An absolutely gorgeous yellow wood anemone. This plant has received the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society, an award that is given to special garden worthy plants. It forms a tight low mat of ferny leaves and at the center of each leaf it produces a bright yellow flower. The flower has five … Read More
A perfect rock garden plant, and by rock garden I mean growing right on top of rocks. Asplenium trichomanesis a great little evergreen fern that likes some shade, and can grow with virtually no soil. It is quite happy growing in a small crack in a stone. They will also grow in the ground if given a very porous soil.
Are you interested in growing a bulb that few others are growing? Do you want to eat the surplus bulbs as they grow? Do you want a bloomer in late spring, in that void between spring gluttony and summer excess? If so, then Camassia leichtlinii is for you.
A thistle you can actually love and best of all, your friends will be extremely envious of your prized possession. Berkheya purpurea (purple berkheya) is one of those rare plants from Africa that seems to do quite well in gardens including cold northern gardens. Many sources on the net report a hardiness of only 6 or 8, … Read More
Cephalanthus occidentalis, the buttonbush, is a very interesting shrub that is rarely seen in gardens. It’s flowers are so unique that it always attracts attention when in flower. Even the seed heads make a statement in the garden.
The flowers look just like a crocus but only show up in the fall which explains its common name, autumn crocus. It is actually a Colchicum, a plant that is unrelated to the true crocus.
Cymbalaria muralis is a very short ground cover that grows in sun or shade. It makes a nice matt of leaves and blooms most of the summer. In mid-June it produces the most flowers to make a nice display. The flowers are very interesting but so small that you need to get up close to appreciate their detail.
This plant won’t win an award for its flowers, but it is a very versatile plant that grows well in sun, part shade, full shade, moist or very dry. It has a nice light green color all summer and gives a good red fall show. For a shade garden, it is a true competitor to hostas.
A real special plant with mixed up names. Many people call this plant Eremurus bungei, but the correct name is E. stenophyllus.
Erythronium americanum is a great little plant for the spring, shade garden. It is native to most of Eastern North America and can found in many wooded areas in this region.
Nice mottled leaves with a yellow-orange tinged flower, Erythronium americanum is commonly called yellow adder’s tongue, yellow trout lily, yellow fawn lily and yellow dog-tooth violet. However it is not a violet.
Filipendula ulmaria, also known as meadowsweet and queen-of-the-meadow, is native to parts of Europe and Asia and has naturalized in eastern North America. It spreads readily by seed in moist areas.
The variety ‘Flore Pleno’ has larger flowers and is sterile (ie does not make seeds), making it a better selection for your garden than the species.
This Gentian is easy to grow making it a good choice as your first gentian. It is a loose, semi-sprawling plant with lax stems and flowers. As it grows, the stems tend to lie on the ground creating an enlarging mat of bright green grass-like leaves. When grown between other plants it is more upright.
Flowers are blue with white spotted throats and are formed in the leaf axis and at the growing tips. In cooler regions like Ontario it can be grown in full sun where it will flower better than in part shade. It may self sow slightly near the mother plant but is not at all invasive. Once established it seems to be long lived and undemanding.