Pinky Winky vs. Vanilla Strawberry
8 years ago
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Does your Pinky Winky or Vanilla Strawberry turn reddish-pink ?
Comments (2)Pinky Winkys First they start out white, in about 3-4 weeks they start turning pink to red. You should have flowers that are all 3 colors if they sent you the right plants. They are beautiful....See MorePinky Winky and Vanilla Strawberry question
Comments (7)The Pinky will get quite large and is a very upright grower. The Vanilla I just got this year in a 5 gallon pot and is supposed to be a couple feet smaller than the Limelight. One of the main reasons it appealed to me. The buds were very upright until lately in full bloom. Defentily flopped. I read a 5 year study on many Paniculuta Hydrangeas. Both of these were included in it. They tried many different pruning techniques to both across the years. The Pinky likes a medium to hard prune and the Vanilla likes only a light pruning or it will flop. I enjoy hard pruning my Limelights for the extra large blooms and did not learn this about the Vanilla Strawberry until after I purchased it. Here is a picture right after I bought the Vanilla. Here is a promo pic of the Vanilla. Notice you can not see their hands. Because they are holding up the blooms...LOL... Here is some pics of it recently Here is a pic of my Pinky Winky...See MoreMultiple Stemmed Small Tree / Shrub
Comments (25)Since you are in Chicago, you could take a wander around the Chicago Botanical Garden along with some good nurseries to get some ideas, and you would be able to judge fall color if you go this weekend. I often look up plants on the Missouri Botanical Garden's plant finder website while I am wandering to see if its size and habit will work in my space. I try to consider long term appeal - flowers, fall color, overall plant shape and structure, and winter silhouette in a spot like yours. Check disease resistance, and if you have Japanese beetles or other insects that can cause issues, see how badly they effect the plants. From what others have said on GW, there seems to be some range of soils in the Chicago area from sandy to those with quite a bit of clay. What's yours like? Have you had a soil test done so you know the soil pH? That will effect what will grow well. Also, is there any chance you could post a photo of a larger view such as from the curb or across the street so we can see the entire front of the house and the property from side to side? Your inspiration photo shows a much larger space with the tree set farther from the house, and I wonder if your small tree/shrub might be better placed farther from the house also. Would the bed look better if extended forward to the outer edge of the walkway and with a wider spot for the tree as in the inspiration photo? Some ideas to consider: Tree form Hydrangea paniculata (panicle hydrangea) has a several month season of bloom and I like the dried flowers in winter as well. You could get one and train it through pruning to be multistemmed and it would be less expensive than buying a tree form one which is usually single trunked. Look at the larger ones like Limelight and Pinky Winky, and consider if you want stiffer stems that hold the flowers more upright or a more weeping form. Also look at the shape, color, and density of the flower panicles since they vary from almost rounded and lacy to dense and conical. There are many photos on the Hydrangea forum. (Pinky Winky vs Vanilla Strawberry and Pinky Winky vs Quickfire and Limelight) If you would consider a single stem, that would be a great spot for one of the smaller, disease resistant crabapples such as Sparkling Sprite, Sargent, Pink Princess, Firebird or Adirondack. All of those I listed should stay within 15' and have excellent disease resistance, though some other crabs are disease prone or much larger, so choose carefully. Be sure to set it far enough from the house to accommodate width. Look at some of the smaller magnolias such as Ann, Betty, Jane, and Susan (all from the Girls collection bred at the National Arboretum in the 1950s) which tend bloom late enough so that they don't get zapped by late spring frosts. In addition to spring flowers, I enjoy the winter look of pale bark and large silvery fuzzy buds. There are others in the series as well (Pinky, Randi, Judy, and Ricki) but I've never seen them offered. Check out some of the smaller Magnolia stellata (star magnolia) such as 'Waterlily' and smaller M. x loebneri such as 'Leonard Messel'. In my garden Leonard Messel blooms late enough to not get hit by spring frosts and has gorgeous clear yellow fall color as well as the blooms and winter attributes. I don't grow the others, so don't know about fall color. They may get to 20', but my LM at ~10 years old hasn't yet hit 10', so it would be quite a number of years. Some of the star and Loebner magnolias get bigger so be sure to check on MOBOT listed above. Plant tags tend to give size at 5-10 years. Japanese tree lilac (Syringa reticulata) 'Ivory Silk' has creamy spring flowers and pretty bark. Be sure you like the scent of the flowers since it isn't the same as regular lilacs. Some of the larger Viburnums may work there, though would need pruning to be more tree-like. Spring flowers, great fall color. I like Indianagardengirl's suggestion of Autumn Brilliance, though it may get larger than you want. I'd research to see if there are smaller serviceberries (or if you can pull it away from the house more and use a larger plant like this.) In some areas they may be disease prone, but where they aren't they are stunning - spring flowers and lightly colored spring foliage just as the buds open, berries that the birds love, and gorgeous fall color. I like the winter look as well. Before looking seriously at Logan's suggestion of Japanese maples, see how they do in your area. Where I am, some of the hardier types do OK in city heat islands, but only a very few are hardy enough here in my more rural setting, and they may get killed back in harsh winters even in cities. You don't want an easily damaged tree in such a prominent spot. You will also need to choose a cultivar that stays small - many get much bigger than 15'. Not multistemmed, but interesting form. For your evergreens, be sure you like the smell of boxwoods before planting them near the door and window. Some folks find the scent unappealing. How far is the window above the ground? As Embothrium said, you don't need to cover up the foundation, so low-growing evergreens such as perennials could work as well as shrubs there. As mad gallica commented, with a south-facing exposure here, many broad-leafed evergreens will winter burn (Leucothoe, box, Rhododendrons, Pieris/andromeda, etc) so you may be restricted to perennials or conifers. The low conifers in your inspiration photo around the tree look to be low junipers....See MoreH paniculata cultivar with the strongest wood
Comments (45)Ed, yeah, that new one would probably look good on a container but it would also work great in my neck of the woods where I have little space for plants that need shade and too much sun! But I am workig on adding some trees to get more shade; they just take a while to grow! Hee hee hee! Ontario, I am actually not too surprised that the information is hard to come by. The problem is that you would need to get a large inventory of each of all the varieties of paniculatas in order to have good average and reliable indicators. Then you would need to measure changes yearly, as the shrubs grow too. Only plant nurseries have the high number of shrubs needed to get this info from so many plants but, they are interested in selling plants and have only a few varieties of paniculatas, so... there goes the ability to take annual measurements as the plants get older. Wholesalers probably carry more diverse inventory of paniculatas but they too want to get rid of their inventory asap. Large gardens maintained by cities might be a source but they may have limited inventory, sometimes only a handful of different paniculata varieties. Maybe you can ask in the forum to see if people will post their info on their own paniculatas. You can then collect it the info every year? But yes, that would take forever. Sigh.... Not a good idea either... :o(...See MoreRelated Professionals
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