By colorful I mean yellow, mauve and orange and that’s the first three from the list of shrubs and small trees compiled by Mike McGroarty from Mike’s Backyard Nursery. He is a great fan of maples which he does sell from his nursery, but I have quoted from his article purely for the description of the plants and the pictures.
Your yard should have a sequence of color starting in spring and taking you on a journey of color and joy throughout the year.? I?m going to start by showing you a few things that will really wake up your yard in early spring.
Lynnwood Gold Forsythia.
A lot of people don?t like Forsythia, but they are one of the first plants in the spring to flower and they are tough as nails.? Some people keep them trimmed tight, others plant them out in the yard where they have enough room to just open up and spray.
PJM Dwarf Rhododendron
PJM Dwarf Rhododendron bloom about a week or 10 days after Forsythia so they too are very early spring and they bloom prolifically.?? They are hardy, easy to grow and care for and do well in colder zones, zone 5 for sure.? A lot of people confuse this plant with Azalea because it looks more like an Azalea than a Rhododendron.? But it?s in the Rhododendron family and is considered a dwarf Rhododendron.? Right now I have a few of these at Mike?s Plant Farm, but my neighbor Richard has a lot of them and his are bigger.
Orange Dream Japanese Maple
Wow!? That?s all I can say about this Orange Dream Japanese Maple.? The spring color is spectacular.? We had this big pile of dirt at the nursery that we decided to turn into a landscape planting and I ended putting four Japanese maples in the planting because I couldn?t decide.? But Orange Dream was one of the first to make the cut!
I am a keen gardener and so created Garden Pics and Tips for people who love gardens and enjoy great pictures of plants and gardens. Also covered are practical tips on all aspects of gardening.
