mission Arborvitae). Techny has dark green foliage and will grow 12+ feet tall and 8 feet wide, we suggest planting them 6 feet apart. They will eventually grow to a solid evergreen screen. Note, too, that Arborvitae can be effective when planted singularly or in groups. Arborvitae respond well to use of organic fertilizer like Morganite or Cow Manure.

Green Giant Arborvitae (Thuja plicata ‘green giant’) is a rapid grower and is said to be dear resistant. Plant them five or more feet apart to create a screen. Foliage is little coarser than Dark Green. It needs extra pruning because of its rapid growth.

We typically carry and grow Dark Green, Emerald, Techny and Green Giant Arborvitae. At this time we carry a limited number of dwarf Techny arborvitae ‘Bailjohn’ that matures around 6’ tall. They require little pruning.

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STAYCATIONS : CREATING A SANCTUARY

FLOWERING CRAB APPLES

ARBORVITAE

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