Mid-April to mid-May is a magic time in home gardens. A large central area of my own backyard landscape has been alive with bloom these past few weeks, with camellias, rhododendrons and a heavily perfumed Korean spice viburnum (viburnum carlesii) all flowering.
The high point of the spectacle is a Myako (Shogetsu) flowering cherry, long established in the garden. The tree鈥檚 unusual shape is low and almost flat-topped, with broadly spreading branches, loaded now with fluffy double white blossoms like flouncy little dancing skirts. Branches of my tree floating over a pathway give the feeling of being enclosed in a soft cloud of flowers.
The bloom is almost astonishingly heavy this spring. It鈥檚 almost as if last year鈥檚 drought, as it trashed many lawns, pushed certain flowering shrubs and trees into blooming overdrive.
Traditionally in my garden, the Myako tree is in full flowering around Mother鈥檚 Day. As with so many other plants in this changing climate, the bloom period began about three weeks early this year.
My long-established Myako, and a flowering plum tree on the opposite side of the back garden, have thrived over many years partly, I believe, because they听are located at garden edges where they are infrequently watered. Root rot often occurs in these trees when they are听growing within watering system zones.
The beauty of flowering cherry and plum trees is their expansive variety of shapes. There鈥檚 one to fit almost any landscape. For tight spots where a flowering tree is desired there are naturally columnar types. There are widely sweeping branch arrangements like my Myako and others with upright vase, broadly rounded, and weeping shapes. Directly opposite the front door of a neighbour鈥檚 house, a weeping flowering cherry tree puts on a spectacular show each spring.
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Re-invented rhododendron. A听source of considerable satisfaction, and part of the Myako back garden area, is a 鈥楿nique鈥� rhododendron that I sort of 鈥渞e-created.鈥� The plant had grown spindly, with miserly flowering, during the overshadowing reign of a gigantic conifer in the neighbour鈥檚 yard. When new neighbours took the tree out, it听was an exhilarating 鈥淟et there be light鈥� experience.
I acted cautiously in beginning the shrub鈥檚 rejuvenation, cutting just one of the three trunks down听close to the ground, in the spring right after the bloom period. By the following spring, several shoots were growing from the cut. Satisfied that the plant would renew itself, I cut the remaining trunks down. As new growth elongated, I thinned to keep the strongest. The result now is a nicely rounded, bushy rhododendron full of large, lightly pink-flushed trusses.
This cutting back works with most rhododendrons. Some very brave (or impatient) gardeners cut the entire plant down and fashion a fresh shrub from the re-growth. My preference is to do a trial cut first.
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GARDEN EVENTS
Rhododendron show and sale. The Nanaimo Rhododendron Society hosts a show and plant sale on Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Centennial Building at Beban Park. Admission is free.
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Gordon Head meeting. The Gordon Head Garden听Club meets Monday, 7 p.m. in Gordon Head United Church Hall, 4201 Tyndall Ave. Danielle Stevenson will speak about mushroom companions.
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VHS meeting. The Victoria Horticultural Society meets Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. Linda Gilkeson will talk about resilient gardens for a changing climate. At a workshop at 6:30, Linda will conduct a session on听managing garden pests and diseases.
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Le Coteau workshops. Le Coteau Nursery, 304听Walton Place, is offering the following free Saturday afternoon workshops from 12 to 2 p.m. Sign up at [email protected] or call 250-415-7020. Visit lecoteau.com for details.
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鈥� May 7: Culinary Herbs with chef Liam Quinn. Quinn will demonstrate the cook鈥檚 ideal herb garden and discuss flavour profiles for popular kitchen herbs. At a cost of $18 for materials, participants can build a mini herb garden.
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鈥� May 14: Healthcare with Healing Herbs. Learn about plants that enhance health.
