■ Save money by buying perennials sold as annuals. Perennials often used in container designs are commonly available in 4-inch pots in the annual inventory. Check for dead nettle (Lamium), creeping Sedum, coral bells (Heuchera), dwarf ornamental grasses, rush (Juncus), creeping yellow Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’) and hens and chicks (Sempervivum). There may be other great perennial buys as well. Just remember to keep your hardiness zone in mind as you scan the possible options.
Enjoy Constant Color with Early, Mid- and Late-Blooming Varieties
You can squeeze longer color from a perennial family (genus) by using early, mid- and late-blooming varieties. As one perennial cultivar finishes blooming, the next family member sweeps into action. By the time the latest bloomer crosses the finish line, you may have enjoyed eight or more weeks of constant color! Here are a few perennials that offer early, mid-and late blooming varieties:
| ALLIUM | ||
| ASTILBE | ||
| DAYLILY | ||
| IRIS | ||
Two Other Perennial Families that Go the Distance:
| PEONY: | PHLOX: | ||
| Early: | Fernleaf Peony tenuifolia ‘Early Scout’ | Early: | Phlox divaricata ‘Louisiana Blue’ |
| Mid: | Peony Itoh ‘Julia Rose’ | Mid: | ‘Fashionable Early Flamingo’ |
| Late: | Peony lactiflora ‘Esla Sass’ | Late: | ‘Robert Poore’ |
‘Snowcap’ covers its tiny frame with masses of flowers.
■ Shasta daisies from June to October. Sparkling white shasta daisies (Leucanthemum) brighten landscapes and are also great cut flowers. Unfortunately, most only bloom for four or five weeks, even with deadheading. My solution: Dish out 15 weeks or more of “shasta daisies” by using a combination of four different plants. Start with early blooming shastas like ‘Snowcap’ or ‘Snow Lady’ that start blooming around mid-June. When these start to sputter out, shasta ‘Becky’ takes the bloom baton and flowers into mid-August. Overlapping with ‘Becky’ is white coneflower ‘Fragrant Angel’ (Echinacea) that powers on for a few more weeks. The final athlete in the race is a chrysanthemum ‘Daisy White’ that crosses the finish line in late fall.
■ What about coneflowers and coral bells? I feel compelled to address these two highly popular perennials that elicit mixed reactions from home gardeners as well as green industry professionals. Many people (including me) believe there has been an excessive number of cultivars released in both genera, resulting in inferior or duplicated plants. So here’s the scoop.
‘Becky’ has extra-stiff, 30″–36″ stems that are smothered in large flowers, week after week.
Coneflower (Echinacea)
Coneflower pallida
Coneflower paradoxa
Coneflower ‘Cheyenne Spirit’
There are noteworthy coneflowers and there are those that never should have been released to the market. I can’t count the number of times I’ve talked myself into paying a small fortune for a dazzling new coneflower that totally disappeared the next year. I guess that’s better than making a rude gesture (a single dead stalk sticking in the air). So what’s the deal? Well, for starters, it is usually safer to plant a “straight” species coneflower such as purpurea, tennesseensis, pallida and paradoxa. The challenge is it’s harder to find these, with nurseries filling garden shelves with the newest hybridized fandangos. Thankfully, many garden centers now have dedicated sections for natives. This is where you will typically find these coneflowers.
I’m not suggesting all new cultivars are destined for the compost pile. There are some that are highly praised by green industry professionals for their longevity, strong branching habit and good repeat bloom. A few winners from plant trials include ‘Cheyenne Spirit’, ‘Pica Bella’, ‘Fatal Attraction’ and ‘Leilani’. I highly recommend that you check out trial evaluations conducted in your own region. Coneflowers that do great in the Rockies may perform differently than those in the mid-Atlantic. Three trial evaluation sites to check are Colorado State University (https://source.colostate.edu/?s=plant+trial+gardens); Chicago Botanic Gardens (chicagobotanic.org/research/ornamental_plant_research) and Mt. Cuba Center (mtcubacenter.org/research). Mt. Cuba, a botanical garden dedicated to native plants in Northern Delaware, did a study of 48 different coneflowers in 2007-2008 (this is published on their website) and will be launching a new trial in 2018.
A few final remarks about coneflowers – which I do love, really! To thrive, they need full sun and well-drained soil. I find that sparing the fertilizer (organic,