Specimen plants are the star attractions of any garden

Extraordinarily interesting or beautiful plants deserve a special place in the garden, a spot that shows them off and encourages people to give them a second look.

These “specimen” plants, as they’re called, draw the eye to a focal point and give a satisfying coherence to the garden.

Here’s how to plan for and create a place for a specimen plant. Plan and order stock now so you can have the spot prepared and the specimen on hand when planting time comes next spring.

Deciding where to put your specimen depends on two factors: what are its needs, especially for full sun, partial sun or shade, and where are the best lines of sight? Put the specimen in a place that allows it to stand out without interference from other plantings.

Many flowering plants produce more flowers when they get a lot of sun. If your specimen of choice is listed for full sun, give it an open space with lots of sunlight for six hours or more each day. While plants that like partial sun and shade may be set among other plants, the competition diminishes their value as a standout specimen.

Many specimens like well-drained soil, so be aware that low spots where rain or irrigation water puddles may harm or even kill your plant.

Most important is that your specimen can be seen from as many angles as possible — from walkways through the property, from approaches to the house, from the front door, from a picture window or through a main window inside the house.

Flowers or evergreens?

Consider whether you want a specimen that puts on a big flower show for just a few weeks or an evergreen that looks particularly beautiful all year around. Lots of flowers show transitory exuberance, while a gorgeous evergreen shows a classic persistent beauty.

But wait, you may say, can’t I have both? Can’t I grow my large-flower clematis into an evergreen so it drips with color during the clematis’ season?

You could, but that’s more trick than treasure. The purpose of a specimen is to show off a particular plant solo, and adding another plant to a specimen is gilding the lily.

Once you have chosen a featured spot for your specimen, it is time to consider what show plants grow well in Sonoma County.

You’re in the right place, because this region, with its Mediterranean climate, hosts some of the most beautiful plants in the world.

Try these show-stoppers

A California native that puts on a dazzling flower show in spring is Fremontodendron x 'California Glory.’ Its blooms are 3 inches across and rich crayon yellow with red-tipped backs. They appear in profusion over a long season.

As natives, they are completely drought-tolerant. They have shallow roots and won’t tolerate standing water, so plant them on a rise or hillside. It grows to 20 feet tall and needs full sun.

Another native, from southern Oregon to southern California, is Garrya elliptica, the Coast Silktassel. It’s right at home in Sonoma County. Spectacular tassels up to a foot long hang in thick clusters from 20-foot climbing vine-like branches during the winter. You need to find the variety called ‘James Roof,’ which is a male plant that produces the long tassels. The females aren’t as decorative. It needs full sun and appreciates a few drinks of water during the dry months.

Magnolia stellata, the star magnolia, is a star in any garden when it blooms in late winter before the leaves come out. The profuse, floppy white blossoms are 3 inches across and are composed of 12 to 18 strap-like petals. Some cultivars are fragrant. It stays tidy, reaching only 10 feet tall but 20 feet wide at maturity.

A plant of breathtaking beauty is Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum ‘Mariesii,’ known as the doublefile viburnum. It loves our climate. A specimen will grow to 6 or 8 feet tall, spreading to 8 to 10 feet wide. Its horizontal branches are profusely dotted with 2- to 4-inch white flowers edged with 1-inch wide white lacecaps. Its visual effect is stunning.

If you’re thinking of using an evergreen as a specimen because of its beauty in every season, think first of Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Callifornis’ that grows 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide at the base, displaying contorted branches and blue-green fronds.

But then think of C.o. gracilis, equally gorgeous, that grows into a slender pyramid 20 feet tall, or its miniature version, C.o.g. ‘Nana’ that stays to a modest 4 feet high. All have fronds that twist this way and that in interesting patterns.

Another evergreen that makes a fine specimen for an open lawn is Pinus wallichiana, the Himalayan white pine. It holds closely clustered groups of five long pendant, blue-green needles from its branch tips, giving the plant an intriguing waterfall appearance from its crown to the ground. It can reach 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide, so give it some room.

A specimen can have other features beyond mere beauty. A good example is Franklinia alatamaha, the Franklin tree, named for Benjamin Franklin by his friend John Bartram, the botanist and explorer who found this tree growing in Georgia in the 1770s. He brought seed back to his property in Philadelphia, where he established a grove of them. Subsequent excursions to collect more seed were fruitless, as it had already gone extinct in the wild and remains so today.

All Franklinia trees today are descendants of Bartram’s plantings in Philadelphia. And what a wonderful tree it is. It grows 10 or more feet tall, either as a single trunk or multi-trunked. It likes well-drained, rich, light, acid soil and regular water.

In late summer and fall, its glossy green leaves turn orange, red and mahogany and its flowers open as fragrant, 3-inch wide, single camellia-like blossoms with a central clutch of yellow-orange stamens that harmonizes with its fall leaf color. It may take six or seven years to flower if grown from seed.

Jeff Cox is a Kenwood-based food and garden writer. Reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net.