Schill Landscaping, from Sheffiled, OH, designed a celebrity garden sponsored by Steve Gleydura, from Cleveland Magazine, at this year's Cleveland Home & Garden Show.  Our plants, combined with inspired design, allowed the landscaper to take the top prize.

Several plant species were represented in various forms in the display:

• 2 large Rhododendron amoenums
• A hedge of a slow growing upright yew, "Blue Columnaris"
• "Blue Danube" Azaleas; and
• Rhododendron yedoense "Poukhanense"

The 2 large Rhododendron amoenums are over 30 years old and 9' in diameter. We love the branching habit! This cultivar can obviously be used for specimen planting, but it can also be used for background massing. The flowers are approximately nickel-sized.

The hedge is a slow growing upright yew, Taxus x media "Blue Columnaris". It has an outstanding blue-green color, and requires little pruning and maintenance once placed in a landscape. It is just one of several dwarf upright varieties we are trying to reintroduce into the trade, some after almost 60 years.

The dark purple azaleas are later blooming than most and are actually an old variety from Boskoop, Holland known as Azalea "Blue Danube" We are out of salable specimens, but more are on the way soon!  It is used mostly for foreground accent planting in the Midwest, but in protected situations, it can grow to be a broad upright.

The lavender azaleas pictured are korean azaleas.  Rhododendron yedoense "Poukhanense" is a popular, extremely hardy cultivar. We have many specimens up to 6' in diameter. The cultivar is versatile and can be used for impressive flowering hedges along driveways or between garden rooms, background massing in border plantings, or simply large single specimens.