October Featured Plant List - Cheekwood
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Reflecting Pool
Pontederia cordata / Pickerel Weed

Pickerel weed is native to eastern North America and the Caribbean. It has soft blue blooms, resembling hyacinth, punctuated with yellow spots on each petal. A freshwater-aquatic plant, it will thrive in your rain garden or backyard pond, and, much like horsetail plant (Equisetum), it can spread rapidly. With its dense root system, it does an amazing job of controlling erosion by keeping sediment it place. Grow in containers, either out of water or in, if spread is a concern.

The leaves of Pontederiaare shaped like arrowheads and, when young, can be used in salads. Its seeds are also edible, and tastes best when roasted, though waterfowl will eat them raw. Butterflies are big fans of this perennial; dragonflies and damselflies commonly lay their eggs on plant stems near the water’s surface. Fish, reptiles, and other water creatures seek shelter in the clumps of these plants. It is often seen in the same habitats as the pickerel fish, hence the common name.Mums aren’t the only fall plants in our garden! The Cheekwood garden team has hand selected their top plant picks for October from 9 of our distinct gardens. Use this as your guide as you explore the grounds.Robinson Family Water Garden
 
Hydrangea paniculata ‘Tardiva’ / Panicle Hydrangea

One of the most winter hardy of all hydrangeas, ‘Tardiva’ is very similar to ‘Floribunda’, although the sepals surrounding the base of the blooms are mostly in sets of four and not five. The panicles of showy white flowers become tinged with rose and lavender coloration as they age. The leaves of panicle hydrangeas are handsomely ovate and dark green. There is excellent cut and dried flower potential with this shrub which will grow up to 10 feet tall if conditions are right. Use in a mass hedge or back border for the grandest effect. If larger flowers are desired, prune shrub to 5-10 primary shoots in late winter or early spring. H. paniculatais native to China and Japan.Martin Boxwood GardensReflecting Pool

Euphorbia characias / Mediterranean Spurge

A native to the Mediterranean, you will find this most commonly planted spurge located around the reflecting pool. The foliage is a verdant blue green and lush with healthy, helix-arranged foliage. Needing well drained soils (they dislike heavy clay), euphorbias prefer all the sun they can get and grow to a height of 3 feet in optimal conditions. In the months of May and June, you can see these spurges blooming in chartreuse. The contrast between the robust flower heads and the blue-toned foliage is very attractive, especially when used as a border planting.

Mediterranean spurge reseeds well (perhaps too well for some gardeners?), puts on a fabulous show with little care, and is deer, rabbit and drought tolerant. After flowers have gone to fruit, and seed is set, you can hear the seeds popping, dispersing into the surrounding garden. In milder winters and in zone 8, this euphorbia can be evergreen. Like croton, another submission for this month’s featured plant list, Mediterranean spurge has a milky sap that is a skin irritant.Turner Season’s Garden: Fall Section
Colchicum hybrid ‘The Giant’ / Autumn Crocus, Meadow Saffron

Fall-blooming and often called “autumn crocus, it is not a crocus at all. It belongs to its own family, Colchicaceae, while Crocus belongs to the Iridaceae family.  They are visually similar, until you take a closer look. First, count the stamens. Crocus have 3, Colchicum have 6. Colchicum have 3 distinct styles, while Crocushas 1 that is divided into 3 just below the tip. The leaves of Crocus are very narrow with a white stripe down the middle. Colchicum has leaves that are wide, with no stripe and have long died back by the time of flower.

Colchicum is a corm, a swollen underground plant stem that stores nutrients, which aids in the plant’s winter survival. If it’s instant gratification that you seek, this plant will send up 5-10 shoots per corm. Colchicum are to be planted in later summer to flower only a few weeks later in early-mid fall. For the best results, plant Colchicum with friends like hosta and artemisia, or a groundcover that will help stabilize the plant as it is known to flop over without support.

‘The Giant’ is a hybrid between speciosa, giganteum, and others.It has a checkered pattern, or tessellation, of dark and light lilac and is white at its center. This Colchicum is one of the tallest and most free-flowering of the genus, its blooms frequently being compared to a goblet or chalice.Howe Garden
Aster shortii/ Short’s Aster

Located underneath the leaning ash in the Howe Garden, this native aster provides a soft overture as the season turns from hot to bearable. Blooming from late August to October, the radial-shaped (and larger than average) flowers of this species appear either lavender or light blue, depending on the light and surround yellow disks that will turn a reddish tone with age. Beside flower size, to distinguish from other woodland aster, the leaves can also be telling. Short’s Aster has smooth leaf edges and not toothed, like others.

Found in upland oak-history woodlands, rocky woodlands and slopes, as well as woodland borders and paths, you will often find this species in areas where limestone is close to the surface of the ground. As middle Tennessee is rich in limestone, Short’s Aster is a common site in our natural areas and provide nectar for many of our pollinators including the long-tongued bee, small-tongued bee, butterflies, skippers, and flies.Carell Dogwood Garden
Corpus kousa ‘Big Apple’ / Kousa Dogwood

A dogwood of many virtues, Cornus kousa ‘Big Apple’, located where the Carell Dogwood Garden meets the Burr, is in full fruit, dispersed heavily, but elegantly throughout its branches like ornaments on display. Pinky-red in color, these drupes resemble raspberries and are edible and possibly enjoyable, if you can get past the mealy texture. The flowers appear in mid-May, about 2-3 weeks after Cornus florida. As with all dogwoods, the winter interest is great with the characteristic horizontal branching, an architecture that only becomes stronger with age. For landscape value, C. kousais a supreme choice. Its lateral branching habit is effective at breaking up the monotony of vertical branching trees and shrubs, the flowers provide color before the mass explosion of summer color, it is small enough to plant near a house, and the bark takes on an exfoliating quality as it matures. In addition to the large fruit (1.25 – 1.5” sized drupes) of ‘Big Apple’ that develops and persists through October, the fall color of the foliage varies from amber orange to reddish-purple and is very frost resistant.

Photo courtesy of T. Davis Sydnor, The Ohio State University, Bugwood.org

Burr Terrace Garden
Begonia ‘Looking Glass’ / Begonia hybrid

An annual that can never outstay her welcome, this Begonia provides a unique and cool tone to raised planters and containers. In the Burr garden, it is stunning with large silver leaves cascading over the brick. A cane type, often called “angel-wing” for the shape of its leaves, the stems are long with swollen joints, or nodes, resembling that of bamboo. Easy to grow (especially easier than rex begonias), this category of begonia is grown primarily for its foliage. ‘Looking Glass’ possesses olive-green venation with cranberry-colored undersides.

Bred by Patrick J. Worley in 1981, in climates with mild winters (south Florida, zone 10 and higher), ‘Looking Glass’ and others like it can reach 4 feet in height with a width of 5 feet. During the growing season, pinching the tip back will induce growth of new canes from the base. This will help stabilize the plant as it can be quite leggy, rarely branching above soil level. Flowers are pink but pale in comparison to the foliage. For those of us not living in tropical climates, all begonias make perfect houseplants, especially during the winter.Shōmu-en Japanese Garden
Thuidium delicatulum/ Common Fern Moss, Delicate Fern

In our Japanese Garden, past the viewing pavilion, a carpet of bright green moss is growing. Not a planned planting, this fern moss occurred naturally, and, being so appropriate for the space, was nurtured to be the expansive groundcover that it is today. Called “fern moss” because of the resemblance the leaves have to that of a small fern, it often forms mats of leaves in areas that that can seem unfit for other plants. If given part sun to medium shade, soil on the acidic side, periods of wet to moist conditions, and protection from prevailing winds, you will indeed have an inviting space for moss to thrive. Moss is one of the most drought tolerant plants, though needing water for photosynthesis to occur (which will lead to faster growth) and to reproduce sexually (though not asexually), it does not need it for survival. During a dehydration period, the moss appears dead; it’s brown and dried up. With added moisture, fern moss quickly springs back to life. Humidity plays a larger role in the health of moss than actual rainfall or irrigation.

Thuidium is found in an extremely wide range,  primarily in Europe, the Middle East, Siberia, and Asia, but has also been documented in Alaska, S. Dakota, Iowa, British Columbia, the Yukon, N. Carolina to Michigan, Mexico, and South America, as well as Newfoundland to Manitoba. It’s uses are almost just as varied, once utilized as “caulking” for log cabins, stuffing for bedding, mattresses and coffins, it is presently seen as hanging basket liners, soil covers for terrariums and elements of floral displays (under the moniker “sheet moss”).

In Japanese culture, moss is regarded as a symbol of age, tradition and harmony. It invites self-forgetfulness. If moss is looked at closely, its tiny details resemble images of larger plant life- even the trees that protect and shade it. The culture also attributes a great amount of respect to history. As moss is slow to spread, the plant is symbolic of the precious passing of time, and therefore is nurtured with reverence and care.

Photo courtesy of Charles T. Bryson, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org

Robinson Family Water Garden
Maclura pomifera / Osage-orange

Currently producing fruit and located by the stream, alongside our arboretum lawn, the Osage-orange has a few outstanding qualities: drought and heat tolerance, pest resistance (including deer), as well as an extreme tolerance to high pH in limestone soils (which is common around parts of  middle Tennessee). This native and durable tree of the mulberry family is very effective for problem areas. Basically, the windiest, worst soil quality, driest, and post-apocalyptic of sites make wonderful placements for this tree. And that is admirable.

The fruit is bizarre-looking, grapefruit-sized, not palatable, looking something like a brain, and can potentially cause harm if you happen to be standing underneath a tree after ripening season (a.k.a. now). It is made of a conglomeration of small individual drupes, filled with a latex-based juice.

Maclura
pomiferacan reach a height of 50 or 60’, though usually in the range of 20 – 40 feet. As the scaly bark made of longitudal fissures ages, it takes on an orange patina which is very attractive. The tree’s wood is extremely remarkable, especially for furniture-making. The wood contains a compound called tetrahydroxystilbene which is toxic to a large population of fungi, therefore, making the wood and furniture made from it very decay-resistant. To use within your landscape, and not the back 40, select a male, thornless variety to avoid the messiness that the fruit can produce.

Photo courtesy of Joseph M. DiTomaso, University of California – Davis, Bugwood.orgHerb Study GardenNative American bed

Ilex verticillate ‘Sunset’ / Common Winterberry

When many of us think fall color, it’s usually that of foliage that first comes to mind. Depending on the time of flower, fruit of many plants appear in the fall, some in the form of berries or drupes, as with the common winterberry, Illex verticillata. The bright reddish-orange fruit can persist until December or January, depending on the whether it is on the local (and migratory) birds’ radar. It withstands wet soils very well. With a deep dark green foliage color that can have a purple tinge in fall, the best effect of this shrub is seen when planted in a mass. Full sun to part shade is the recommended sun exposure, though it well set more fruit when given more sun. It appreciates acidic soil, though it is open to a variety of soil tilths. It is crucial to plant at least 2 winterberries for pollination to take effect. Without fruit set, what’s the point?! The cultivar ‘Sunset’ has been around for a few decades, and its pollinator is ‘Southern Gentleman’. With a vigorous spreading habit and potential to reach 6 – 8’ tall, this selection will certainly make a statement in any landscape.Bradford Robertson Color Garden
Codiaeum variegatum ‘Mammy’/ Croton

A popular houseplant commonly used to spice up a room, it is currently growing in the Color Garden and has been since early summer. It’s vivid and rich foliage coloration lends an unlikely, but uniquely festive and attractive punch when paired with mums and pumpkins. ‘Mammy’ is among the shorter cultivars and boasts twisted foliage of red, yellow, dark green, and orange. The contrast between the dark green and the other, brighter colors, creates an intense and stunning effect. With more sun exposure, that intensity is increased, though, the color is quite vivid when grown in part shade, too. Native to Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, and the Caribbean, it is often seen planted in groupings or as a hedge in tropical climates such as Florida, Southern California, and Hawaii.

Low maintenance, though not very tolerant of wet soils, crotons are in the Euphorbiacea family, the same as Poinsettias, and contain a milky sap that is poisonous and will irritate the skin. It was once used in the outdated medical practice of purging-not recommended. If you own a croton and are a cat parent, this could be a reason for your cat’s vomiting. Keep it out of reach for the health of your feline friends.

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