Indian Psychic, Bowman's Root or Porteranthus stipulatus. Look at those attractive teeth and the upright posture! He wears a sweet white flower in the spring and this gorgeous color each fall. But he's no summer slouch, he stays green and good looking!
He loves a rich, shady setting and a little bit to drink. But he's not a party boy! He's a laid back kind of guy! He can be found in many woodland settings in the eastern USA and Canada.
Rhus glabra~~Smooth Sumac
Who could not appreciate this fantastic good looker in the fall! He is not afraid to show his true colors! This boy is often seen as aggressive by many a gardening soul.
He's known to hang out in a large crowd and frequent sunny spots to get attention from bees and butterflies. Watch out! These guys are good looking rascals! If you want to keep him around...hold the water, give him plenty of sun and he will bring in the wildlife!
Viburnum rufidulum~~Rusty Blackhaw
Rusty is a member of the well known Viburnum family. The Viburnums are a striking family in general and Rusty is one of the best! He is one of my favorites, so I may be biased in his favor. Rusty will light up your garden all year long! Beautiful bones and a striking deep green leaf in spring and summer! He is really something quite special! He knows how to dress and show off his limbs. No shy guy; he sports a beautiful lapel of creamy white flowers to the Spring Fling, red berries at the Summer Dance and deep red to the Fall Formal. He looks his best after a full day sun bathing!
The birds all love him!
Last,
but certainly not least is Aronia arbutifolia. But call him Chokeberry. He is dazzling most of the year, but each spring he brings out the early flowers to win your heart. Bees are always buzzing around him!
Rhus glabra~~Smooth SumacWho could not appreciate this fantastic good looker in the fall! He is not afraid to show his true colors! This boy is often seen as aggressive by many a gardening soul.
He's known to hang out in a large crowd and frequent sunny spots to get attention from bees and butterflies. Watch out! These guys are good looking rascals! If you want to keep him around...hold the water, give him plenty of sun and he will bring in the wildlife!
Then there is,
Viburnum rufidulum~~Rusty Blackhaw
Rusty is a member of the well known Viburnum family. The Viburnums are a striking family in general and Rusty is one of the best! He is one of my favorites, so I may be biased in his favor. Rusty will light up your garden all year long! Beautiful bones and a striking deep green leaf in spring and summer! He is really something quite special! He knows how to dress and show off his limbs. No shy guy; he sports a beautiful lapel of creamy white flowers to the Spring Fling, red berries at the Summer Dance and deep red to the Fall Formal. He looks his best after a full day sun bathing! 
The birds all love him!Last,
but certainly not least is Aronia arbutifolia. But call him Chokeberry. He is dazzling most of the year, but each spring he brings out the early flowers to win your heart. Bees are always buzzing around him!
Here he is looking his best in fall colors with bright red berries!
He's very tolerant and can take the heat!
Thanks for stopping by and playing along with me!
Thanks for stopping by and playing along with me!
It's been raining for 3 days and I need to see some color!
They are great plants and will
light up your garden! They do in mine,
the sumac will be there soon (GOBN hill).
Gail
A writer is like a bean plant - he has his little day, and then gets stringy.
E. B. White
A writer is like a bean plant - he has his little day, and then gets stringy.
E. B. White
Good morning Gail, thanks for showing us these guys. I do have an aronia, one with black berries. The sumacs are so brilliant but can get out of hand. How about the one Tiger Eyes, do you know it? We too are getting deluged, every school is closed within fifty miles of us due to flooding! No problem on my steep slope, how about you?
ReplyDeleteFrances
Hi Gail,
ReplyDeletethey are all very beautiful and I do have to remember to add some more structures and fall colors to my garden. Thank you for showing me these lovely bushes.
LOLove Tyra
Wonderful post, Gail. I just told Frances, I need more room. There are just too many plants I want in our garden and no place to put them!
ReplyDeleteAll your choices have great foliage. I've been considering a chokeberry for my farm. The berries are loved by birds.
ReplyDeleteMarnie
Gail,
ReplyDeleteYou keep tempting me with all these great plants for wooded edges and I'll have the Archaeologist (son) and Musician (husband) out in my woodlands helping me build a new garden! They are asking if I have a project while the Archaeologist is home for a month.
Cameron
Good morning Gail, they are all beautiful! The only ones we have are the blackhaws. Unfortunately they've been planted and shaped as a hedge and aren't at their best that way. So far I haven't been able to convince the lawn man to let them go natural. Humph!
ReplyDeleteThe sumacs around here were particularly beautiful last fall. There's a small stand of them at the nursery. I've been tempted to dig a seedling to bring home. You may have pushed me over the edge.
Can I come to your garden and party with the plants? They all look like SO much fun! And there is that lovely Rusty. I think he has to be my favorite of all too. He and I will surely have some conversations. You have a super great day today. The sun is trying to peak through and it is supposed to stop raining for a few days. Yeah! Time to get outside now. ttyl
ReplyDeleteAll are worthy plants Gail. I must say that I would like to get a hunk of Bowman's Root going in our garden. I have read about it before. Since my last name is Bowman I really should seek it out.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had more room to try a few of these handsome fellows. I'm hoping to add another shrub or two this year, I'll have to do some further checking but the viburnum sounds nice.
ReplyDeleteFrances,
ReplyDeleteThe rhus are aggressive but on one hand I really don't mind...I love them all crowded together. I have been very attracted to the Tiger Eye. Several bloggers have them in their gardens and there was a super display at
a botanical garden I visited.
Gail
Hi Tyra,
ReplyDeleteStructure is so important and I have ignored it for a long time...now I see with opened eyes the missing parts of the garden! You are welcome...I do hope always to provide good info! Gail
Randy,
ReplyDeleteSo many plants...I run out of budget! I bet that before long the two of you expand your garden and add all these tempting plants! I agree with Frances...you can grow the azaleas!
gail
Marnie,
ReplyDeleteYou will love chokeberry! Beautiful color, a fragrant but brief flower and the birds will eat the berries. If it's situated in a good spot it will colonize and you will have a lovely stand. I love plants that have good form and feed the critters!
Gail
Cameron,
ReplyDeleteLucky you! I dream of the day Mr I and son volunteer to garden! I can recommend aronia...don't you think it would look good with the arching stems of itea? Also, you can't lose with the Bowman's root! I can't wait to see it!
Gail
Linda/Gardengirl,
ReplyDeleteWould it help to show your honey the photos of Rusty! He is so lovely as a small tree! I can email you a full page photo! My husband is usually not bothered by anything I do, but if I told him I wanted to replace the forsythia hedge...he would be very unhappy! He doesn't trim it so it's lovely and natural. I say that like he does garden work! NOT!
I hope you get a little sumac seedling...I just read that they transplant easily but be careful to protect the easily damaged bark!
Gail
Tina,
ReplyDeleteYep time to go outside, but first just a few more comments! Have you gotten a rusty yet? I wish I had a seedling for you...I have two but they are promised to the GOBN! He's the perfect guy for you...Mr Fix-It need not worry!
gail
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI love Bowman's Root and I know that Sunlight Gardens sells the 3" plants for $5...not bad...but who knows what shipping is these days! It's a cutie pie plant and would be fun to have in the Bowman garden!
I hope you go for it!
gail
Robin,
ReplyDeleteI can highly recommend Rusty! Especially if you have a sunny spot...the flowers are wonderful and the berries are tasty to birds. The photos you would take will make us breathless! You could cause a run on
V rufidulum!
gail
I'm a fan of Rusty's too Gail! I have a spring project in mind that also involves adding some chokeberries. I can't wait to get to it but it will be a while here. I hope you see the sun soon to perk up your day. We have 60 mph winds today. ugh.
ReplyDeletekathleen, I can only imagine and even then it's almost unimaginable! We have had a great deal of rain and it's all mud now! So you're stuck indoors shooting photos while lying on your back in the bathtub. Sounds like a lot of fun. We need a photo of the photographer!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what you do with the chokecherries! They are really nice plants...I recommend planting them with itea if you can grow them there?
gail
Beautiful colour Gail.....I love the chokeberry...I am not familiar with it, I shall look in one of my gardening books tonight.
ReplyDeleteI love the sumach....I have one here...a friend gave me a tiny plant from her garden. It now stands two metres high and it absolutely gorgeous, especially in autumn.......
Viburnam also do well here......and are a great addition to any garden........
Hello Gail,
ReplyDeleteAnother very interesting and informative post. I clicked over to the "March Rusty" link and then googled it to see if by some chance that striking and well shaped viburnum would grow here. It has so many great characterisitcs... I was holding out with hope. I kind of doubted it since I haven't seen any around this area but you never know. Turns out it does grow in North Florida but... what's new? ... it doesn't do well here.
I guess I'll just have to enjoy it from afar like so many of those color-changing, berry-producing pretties of yours that attract me so.
Meems
Oh, you naughty woman - you know how to draw me in, plantaholic that I am. My head is aching thinking I'm going to have to forget the name Gillenia trifoliata and remember Porterantus stipulatus, mercy. In any event for folks who like to try plants from seed - this is a fairly easy one producing decent sized plants in year 2. My seed source is www.gardensnorth.com for perennials - although I'm sure there are others who would have seed for this great little plant.
ReplyDeleteI've always called Bowman's Root Gillenia. I have one and just love it! This fall it looked the best ever, seeming to glow from within. I don't have any of your others. I'm too afraid of the Sumac's aggressive tendencies, although I often admire it from afar. The other two I would definitely consider if I could find space for them.
ReplyDeleteI like the look of the chokeberry, very pretty. It's good to have the autumn colours when theres not much else to brighten our gardens.
ReplyDeleteThey are all very striking plants for the garden. They seem to add much needed color & interest at this time of the year. I love Rusty. Viburnums have become my new passion, once you add one you want more I guess. ;)
ReplyDeleteGail: And all of these are hardy in my garden! Making notes! I haven't seen this Viburnum around but I do love all viburnums even our native Viburnum dentatum which I will have to take some pictures of for you. It just grows calmly at the back of the garden but is a lovely plant. I know what you mean about needing to see color!
ReplyDeleteFirst, I have to say I love that quote from E.B. White--I think I often get a little "stringy":) Thanks for showing us all these beautiful shrubs/trees. That is one thing I am missing in my garden, but I hope to slowly remedy that over the next couple years. I remember seeing a sumac at the Idea Garden this fall--what a gorgeous specimen in the fall!
ReplyDeleteWe had lots of leaves hanging on until today and a huge storm passed through. I sure don't have to worry about any more leaves in the yard.
ReplyDeleteYour purty plants, and I did say purty cause that's an endearing word for pretty, are a hard working bunch.
Hi Gail,
ReplyDeleteWhat a charming post!
I thought your words come replace the lyrics of that Mary Wells song, "My Guy" do you know the one?
Anyway, you have made these trees come alive.
I like the tree Rusty Blackshaw. I think that is a great name, too. that could be an alias, is case a person ever wanted one!
All fun to think about!
best,
Philip
We've had days of rain and gloom here as well but the sun came out today. It was cold and windy though. What a colorful post. I really love the sumac too. It is one of the highlights of fall. I don't grow it in my garden but you see it all around the roadways.
ReplyDeleteI envy all your fall colors.
ReplyDeleteNow if I could only find a home for that Chokeberry. I think I'll be all out of space come next summer. :(
Yes, you are absolutely right, those are the plants for me. Shall I send my address now or will it wait? ;-)
ReplyDeleteBTW I think I've fallen in love with Rusty.
A Blissful 2009 to you and yours, Gail!
The sumac is a great one and I do like Rusty! We have a sumac that someone cut down before we bought the house. Each of the past two years I've tried to let it regrow. Maybe this will be its year!
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteI like them a lot but some people think they are weed trees. They would make a nice groev if you have a sunny space you don't mind turning over to them!
gail
Yolanda E,
ReplyDeleteYou would look absolutely lovely standing next to Rusty! So would Tara! I might just try to save seeds and send them to folks! Let's see what this spring bloom yields next fall!
Gail
Patsi,
ReplyDeleteThere is always room for one more good looking plant in the garden! Do you have grass that you can dig up! That's how my gardens got so big!
Gail
Phillip,
ReplyDeleteIt was love at first sight the first time I saw the sumac on the interstate! They shine out there in the open.
They do like sun...but I am going to try to find the place for one in the garden.
The sun is really welcome after all the rain...glad you are able to enjoy it, too! Are you having a lot of fun with your camera?
gail
Phillip B,
ReplyDeleteExactly...when I started writing the post...I felt like I was a plant madame, so I went with it bit more. ...It's that tendency I have to assign gender to plants! Not sure who else does but it so makes sense to me.
Thank you for the sweet compliment! Somedays you need one!
Gail
Anna,
ReplyDeleteThe winter winds can be brutal...I love those last colorful leaves and miss them when they're gone. Then it really is winter! Thank you...I think they are purty, too!
gail
Rose,
ReplyDeleteIsn't that a great quote. it was too perfect for lots of reasons; but I have been feeling like my writing is stringy.
I love these plants, especially the sumac. If I am remembering correctly there is a beautiful specimen Sumac...Tiger's Eye near the Lurie Gardens. It is fantastic. I can't wait to see the garden in May!
Gail
layanee,
ReplyDeleteThe rufidulum would look stunning in your garden and so would all of the plants! Another one to look at is Blackhaw...similar and it may be easier to find where you live. I am thinking very much about the Rhus you have growing...it's Tiger's Eye or is that name misremembered?
Gail
Racquel,
ReplyDeleteThey are wonderful plants to feel passionate about...with so many to choose from, too! I have a very fragrant Burwoodii that stays evergreen in my garden. But it's now zone 7. It has grown quite tall but it perfumes the air in spring. Do you grow any of the fragrant ones?
Gail
Nathan's Garden,
ReplyDeleteI wish that more plants would hang onto their fall colors longer....while I love evergreen...there is something charming about bold red leaves in the winter!
Gail
That first one sounds like I was meant to own it being a Bowman. We can be seen as a bit plain, but once you string it all together there seems to be a lot more substance to us.
ReplyDeleteI've had that sumac before. I couldn't EVER plant it again though, it drove me batty! I do like the shape and color though. I wonder if I had planted it in a whiskey barrel to contain the runners if it would still act so darn crazy.
MMD,
ReplyDeleteThe list's grow! The Bowman's Root is a great plant and so much easier to remember then porteranthus! It was lovely this fall the best it's ever looked! Not meaning to put any pressure on you but I am so looking forward to seeing your garden this May! We have similar plant tastes but a little different conditions...
Gail
Barbarapc,
ReplyDeleteJust the Porteranthus...I have stipulatus...there is a trifoliata. The leaves are just bit different. One with three leaves and mine with a little bit of leaves at the stipule. But enough of that stuff..the fun part is being a plant pusher or madame as I have already referred to myself! Thank you btw for the seed source! I am going to try to grow it. Happy planting! gail
Dear Meems,
ReplyDeleteI was so sorry to realize you are in zone 10 not even 9! It does seem to like Northern Florida best! The last time I wrote about him I did look up his zone preferences. They must need a cooling off time to bring out there bloom~
There are a few plants I would love to grow that absolutely languish here...azaleas and rhodos are
two examples. Forget almost your beauties! We have to garden were we live!
Gail
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteI bet the viburnums love your garden. I even love the fragrant ones! They smell so nice on a spring day....spicy. Which do you grow? Do the critters like them?
The Aronia would be lovely there, too. I wonder if anyone imports it and now grows it. It's a rather different plant but the color is outstanding.
I am going to try to bring more textures and greenery like your garden has; always keeping the critters in mind...wish me luck!
gail
I just love viburnums and sumacs (any and all), but had not heard of Porteranthus stipulatus, which is certainly lovely (Hey, baby check out those serrated margins!)
ReplyDelete~Monica
Great choices Gail - I too have a couple of Aronia in my front side garden.
ReplyDeleteWe have problems in the UK with Rhus - they're great looking, especially in the autumn, but do have a tendency to sucker - even through concrete :(
Monica,
ReplyDeleteYes it's one of those plants with a toothy smile that wants to go home with you! Do you have either aronia or rhus in your yard?
Gail
VP,
ReplyDeleteThey are aggressive here, to but I don't think I've heard they will push through concrete! Aren't they good looking? Glad to hear you have the aronias...apparently they are rich in antioxidents and being looked at for diseases like cancer, inflammation and heart disease! Good looking and hard working!
gail
Lovely colorful photos, Gail, that indeed brightened my day :0)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the pictures, I'm always looking for plants to help brighten up my fall garden. :)
ReplyDeleteJoey,
ReplyDeleteI am glad they gave you a lift...I read that you've won some homemade jam.! Lucky you!
gail
Lythrum,
ReplyDeleteGlad to help...they are quite colorful plants...the sumac is vivid!
Gail
lol ~ I don't think you'd really want to see a photo of the photographer twisting in strange positions to capture macro photos!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check into itea?? I'm not familiar with that???
Hi Gail, I have six different viburnums, no aronia, and two Rhus glabra at the edge of my yard that borders a nature area (unfortunately, they are surrounded by buckthorn, no matter how I try to remove it).
ReplyDelete~Monica
Forgot to mention, aronia (chokeberry) has been on my list, but I'd opt for the Michigan native, Aronia melanocarpa. When I started gardening, I was all about perennials (and tomatoes--and that has never changed!). Over the years, I've developed a love for annuals as well, but especially woodies. To be entirely honest, I love shrubs. I have a lot of them, and love them through the seasons.
ReplyDelete~Monica
Gail I love this post.
ReplyDeleteI have Aronia arbutifolia too, wild ones. They never branch out very much but are always tall and lean. I love their spring flowers, don't you? They are lovely.
We have Winged Sumac here but you've convinced me to try the Smooth. I know just where it would thrive.
You've convinced me to try Rusty Blackhaw too. It's gorgeous!
sweetbay,
ReplyDeleteThey are all lovely plants and you have the garden to show them off! Glad could help;-)
gail
Monica,
ReplyDeleteWe don't have buckthorn which I know is you invasive plant in your neck of the forest! ! I am still a lot about natives...they make sense here with this clay ans\d limestone...plus the dry summers and very wet winters. I cannot do without the annuals tho...give me zinnias and others to keep the garden bright during the mid to late summer!
gail
Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteItea is sweetspire and a named variety is Henry's Garnet. It is quite lovely and is hardy to zone 5. It has good looks all year long. I will be adding it to the GOBN and the expanded GOBN...I must name it! What are you shooting with?
Gail
I agree on the sumac. I didn't plant it though, it just came with the property line of my school down where I grow veggies
ReplyDeleteGail, funny, I was searching for info on Bowman's Root and it brought me to your blog - small world! Love the pics...which have convinced me that he's my kind of guy, I'm going to try finding it for next yr's garden. See you around the WG hood :-)
ReplyDeleteEllen