Living in the heart of Virginia wine country has many benefits. My favorite vineyard is literally just a skip from my office door. While I most often lean towards the reds, a crisp Chardonnay on a hot day is hard to beat. Crisp and refreshing certainly describes the Proven Winners introduction Chardonnay Pearls® deutzia. The white pearl buds appear above the clean, chartreuse foliage like grapes on the vine and are slightly fragrant when fully open ...   >> read article

Chinese fringe tree (Chionanthus retusus) is a small deciduous tree or large shrub native to China, Korea and Japan. Do not confuse fringe tree with Chinese fringe flower (Loropetalum chinense) or our own native fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) which grows very shrub-like, and is fragrant.   >> read article

In Andrea Wulf’s fascinating book Founding Gardeners, we discover that George Washington was not only “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” but he was also the new nation’s first serious tree hugger. One of his all-time favorite trees was the majestic tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), a species native to the vast hardwood forests east of the Mississippi.   >> read article

Every garden has shady areas, and gardeners are often in doubt about which shade perennial plants to use. Chosen by the Perennial Plant Association, the 2012 Perennial Plant of the Year may provide the answer with ‘Jack Frost’ brunnera (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’). This introduction was discovered in the well-known perennial nursery of Walters Gardens and was introduced in 2000. These perennials are treasured for their shade tolerance and lovely powder blue clustered flowers ...   >> read article

Most all of us are drawn to golden plants in the garden, and Choisya ‘Sundance’ is one of my favorites. This mounding shrub has soft golden leaves, white flowers in early summer, and (to my complete surprise) has been evergreen in my garden for several years. Don’t let the delicate foliage fool you — it’s a tough plant to kill. Young plants are very attractive and useful in containers and hanging baskets because of their naturally arching and weeping habit ...   >> read article