NEW ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

LOOMIS CREEK for 8 years has encouraged “adventurous” gardening in the Hudson Valley with great plants, pottery, and horticultural advice. This fall the Loomis Creek boys are starting a really big, new LIFE adventure in the Pacific Northwest. Andrew has accepted a job as editorial director at Timber Press in Portland, OR.  Bob will re-invent himself, west-coast-style again, in both public and private horticulture. Maybe we’ll have some “free” weekends for the first time in a decade!

INFO about the SALE of the nursery and Loomis Creek property will be posted shortly. INQUIRIES to 518-851-9731 or info@loomiscreek.com

We are transplanting ourselves to a new landscape, climate, hardiness zone (USDA Hardiness Zone 8/Sunset Zone 6), and new ways of gardening! We are very excited and energized (terrified, too!) by this big move.

Loomis Creek is sad to share this news with our customers and fans. We really appreciate the support you have shown us over the years and hope we’ve helped you to garden with a new spirit in the Hudson Valley and surrounding region (and electronically wherever you garden).

LABOR DAY WEEKEND PLANT SALE
4 DAYS: Friday-Monday, Sept 3-6 (we will be open on LABOR DAY, Monday, Sept 6).
50% off most plants
35% off most pottery (seconds and chipped pottery 50% OFF)

FALL HOURS AND FINAL CLOSING
Loomis Creek will remain open until Sunday, October 10 (Columbus Day weekend), while we sell down the inventory. Tuesdays-Sundays, 9am-5pm; closed Mondays.

We look forward to seeing you and reminiscing at the nursery this fall.

LOOMIS CREEK is high on Echinacea (coneflower) species and hybrids for their lengthy summertime bloom in the Hudson Valley. We continue to trial many of the new hybrid coneflower colors – yellows, oranges, and reds – to determine which are GREAT garden plants in our region.

Our favorite for the 2010 season is Echinacea HARVEST MOON (‘Matthew Saul’). It is one of the BIG SKY coneflower series introduced by ItSaul Plants in Atlanta, Georgia. HARVEST MOON offers earthy melon to golden orange flowers with overlapping petals around glowing orange cones. We highly rate this coneflower selection for its strong branching, sturdy stems, and profuse bloom.

Loomis Creek Nursery stocks the following coneflowers (with others on the way):

Echinacea pallida – light pink coneflower species

E. paradoxa – yellow coneflower species crossed with E. purpurea to produce new hybrids

E. tennesseensis –upturned dark mauve petals around greenish pink cone (another LCN favorite!)

E. purpurea ‘Ruby Star’ (‘Rubinstern’) – large, flat-topped purple-pink flowerhead

E. purpurea ‘White Swan’ – elegant white flowerheads with orange-brown cones

E. Big Sky ‘Sunrise’ – cheery butter yellow petals surrounding golden cones

LOOMIS CREEK NURSERY is wild about Iris ensata (Japanese iris). This regal iris blooms at the beginning of summer in the Hudson Valley after Siberians (Iris sibirica) and tall bearded (Iris x germanica) have faded.

Iris ensata rewards gardeners with the largest of iris flowers – 5-inch diameter is common with some dinnerplate forms approaching  8 inches. The flowers have been hybridized in Japan for hundreds of years. They were very popular in American estate gardens in the beginning of the 1900′s, but fell out of favor in the Great Depression and following  war with Japan. American hybridizers have introduced many new varieties into the marketplace with diverse flower forms from lovely, refined singles to over-the-top flattened and ruffled forms.

Loomis Creek currently stocks the following Iris ensata varieties and is always expanding its inventory.

‘Activity’ – pale blue with purple veining and centers

‘Darling’ – soft lilac-rose with yellow signals

‘Dramatic Moment’ – large white with pale blue cast and yellow signals

‘Gracieuse’ – white with lilac edges and small yellow centers

‘Oriental Tracery’ – mauve heavily veined purple with purple center

‘Pink Frost’ – soft pink single with yellow signals

‘Soho’ – deep purple single on high-rise 5’ stems; stately

‘Variegata’ – blue-purple flowers; variegated white-edged leaves

Culture: Moist soils (do not prosper in hot, dry conditions); full to part shade; USDA Zone 4-9

Ideal along stream edges and boggy areas.

LOOMIS CREEK loves a good clump of bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis). We interplant them in semi-shade with Polygonatum commutatum (great Solomon’s-seal) and ferns in our moist, wild garden.

Typical Dicentra spectabilis blooms in May with long arching sprays of 1-inch, deep rosy red, heart-shaped flowers that appear pierced in the middle by a white-tipped arrow. Leaves are grayish green (except for the cultivar ‘Gold Heart’ noted below) and much divided projecting an overall ferny appearance in the garden.

This perennial favors a light, consistently moist soil in cool semi-shade. It withers into dormancy quickly during hot, dry summers, so plan for other woodland plants to fill the void.

Loomis Creek Picks::

‘Alba’ (aka ‘Pantaloons’) – a white flowered version of the typical bleeding heart.

‘Gold Heart’ – chartreuse to golden yellow foliage that glows  in woodland settings. Pictured.

LOOMIS CREEK favors native groundcovers in woodland borders. One of our favorites, Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower), is in full bloom right now (a bit ahead of schedule this year!). Foamflowers are commonly found in the woods of eastern North America; they generally form robust clumps, but some varieties spread more aggressively with short runners in spring and fall. A hillside carpet of foamflower (pictured) is sublime!Bottlebrush spikes of starry white flowers rise 8-12 inches above coral bell (heuchera)-like foliage in early spring (late April to mid-May in the Hudson Valley) in dappled light before the overhead tree canopy closes.  Green leaves are irregularly lobed with dramatic burgundy etching along leaf veins, in various patterns depending on the cultivar.

Our favorite Tiarella cultivars at Loomis Creek are:

Tiarella cordifolia ‘Brandywine’ – rated one of the most vigorous; glossy leaves with subtle burgundy etching; bold creamy white flowers; bronzy fall & winter leaf color.

Tiarella cordifolia ‘Springwood’ – selected by friend and mentor Dick Lighty from his Pennsylvania garden of the same name; heavy bloomer with white bottlebrush flowers and bold burgundy-chocolate leaf markings; pumpkin-orange fall leaf color.

Tiarella ‘Iron Butterfly’ – you remember the 60′s group Iron Butterfly and their hit “In- A-Gadda-Da-Vidda”. We’d grow this foamflower for the name alone. Striking dissected cut-leaf form with white flowers.

We’ve trialed many other fancy-leafed and pink-flowering foamflowers that are so, so tempting in catalog pictures. Few have impressed us with the vigor, substance, and beauty of the above selections.

Culture: moist, organic soils; partial to full shade. USDA zones 3-8