The Garden Club April 22, 2005

April 22, 2005

- Climbing Hydrangea - Save 20%
- Begin Your Spring Lawn Care Program
- Save 20% on Black Beauty Grass Seed
- Garden Q&A

A Climbing Hydrangea
with year-round beauty - a favorite of gardeners for generations.

Climbing Hydrangea (anomala 'Petiolaris')

A Vine with Year-Round Beauty and Interest
This week we are featuring a climbing hydrangea that is the aristocrat of vines, Hydrangea anomala 'Petiolaris'. Climbing Hydrangea, native to Japan, Sakhalin, Korea and Taiwan, was introduced to gardeners in the United States in 1865 and become a fast favorite. No other vine that we have found adds such beauty to the garden in all seasons. From May to July, dark green leaves and masses of creamy-white lacecap flowers cover the vines. The flowers can reach up to ten inches across! In autumn, the leaves will change to a butter yellow or a dark yellow, depending on growing conditions. Once the leaves have fallen, the thick cinnamon-colored bark is revealed, providing a tracery of beauty and interest throughout the winter months.

Patience Pays Off with a Permanent Addition to Your Garden
Climbing Hydrangea is a slow grower at first, spending its first few years in the ground, developing its root system. Patience pays off, once established, the Climbing Hydrangea is a vigorous grower, using self-clinging, aerial roots to climb up anything - large trees, a brick wall, over a fence or even up a barn wall. Lateral branches will grow up to three feet from the supporting structure, giving a rich, deep texture unlike any other vine. The effect that is created is striking and the hydrangea will become as permanent a fixture as the structure on which it is growing, and often more attractive.

Planting and Care
Climbing Hydrangea prefers a moist, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. It will eventually reach 40 feet tall with a spread of about 6 feet. I have seen it climb to the top of the north-facing wall of a 4 story stucco home - creating the most fabulous display, both when in bloom in summer and with the peeling dark brown bark in winter. In my experience in zone 6, climbing hydrangea usually will not climb a south-facing or west-facing wall in full, hot sun. It can be pruned after summer blooming, if needed.

Prefers a moist, well-drained soil.

Plant in an area that gets full sun to part shade (afternoon shade is required in the Deep South)

Hardy in zones 4-8.

Fertilize with Cottonseed Meal and Kelp Meal in early spring and late autumn.

Our Garden Worthy Certification means that your satisfaction is guaranteed.

Climbing Hydrangea

Spring Lawn Care Program From Carroll Gardens

Click here for the Carroll Gardens Lawn Care and Renovation guides to learn how to make your lawn beautiful with some simple maintenance.

Garden Club Frequently Asked Questions

Question: My Forsythias are not doing well. They didn't grow much last year and this year they had very few blooms. Now that the leaves are off of them I noticed little clumps that appear to be roots along the stems. Is this the problem? If so, how do I treat it?

Answer: Your Forsythia has Crown Gall for which there is no known cure. Crown Gall is a fungus and will spread from Forsythia to Forsythia by airborne spores. Plants that are lightly infected will sometimes recover if the affected branches are cut to the ground and destroyed. Watch this Forsythia and all others in your garden for reoccurrence. Heavily infested plants should be dug out and removed. I suggest you do not put another Forsythia in the same spot.

Question: Our Lenten Roses have bloomed beautifully this year and they now have new leaves. The old leaves are partly brown and crispy. Is it okay to cut them off now?

Answer: Absolutely. If you feel that these old leaves are harming your display, next year you can remove them as soon as the Lenten Roses or Hellebores start to bloom.

Incidentally, Lenten Rose (Hellebore) seedlings are just sprouting now. In many yards they are coming up so thickly that they appear to be young weed seedlings. So be careful weeding around your hellebores. These seedlings are easy to grow and in a couple of years will mature into flowering size plants, but they sometimes require thinning and transplanting at the end of the summer when that are a little larger.

Question: What is the best fertilizer to use for tomatoes? I limed last year. Do I need to lime again this year?

Answer: If you use Chesapeake Blue Crab Compost at the rate of one bag for every six tomato plants, you should not use any additional fertilizer; the Chesapeake Blue is sufficient. Chesapeake Blue can be tilled into your entire vegetable garden. There is no vegetable that will not benefit from Chesapeake Blue Crab Compost. With Chesapeake Blue, no additional liming is necessary.

Question: Is there something one can do to get rid of wasps and hornets that tend to nest in the Azaleas and Boxwood bushes?

Answer: Try spraying with Sevin in the evening when the bees are sleeping in their nests. Try to get the Sevin right onto the nest.

Question: I understand that Boxwoods are extremely deer-resistant and I was thinking of planting some around my house. But on your radio show I hear all of these callers with their "Boxwood problems". I heard you say there is no cure, just treatments. I am looking for something low-maintenance and trouble-free. Should I still go with the Boxwoods?

Answer: Almost all of the Boxwood problems you hear about on the radio show are associated with dwarf English Boxwoods. There are several hybrid Boxwoods that are as trouble-free as any plant in your garden. Some of them remain even more dwarf than the dwarf English Boxwood and others grow larger.

Two that I particularly like are True Spreader and Chicago Land Green. The former is especially low-growing. The latter is an unusually hardy, wind tolerant hybrid selected by the Chicago Botanical Garden.

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