550 KTRS Inside Out Show February 4th 2012 Plant of the Week, Fox Valley Birch

Well I admit I enjoyed hearing the promos for the Inside Out show on 550 during the week. I tried to listen close to the descriptions of the strengths for each of the girls, it puzzled me to think they could summarize these three dedicated people in such a short time frame.

As I remember I think Steffie was described as design oriented, Jennifer, as the “color splash” girl and Ellen, the guru of house plants, food gardening and urban gardening. (If I have this wrong, one of you please let me know!)

My thoughts when I heard the promo was how they can focus in on this talent pool, but somehow for the sake of time, I guess they had to do it! I surely hope that no one thinks any of these gifted professionals are limited by topics in their knowledge- because they are NOT!

Garden Height’s Steffie Littlefield was the “Out” girl for the week so I thought I would appeal to her “landscape designer” heart. I opened with the “aesthetics” of my plant choice for the week, the dwarf river bush ‘Fox Valley’. I loved chatting with her about this handsome workhorse! It is so fun to agree on what handsome in the plant world "looks" like!

B. ‘Fox Valley’ is the full package. He carries an “I’m good, any time” charm that exudes confidence through all the seasons. His lightly tanned features include a casual, beach baby look that reminds me of a wind tossed, weather –worthy blonde. He has the kind of looks that will last him a lifetime and they could carry him all they way but they don’t have too! His stout, very well built frame work does the rest!

His vulnerable looking fair skinned bark with a rose tint gives him that “dishy blonde man” kind of complexion that is similar to his full size native counterpart, Betchula nigra / River birch.

The best part is he gets better with age! Eventually he stops hinting about his brawny build and starts to reveal his strong good looks and easy his going nature. With his muscle bound brawn barely held in check, his sleeves of bark randomly rip apart. It still surprises me what a tease he is as he he sheds his bark. The end result is a tough guy look that is real, personalble and so endearing!

To read more about his many qualities and the best way to use him visit these links:

Evaluation Notes from my dear friend Richard Hawke

Chicagoland Grows Plant Introduction Program

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

Show LINKS

John Shea, of Collier, Thompson and Shea

Garden Height’s Steffie Littlefield

Ellen Barredo, of Bowood Farms

Greenscape Gardens, Jennifer Schamber

KTRS is doing a three person round robin rotation that will address the part of KTRS’s Inside Out Show’s focus on gardening, landscaping and turf care (basically the “Out” portion of the show.)

John Shea will continue with his team of experts and industry representatives from the home building industry and hardware retail suppliers as the anchor of the Inside Out Show and as professional advisor for the balance of home owner call in questions.

All three of the new Inside Out Show’s garden hosts/ experts are wonderful writers and have featured articles published on a frequent basis in the Gateway Gardener. KTRS’s website will surely be updated with this new hosting information shortly!

God Bless You

… Re