| Plant of the Month - August, 2005 |
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by Gary Whittenbaugh ROOTS Board Member
Abies lasiocarpa
Everyone seems to love the color blue especially when it comes to choosing a conifer for the landscape. Thus explaining the over planting of the Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens). That cute little blue plant you purchase soon becomes too large and swallows the driveway, the house, and even the entire front lawn! Also, in Iowa, it often suffers from needle diseases. We know the problem. What is the solution?
Come and visit the Bickelhaupt Arboretum and walk through the Heartland Collection of Garden Conifers. As you are admiring all the beautiful conifers, you will come across one with magnificent silver-blue color that at first glance appears to be a blue spruce. However, if you give it a hug (conifer people like to hug and pet their plants) you will discover the foliage is soft and not sharp. Then look at the label and you will discover it is a fir - Abies lasiocarpa 'Arizonica Compacta'. This is my choice for that blue plant in the landscape. It grows much slower than the Colorado spruce, the foliage is soft, and it does not have the needle disease problems.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the Bickelhaupt Arboretum. Come often and enjoy all the plants, but especially the conifers. Have you hugged a conifer today?
About the Author:
Gary Whittenbaugh is the retired president and former co-owner of Service Center, Inc. in Oelwein, Iowa. He has been gardening for more than 30 years, with the past 15 years dedicated to working especially with dwarf, slow growing and unusual conifers. Currently he is president of the American Conifer Society Central Region, a member of the board of directors and a state representative for Iowa with the American Conifer Society. In addition to being a Master Gardener and serving on the board of Iowa Master Gardeners, he is a member of the North American Rock Garden Society.
In recent years, Mr. Whittenbaugh has appeared on public television, lectured extensively about conifers, and was a keynote speaker at the Conifer Society's national meeting in 2002. He has taught classes about gardening in Davenport, Iowa, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Rock Island, Illinois.
His small garden in Oelwein (gardened with his brother, Tom) received the first place award for the best landscape given by the Oelwein Area Chamber of Commerce.
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