Thunderhead Japanese Black Pine

'Thunderhead' Japanese Black Pine at U.T. Gardens in Knoxville

Thunderhead (Pinus thunbergiana) is a choice shrub variety of Japanese Black pine. This medium-sized evergreen shrub conifer grows 10 to 12 feet high and 12 to 15 feet wide (in 10 - 15 years). Its distinctive cottony terminal buds and dark green densely packed needles are architecturally beautiful in the fall-winter landscape.

“Billowy emerald clouds” best describes the needle foliage on Thunderhead pine.  Silvery white candles (shoots) grow 10 - 12 inches long in response to warm spring temps.  The shoots reach their full length by late May. Branches are rigid and its lower needles are mostly retained.

Desired location is in full to partial sun and in moderately acidic soils that are well-drained. Provide a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight. Plant in late winter to early fall from container or balled and burlapped (B&B) stock. Allow 1-2 years to become established after planting; afterwards drought and heat tolerant.

Feed annually in late winter with 10-10-10 or equivalent granular fertilizer. Pruning is rarely necessary except for desired shaping and sizing. Cut back new shoot growth (“candles”) around late May to early June before needles are fully expanded.

Disease and pest problems are rare when properly sited. Thunderhead is highly tolerant of wind, drought, and salt spray. Provide shelter from harsh winds to minimize off-color in winter. Availability is primarily from specialty conifer nurseries on-line or in the southeast region.

Thunderhead Japanese black pine is loved for its low maintenance and its dark evergreen foliage. This shrub pine conifer deserves a place in your landscape.

Planting Deodar Cedars

'Snow Sprite' deodar cedar

Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), aka Deodar Cedar, is indigenous from northern India, east to Nepal, and northward through Pakistan and Afghanistan (USDA hardiness zones (6b)7-10). In the U.S., this evergreen conifer grows 60-70 feet high and 40 feet wide in 50 years. It offers year-round interest by way of its lovely pyramidal form and pendulous branching habit.


Deodar cedar is an excellent specimen tree. You may opt to mass several for privacy screening or a windbreak around your property. Create a unique focal point by clustering 3-5 trees together. Plant these long--lived evergreens for multi-generations to enjoy.


Site selection is most important. Deodars prefer mostly sunny sites and set in moist, well-drained soils. Two-year established trees are drought tolerant. Relatively free from pest and disease troubles, once planted, deodars will provide maintenance-free beauty.


Elegant weeping branches dip downward to the ground and then sweep upward. The older 2- and 3- year old needles drop in spring, just as new buds emerge to provide a soft green look. Male trees produce catkins that disperse copious amounts of pollen in early spring. Female trees develop 3-5 inch egg-shaped cones.


Weatherwise, deodars earn a reputation as finicky trees in the mid-South (Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia). Young trees are more susceptible to cold than older stock. In a good soil young trees and shrubs grow off quickly, often achieving two feet of growth a year. If the tops of trees die back, winter freeze injury may be the problem.

'Glacier Blue' at Univ. of Tennessee Gardens

Winter hardy tree forms include ‘Shalimar’, a selection made in the Kashmiri region of India and Pakistan. Many shrub forms are also available such as:
'Feelin' Blue' - low spreading, mounding, space saving form; long, thick bluish tinted needles that retain their color into late summer; grows 1 to 2 feet tall in 10 years. 'Glacier Blue' -moderate growing shrub form with long blue-green foliage that grows 8-10 feet tall within 20 years.

Highly Rated Camellias Growing In Zone 6 Gardens

'April Tryst' camellia

You can now grow camellias in warm winter areas of the middle Atlantic States (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) as well as the mid-South (Zones 6 and 7).  Depending on variety, camellias bloom in shades of white, pink, red, and some speckled and striped kinds. 

In northern locales where winters go down to 0 - 10 degrees F,  planting time starts from spring to early September to allow the root systems to grow deeply before cold weather arrives in December.

Sheltered the new camellias from direct sunlight and high wind. A site should have good soil drainage and has been generously amended with organic matter. Fertilize with a water soluble acidic fertilizer like Miracle-Gro or Hollytone according to package directions. Camellias grow best in partial shade — they do not like late afternoon summer sun.

'Snow Flurry'

Do not overwater camellias. A planting site under tall trees or on the north or west side of a building is ideal. Plants grown in full sun often develop leaf scorch.

Camellias are relatively deer-resistant. Deer and other garden nuisances are not known to bother camellias.
Some favorites in my East Tennessee Garden (zone 6-b) are:

‘April Dawn’ grows to about 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide with pale pink petals with dark pink streaks!

‘Artic Rose’ is double red floral beauty. This compact variety only grows to 6 feet tall and wide.

‘Snow Flurry’ (C. oleifera)  6 – 8 feet tall with 3-1/2 inch white blooms at an early age.

‘Autumn Pink Icicle’ (C. oleifera) - 5-6 feet upright shrub; large, double, rose-pink blooms.

‘Winter’s Snowman’ - 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide shrub; semi-double white flowers in fall.

‘Pink Icicle’ – 8 - 10 feet tall shrub; large 4-1/2 inch shell pink semi-double blooms in March/April

'April Remembered' - large cream to pink shaded semi-double flowers on a fast growing plant.

'April Rose' - Rose red formal double flowers on a compact.

'April Tryst' - Red, anemone form flowers on a well formed plant with medium growth.

‘Korean Fire’ (C. japonica) - vigorous 12-15 feet tall and 6-8 feet wide, blooming in March - early May; 3-5 inch wide deep red, single blooms /contrasting golden stamens in center.

Re-Invigor Your August Garden

'Knockout Pink' rebloom in early September

When you reach the month of August, your garden is either flourishing or you're thinking "better luck next year" or on the phone to a paving company. 
Here are some quick-step maintenance suggestions:
·         Keep container plants watered – remember that other than occasional August rains, you are their only resource for moisture.
·         Fertilize all container plants and perennials in your garden.  Frequent watering may be a must unless summer rainfall has been plentiful.
·         Add a Water Soluble Fertilizer products as Miracle Gro™, Jack's™, or Espoma™ Slow Release.
·         Prune back hybrid tea and shrub roses to spur plentiful re-blooms in September and October.
·         Continue to pull weeds. Don't allow them get ahead and go to seed.
·         Deadhead (prune back) annuals and perennials so they'll look better and to stimulate new blooms. Your lawn mower, set at 5-inch cutting height, makes the work faster and simpler.
·         Prune/remove dead limbs and branches on shrubs and smaller trees.
·         Scout these late summer pests - aphids, white flies, spider mites on all landscape plants. A number of safe organic pesticides or a coarse spray of water from a garden hose may take care of most pests.
·         If summer annuals have peaked and dying off from diseases or insect pests, head to your local garden center for fall blooming mums, asters, toad lilies, anemones, et.al.
·         Plant fresh containers or a garden bed of petunias, calibrachoas, marigolds, and/or globe amaranths (Gomphrena) that should bloom non-stop to first hard frost.

Calibrachoa in container

July Blooming Japanese Pagoda Tree

Japanese Pagoda tree (Styphnolobium japonicum), formerly Sophora japonica, is medium-sized tree that grows to 50 feet high, but seeing one 75 feet is not unusual in the southeastern U.S. Pagoda tree is native to eastern Asia (USDA hardiness zones 4 –8) where it is also called “Scholar tree”.

Japanese Pagoda Tree

What really makes pagoda tree strikingly different is its flowering time in July-August, when few landscape trees are blooming. Its pea-like, creamy-white flowers are showy, wisteria-like, and fragrant. The 12-inch long flower clusters droop off the branch tips. Fall color is rated average, leaves turning yellow.

In the early days of autumn, 3 to 8 inches long green fruits, best described as string of pearls, form and persist way into winter. Birds don’t are not attracted to the berries; they turn black, shrivel, and linger through winter. By spring the tree has shed most of the twiggy fruit rachises.


Pagoda tree grows in full to partial sun (6-hours minimum) and in a moist well-drained, slightly acidic soil. Pagoda tree tolerates urban drought, air pollution, and moderate soil salinity around coastal beach areas. The tree is rarely troubled by serious disease or insect problems.


Annual growth rate ranges from 18 to 24 inches. Summer foliage is comprised of 8-10 inch long, pinnately compound leaflets numbering 7 to 17. In some years its golden fall color can be spectacular.


Some cultivars, including weeping and upright (columnar) forms, are available. ‘Regent’ is the most popular cultivar, high valued as a vigorous grower and lustrous green foliage.

Seedless (Sterile) Blooming Rose Of Sharon Shrubs

'Lavender Chiffon' althea

Rose of Sharon, aka shrub althea, (Hibiscus syriacus) is a woody hibiscus shrub that is hardy in temperate northern areas of the U.S. (USDA hardiness zones 5-9). This summer flowering shrub is exceptionally easy to grow. 

At one time,  it was a great pass-along shrub that fell out of favor. However, old fashioned varieties frequently reseeded around the garden. New cultivars strut variegated foliage, double flowers, and infertile (sterile) blooms that produce little or no seed. They are available in a wide range of flower colors including pink, purple, blue, white, and almost red. 

Blooms may be single, semi-double, and double and range in size from 2-5 inches across. They grow in average to good garden soils with moderate drainage. For maximum flowering, site plants where they receive 6 or more hours of direct sun and feed annually with a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote™ or Nutricote™. Blooms attract numerous bees and butterflies. Japanese beetles may damage the flowers for a few weeks in early summer, but shrubs rapidly recover.

After their first year, Rose of Sharons are highly drought tolerant. Shrubs respond well to annual pruning and to severe “rejuvenating” by pruning to a few inches above the ground.

Some gardeners opt to grow them as perennials by cutting the plant back every year or two. In late spring the “shortened” plant(s) emerge as multi-stems, grow a 2-3 feet tall, and flower.

Alternative technique: thin out emerging growth to 1, 3 or 5 main shoots to train into a small patio tree.

Utilize Rose of Sharon as a specimen shrub or small tree, as a shrub border, or set into a large container. Best of the sterile forms of Rose of Sharon (althea):

Chiffon® series feature anemone-like double blooms for low seed set and long-blooming; color choices: Lavender (purple), Blue, and White; 8-12 feet x 6-10 feet wide.

Sugar Tip® - pure pink double blooms (no seed) and variegated semi-double creamy-white blooms/ bluish-green foliage; 8-12 feet x 6-8 feet.

Purple Pillar® - slender columnar growth habit (16 feet tall x 3 feet wide), 4-inch vibrant purple single to semi-double flowers with red centers; ideal fit for small urban gardens.

Rodgersia - Bold Look In A Shady Garden

Rodgersia

Rodgersia (two forms) is an outstanding summer flowering perennial grown for its broad foliage and showy flowers. Rodgersia has one key requirement: consistent soil moisture through the spring and summer months. Don’t attempt to grow this bold perennial unless its water needs is totally satisfied. Plants prefer wet, boggy feet (roots).

Rodgersias (Rodgersia pinnata) sport bold pinnately compound leaves that emerge with a dark bronze tint. Leaves measure more than a foot wide and 3-4 foot high perennial. In early summer, white bloom panicles rise 2 to 3 feet above the foliage and bloom over 3 to 4 weeks. 

A secondary species, Chestnut-leaved Rodgersia (R. aesculifolia), is another clump form with bold green foliage and bears creamy-white flowers in mid-summer (USDA hardiness zones 5 to 8).

Varieties of rodgersia: 'Chocolate Wing' -- cherry blossom pink and cream blooms); ‘Alba’- white flowers and dark green leaves/bronze veining.

Rodgersia prosper in partial day sun tor light shade all day. Site them nearby water features like within the splash-zone of a waterfall. They grow exceptionally well along woodland creeks.

When properly sited, the foliage remains blemish-free all season long. Disease and pest problems are rare if growing conditions are ideal. Deer and rabbits rarely trouble them

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Planting in containers: plant a single crown into a 3 to 5 gallon size container filled with humus-rich potting soil. To restrict most water loss, line the bottom of the container with plastic shopping bags. This reduces irrigation needs that saves on your monthly water bill.