Ground Breaking Banter - Rick
Welcome to our first episode of 2025, and thanks for your continued enthusiasm and support for the Gardening Simplified show! We’re kicking off the year with a look at all of the 2025 Proven Winners Plants of the Year, and we’re starting with the shrubs:
2025 Landscape Shrub of the Year – North Pole arborvitae
2025 Flowering Shrub of the Year – Scentara Double Blue lilac
2025 Rose of the Year – Reminiscent Coral rose
2025 Hydrangea of the Year – Little Lime Punch panicle hydrangea
and introducing the inaugural Tree of the Year, Show Time crabapple
Join us at the YouTube link above or on your favorite podcast platform to learn more about all five of these fantastic shrubs and trees – they will be waiting for you at your local garden center this spring!
Of all of the new for 2025 Proven Winners ColorChoice plants, this is the one I am most excited about – and it’s not even new! Kintzley’s Ghost honeysuckle is an amazing native honeysuckle vine that was available for many years through Plant Select, a great program out of Colorado that selects plants that thrive in the unique conditions of the state. And Kintzley’s Ghost was one of those plants that when people saw it in a public garden or a landscape or something, they loved it, but when it came time to finding it to actually plant, it was mission impossible. We knew from our own trials how great of a plant it was, and how it fit everything that we look for in Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs, so we asked Plant Select if we could add it to the brand which will massively improve availability on this truly special vine.
So what makes it so special? Well, you have to see it to believe it, but I’ll do my best here to try and describe it. It is, first and foremost, a foliage plant, which may seem strange for a honeysuckle, but wow, what foliage! It is a beautiful powdery blue color all season long. In late spring/early summer as it forms flowers, the tips of the stems turn into these large saucer-like bracts that surround the flower clusters, making the plant look almost like a eucalyptus. Over the next several weeks, pretty yellow honeysuckle flowers appear for nice contrast. If the plant is growing in a very sunny spot, those bracts turn from blue to white for a really incredible look. The flowers aren’t fragrant, which is relatively common for vining honeysuckles, but the foliage more than makes up for it. Once the flowers fade, they leave behind brilliant red berries, but not to worry, because this native honeysuckle is not invasive and will not make a pest of itself.
You may be thinking that all of these great features come at a cost and the plant is hard to grow, but surprise! This is one vigorous vine that will thrive pretty much anywhere – you have to be tough to grow in the challenging conditions of Colorado after all. It’s hardy to USDA zone 4 and heat tolerant through USDA zone 8. We do recommend full sun for the very bluest foliage and most striking, ghostly bracts, but it can take part shade. It is vigorous, so be sure to plant it where it will have a good sturdy support from the get-go. I planted mine on a dead maple tree trunk, but do bear in mind this is a heavy woody vine, not quite as heavy as wisteria but definitely woody, so don’t give it something weak or it will crush it or collapse.
The story of Kintzley’s Ghost is that it was discovered by one William Kintzley in the 1880s while he worked in the greenhouses at Iowa State University. Over time, he gave plants to friends and family members, so finally, in 2001, a nursery owner in Fort Collins, Colorado, noticed a plant growing in a yard and knocked on the door. The owner turned out to be the grandson of William Kintzley and well, now we can all grow Kintzley’s Ghost honeysuckle.
If you’d like to add Kintzley’s Ghost honeysuckle – or any of the 320+ Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs – to your garden or landscape, you’ll find a list of local retailers here.
Gardening Mail Bag - Stacey
When this happens, the best thing to do is to try and replant the shrub upright as soon as possible. Of course, if it happens in winter, it’s not possible, and you can simply do so when the weather finally allows. Cutting the plant back to reduce the weight is a good idea as well – it’s not necessary, but the uprooting almost certainly caused some root loss so it’s helpful to compensate for that by reducing the top growth as well.
Creeping charlie (Glechoma hederacea), also known as ground ivy or lawn ivy, is a lawn weed that’s actually kind of pretty – but an absolute nightmare to manage. It thrives in shady, moist conditions, so one of the easiest ways to manage it is to change those conditions, if possible. For example, could you run your sprinkler less often and see if that helps, or perhaps you can prune some nearby plants to let more light through. If you are replacing your lawn, you could also try putting in a more drought tolerant grass in the hopes that if the grass needs less water, the creeping Charlie won’t get as much as it wants and will die out. You can learn more about this weed and some management strategies on this page from the University of Minnesota.
Heptacodium can be grown as a single trunk tree, a multi trunk tree, or a shrub, and what you purchase is determined by the grower as they were growing the plant for sale. Different growers will take different approaches. Your plants are obviously very happy and healthy and seem like they are still young enough to be pruned to become more tree-like without harming them. And the best time to do that is this winter, while they are still dormant and you can clearly see the structure to make your decisions. I can’t see from these photos what the main trunk(s) look like, but your first order of business will be to remove all of the side branches up to the point where you want the “canopy” to start. That could be up to half of the height of the tree, perhaps a little more; start at the bottom and work up and remember to step back frequently to assess the situation. Try to cut the branches as close as possible to the main stem without cutting into it – one way to do ensure this is to hold your pruners so the flat side faces the tree. It may look a bit funky when you are done, but not to worry – the tree will fill in and adapt over time.
Do you have a question for us? We’re happy to help! E-mail us or use the contact tab above. Due to high volume, we may not get to your question, so if you need an answer quickly, please reach out via the Proven Winners website.
Branching News - Rick
In the final segment, we’re joined by Tim Wood, New Product Development Manager for Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs. He’s the one behind some of your favorite Proven Winners shrubs, including Incrediball hydrangea, Bloomerang lilac, and Tater Tot arborvitae. He shares stories about this year’s Shrubs of the Year and his years of plant hunting around the world.
Join us on your favorite podcast platform or at the YouTube link above to hear our whole conversation with Tim.
