Garden Photo of the Day

Winter in Andy’s Garden

Plants that look their best this time of year

small white flowers covered in water droplets

My name is Andy Schenck, and I garden in Malvern, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia) in Zone 6B/7 (depending on the winter). My garden is called Look Again Garden (named by my friend David Culp). It is a collector’s garden full of “drifts of one.” Winter is an amazing time for the conifers and broadleaf evergreens to shine. Here is a sampling of plants that were photographed the week of December 12.

close up of large shiny foliagePersea palustris (Zones 7–11), which is a hardy relative of the avocado native to the southeastern United States.

close up of red and yellow Camellia flowerCamellia japonica ‘Korean Fire’ (Zones 7–11) is a vigorous selection from Korea that is one of the most cold-hardy varieties of the species.

close up of yellow and green pine treeSciadopitys verticillata ‘Ossorio Gold’ (Zones 5–9) is a selection of the Japanese umbrella pine with long golden needles. Umbrella pines are never common in the landscape, though they are very beautiful, and this gold form is even rare and possibly even more lovely.

close up of conifer with tiny pineconesTsuga seiboldii (southern Japanese hemlock, Zones 6–8) is slow growing and shows great resistance to wooly adelgid, an invasive insect that is doing great damage to our native North American hemlock species.

close up of Japanese cedar with twisted branchesCryptomeria japonica ‘Rasen’ (Zones 5–9) is a selection of the Japanese cedar that is an upright open grower with amazing twisted foliage.

close up of conifer with funky foliageMaybe even cooler and more unusual looking is Cryptomeria japonica ‘Cristata’, which is smaller in stature with loads of fasciation or cresting of the foliage

small white flowers covered in water dropletsChimonanthus praecox (Zones 7–9) is a fragrant, winter-blooming shrub that starts blooming in early December. Though the flowers are small and delicate, they have a powerfully delicious aroma.

close up of white and green variegated coniferThujopsis dolobrata ‘Variegata’ (Zones 5–9) is a great variegated conifer for light shade, and, even better, it shows good resistance to deer browsing.

close up of young longleaf pinePinus palustris (longleaf pine, Zones 7–9) is native to southeastern North America but seems to thrive in Pennsylvania. This is a young plant, about four years old.

 

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Comments

  1. User avater
    user-7007816 12/28/2022

    Love all your unusual conifers.

  2. User avater
    simplesue 12/28/2022

    You have some of the most unusual plants I've ever-never heard of before!!!!
    Good to learn of the Hemlock that is resistant to some of the pests!
    That last photo of the Pinus palustris (longleaf pine is just fascinating- very cool!

  3. User avater
    musabasjoosue 12/28/2022

    Drifts of one is my favorite garden style!

  4. User avater
    treasuresmom 12/28/2022

    Love that Japanese umbrella pine . My longleaf (my treasured tree) had its first pinecone this year. It now has 2 young ones on the tree.

  5. btucker9675 12/28/2022

    Great garden! The last photo of the Pinus palustris looks like a botanical Cousin Itt!!

  6. User avater
    vanhatalosuomi 01/04/2023

    Thanks for sharing. We're fans of conifers here :)!!

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