Garden Source

The Hachiya persimmon fruit is large and displays a deep orange-red color and is acorn-shaped. A hot summer is required to mature the fruit. It is sweet, flavorful, and astringent till soft-ripe. The mature fruit can be frozen and thawed to ripen. Persimmons offer an excellent source of fiber and contain lots of vitamin A and are a source for vitamin C. The tree can be used as an ornamental tree. In the fall the trees are extremely beautiful as the green leaves begin turning shades of yellow, orange and red.

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The Purple Crape Myrtle, ‘Lagerstroemia indica “Purpurea”, is a handsome, summer-flowering, deciduous small tree or shrub. It is a favorite among Southern gardeners because of its beauty and low maintenance. The crape myrtle is valued mainly for its long period of striking summer flowers. Large clusters of purple flowers appear on the tips of new branches beginning in early summer and continue into fall. After flowers fade and fall from the tree, fruit remains in the form of small brown capsules. These fruits remain throughout the winter providing winter interest along with the attractive, exfoliating bark which peels away to expose a trunk which ranges in color from many handsome shades of brown to gray. The Purple Crape Myrtle is ideally suited for formal or informal design in the home landscape, street plantings and community plantings. It can be planted as a specimen or in groups, and looks attractive when underplanted with a ground cover. Crape myrtle leaves are oval and 1 to 2 inches long; they are bronze-colored when they first unfold in the spring and become yellow, orange or red before falling late in autumn. Crape Myrtle are easy to grow and if they are used for hedges, plant them 4 ot 5 feet apart.

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York Elderberry, Sambucus canadensis ‘York’, has the largest fruit and is most productive of any elderberry. The sweet fruit is excellent for making pies, jams and wine. Elderberry fruit makes incredible juice that has wonderful flavor and are very high in Vitamin C. Fruit set improved when more than one cultivar is used. It does well paired with ‘Adams’ Elderberry. Be sure to give it lots of room if planted in rich garden soil. It has bright green foliage and grows in full sun to part shade in moist, garden soil. Prune in late winter to desired shape and size. To control size, you can cut them back to the ground each year, as they bloom on new and old wood. It grows 8 to10 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide and becomes a beautiful ornamental, upright shrub. Use it as an accent plant, shrub border. hedge or naturalistic planting. This hardy shrub attracts birds.

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