Dawn Stover, research technician and coordinator of the Stephen F. Austin State University-Mast Arboretum plant sales has once again planned a fall sale you won't want to miss. These plants have been East Texas tested and are guaranteed to thrive with our humidity and mild winters. We've asked Dawn to give us some of her 'picks'. She not only shares her 'picks' for this year, but she offers a plan of attacking the sale that will ensure optimum success. What follows are her words:
The SFA Gardens annual fall plant sale is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, and is surely an event experienced and novice gardeners alike should not miss. Whether you've been gardening all your life, or want to try it for the first time, plant sales like this can be overwhelming. This event occurs over a span of just a few hours with plant lovers coming from hundreds of miles around to compete for bargains on durable plants that will thrive in hot, humid, Southern weather. The volume and variety of plants can be overwhelming, especially when we insist upon calling things by their Latin names and then arranging them alphabetically by those tongue-tangled titles. Wouldn't it be nice if someone made a recipe book to help you choose the plants that you want and need for specific purposes or conditions in your garden? Here it is!
The Shade Garden: How to fill in the gaps under those tall pines and oaks.
Japanese maples work very well in our climate. Provided with afternoon shade and plenty of water in first years of establishment, these beauties actually manage to provide fall color in an area of the country starved for such a sight. In late fall you can expect striking reds from 'Mizuho Beni,' a mixture of reds and deep oranges from 'Osakazuki' and yellow-orange from 'Saoshika.' Enhance those brilliant colors with a layer of evergreen choices like evergreen hydrangeas, ruscus or leopard plant: an SFA Gardens favorite. The next, shorter layer should include some whimsy from things like the peppermint-stick ginger, Japanese painted fern, toad lilies, a tall peacock ginger, like 'Grande,' or a fun ground cover like dwarf, striped umbrella sedge. Dress up the borders with low-growing plants. Bugle weed is an easy plant covered with a sea of blue flowers late in summer. 'Burgundy Glow' and 'Silver Beauty' are both beautifully and brightly variegated selections that will add light in a shady spot. 'Chocolate Chip' offers smaller leaves, yet more vigorous plants and a thick carpet of blue flowers. Don't forget the patterned treasures of peacock gingers. The patterned foliage is elegant and often punctuated with sweet, little periwinkle flowers. Peacock gingers must have excellent drainage when they are dormant — beyond that, they are not tricky.
The Butterfly Garden: How to attract and keep them in your garden.
Choose plants that bloom at different times, and plant big sweeps of each color. Add host plants, in addition to colorful nectar plants, and offer some nearby protection from wind and predators with shrubs and trees. Pretty simple? Nectar plants include asters and mums, cone flowers and black-eyed Susans, lantana and salvia. Monarchs love to munch on butterfly weed, and their look-alikes the Gulf fritillary can't pass a passion vine. Many native shrubs and trees offer shelter and some even serve as host plants like the pawpaw.
The Tropical Look: Plants that thrive with high humidity and heat.
Punctuate the sky with tall plants like the Chinese parasol tree that offers and open canopy, bright green stems and bold foliage. Or the Abyssinian banana that makes a single, massive trunk that supports long leaves of red and green. Angels' trumpets lend not only a tropical feel, but an intoxicating fragrance, as well. Huge, pendulous trumpets emit a powerful fragrance, as the sun disappears from view. An easy choice for any garden, tropical or not, is the hidden ginger. These exotic plants prefer an organic yet well-drained soil and a sunny position. Small, bright yellow flowers peak from dramatic pink bracts arranged in a Seusslike pinecone form. Accent the edge of your tamed jungle with bright orange, shrimp-plant relative, Mexican honeysuckle, or the strappy, purple foliage of the pineapple lily.
The Water Garden: Plants for pond margins or perennially wet areas.
Give height to waters' edge with dramatic native trees like bald cypress or tupelo, both of which offer fall color. Margin perennials not only provide visual interest, they offer habitat for fish, frogs and dragonflies. Plant rushes, 'Black Magic' elephant ears and Louisiana iris just barely in the waters' edge or on the banks. Fill in with native shrubs like Virginia creeper and button bush, both of which are good butterfly nectar sources.
The Water-wise Garden: Plants that thrive with little or no water.
In East Texas, we are blessed with an abundance of rainfall. Many plants will thrive in our climate with no supplemental water. Make sure soil drains sharply, and desert plants will be right at home. Agaves are the obvious choice, and we offer two very elegant selections: 'Blue Glow' and 'Nova.' Agaves are right at home with other woody lilies like yucca, false red yucca, rattlesnake master and tuberose. Xeric plants don't have to be hard or poky choose softer perennials like heliotrope or tea bush to blur the edges a bit.
Hopefully this offers a bit of direction when making a shopping list for the plant sale. There are many, many more fantastic plants to choose from. Visit http://arboretum.sfasu.edu for a complete list of plants including descriptions, and we'll see you on sale day!
Jeff Abt is a contributing writer.
