Another New & Exciting Plant in our Plant Trials!

It sure is getting hot out there! With the heat taking over, its the perfect time to spotlight this heat tolerant cultivar.

Spotlight On:
Illusion Garnet Lace Sweet Potato Vine
New for Spring 2012
Known as Ipomoea batatas, this low maintenance landscape plant is pet friendly. Its trailing habit makes it great in mixed containers, window boxes, hanging baskets and landscapes. With red, attractive foliage, it grows to 6-10" and trails up to 48", needing spacing of 12 - 18". Ipomoeas can be overwhelming, but you can cut back or remove stems at any time. They also make great annual ground covers. Needs full to partial sun and is hardy to 35 degrees F.

New & Exciting in Summer Color

Another day, another new cultivar! You can find all spotlighted plants in our plant trials.

Spotlight on:
Coreopsis 'Salsa'
New for Spring 2012
Its common name Tickseed, this is part of a brand new series of annual varieties called the Coloropsis Series. All members of this series are highly floriferous, bearing masses of 1-2", single flowers with toothed petals. These plants pack a huge punch of color in the landscape or can be used in containers for added texture and color. Its easy to grow and perfect for the beginner gardener. One plant will provide you with long-lasting cut flower bouquets all summer long. It attracts butterflies and needs full sun -- also deer resistant.

New & Exciting in Summer Color

With summer on its way and summer weather already here, Strange's has begun our Summer Plant Trials 2011! Visit our plant trials located in the flower beds along W. Broad St. and you can check out hundreds of new cultivars that we receive as samples. Check back here as we post more information about what you can find in those beds. Here's our first feature:


Spotlight on:
Pink Lemonade Suncatcher Petunia
New for Spring 2012
This beauty grabs attention in large baskets and gardens. A full and trailing flower, the beautiful yellow-pink color lasts well into Fall. It prefers full to partial sun, regular watering, and can grow to 8 - 12".

Summer Blooming Flowers

Sorry for the delay in posts -- cold weather is not our favorite thing, so like nature, we like to hibernate from December to March. :)

Now that summer is coming up, its time to start getting ready for summer blooming plants. Below is just a handful of what we carry at Strange's Garden Center.

Butterfly Bushes
Butterfly Bushes (Buddleia) are known for their ability to attract beautiful butterflies to the garden. They require full sun and well-drained soil, and are very tolerant of urban pollution and alkaline soil. Keep an eye on them, as they can get out of hand and spread more than you'd like. Butterfly bushes are generally pest free, except for spider mites during drought or stress. These bushes should be deadheaded from time to time. We have several varieties, available in 1 Gallon or 3 Gallon.



Crepe Myrtles
Crape myrtles are perhaps one of the easiest and showiest plants to grow. The vibrant, colorful blooms in June, July and August, make other plants pale by comparison. Crape myrtles come in many different colors and sizes now, everything from dwarf varieties that don't get any taller than 5 ft, to tall standards 20 to 25 ft high. The care is identical for all kinds and colors. They need full sun, the more sun the better, and thrive in hot weather, also tolerating dry soil once established.


Echinacea Magnus
Echinacea Magnus is a drought tolerant, long blooming perennial that attracts bees and butterflies, but is not attractive to deer. Native to Virginia, it was named Perennial Plant of the Year in 1998! This beautiful plant blooms over & over, starting in June. Flower heads are flat instead of recurved like many other selections, making the blooms look bigger and brighter. New flowers are vivid in color and as they age they will fade to a softer shade of pink.



Bombshell Hydrangea
A must for your garden! With a compact growth habit, 'Bombshell' is incredibly well branched. Covered in white flowers against medium green to dark green foliage from early Summer until frost, this cultivar has more flowers per plant than any other Hydrangea paniculata. With its long bloom time and compact habit, 'Bombshell' is a significantly improved plant in all respects. It is low maintenance with little to no pruning needed to keep it compact. A remarkable show in most garden settings.

As always, please check with the location for availability.

Festive Winter Color

Yuletide Camellias are little known holiday bloomers that pack a real festive punch! Reaching heights of seven to ten feet, these evergreen shrubs can be pruned to satisfy any landscape. I'm personally impressed by their brave show of color that begins in late October and continues unashamedly through the holiday season! You can count on these fresh sprigs of bright red blooms with contrasting yellow faces cheering my dinner guests. They produce such an impressive profusion of buds, you'll never miss clipping a few to accent a centerpiece.

Camellias come in a variety of colors, bloom times, bloom season and sizes. As evergreen as can be, the Yuletide variety is one my personal favorites as it best suits hedging and screening, not to mention all of those beautiful flowers! Where else can you find such a large screening shrub with a dazzling display when everything else is going dormant? However, the most important thing to remember when planting any camellia is to keep them happy in the shade! Too much sun, heat and little water means instant leaf burn, petal wilt and death for camellias!

All in all, I'm itching with anticipation to put one of these fall and winter blooming camellias on my wish list. My birthday is in January after all... Now all I have to do is decide which one! White, pink, red, variegated stripes... But Yuletide is definitely high on the list! Visit our site for more information on Yuletide, as well as other blooming camellias!

Landscaping with Loropetalum

When it comes to Loropetalum, I tend to get one of three different questions from my customers.

1) Do you have that purple plant from the Southern Living magazines?
2) I need something evergreen, with color for full sun that blooms! Got any ideas?
3) What the heck is that dark purple bush with pink flowers on it in your parking lot? It's awesome!

Normally, before they're through the first three words I'm leading them towards the Loropetalums on the lot. Commonly known as Chinese Fringe Flower, this unique bloomer begins flowering in spring and will continue through summer until frost. However, with the extremely hot and dry conditions we experienced here in Richmond this past summer, the fuchsia blooms tend to wilt away and return when temperatures cool in September. As a new homeowner and beginning landscaper, I am looking forward to incorporating this semi-evergreen in my design!

Recently, horticulturists have manipulated the habit of this shrub to create a variety of versatile applications. Burgundy Loropetalum is appropriate as a backdrop or large specimen piece as it grows five to six feet in diameter! However, the Purple Pixie variety doesn't get more than 24 inches tall and spreads to five feet wide making it a perfect ground cover! I love to see a sassy purple Loropetalum drooping leisurely in a container with bright yellow pansies too!

Learn more about zone, fertilizer needs and much more from our site at Strange's Garden Center.

To Seed or Not To Seed

Ryan's (@rsmartt) gardening saga continues.....

To Seed or not To Seed?

Every year, before I start my vegetable garden, I ask myself….should I use seeds or buy existing plants?

I see pros and cons to both.

When you use already grown plants, it’s as easy as digging a hole, planting them outdoors and taking care of them. However, it’s more expensive…and I personally feel like it’s cheating. I mean, all the hard work was already done for you, right?

When you use seeds, there’s an inexplicable pleasure in watching something grow out of the ground, and then enjoying the fruits of your labor. However, it’s much more work. Sometimes you have to start indoors (which could become a problem when you have a curious 3-year-old like I do) and transfer them outside. Plus the elements (and the critters) can be tough on a tiny sprout.

This year, I’ve done both. My tomatoes and peppers were plants when I bought them…my spicy greens and lima beans were seeds.

I also just planted some carrot and beet seeds I purchased at Strange’s. However, they’re not quite ready to pop out of the ground and deal with this Richmond heat wave.

Check out Week 7 of Garden Wars!