Add Timeless Shrubs to Your Garden
(Page 4 of 5)
December/January 2000
By Geraldine Adamich Laufer
Steeped in history, the apothecary rose (Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’), the Damask rose (Rosa ¥damascena), source of attar of roses, and the parti-colored York-and-Lancaster rose, R. ¥damascena ‘Versicolor’, —a symbol of the union of two mighty families—are just the tip of the rose world. Just to begin to discuss roses as shrubs is to risk becoming completely sidetracked. It’s enough to say most herb gardeners want one, then another, then a dozen....
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Related to the rose is the quince (Cydonia oblonga), with its great yellow pear-shaped fruits used for mint and thyme jellies, and the flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa). My favorite quince for late winter beauty is C. speciosa ‘Apple Blossom’, whose pink and white blossoms are a knockout early in the gardening year. The white-flowering ‘Nivalis’, given to me by my friend Billie, flowered for the first time last January, right outside my husband’s studio window. It was gorgeous underplanted with white hellebores and white-veined Italian arum.
Fairies are said to hold hands and dance rings around the elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), a member of the honeysuckle family. We had small starts of a lovely white variegated elderberry at Herb Education Day at the Atlanta Botanical Garden last April. Elderberries are easy to grow in any soil. Their attractive masses of white flowers are dried and used for tea, and their fruit is used in pies, jellies, and wines. The flat-topped blooms of English elder (S. nigra) appear in spring; this elderberry is also used as a dye plant.
The large Viburnum genus contains many garden-worthy species, including Korean spice (V. carlesii) for fragrance and the easy-to-grow and sweet-scented hybrid V. ¥burkwoodii. European cranberry bush (V. opulus) is used medicinally, while the fruit of the American cranberry bush (V. trilobum) makes good jellies. Berries in this genus are handsomely colored, persistent, and a favorite food for birds.
My Favorite Miscellaneous Shrubs
The mid-sized, blue-flowered bluebeard or blue spirea (Caryopteris ¥clandonensis ‘Dark Knight’) is another deciduous shrub suitable for the herb garden. Its leaves, stems, and flowers are pleasantly scented and grow hard and shrubby in Atlanta. My friend Heather grows hers in an herbaceous border in Princeton, cutting it to the ground each spring.
Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii) sports long wands of fragrant flowers that draw honeybees and butterflies. I like the deep purple cultivar ‘Lochinich’. Another species in the same genus, B. lindleyana, was given to me by my octogenerian friend, Florence. It’s a smaller shrub that tolerates part shade. But it suckers from the stems so prolifically that I’ve had to relegate it to a more out-of-the-way area.
Brooms (Genista tinctoria and Cytisus scoparius) produce a solid mass of brilliant flowers covering the green stems of the shrub. According to English legend, William (soon to be known as the Conqueror) stuck a sprig of broom—signifying humility—in his hat just before he crossed the English Channel in 1066. It worked; with his victory, he became the first of the long line of Plantagenet (from planta genista) kings.
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