Every Friday on this blog we announce a new weekly Grower’s Choice special – it runs for just one week, beginning that Friday, and continuing through the following Thursday.  It is always a plant that we grow ourselves, so you can be assured of its quality and appropriateness for this locale.

This week’s Grower’s Choice is Verbena ‘Homestead Purple.’   Purple is a magical color to use in the garden, as it goes with everything and has the effect of pulling all the other colors together.  And ‘Homestead Purple’ is a great plant – it is sturdy,  hardy, low-growing, and long-blooming.  It makes a terrific summer groundcover – only reaching heights of 12-18 inches, with a 12-24 inch spread.  So it is great to fill in under trees or shrubs that are limbed up a bit, and where it could still get some sun.  It is also perfect in baskets or in front of a border.

This weeks’ Grower’s Choice is one-gallon, normally $4.99; this week reduced to $2.49.  Offer good through September 9, 2010.  This special price cannot be combined with other offers; good only while supplies last.

This week’s Grower’s Choice, commonly called Silver Knight scotch heather, is a terrific small shrub for the garden.  It is a slow growing evergreen with a neat, upright habit.  It produces lavender blooms which has a 2-3 month bloom season, beginning in early summer.  They are in full bloom right now and are spectacular!

I think the heather family is great planted as a mixed collection, or in combination with dwarf conifers or other dwarf shrubs.  Because they are evergreen, they provide year round interest and structure, filling in those bare places in the garden.  (If you are like me, you have a disproportionate amount of perennials which disappear during winter - I need to be adding more evergreens, and this is definitely one that has a place!)  They would also be fantastic in container gardens, especially for the early or late season containers.

Silver Knight is easy to grow, and hardy to -15 degrees F.  It prefers well drained soils; mulch to conserve moisture and to keep the roots cool.  Once flowering has finished, prune to encourage new, thick growth.  That’s about it – a no fuss, no muss kind of plant!

This Grower’s Choice selection in a one-gallon size, is normally $5.99; now through September 2nd at $2.49.  Cannot be combined with other discounts, and good only while supplies last.

It is Friday – time for another great Grower’s Choice!  This week we are featuring a fantastic evergreen, Sungold False Cypress.  It is a dwarf golden threadleaf cultivar which has a weeping habit – perfect for cascading over a pond or embedded into a rock garden.  It has gold to lime-green finely textured needles with enhanced winter color if given a sunny location.  This shrub is pretty drought tolerant once established, but plan to give it regular water for a year or two before reducing that.  It offers year-round interest in the garden, and really brightens up those darker areas.

You can expect it to eventually reach a mature height of 3-8 feet, and a mature spread of 3-5 feet wide.  However, it prunes easily and so can be maintained at a smaller size, if you choose to do so.

This week’s Grower’s Choice, Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Aurea Sungold’, in a one-gallon size, is normally $7.99, but just $2.49 until August 26th.  Naturally, at this low price, this offer cannot be combined with other discounts.  Good only while supplies last.

Are you in need of an interesting and non-invasive groundcover?  This week’s Grower’s Choice, Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’ might be just the ticket.  It has beautiful green foliage painted along it’s edges with white variegation, which amazingly turns rosy in the winter months – don’t you love it when you get those seasonal changes?!  I know I do.

Emerald Gaiety can reach heights of 1-3 feet, with a mature spread of 3-5 feet, so it is a rather large groundcover, and taller than others.  It can also be used as a small shrub in a mixed border.  It works great for erosion control, and can actually climb a wall or fence to create a nice effect if you want it to.  It likes full sun, but can handle partial sun – although the variegation will be more pronounced with more light exposure.

This week’s Grower’s Choice, one gallon size, regularly $5.99 – now through August 19th at $2.49.  This offer cannot be combined with other discounts.  Quantities limited to stock on hand.

This weeks’ Grower’s Choice, Viburnum davidii, is a popular landscaping shrub for commercial buildings and alongside streets or sidewalks.  There are good reasons we see it so frequently:  it is evergreen, with interesting leathery ribbed leaves; it is very low maintenance; and it loves our acidic soils.  However, sometimes that ‘ubiquitous-ness’ reduces one’s interest in using it in a home landscape.  But it has such great things to offer the home gardener; I hope you’ll give it a look - it can be a wonderful component of a mixed shrub display. 

Viburnum davidii will reach a mature height of 1-3 feet, with a spread of 3-4 feet.  It will have fragrant white flowers in the spring, and metallic blue berry clusters in the fall.  So you get lots of seasonal variations with this one.  It likes full sun or partial shade, but would benefit from some protection from strong afternoon sun exposure.

Our Grower’s Choice pick of the week, Viburnum davidii, in a one gallon size, is normally $4.99; now through August 12th, only $2.49.  This special price cannot be combined with other offers.  Good while supplies last.

There are different temperaments in the garden: you’ve got your prima donnas – those that are finicky and demanding about every little thing and require lots of hand-holding – and you’ve got your workhorses – those solid, dependable plants that quietly perform without our hovering over them.  This week’s Grower’s Choice is the latter!  Erica vagans ‘Mrs. D.F. Maxwell’ is in the category of heathers, those sturdy little plants that are often used to such lovely effect in rock gardens.

I won’t get all plant geeky about the three different species of heathers and their various strengths – a simple Google search will give you lots of background info if you are interested.   Suffice it to say that there are spring-, summer-, and winter-blooming varieties, and a combination of all three provides year-round interest with very little maintenance.  They are best planted in beds totally devoted to themselves, with perhaps the addition of a few conifers or something else for upright contrast.

‘Mrs. D.F. Maxwell’ takes full sun, but will tolerate a part sun environment as well.  It tolerates wind, even coastal wind.  It is drought tolerant, so once established it will be happy with drier conditions.  And for those of you with deer problems, you will be happy to know that heathers aren’t their cup of tea.  ‘Mrs. D.F. Maxwell’ has a long bloom time, from August through October, and is covered with a profusion of fragrant, rose pink blossoms on dark green foliage.  And as an evergreen, it is attractive year round.  It creates a soft mounding form, 15-18 inches in height and 24-30 inch wide spread.

Our Grower’s Choice, Erica vagans ‘Mrs. D.F. Maxwell,’ in a one gallon size, is regularly $5.99, on sale for $2.49 through August 5th.  And naturally at this price, this offer cannot be combined with other discounts.  Good while supplies last.

This week’s Grower’s Choice might not seem, at first glance, as flashy or exciting as some of our previous offerings: it doesn’t provide gorgeous autumnal color or fragrant spring blossoms.  What it DOES provide to a garden, however, is every bit as important: structure.  (Not everything in a landscape should razzle dazzle – support players are important too.)  There is a time and a place when structure is a welcome addition - it can define a space and add form.  Also, the simple line of a curving sweep of boxwood calms the eye – much as an expanse of lawn provides a resting place for the eye, boxwood can do the same.  There is also an opportunity with boxwood to create whimsical forms for a focal point.  It is easy to create many different shapes: round globes, tall cones, even fanciful animal forms or topiaries.

The common boxwood is an evergreen shrub, so it will maintain its lush green color all year round.  If left to grow, it could reach a mature height of 15-20 feet, but is easy to achieve much shorter heights with just annual pruning.  Boxwood will also thrive in a container, so it can provide an excellent focal point for the front entry.

This week’s Grower’s Choice, Common boxwood Buxus sempervirens, in a one gallon size, is normally $4.99 – now through July 29th, it is $2.49.  Good while supplies last.  And naturally, this discount cannot be combined with other offers.

If your garden is in need of an element that will provide a kaleidoscope of changing colors, then this might be just the ticket.  Berberis thunbergii ‘Pow Wow’ is a deciduous shrub in a slender, columnar form.  Leaves emerge bright gold in spring, maturing to chartreuse in summer followed by intense fall colors of yellows, oranges, and reds.  What’s not to love about that?!

Pow Wow makes a great short hedge.  It will attain a height of four feet with a mature spread of eighteen inches.  It is very hardy, and thrives in full sun or light shade.  It also has the characteristic sharp barbs that other barberries have – making it excellent at creating barriers where you want to limit traffic.

For this week only, until July 22nd, this one gallon size Grower’s Choice, normally $7.99, is now $2.49.  Naturally, at this price, this offer cannot be combined with other discounts.  Supplies are limited.

As you will remember, we are offering a weekly special of one plant that we grow ourselves.  This week’s Grower’s Choice makes a great groundcover.  Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ‘N Gold’ is a small evergreen that won’t reach more than 1-2 feet in height, although it’s spread can be 3-5 feet.  As you can see, the foliage is variegated with green and gold colorations, and in the winter it takes on a rosy pink hue.  This is a very hardy shrub – good down to -20 degrees F.  I like this plant for it’s perky variegation – it would definitely add some brightness to the garden!  It thrives in full sun; if given too much shade the colorations will be reduced.  If you are looking to replace invasive groundcovers, then consider this a great alternative.

This Grower’s Choice is normally priced at $5.99, but is now $2.49 through July 15th.  Quantities are limited, and this offer cannot be combined with other discounts.

Just in time for the 4th of July: fireworks in plant form!  The new growth on this shrub is a fiery red burst on it’s branch ends; as the foliage matures, it ages to silvery white variegation.  Add to that the white, very fragrant blooms, and there is a lot going on with this one!

‘Flaming Silver’ is a slow-growing evergreen shrub, which will reach a mature height and spread of 5-6 feet.  It makes a great hedge, either left natural or pruned.  And something we all appreciate: it is extremely hardy and resistant to most pests and diseases that plague some landscape plants.

This 1 gallon Grower’s Choice is regularly priced at $7.99; now through July 8th, at $2.49.  Subject to stock on hand, and cannot be combined with other discounts.

I must admit this week’s Grower’s Choice is a shrub I don’t have first-hand experience with – although after reading up on it, I think I may need to give it a go!  The first thing that caught my attention is that it is a Great Plant Picks – which means it is great for the Pacific NW; long-lived; hardy for zones 7-8; easy to grow and maintain; reasonably disease and pest resistant; non-invasive; and has a long season of interest in the garden… all attributes I look for in a plant!

Enkianthus campanulatus ‘Showy Lantern’ is a deciduous shrub producing large cherry-red bell-shaped flowers in the spring, and showy scarlet/orange foliage in autumn.  It is easily pruned to the shape or size you need it to be, and at maturity will reach 5-6 feet in height.  Its width depends on how it is trained or pruned, but left untouched would be about 3 feet wide; this makes it a great addition to a mixed collection.  It is in the rhododendron family, and so is a great companion in the garden with rhodies and other woodland plants like sweet box (Sarcococca), bleeding heart, and Solomon’s seal.

This Grower’s Choice, Showy Lantern, 1-gallon size, is normally $9.99, on sale thru July 1st, at $2.49.  You will probably remember that we are having our awesome Summer Solstice Sale this week – everything is 40% off (with a few exclusions) – sale ends Sunday, June 27th.    Naturally, at these prices, the 40% off sale won’t apply to this week’s Grower’s Choice.  Subject to stock on hand.

If it’s Friday, it must be time for another Grower’s Choice plant pick.  Each week we are selecting another top-quality plant which we grow ourselves, and offering it to you at substantial savings.   Since these Grower’s Choices are all grown right here in the neighborhood, you have the assurance they will thrive in your garden too.  Local is best!

 This week’s Grower’s Choice is another very showy  shrub: Spiraea ‘Goldflame.’  This deciduous shrub has golden leaves, but the new growth emerges red, creating a bronzy contrast which turns golden as it matures.  It blooms in the summer (we have some blooming now) with a rose red flower.  It reaches heights and widths of 3-4 feet, and thrives in full to partial sun.  And best of all, it is hardy to minus 15 degrees.  After the winter we had this past year, hardiness is a desirable trait!

It is definitely a trend these past few years to add lime or chartreuse foliage colors to the garden landscape.  These bright colors add pop and interest even when the shrub is not in bloom.  They also are extraordinary during grey days – they really shine even when the sun doesn’t.  Last year I realized my own garden needed more color contrast with the foliage, and so I added just a few new bright things to the mix – I was amazed at the improvement it made to the overall appearance – everything seems brighter and more interesting.

This one gallon Spiraea ‘Goldflame’ is a Grower’s Choice this week at $2.49 – regularly priced at $5.99.  Prices good through June 24th.  Subject to stock on hand.  Naturally, this special price cannot be combined with other offers.