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CREATE A COLORFUL YEAR-ROUND LANDSCAPE
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Create a ColorfulYear-RoundLandscape
To fill a landscape with color, texture and interest year-round, select plants that provide multiple seasons of beauty or use a combination of shrubs with different seasons of bloom and leaf color. Kick off the growing season with color and look for ways to continue color throughout the growing season and into fall and winter.
Start the season with vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis), which blooms in late winter or early spring. This large shrub grows well in full sun or light shade and moist soil with yellow, orange or red flowers and yellow to orange fall color.
Include the adaptable chokeberry (Aronia) in shrub plantings, mixed borders or rain gardens and enjoy the four seasons of beauty this shrub provides. The season will start with white flowers that eventually give way to red or black fruit that persists through much of winter. The glossy green leaves turn a brilliant red in fall, setting the landscape ablaze with color.
Boost the landscape’s fragrance with Koreanspice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii). The red buds open to fragrant white, snowball flowers. The birds will enjoy the black fruits that form, and we can all enjoy the colorful fall foliage display.
Add winter interest with the horizontal branching of doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum). This growth habit, combined with white spring flowers, summer foliage and fall color, make it a year-round asset.
Continue the parade of bloom with dwarf fothergilla (Fothergilal gardenia). The fragrant white flowers are a favorite of early season pollinators and hummingbirds. The blue-green leaves turn a combination of yellow, orange and purple in the fall.
Don’t overlook a traditional favorite, the native red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea). Its spring flowers support pollinators, and the birds love the fruit. Enjoy this plant year-round with its flowers, fruit, fall color and brilliant red stems that brighten the winter garden.
Use the larger native pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) for moist, shady locations. The showy white flowers are followed by bluish-black fruit in summer that attract songbirds. Once the reddish-purple fall leaves drop, the horizontal branching takes center stage.
Brighten sunny, dry locations with ninebark (Physocarpus). Colorful cultivars of this adaptable native plant provide season-long color. Spring flowers, colorful summer and fall foliage, and attractive peeling bark make this a great choice for most landscapes.
Don’t forget about early blooming azaleas, forsythias and fragrant lilacs. Their colorful flowers are a welcome sight in the spring landscape. Include them in plantings where their colorful flowers can be enjoyed, then extend the flower season with summer and fall blooming hydrangeas. Whether looking for a sun or shade lover, we are sure to find one or more hydrangeas that fit our garden design.
Add a few evergreens to provide greenery year-round. Hardy green velvet boxwood ((Buxus x ‘Green Velvet’) is a favorite for full sun and partly shaded locations. Just provide a bit of shelter from drying winter wind and sun. Plant junipers in hot, dry locations; there are a variety of sizes and shapes. Last, but not least, is arborvitae. It’s a great choice for full sun to light shade and moist soil locations. Plan now to plant this spring and enjoy yearround landscape beauty.
by Melinda Myers
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener’s Handbook and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV and radio program. Myers is also a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. For more information, visit MelindaMyers.com.
LEARN MORE…
…about creating a colorful landscape on May 10 at 6:30 p.m. by joining garden expert and columnist Melinda Myers for a free webinar, followed by Q&A. Register at Tinyurl.comSpringFloweringShrubs or visit Pasquesi.com for more information.
Nature’s Virus Killer
Copper can stop a virus before it starts
By Doug Cornell
Scientists have discovered a natural way to kill germs fast.
Now thousands of people are using it against viruses and bacteria that cause illness.
Colds and many other illnesses start when viruses get in your nose and start multiplying. If you don’t stop them early, they spread and take over.
In hundreds of studies, EPA and university researchers confirm copper kills microbes almost instantly just by touch.
That’s why ancient Greeks and Egyptians used copper to purify water and heal wounds. They didn’t know about microbes like viruses and bacteria, but now we do.
“The antimicrobial activity of copper is well established.” National Institutes of Health.
Scientists say the high conductance of copper disrupts the electrical balance in a microbe cell by touch and destroys it in seconds.
Some hospitals tried copper for touch surfaces like faucets and doorknobs. This cut the spread of MRSA and other illnesses by over half, which saved lives.
The strong scientific evidence gave inventor Doug Cornell an idea. He made a smooth copper probe with a tip to fit in the bottom of the nostril, where viruses collect.
When he felt a tickle in his nose like a cold about to start, he rubbed the copper gently in his nose for 60 seconds. “It worked!” he exclaimed. “The cold never got going. That was 2012. I have had zero colds since then.” “We don’t make product health claims,” he said, “so I can’t say cause and effect. But we know copper is antimicrobial.”
He asked relatives and friends to try it. They reported the same thing, so he patented CopperZap® and put it on the market.
Soon hundreds of people had tried it. Feedback was 99% positive if they used copper within 1-3 hours of the first sign of bad germs, like a tickle in the nose or a scratchy throat.
Users say:
“It works! I love it!”
“I can’t believe how good my nose feels.”
“Is it supposed to work that fast?”
“Sixteen flights, not a sniffle!”
“Best sleep I’ve had in years!”
The handle is curved and textured to increase contact. Copper can kill germs picked up on fingers and hands after you touch things other people have touched.
The EPA says copper works just as well when tarnished.
Dr. Bill Keevil led one of the science teams. He placed millions of viruses on a copper surface. “They started to die literally as soon as they touched it.”
Copper kills viruses almost instantly
Customers report using copper against:
Colds Flu Covid Sinus trouble Cold sores Fever blisters Canker sores Strep Night stuffiness Morning congestion Skin infections Infected sores Infection in cuts or wounds Thrush Warts Styes Ringworm Threats to compromised immunity
CopperZap® is made in the USA of pure copper. It has a 90-day full money back guarantee. Price $79.95. Get $10 off each CopperZap with code NATA28. Go to www.CopperZap.com or call tollfree 1-888-411-6114. Buy once, use forever.
Statements are not intended as product health claims and have not been evaluated by the FDA. Not claimed to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
