Here's an area where we are especially grateful to our mentors
for all their groundwork!
Check reference books or search the Internet for objective
sources. (Search GardenAtoZ.com -- if we've written about it we've
reported its size and/or included photos!)
If there is time, visit an arboretum or other public garden.
Standing next to a ten foot tree is quite a different experience
than reading that number. Ask at the garden's office or information
desk whether the plant you seek is in their collection, where on
the grounds it's planted and how long it's been growing there.
Name game
In all cases, do your research using the plant's scientific
name, including the variety name. (Variety is also called the
cultivar name. Plant nomenclature is fully described in What's
Up 7.) Omit part of a scientific name and you can
end up 'way off base. For instance, Hinoki falsecypress
(Chamaecyparis obtusa) grows to 100' in the wild and well
over 40' in cultivation, but its varieties such as 'Nana Gracilis'
may grow only inches per year and remain garden-sized for a human
lifetime.
Don't be misled by the term 'dwarf." Dwarf burning bush
(Euonymus alata 'Compactus') grows to about 10' tall and
round. (So when homeowners asked, "Should we cut these" regarding
the dwarf burning bushes below, left, we said, "You bet!") Shorten
the name by one word and learn that standard burning bush, a.k.a.
winged euonymus, Euonymus alata, will reach 12-15' (or
16', below, right).
Check a book's introductory section for an explanation if its
author uses shorthand terms "slow, medium and fast" to describe
growth rate, rather than specifics such as "ten feet over 15 years"
or "8-12 inches per year." Often, but not always:
slow = under 12 inches per year
medium/moderate = up to 24 inches per year/
fast = over 24" per year
Some of our
favorite resources:
- Michael Dirr's Manual of
Woody Landscape Plants
- Harrison Flint's Landscape Plans for Eastern North
America
- The actual plant -- if it's already in place or we know where
one is growing, we can measure its annual growth. (For the
how-to, read What's
Up 50 and What's Up 84.)
Below: Dirr tells us that the dwarf lilac Syringa
meyeri can be expected to reach 4 to 8' in height at a "slow"
growth rate (less than 12" per year). Harrison Flint's
Landscape Plants for Eastern North America provides a
diagram predicting that dwarf lilac will be about 3' tall
after 5 years, and probably top out at under 6' in 12
years.
The plant charts in Rich's
Foxwillow Pines' catalogue tells us Chamaecyparis pisifera
'Golden Mop' will reach 3' in 10 years so we expect about 4"
growth per year.
Below: We checked the Internet for a tiebreaker regarding
that dwarf lilac's growth rate. The top two citations -- one from
Ohio State University Extension and the other
from a national wholesale grower, both reputable -- disagreed in a
similar way. We figure such reports denote a plant which performs
differently in various environments.
Sure, growers know size!
Some catalogues are good reference books. All too often,
however, commercial growers under-report size to insure sales even
to buyers with limited space, or because they operate under an
assumption we don't accept, which is, "No one grows anything
long enough to see its full size."
Check a catalogue's listings against real plants you know or
trusted references, to judge reliability. We've scrutinized and
embraced Rich's
Foxwillow Pines Nursery' dwarf conifer charts, as an
example.
Many Internet sites offer reliable growth information. For
instance, the American Conifer Society reports growth rate
for many standard- and dwarf conifers.
Find these resources by searching for the full scientific name
plus "Growth rate." Check .edu (university Extension) sites and
.org plant society sites before nursery catalogues at .com