Grafting moves into gardens

A comment, often made by gardeners, is that they want to plant something different in their landscape. They are tired of the standard fare of boxwoods, yews, spirea and crimson pygmy barberries. With this in mind I am listing several "different" plants that you might consider planting in your landscape.

One of the "in" things to do at nurseries is to take normal shrubs and, either by grafting or pruning, make them into tree forms. You can now find azalea trees, rhododendron trees, lilac trees and viburnum trees.The head size on these trees is usually somewhat smaller than the shrub itself.

These tree forms should be handled just like their mother shrubs. For example, plant azalea trees and rhododendron trees in an area protected from the winter wind and the hot summer sun, and in a well drained soil.

The tree forms should also be maintained just like their parent shrubs. Azalea and rhododendron trees should be fertilized monthly after blooming through August. Make sure that the soil is acidic.

Normally you think of Norway spruce, willow and cherries as the only weeping trees. You can now find weeping crabapples, weeping mulberry, weeping redbud and weeping pussy willows.

The height of weeping trees can easily be controlled by selectively pruning ascending branches. If the weeping tree is grafted at the top of the standard (upright trunk) the maximum height you will get out of the tree is the height it is when you purchase the tree at the nursery.

As with the tree forms, weeping trees should be planted in the same location that their standard forms are planted. For example, cherries like full sun, but don't like wet feet. Therefore plant weeping cherries in an area that is in full sun, but also where the soil stays dry most of the time.

Another group of different trees or shrubs are grafted evergreens. You can now find dwarf white pine and dwarf blue spruce on standards. These forms develop a round head instead of the normal pyramidal shape of the parent tree.The head usually develops to about 4 or 5 feet in diameter.

The height of the grafted evergreen will be determined by the height of the standard. For example, if the standard is 6 to 8 inches, the evergreen will look just like a rounded shrub. On the other hand if the standard is 3 feet tall, then the evergreen will look like a round lollipop.

Finally another group of unusual landscape plants are the patio fruit trees. The most popular is the patio peach. This tree develops a nice round crown that gets no more than 6 feet tall. Its gorgeous dark pink blooms create quite a show in spring. The extra benefit is that it produces a small peach that can be plucked right from the tree while you are sitting in your lounge chair on the patio.

You don't want too may of these "different" shrubs in your landscape. They are specimen plants. Place them where you want to make a statement, or where you want a focal point. Then use other, more common plants around them, to set them off. You'll be surprised how one or two of these different shrubs in your yards or gardens, can set your landscape apart from everybody else's.

Send your gardening and landscape questions to Paul Schnare at P.O. Box 699; Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702-0699 or by e-mail to news@semissourian.com.