Summer has come to Salem over the last few days and everything is very green–and white, the perfect colors of renewal. The viburnum is so dominant this time of year, but so are spirea and white dogwoods, along with azaleas, deutzias and lilacs. And those are just the shrubs and trees: you can look up, down, and over and see a trail of white just about everywhere at this time of year. The Peirce-Nichols garden has a field of pink bleeding-hearts, but just a few steps away at the Ropes Mansion are my favorite white ones (my own, sadly, did not come back this year), along with beautiful border of white irises. I’m off to replace my bleeding hearts (if I can find the white ones–pink are far more plentiful) and look for some new shrubs for the perimeter of my garden, as I am very tired of my boring forsythias as well as a sad espaliered crab-apple tree. I am open to suggestions: not just for white-flowering shrubs, but no pink please!
Green, (black) and white around Salem, late May 2016.
May 26th, 2016 at 6:09 pm
Oh, yes indeed, the white bleeding-hearts are beautiful. I call them pure-hearts. Have you considered Rose-of-Sharon bushes? There are vast variations from which to choose. They are very popular here in the midwest & you are in the same plant hardiness zone as we are.
May 27th, 2016 at 9:18 am
A bit too showy for me, I think, Alan.
May 27th, 2016 at 9:19 am
Love pure-hearts!