Learn more about how we care for Lan Su's plant collection from Lan Su Chinese Garden’s Curator of Horticulture, Justin Blackwell:
As many of you who might know, winter is the best time to move plants to a better location within the garden. Some of the Tree peonies (particularly by the “Stone Music” Taihu stone and near the Zig Zag bridge) have been dug and put in pots that will be displayed in the garden in the Spring to show off their spectacular blooms. This not only takes them out of garden beds that are too shady for them, but also will help reduce fungal problems that plague them. Tree peonies remain in the ground in the Scholars’ Courtyard and along the pond near the Lounge Hall.
In their place Sasa hayatae has been planted as a ground cover, a nice slightly variegated ground cover bamboo. Coming soon to these beds Viburnum farreri and nearly identical Viburnum x bodnatense, both adorning pale pink clusters of fragrant blossoms in January and February. Viburnum farreri in particular can be found growing wild along parts of the Great Wall of China and grown for its fruit.
You may notice some small changes in the area of the Rock Mountain and waterfall with the addition of Pleioblasus variegatus — a low growing ground cover mountain bamboo — perfect for the top of the mountain crevices with the pines. Kerria japonica and Equisitum hyemale along the rocky shoreline grow along the water’s edge with ease and will politely spread giving a more lush mature look to the lake shore. Notice also moss and licorice fern harvested from the roofline of the garden’s structures (courtesy of Lan Su’s Facilities team) that soften the edges of some of the shoreline of the pond. Adding moss, ferns, Acorus gramineus and Ficus vine along the shoreline will be an ongoing project.
You may also notice potted plants make their way back into the garden! Cast Iron plants — Aspidistra elatior, Rohdea japonica, Sago palm. We will continue to add and rotate plants for their seasonal interest, so keep an eye out for many more varieties to come!
In preparation for Chinese New Year, the garden’s horticulture staff have been installing bamboo hoop fence to keep visitors out of the open beds of the garden. This fence style is used extensively in Chinese and Japanese Gardens and for the most part will be temporary. The fence in the some locations may remain and replaced as the bamboo begins to split and crack. Also a special Chinese New Year addition are brand new “Stay on the path” signs that keep in with the style of the plant signs. Most of these will go away when our busy Chinese Year season is over.
Lan Su’s Assistant Curator of Horticulture and Greenhouse Manager, Mandi Atkinson, has been busy building new holding tanks for our lotus collection and is about to begin the process of growing mums for November! Stay tuned for these exciting developments.
In closing, thank you for your time and commitment to the garden! I hope our time and commitment to the garden will help you enjoy the different seasons in the garden for years to come!
Learn more about Lan Su Chinese Garden’s Plant Collection at lansugarden.org/plants »
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