Spring Comes To The Horticulture Club

By Dottie Evans

By chance, it turned out that members of the Horticulture Club of Newtown showed up at the Newtown Meeting House exactly the same moment spring officially arrived –– at 8 pm March 20 –– to hear Garry Ober, manager of Burr Farm Garden Center in Brookfield and a lifelong Newtown resident, speak about spring plantings.

Although his talk was billed as a guide to pruning and there was a How-And-When-To-Prune handout, the real bonus for this group of experienced gardeners was hearing a running commentary from Mr Ober about his personal favorite varieties of plants, accompanied by a few of his tried-and-true pointers about their growth habits and special care.

An added plus was the fact of sitting down in a warm room on a cold spring night to watch colorful slides showing glorious plants and trees, many in the peak of their seasonal bloom.

Club members knew it would be a while still before the finicky New England weather would warm up enough for them to actually see the real thing in their own gardens.

The following are a few of Mr Ober’s horticultural observations.

About Hydrangeas: “They’re tricky in this climate. Sometimes the buds don’t make it through the winter. The tree hydrangeas do well but the deer do like them. Nikko blues are very difficult. The whites do better. But you just can’t beat the PGs [paniculata grandiflora].”

About Pruning: “It’s all about tools, growth habit, and timing. The gum drop and nose cone look is not called for these days [in foundation plantings]. Don’t use tar at the ends of pruning cuts. You don’t need it. Always leave the branch collar. I recommend the three-cut method. First cut is underneath the branch you want to remove, so the bark won’t split. The second is above that and down. The last cut is a trimming cut just beyond the trunk.”

In Praise of Flowering Bushes: “I love the look of snow-mound spirea. It has such a natural look. Also viburnum. It has flowers in the spring and red berries in the fall and the birds love it, too. If you have a buddleia bush, pinch the ends the way you do mums. And take out 25 percent of your lilac every year to get new growth. Don’t forget to dead head the rhododendrons. Beauty bush is old-fashioned but reliable and very lovely. It will spread once established. Rugosa rose is so much easier than the hybrid teas. You don’t have to spray it and it blooms all summer long.”

Favorite Trees and Evergreens: “The northern red oak is a beautiful, healthy tree. I recommend pin oaks for their shape and foliage. Dwarf white pine is easy to manage as a foundation planting. I like Hetzi junipers but watch out, they can come in all sizes. I love the Heritage river birch. It grows fast and has attractive bark. You can prune the candles of your pines as late as July 4, but no later because you don’t want new growth to be damaged in an early freeze.”

About clematis: “You can’t beat Jackmanii purple clematis. It blooms early and long. But you might have to prune it because it can get so top heavy it will knock down its supporting trellis. Some of the late blooming white clematis is practically indestructible. It will take over.”