Photos of 21 broadleaf evergreens for 5a/b garden

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:14 pm

Hi, in total I have a little over 20 broadleaf species going into winter totally green.
We had around a week when temps barely stayed above freezing during the day.
Some of the species will have second or third winter.
Some will be having their first year in Riga and Zone 5 winter.
Fingers crossed.

Rough Horsetail

Aucuba japonica and Viburnum, not sure which one

Eucalyptus Gunni

Rhodies

Prunus laurocerasus 'Novita' - cherry laurel and a rhody

Osmanthus x burkwoodii

Several species, the most interesting - Mahonia aquifolium, Hebe and Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress'

Cacti - I hope it's a hardy kind of Opuntia (I'm not even sure it's Opuntia)

A row of Yuccas - two kinds.

Ilex

Leucothoe fontanesiana and Pachysandra terminalis and Baltic Ivy

Ilex and Euonymous

Christmas rose and Prunus laurocerasus 'Novita'

Bergenia

Pieris Japonica and Prunus and a Rhody

Buxus

Cotoneaster dammeri "Skogholm"

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:14 am

Nice! How does aucuba japonica and cherry laurel do for you there?

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 10:08 am

This will be the first year for Acuba Japonica.
I read good reviews/reports about its hardiness and ordered three from Netherlands.

Cherry laurel Otto Luyken - it's a proven success.
Mostly around 1m high in Riga (Latvia) and around 50 cm high in my garden (3 years old).
I've seen one higher specimen closer to the sea (slightly milder climate) - around 2m high.

I've noticed that the most crucial thing for Cherry laurel is to keep it away from spring sun till the soil
unfreezes, so leaves don't burn.

Cherry laurel Novita - it's a new addition to my allotment.
I bought 4 of them. 3 are at my place.
One I planted further up North in Zone 4b.

The spring will tell the story.
Here is my Zone 4b experiment. All planted this spring.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 6:58 pm

Cool! What's about Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress'? How many winters outside?

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 2:36 am

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:Cool! What's about Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress'? How many winters outside?

First winter.
I hesitated buying it. It had autumn sales price at EUR 1.50.
I don't expect it to take our winters.
And I have no intentions to provide any other protection than mulch and a shade
from a spring sun.

The only evergreen I'm protecting is eucalyptus.
It grew from 60cm to over 2.5m in one summer.

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 5:30 pm

They look great!
At my Oregon place, all easy. In Oklahoma, most of those do fine. I have lost Aucuba before when not protected.

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 1:05 am

TerdalFarm wrote:They look great!
At my Oregon place, all easy. In Oklahoma, most of those do fine. I have lost Aucuba before when not protected.

What kind of protection that would be form Aucuba?
Heavy mulching?
Or full cover?
Did you loose it because of sun burns (frozen soil+sun), drying wind or just frost?

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:55 am

I suspect the sun plus cold; it was under a deciduous tree that lost its leaves. At 36 oN, winter sun can be strong. Plus, it was small so roots not deep.

There are others around here, but most are sighted to get winter shade. And are larger.

andym · Post by **andym** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 2:43 pm

Some nice young plants you are growing.

Many I grow in my zone 8a climate. I suspect that Mahonia "soft caress" will not survive being a min zone7a plant. I also found that Aucuba Japonica did better in shade and coloured well in those conditions. This is one plant that reduces the moisture in its leaves to counter the freezing action. Mine always looked dead with drooping leaves only to regain shape when temperatures recovered.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:49 pm

DarkNight wrote: What kind of protection that would be form Aucuba? Heavy mulching? Or full cover? Did you loose it because of sun burns (frozen soil+sun), drying wind or just frost?

I have the aucuba which has been growing for 25 years at my place. It is a successfully growing plant which gets a very light protection during each winter during these 25 years growth. Now it is 1.5-1.7 meter height shrub.

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:12 am

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:
DarkNight wrote: What kind of protection that would be form Aucuba? Heavy mulching? Or full cover? Did you loose it because of sun burns (frozen soil+sun), drying wind or just frost?
I have the aucuba which has been growing for 25 years at my place. It is a successfully growing plant which gets a very light protection during each winter during these 25 years growth. Now it is 1.5-1.7 meter height shrub.

Very impressive indeed. Do you cover it with something or just mulch it?

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 2:44 pm

I'll be interested to hear how your stuff does over the winter. My place last winter (USDA zone 4b) I lost cherry laurel first year, all growth above snow on Aucuba, any Mahonia I've tried, most types of Ilex; basically only Rhododendron (really tough types), Kalmia, Buxus, and a few others (maybe, can't recall genera off hand), have been really evergreen in zone 5a or 4b type winters here. Not sure how your zone compares, we'll hit close to or below -30C in a cold year and maybe -20C in a really warm year.

Anyway, keep us informed!

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 7:49 pm

DarkNight wrote: Very impressive indeed. Do you cover it with something or just mulch it?

A little bit of a wheat straw and some polyethylene above the straw. A snow makes an insulation completed

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:29 pm

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:
DarkNight wrote: Very impressive indeed. Do you cover it with something or just mulch it?
A little bit of a wheat straw and some polyethylene above the straw. A snow makes an insulation completed

OK, thank's for a tip.
I'm a relative beginner. Started 3 years ago.
The first year it was the safe bet - Baltic Ivy (Hedera Helica) and Buxus.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:10 am

Please find a few pictures of the BLE I have being growing for a while in my garden.

Aucuba:

Aucuba a single fruit

Green aucuba

Fatsia et al:

Fatsia Fall 2013

Fatsia Fall 2015

andym · Post by **andym** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:07 pm

Nice plants Igor.... is that green Aucuba a revert? Your Fatsia Japonica looks happy, have you tried Polycarpa... it is supposedly hardier than Japonica?

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 3:42 pm

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:Please find a few pictures of the BLE I have being growing for a while in my garden.

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Wow. Fatsia as well?
How do you protect the larger ones?
Plastic? Mulch? Roots only? Or the whole plant?
Have you thought about Edith Bogue Magnolia?

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 5:00 pm

Have any of you tried Aucuba japonica borealis? I always thought it was worth a try in zone 5, but haven't seen it tried!

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 5:10 am

DarkNight wrote: Wow. Fatsia as well? How do you protect the larger ones? Plastic? Mulch? Roots only? Or the whole plant? Have you thought about Edith Bogue Magnolia?

I protect the whole plants digging the roots from one side and laying them down as low as it possible. Than I put a good layer of a wheat straw and plastic above.
I have one specimen of an unknown variety of Magnolia grandiflora which will be overwintering it's first winter in my garden. Protection is the same - a wheat straw and plastic.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 7:54 am

Paul Ont wrote:Have any of you tried Aucuba japonica borealis? I always thought it was worth a try in zone 5, but haven't seen it tried!

I've never heard about this subspecies of Aucuba japonica. Most likely our British buddies have a chance to try this plant...

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Dec 07, 2015 8:03 am

andym wrote:Nice plants Igor.... is that green Aucuba a revert? Your Fatsia Japonica looks happy, have you tried Polycarpa... it is supposedly hardier than Japonica?

Hi Andy, I tried to find what kind of Aucuba with a dark green foliage I have but failed. The only thing I've learned it is a mail plant 'cos once my the spotted one and the green one were blooming a few fruits had been appeared first time at the spotted plant.
As for Fatsia polycarpa... You know Kazakhstan will be a last country before Mongolia where this plant would be imported in. Most of the plants I have been growing in my garden were bought or were collected outside of Kazakhstan... Unfortunately it's true.

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 6:13 am

Paul Ont wrote:Have any of you tried Aucuba japonica borealis? I always thought it was worth a try in zone 5, but haven't seen it tried!

There are plenty of evergreen Baltic Ivy - Hedera Helix var Baltica climbing up to 6-7m high in Riga in even further East.
Riga is interesting because isotherm -5 is crossing Riga.
I know one place in Western Riga where Baltic Ivy grows in a forest naturally.
I can send you some to Canda.
The most important thing for them is very fertile soil at least 0.5m deep 1m2 wide and a shade from spirng sun and dry winds.
Once roots get established very deeply beyond the point of winter freezing, it will start climbing up.

Another supersuccess over time can be Euonymous.
Same rules apply.

The third one a total success in Riga is Pachysandra, as a ground cover.
Ten years ago, we had very few pulblic places with Pachysandra plantations.

Now it is now all over the place.

These 3 + Rhodies give 100% tropical feel at winter, because it's green everywhere,
I'm at work now. When I get back home, I'll post a picture, so you get the idea.

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 10:03 am

About 500m from my apartment there is this evergreen. I have no idea what it is.
But I want one, because it's been there for years.

Then in Riga LU botanical garden we have this evergreen oasis made up from
4 species - Euonymous 5-6 high climber, Baltic Ivy around 2m high,
pachysandra and Rhodies.

Then I want to get Ephhedras (evergreen)

Then I found in Western Riga Euonymous around 3m high.
Just to prove that in zone 5 it's a stable climber if given shade and protection from winds.

And this one is from Riga zoo - they have bamboos for many years.
Mulching is around 30cm deep. Checked with my hands. Stable dwarf evergreen.
Would someone be kind enough to tell me what species is it?

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Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Sun Dec 13, 2015 10:07 am

Cool! I'd say that the bamboo is probably dwarf whitestripe bamboo, Pleioblastus fortunei, which is a solid zone 5 type plant!

Very cool to see a similar zone on a different continent.

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Sun Dec 13, 2015 3:08 pm

Paul Ont wrote:Cool! I'd say that the bamboo is probably dwarf whitestripe bamboo, Pleioblastus fortunei, which is a solid zone 5 type plant!

Very cool to see a similar zone on a different continent.

I know, that's why I'm closely following your posts.

Kalmia Latifolia was one super hardy evergreen I never came across before.
I still have to find and buy Kalmia Latifolia and two kinds of evergreen Viburnums.
I can't find it anywhere in Europe in a pot. I can only order seeds from USA.

Will see.

Corrosion · Post by **Corrosion** » Sun Jan 17, 2016 3:23 am

Hey, I believe that low hedge is ligustrum vulgare, pretty tough and robust plant to create thick hedges. Needs constant pruning to maintain its thickness and shape

DarkNight · Post by **DarkNight** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 3:07 am

Corrosion wrote:Hey, I believe that low hedge is ligustrum vulgare, pretty tough and robust plant to create thick hedges. Needs constant pruning to maintain its thickness and shape

Thx, indeed it must be ligustrum.
It is semi evergreen in Riga