Plants of the Week for May 4th 2018
Morning Lilac Itoh Peony is an easy care plant that offers both cool flowers and foliage. The purple pink flowers emerge in early May. They reach about 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. Unlike garden peonies, they don't need to be caged and hold up to wind very well. I have one in my yard and will be acquiring more colors of the Itoh Peonies. After they are done blooming, trim out the spent flowers and leave the beautiful foliage. Mix with roses, daylilies, salvias and other sun loving shrubs that flower at a different season.
Summer Snowflake Viburnum is a lacecap reblooming viburnum that starts up now and flowers into summer. It likes full to partial sun and grows 6 to 8 feet tall and 8 to 10 feet wide. Use as a backdrop to a perennial garden. Handles our area very well.
Tinkerbelle Lilac is korean hybrid type of lilac that are very fragrant light pink flowers in late April and early May. They reach about 5 to 6 feet tall and wide. They enjoy full to partial sun. Our local soils and winters are what lilacs love for they prefer alkaline soils and need a reasonable amount of cold hours in order to bloom heavier. Also these types of lilacs are not as bad at suckering as the common or french lilacs.