Mail order garden catalogs are one of the things that keep me sane in winter. Normally they don’t start to arrive until after the New Year, but when I got home today I was delighted to find the new catalog from Bluestone Perennials. Bluestone Perennials is my go-to mail order source for non-natives and cultivars …
Yes, it has an ugly name, but Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) has much to offer in a cottage-style garden, especially if the gardener likes blue flowers, as I do. This plant is native to the eastern half of the USA as well as southern Ontario. Ohio Spiderwort is much better behaved than the more commonly …
We usually think of fall color in terms of trees and shrubs. But there are many herbaceous plants that also offer good color in autumn. Here are a few in my garden right now. Starry Solomon’s Plume (Smilacina stellata) has long-lasting golden yellow foliage. Deep red berries add contrast, though most of the berries are …
Autumn seems to be pretty subdued in these parts. Very little foliage color, and fewer flowers than normal. My theory is that many of the flowers threw in the towel early because it has been pretty dry since the beginning of August. And the warm fall has kept the leaves green late into the season. …
When we returned from vacation a week ago the garden was looking a bit neglected. The grass was overgrown, perennials were flopping and needed rectification. This past weekend I started getting things back into proper order, but also took stock of our autumn blooms. Of course, autumn is about asters, and I have many species …
These are the days of the blooming Susans, members of the genus Rudbeckia. There’s the Black Eyed Susan generally grown as an annual or biennial (Rudbeckia hirta). Then there’s another Black Eyed Susan, a perennial that also goes by the common name Orange Coneflower (R. fulgida) and which has produced the ever popular variety ‘Goldsturm’. …
In my last post I wrote about the impulse purchase of my new rose, ‘Strike It Rich’. What I didn’t mention is that I went back to that garden center sale twice more that weekend. Surely it would have been wiser to wait until the milder days of September to plant more perennials, but who …
Recently I got acquainted online with Pat Hill, author of Design Your Natural Midwest Garden. Pat’s book had a big influence on me, and I think it is an important book for any gardener interested in designing with native plants. Pat is a garden writer and designer, and is active in promoting natural landscapes. She …
Last fall I did a makeover of the raised bed on the west side of our parkway. The bed was full of larger perennials and was a bit too big and wild-looking for something between the sidewalk and the street. My goal was to have something relatively low-growing and tidy but colorful and full. It …
Why are some plants called “false”? Like the Midwestern native False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides), whose common name implies that it is guilty of impersonating a sunflower (Helianthus sp.). This is unfair on so many levels. First of all, who is to say that the sunflowers came first, and that the Heliopsis is the imitation? Even …
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