![]() Add the foliage to its red stems and you have a kaleidoscope of color all year long. Its medium green leaves have sunny yellow variegation. The foliage on the Kaleidoscope Abelia is interesting as it is sophisticated. It makes a great addition to landscapes that are looking for color. This easy to care for is compact, which makes it even more versatile. This is a whole new type of gardening.Medium green leaves, have bright yellow variegation combined with red stems, it is the addition you’ve been looking for! The Kaleidoscope Abelia is a great plant if you are looking for year around color. I'd love to hear your stories – do leave a comment and be sure to state where you are based so we can all glean ideas. Perhaps I have to use fewer broadleaf evergreens and more deciduous selections like gardeners in the Mid-West and North East do? Rely more on super hardy conifers for evergreen interest? What do you think? Here in Seattle we still have heavy winter rains so looking to more Mediterranean plants isn't the answer either as they would rot in my clay soil. (Our Western hemlocks and Western red cedars are proof of that already). These new weather patterns are NOT historically typical for the Pacific Northwest so our native species will not necessarily thrive in the excessive heat/drought we seem to be experiencing. I know many folks will say that planting natives is the answer but I disagree. I also noted significant damage on evergreen barberry, evergreen viburnum, and sea thrift ( Armeria maritima, an evergreen perennial). The problem with sea thrift is that the brown leaves seem to stay on the plant. Here's a rundown of some key plants, showing you what the damage looks like, what I'm going to do (if anything) and how this may impact future plant choices. So my question – like yours – is "will it live?" My soil is clay but well amended and mulched with arborist chips or Fertil Mulch every April to suppress weeds and conserve moisture. ![]() I'm in Duvall, Washington, which is USDA zone 7 in theory 6b in reality. ![]() I didn't do anything different – but the climate did.įor context, I have a drought tolerant garden with no supplemental water/ irrigation. I guess this is what climate change looks like to the everyday gardener. Indeed many local gardeners are reporting above-average damage on their broadleaf evergreens. (Oddly enough the plants mostly looked OK until the most recent freeeze). We didn't even have that much snow! What had happened?Īfter a quick chat with local horticultural colleagues the consensus seems to be that many of these plants were so stressed by our unusually hot, dry summer (extended periods of 100'f+) and associated drought that they just weren't able to with stand our prolonged December freeze for over a week followed by another deep freeze recently and many plant tissues were therefore destroyed. Many of these plants have been in the garden for 7 years or more so would be considered established. I took a walk around the garden a few days ago, making a mental list of what needed pruning or moving this weekend and was horrified to see so much winter damage on my broadleaf evergreen shrubs and even some evergreen perennials.
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