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Gray Barn Green Thumb Guide
Favorite Grape Varieties
Almost all grapes are self-fruitful and do not require pollination from another variety to bear fruit. The following grapes are adapted for the Pacific Northwest climate, having a moderate summer heat requirement and hardiness for our zone 8.
Buffalo Seeded black fruit with spicy flavor. Excellent mid-season concord-type grape. Productive and good for table, juice or wine. Can produce a second crop if subjected to an early frost.
Canadice Small, red, seedless, early maturing, with sweet slightly foxy flavor.
Himrod Seedless white fruit with spicy flavor. Good for fresh eating. Very vigorous, suited to arbors. Hardy to -15˚F.
Lakemont Seedless white fruit with mild flavor. Very productive. Fine table grape, keeps well in cold storage.
Interlaken Firm seedless green or yellow grape with fruity flavor. Excellent for fresh eating. Best for raisins in cool summer areas. Ripens a week earlier than Himrod. Extremely vigorous vine. One of few that matures in the coolest areas of Pacific Northwest.
Vanessa Firm, seedless red grape with fruity flavor. Resists cracking. Good replacement for European variety ‘Flame’ in cool summer areas. Use for fresh eating or raisins.
Planting
Grapes need full sun and well-drained soil. A Southern or Western exposure is best. Provide a sturdy arbor, trellis or fence to support the heavy vines, and plant about 1 ½ feet from the support. Space grapevines 8-10 feet apart. Fertilize annually in the spring, but beware of giving too much nitrogen which may cause the plant to be overly vegetative at the expense of fruit production.
Harvesting
Grapes change color long before they are fully mature, so it’s possible to pick them before they have reached their peak in flavor, size, and sweetness. For best fruit, taste the grapes first to see if they are ripe. If they aren’t, wait for optimum quality to develop. Grapes will not improve in quality once they are harvested.
Pruning and Training Hardy Varieties (From the University of Minnesota Dept. of Horticulture)
Prune vines when they are dormant, removing about 90% of the wood that grew the previous season. Although there are several systems for training grapes, the four-arm Kniffen system is the most simple for varieties that do not require winter protection. In this system, two horizontal wires are stretched between posts to support the vine. The bottom wire is 36 inches and the top wire is 60 inches above the ground. The young vine is tied to a stake and, as it grows, to the two wires. This ensures a straight trunk for the mature vine.
Begin training after the vine reaches the first wire. Remove all shoots between the wires and cut back shoots along the lower wire to two buds. The mature vine has four to six canes (each with five to twelve buds) and four to six renewal spurs (each with two buds).
When pruning, keep in mind that fruit is produced on the current season’s growth, that in turn grows from last season’s wood. Heavy pruning provides the best fruit. Light pruning result in large yields of poor-quality fruit; very heavy pruning produces too much vegetative growth and very little or no fruit. Table, juice, and jelly varieties can have 40 to 60 buds per vine, but wine varieties should have only 20 to 30 buds per vine after pruning.
Resources
Washington State Extension http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/cepublications/eb0775/eb0775.html
The Berry Growers Companion by Barbara Bowling, 2005
The Western Garden Book of Edibles, Sunset Publishing, 2010
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Gray Barn Green Thumb Guide
Hydrangea Descriptions
Bigleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) is a rounded shrub with either mop-head or lacecap flowers. Flower color depends on soil type– blue in acid soil and pink in high pH soils. It grows well in sun or shade in moist, organic-laden well-drained soil. Plants require abundant moisture and grow 3-6 feet high. Popular varieties are ‘Endless Summer’ with a longer bloom period, ‘Pia’ a pink dwarf shrub and ‘Nikko Blue’ with deep blue flowers. With over 500 cultivars, there are many to choose from.
PeeGee Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) is a large shrub, often trained as a small tree. Cone-shaped flowers open white in Summer and persist into the fall. Flowers of ‘Vanilla Strawberry’ change from creamy white to a beautiful pink shade. ‘Limelight’ flowers open a bright green and slowly change to a deep pink.
Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris) forms aerial roots and can cover walls and fences. Somewhat slow to establish, it is long lived and usually trouble free. It tolerates shade or sun and is adaptable to a variety of soils. White flowers open in June and July, covering this climber with lacy blossoms.
Smooth Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) has large white flowers that bloom in June on a loosely upright shrub. ‘Annabelle’ blooms can be up to 12” in diameter and ‘Invincible Spirit’ sports a pink flower.
Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) grows 5-6 feet high and wide and has lobed leaves that resemble those of an oak tree. These turn a rich burgundy in the fall before they drop. The long panicles of flowers bloom white during the summer. This handsome, all-season plant grows in full sun to partial shade in moist well-drained soil.
Moisture and Hardiness
Hydrangeas need water during our dry summers. They will begin to wilt during hot temperatures or drought, but recover quickly when given water. Late spring frosts can damage new growth. As a consequence, plants will produce less flowers.
Pruning
Blooms on old wood. This means that these plants grow a stem in the spring and bloom on that stem the following spring. If you cut those stems off, there will be no flowers. Bigleaf Hydrangea and Oakleaf Hydrangea both bloom on old wood and consequently do not respond well to heavy pruning. To rejuvenate this type of hydrangea, first take out the dead wood (be careful, hydrangea canes often look dead when they are not—living canes will have some green inside). Next take out a few of the crossing canes, especially those that are too crowded in the center. Cut off canes lying on the ground or touching the house. Cut these canes all the way to the ground. Deadhead flowers in fall or spring.
Blooms on new wood. These plants bloom on the current season’s growth, so they generally start blooming later than those that bloom on old wood. If you are unsure what type of hydrangea you have, observe the bloom time and let the plant tell you how to prune it. If it blooms early to mid-summer, prune lightly. For late bloomers, it’s okay to cut them way back. The PeeGee Hydrangea and the Smooth Hydrangea both bloom on new wood and are consequently late bloomers. They respond remarkably well to annual pruning, although they do not require it. In late winter, cut the stems back to two or three buds, or 18 to 24” from the ground, similar to a rose bush. This will encourage larger flower size.
Resources
Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs by Michael Dirr, 2011
Encyclopedia of Hydrangeas by C.J. Van Gelderen and D.M. Van Gelderen, 2004
Guide to Pruning by Cass Turnbull, 2004
Hydrangeas for American Gardens by Michael Dirr, 2004
Hydrangeas: A Gardener’s Guide by Toni Lawson-Hall and Brian Rothera, 2005
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Hebe topiaria is a well-groomed shrub with a satisfying symmetrical shape. It originated in New Zealand, which has over 100 Hebe species. It’s growth and appearance make it seem like a trimmed topiary plant, but in this case it’s all natural. The leaf colors are in cool blues and greens. At one time this plant was named Veronica topiaria. I found this interesting tidbit from the blog Catalogue of Organisms.
“During the 1800s and early 1900s, most of those New Zealand (and a few South American) species that would later become recognised as hebes were included in the genus Veronica, a genus originally established for an assortment of temperate Northern Hemisphere taxa. The genus name Hebe (after the Greek goddess of youth…) was originally established in 1789, but didn’t really enter use until the 1920s (Albach et al., 2004). Even after the botanical community recognised the distinctiveness of Hebe, horticulturists still tended for some time to regard the hebes as Veronica (Metcalf, 2006). Over time, everyone seems to have adjusted to the new view, and some groups of ’Hebe’ species were even committed to further segregate genera - Parahebe,Chionohebe and (ha ha) Hebejeebie.”
Hebe topiaria is an evergreen shrub that reaches 3-4 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide in zones 7-9. It needs well-drained soil and full sun to grow the best. Flowers are white, but they occur infrequently on this Hebe. Hebes with large leaves and showy flowers are the most tender to cold, while those with small leaves and white flowers are the most hardy. Hebes are intolerant to excessive hot or cold weather and therefore the Pacific Northwest is one of the best places in the United States to grow them. The key to growing tender cultivars is to place them in a protected spot near a house, fence or other plants. For an in-depth discussion on Hebe hardiness, visit this site: Oregon State University Hebe Test. Put the right plant in the right place and you will have horticultural success!
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Hebe topiaria
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Formerly Veronica, now Hebe
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Frosty leaves in December
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Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is a plant with a promise. A promise that spring will come and flowers will bloom. A promise that there is a sun behind the cloudy winter skies. A promise of color in the December drizzle. Dawn viburnum throws out it’s flowers in the winter, before the veined deciduous leaves appear. Green all summer, the leaves turn a bronzy red in autumn. Blossom buds begin dark pink and the fragrant flowers open in clusters of light pink, turning to white on the bare stem. This viburnum continues to bloom for months. It grows in USDA zones 7-8 and reaches 8-10 feet high and 6-8 feet wide, a good sized shrub. ’Dawn’ grows in full to partial sun and prefers moist, well-drained soil. Winter bloomers, like Dawn viburnum and witchhazel, sarcococca and camellia are good to incorporate into any garden, giving that extra zing to a dormant landscape. Dawn viburnum also was chosen as part of the Great Plant Picks program, a list of exceptional plants for the Pacific Northwest.
 Dawn Viburnum Blooming in December  Flower buds on Dawn Viburnum Written by Elaine Sawyer December 18, 2011
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 Caramel Heucheras come in a HUGE variety of colors, as shown below. They add a soft, fluffy texture to garden borders and pots. Heucheras are fantastic container plants. We have a container contest here at the nursery each May. The staff all know which pot is mine because of my consistent use of Heucheras! They work so well in containers because of how their texture can soften the edge of a pot. And because some are reliable evergreen! From my experience, the varieties Crimson Curl, Obsidian, Marmalade and Frosted Violet have performed the best through the winter months. I am sure others do well also, but these are the ones I can vouch for.
So now that you have the Heuchera lowdown, I’ll tell you about my favorite, Obsidian. The color of it is really its selling point. Obsidian has rich, velvety, purple leaves. They are softly lobed and look fantastic with pink, violet and yellow flowers and plants. The plant tag says ten inches tall and 16 inches wide. From my Obsidian experience, that sounds about right. And lastly, since we are telling all the dirt about plants, good and bad, I have to tell what I see as a negative. After a handful of years, 4-5 in my garden and pots, Heucheras can get a bit ratty looking. There are two options that can happen in my garden. One, in the words of Cass Turnbull, a rad reno. AKA, a radical renovation. Pull out all the ugly leaves and add some potting soil or compost around the base of the plant. Pulling out all the ugly leaves might be 95% of them. This is the radical part. This is usually where you decide if you are going to progress to option two. Option two, it is just too ugly and its time for an extraction and a new plant! Despite this, I will continue to use them as often as I do and recommend them. Heucheras are great plants that contribute greatly to my garden and pots. A must have regardless of the potential rattiness. But for gardeners, a hole in a pot or the beds isn’t really a bad thing. Its just an excuse to go to the nursery!
 Obsidian
 Crimson Curls
 Lime Marmalade
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Helleborus Rosemary isn’t your typical hellebore. Say you’re at a holiday party and everyone has on pretty dresses. All the dresses are pretty, but there is one that has a bit more to it. That would be Rosemary. She has bigger flowers, more flowers and they last for months. Yes, months. My plant started blooming in December last year and still had flowers on it, that looked good, till March! I find that amount of bloom time, for that time of year to be amazing!
Hellebores are shade to part sun loving plants that bloom in winter. They are evergreen and provide interest when much of the garden is asleep for the winter. Rosemary has big pink flowers that fill the inside of the plant. If you want to see the blooms even better, you can trim off some of the leaves to open the plant up more. This won’t harm the plant, since you’ll want to trim up most of the leaves anyways in the spring to allow the new fresh foliage to emerge. Rosemary’s plant tag says she will be a foot tall by a foot and half wide. I can tell you now, the tag lies! My plant is easitly two feet wide and a foot tall. So maybe anticipate a bit more room than the plant tag says. Rosemary would be pretty in the ground or in a pot by the front door so you can enjoy her blooms close up. Where ever you plant her, make sure its someplace you pass often in the winter months because you won’t want to miss her show!
Oh! PS- Rosemary is a deer resistant plant! Don’t you want her even more now?!
 Rosemary has HUGE pink flowers! Share on Facebook
Native to Southeast Asia, the camellia comes in countless shapes and sizes. It ranges in size between a few feet to over fifty feet. It can be compact, rounded, tall, spreading, tiered or low growing, depending on species. Flower color ranges from pure white to clear red and many shades of pink, often with bright yellow stamens showing. The blossoms can have single, semi-double or double petal arrangements. The leaves are a rich, glossy green that stand out in the winter landscape. This plant grows best in acidic soil with a good supply of water, especially during the late summer when it’s often dry and flower buds are in the process of forming. Most people don’t realize that Camellias are their cupboards. The classic tea is made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis.
Two of the common species are sasanqua and japonica, but what’s the difference? Camellia sasanqua grows 6 to 10 feet tall and blooms in the fall/winter. It grows best in semi-shade, but will tolerate full sun more than the spring blooming japonica. The leaves are usually two inches long, smaller and narrower than japonica and the new twigs are fuzzy, not smooth like japonica. Flowers are short lived (less than a week) before petals drop, but many enjoy the colorful carpet of petals that forms around the base of the shrub. Sasanquas grow best in climates similar to their native habitat with hot summers and mild winters, like the southern United States. They will tolerate our cold winters, but may have leaf damage or leaf drop and problems with flower bud formation. They can easily be grown in containers, or espaliered against a wall or fence.
Camellia japonica is a bigger plant with larger leaves, reaching 8 to 15 feet. It blooms later, during the winter/spring. The best time to prune camellias is after they flower each year, just before the plants starts growing in earnest for the season. Use a fertilizer for acid loving shrubs during this time of new growth to supply nutrients. Both types of camellias have a long bloom period, showing color for most of the season. Enjoy some winter flowers this year and try a camellia!
Written by Elaine Sawyer December 8, 2011
Resources: Camellias, The Complete Guide to their Cultivation and Use by Jennifer Trehane, 1998.
 Camellia sasanqua 'setsugekka'  Camellia japonica Share on Facebook
What makes a fir a fir? Fir the birds? Fir everything there is a season? Fir whom the bell tolls? Fir ever and a day? This tree has been around fir ever. The genus Abies, which is Latin for Silver Fir, is the group that contains the true firs. Many of them are native to the Pacific Northwest and are hardy, evergreen trees. The needles are 1-1 1/2 inches long and flat, not sharp and pokey like some spruces. Another distinguishing feature are the two bright bluish-white stripes that run lengthwise along the underside of most fir needles. Cones grow upright and break apart while still on the tree. One source claims that firs are so familiar in our natural setting that their garden potential is often overlooked. Possibly. Here is a look at some of the fir trees that we commonly have at the Gray Barn Nursery.
Noble Fir (Abies procera) The Noble Fir is often used as a Christmas tree and is very fragrant. It’s an ornamental tree and well suited for the garden, not growing too quickly. This tree will not tolerate shade, especially when young, and some varieties have a natural blue coloration. The noble fir is the largest of all the world’s Firs. Some are over 300 feet tall!
Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) More than any other native conifer, this tree has become a popular landscape addition, and is often used as a specimen tree. It matures at 30 to 50 feet and has a narrow, conical shape. The foliage is stiffly upturned and is a bluish, gray green color. The cones are dark purple and age to a resinous brown.
Grand Fir (Abies grandis) This fir has lustrous, flat needles that grow in two distinct rows that spread horizontally. It is a common understory tree below the Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine and Western Larch. Therefore it is shade tolerant, but not as much as the Western Hemlock, Western Red Cedar or Coast Redwood. It’s fast growing, but relatively short-lived (short-lived in tree time is less than 300 years!).
Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri) This fir comes from the mountainous region of the Eastern United States. The needles are spirally arranged on the branches and have silvery white stripes underneath. This tree has been used as the official Christmas tree of the President of the United States more than any other tree. It is a fairly small tree, growing slowly up 80 feet high. Fraser fir grows best in a cool, moist climate, in well-drained acidic soil in full sun.
Nordmann Fir (Abies nordmanniana) This tree is from Europe—Turkey, Russia, Armenia. Two subspecies are the Turkish Fir and Caucasian Fir. It has dark green rounded needles and dense foliage, growing up to 60 feet high. The Nordmann Fir needles have no significant scent and are directed forward. It grows best in full sun, is adaptable to varying soil types and has a fast growth rate.
Horstmann’s Silberlocke Fir (Abies koreana) This slow growing fir only reaches 10 feet tall in ten years, with an ultimate height of 20 feet. The striking feature on this tree are the upward curved green needles which reveal the bright silvery-white underneath, giving the foliage continual contrast and illumination. Cones are a steely blue color. This plant was discovered in Germany by Gunter Horstmann.
Cork Fir (Abies lasiocarpa ‘arizonica’) This fir is named for it’s thick, creamy white bark that resembles cork. It has blue needles and can be used as a substitute for Colorado Blue Spruce. Grows best in sun, but will take part shade. Will grow to 15 feet in ten years with a maximum of 40 feet, forming a narrow pyramid.
Douglas Fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii) This one is not really a fir and it’s name means ‘false hemlock’! Where does it belong? With the conifers! Douglas Fir has been an important lumber tree in the Pacific Northwest, yet it has persisted in the suburbs as urbanization has spread. Look around if you live in the PNW and you’ll immediately see one or two….twenty or thirty….it’s just part of the landscape. The best distinguishing feature is the cone which has many three pronged protruding bracts over the surface. The foliage is a dull, lusterless green and the needles are flat or bottlebrush. Seedlings establish easily in a sunny spot and the tree is fast growing, averaging 75 to 125 feet tall at maturity. Sadly, the largest Douglas Firs are gone, cut down by loggers. The groves at Quinault Lake in the Olympics are one of the few old growth forests that remain. The Mineral Tree Southwest of Mt. Rainier was the largest Douglas Fir ever recorded….393 feet! It fell in 1930 and was over 1000 years old. Trees are cool.
Disclaimer…yes, I know Douglas Fir is not a ‘true’ fir, but it needed some friends today, so let’s include it. Maybe it will have it’s very own post someday.
Resources:
Fir Trees by Heiderose and Andreas FIscher-Nagel 1989
Gardening With Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest by Kruckeberg 1996
Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast by Van Pelt 2001
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and Mackinnon 2004
Written by Elaine Sawyer, November 30, 2011
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Nordmann Fir
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Noble Fir
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Horstmann’s Silberlocke Fir
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Grand Fir
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Subalpine Fir
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Fraser Fir
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Douglas Fir
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Cork Fir
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Plants growing on other plants. If you could get closer to your source of energy, why not? The Licorice Fern, or Polypodium glycyrrhiza, is a small to medium sized evergreen fern, native to the Pacific Northwest. It grows on wet mossy ground, logs and rocks, but is commonly found growing on the bigleaf maple. Named for the licorice-flavored rhizome, it was used medicinally by Native Americans for colds and sore throats. This plant is often an epiphyte, growing above ground and supported by another plant. It derives it’s nutrients and water from the rain and the air, not the maple, then it would be a parasite. These plants could be used in a moss garden or when restoring or creating a native plant garden. Get out your field guide (Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar and Mackinnon, 2004) and the binoculars and you might spot a licorice fern perching on a branch near you.
Written by Elaine Sawyer November 27, 2011
 Licorice Fern  licorice fern on bigleaf maple Share on Facebook
Schizostylis is a welcome addition to the fall blooming collection. This perennial, also known as Kaffir lily or Crimson Flag, grows up to two feet tall and has a grass-like foliage. It is evergreen in warmer climates, but will survive down to USDA zone 7. It blooms in shades of pink, salmon and red with a delicate star shape and makes a long lasting cut flower. The flower spikes do not need staking and resemble that of a small gladiolus. Schizostylis coccinea grows from rhizomes which can be divided in the springtime. Plant in full sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil. This plant is native to South Africa and can be planted as a bulb in spring or from a container anytime. Other unusual summer bloomers are the Crinum lily, Pineapple lily and Guernsey lily. A layer of mulch in the winter will provide protection from the cold for Schizostylis. This perennial treasure is noteworthy. Just when many flowers begin to fade and color all but disappears from the garden, blossoms of the Crimson Flag will emerge as if from nowhere to lighten up the landscape into the winter months. One of my favorites.
Written by Elaine Sawyer November 20, 2011
 Schizostylis
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Schizostylis
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Schizostylis
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