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White and woody

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This palette of white-blooming trees and shrubs provides strong design options White blooming plants can provide balance in the garden or landscape, and landscape designers’ plans. “I do find clients who have an approach of a modern or more formalistic garden, that tend to go for white [blooming plants],” said Roxy Olsson, a landscape designer […]

Plants for a better planet

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Great Plant Picks program highlights selections that perform consistently in the Pacific Northwest Over the last several years, many areas around the country have experienced prolonged droughts, excessively hot temperatures, and a noticeable decline in the population of pollinators. No one can deny that planting to increase insect diversity and lower water use is a […]

Visions of white

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These white-blooming plants brighten up landscapes Part 1 of 2: This month: Perennials, groundcovers, bulbs, vines, edibles and Hydrangeas. June: Woody trees and shrubs. Blooms come in all variations of color and hue, but there is a special place for white blooms in a garden or landscape. “White goes with everything,” said Justin Hancock, senior director […]

The next genera(tion)

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Breeders diligently pursue what they hope will strike the market’s fancy and become a hot seller When the perennial craze hit the Northwest 40 years ago, some breeders were front and center with plants to satisfy the gardeners who couldn’t wait to create an English garden in their backyard. The passion for blowsy borders has […]

Beauty from the ground up

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These bulbs offer great color and fragrance with disease resistance, and some are native to boot When gardeners, landscapers and restoration managers look to buy bulbs, they’re finding exceptional and versatile material that meets their design goals and gardening aspirations. Breeders and growers are providing an outstanding selection of commercial bulbs, including tulips, daffodils, corms, […]

Exciting, unusual and underused shrubs

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Trees frame the garden, perennials clothe it, but shrubs give it the bones that bring everything together. Yet so many of these essential plants never make it into the landscape. Shrubs like the exquisite Camellia × williamsii ‘Night Rider’ from New Zealand with its deep maroon red flowers and brilliant, reddish-purple new growth or vibrant, […]

Green from the ground up

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  Whether the customers are landscapers or retailers, the most sought-after characteristics in ground cover plants for pathways and walkways are the same. People want low-growing, low-maintenance, drought-tolerant, evergreen, flowering, noninvasive, deer-tolerant, durable and — gaining in popularity — rabbit-resistant plants. And it would be nice if they could also help with the dishes! Customers […]

Satisfying in small spaces

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Trees, conifers and weepers that fit the bill with beauty, versatility and easy maintenance Smaller yards haven’t changed homeowners’ need for shade or beauty. But, they have changed what will fit into a yard, which has changed the market and by extension, growers’ business focus. We asked growers to share favorite selections of small trees, […]

Digging in to edibles

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Ornamental edibles continue to change the rules of landscape design The back-to-the-land movement in the 1970s prompted young people to move in droves to rural settings to try their hand at modern homesteading- — growing their own food, living sustainably and mastering animal husbandry. Decades later, the echoes of that movement were heard in urban […]