3 From Sooner Plant Farm in May 2018.
Later replaced with 3 from Newman's Nursery in July 2018.
Photos
Expectations:
A fantastic low plant that stays dense and glossy. I was happy to see they are sold here and grow well in this climate. They like dry conditions, but seemed to need a lot of watering especially to start.
Every third year cut to the ground to keep them tidier. They will take shade.
This is what they looked like at the end of October in Connecticut:
Here are some other looks at how Rhus aromatica did in my old garden:
And here, looking great at the park on Dancing Ground in summer:
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| Fragrant sumacs lining my old driveway |
Here are some other looks at how Rhus aromatica did in my old garden:
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| This is what 'Grow-Low' looked like in my CT garden and in a long curve planting at the Arnold Arboretum. |
And here, looking great at the park on Dancing Ground in summer:
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| The park on Dancing Ground has them ringing the mowed lawn and they look fantastic, even unkempt with weeds growing in them. |
Experiences:
Originally I got three big leafy plants in spring 2018 from Sooner Plant Farm, and they were gorgeous, full and glossy.
Those were planted in the dining room window garden. They seemed to do well in the all day shade there, and were putting on new growth.
But in June 2018 two began getting noticeable and sudden branch dieback -- verticillium wilt, I'm pretty sure. I cut out the problem areas but then it developed in other branches right away. The more I cut away the more these shrubs declined and looked awful. Sadly, all three came out before mid July.
Two had to be discarded, but I potted up the third as yet unaffected one. I didn't want to introduce the wilt fungus in another garden spot, but I ended up planting it at the foot of the 'Major Wheeler' honeysuckle along the side fence, and it did great! No wilt at all, and very glossy and green.
Those were planted in the dining room window garden. They seemed to do well in the all day shade there, and were putting on new growth.
But in June 2018 two began getting noticeable and sudden branch dieback -- verticillium wilt, I'm pretty sure. I cut out the problem areas but then it developed in other branches right away. The more I cut away the more these shrubs declined and looked awful. Sadly, all three came out before mid July.
Two had to be discarded, but I potted up the third as yet unaffected one. I didn't want to introduce the wilt fungus in another garden spot, but I ended up planting it at the foot of the 'Major Wheeler' honeysuckle along the side fence, and it did great! No wilt at all, and very glossy and green.
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| 2023, doing well. Showy in fall, but color is variable each year |
Very leafy and spreading. With all that leaf structure they really struggled after transplant and the leaves looked limp and stressed the first year, but they recovered in year two.
I put them in along the side of the garage, behind the redbud. They are showy foliage plants that fill that low space better than the festuca grasses that were originally there could. They are in deep shade half the day from the garage, then sun in the afternoons.
I put them in along the side of the garage, behind the redbud. They are showy foliage plants that fill that low space better than the festuca grasses that were originally there could. They are in deep shade half the day from the garage, then sun in the afternoons.
They're doing great along the garage wall, more open and leggier where there is more sun, more full and dense near the fence where there is more shade.
The sumac at the foot of the Major Wheeler honeysuckle is doing well too, but colors differently than the ones by the garage in fall, usually redder, although they all have highly variable color, different each year. This is the last of the Sooner Farm trio, the only one that seemed to escape verticillium wilt once I transplanted it.