Red-y for Spring
By
the time the crocus are blooming beneath the old magnolia tree in New Jersey,
another early sign of spring has already spread fro
m the Hudson River to the
foothills of the Appalachian mountains where my garden grows. It is color from
the flowers of the American red maple, Acer rubrum.
The red maple is one of the most widespread of all
trees in North America. They grow as far north as Nova Scotia, west to
Minnesota, south to eastern Texas, and east to the Florida everglades. In
total, its continuous range along the east coast is some 1,600 miles. Such a
widespread distribution leads to variable genotypes within the species, and for
growers, opportunities to make selections for various parts of the country, and
most of all, for fall color.
Some Red Maple
Varieties to Look for:
'Armstrong' is columnar in
shape; 'Autumn Blaze' – long-lasting autumn color; Autumn Flame' – a popular
selection for bright color; 'Autumn Spire' – columnar choice for far northern
gardens; 'Bowhall' – orange fall color; 'Columnare' – tall column with orange to
deep red color in fall; 'October Glory' – bestseller — it can be sold out at nurseries.
Brilliant fall color; 'Red Sunset' – vigorous, drought tolerant, good color and
popular;'Scarlet Sentinel' – fastigiate growth, yellow-orange to red-orange
autumn color; 'Schlesingeri' – fast growing, reddish purple color; 'Shade King'
– also a fast grower, this one has red to orange leaves in the fall.
Arisaema
fargesii drawing
for tubers
Like many
gardeners, I am starting plants from seeds, now. Some of the seeds have been purchased,
others were collected from my own plants. For instance, I am sowing the
gigantic Ricinus communis
‘Zanzibariensis’. This annual can grow to nine feet in one summer. You can see
from the first seed leaves (1, below) how big this plant is going to be. I bought my seeds from
J.L. Hudson Seedsman. Another
plant
I’ve sown is one of my favorite Jack-in-the-pulpits, Arisaema
fargesii (4). I harvested seeds from the club of
berries formed by fertilized flowers (2). Once cleaned of fruit
indoors, however, they will
germinate in about three weeks (3).
I have a handful of little tubers to give to some
lucky listeners. Send an e-mail to kendruserealdirt@yahoo.com
with your name and address, and we’ll put you in the big, floppy garden hat for
a drawing. The deadline is April 12th.
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