Why Plant Perennials?

Posted in Featured Articles, perennials With the economy still in the dumps, everyone is interested in growing their own food (including me), so what is the purpose in growing plants for mere ornamentation? Especially plants that seem to provide bloom for only one part of a growing season rather than the entire summer, like annuals? You might be surprised at the economic and common sense involved in a choice of planting...
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Hellebores: Christmas and Lenten Roses

Posted in Featured Articles, perennials, pink flowers, plant profiles, white flowers Last year (2009) I purchased some potted hellebore plants on clearance from Whole Foods Market. I had read about them many times in gardening books over the years, and their fresh creamy white blooms fairly sang out to me, so I promptly snapped up three pots (one is featured in my photo, to the left). I kept them on a sunny windowsill until it was time to plant them in the spring, and wrote in...
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Blue Flax, Linum narbonense

Posted in Featured Articles, blue flowers, perennials, plant profiles Blue Flax is a piece of summer sky fallen into the garden, shimmering blue flowers reflecting clear unclouded heavens. Opening during the sunny days and dropping its petals by afternoon, only seems to add to its charm; Genus Linum narbonense. I’ve grown both Linum narbonense and Linum perenne, and although they are almost identical in the garden, the L.narbonense seemed the better. To...
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Asclepias tuberosa ‘Butterfly Weed’

Posted in Featured Articles, perennials, plant profiles Butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, isn’t as popular as it could be. Maybe the combination of the “weed” appellation and the bright orange color, but this is really a fine garden plant that brings a pleasing “pop” to the garden, no less for its drawing power for butterflies than for its joyful color. It took me tow starts to finally get Butterfly weed going in my...
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Sedum Spectabile Variegatum

Posted in Featured Articles, perennials, plant profiles Now called, Hylotelephium erythrostictum ‘Mediovariegatum’. Good for dry, sunny spaces. This variegated sedum has long been one of my favorites. It began as a “passalong” plant from a friend, and as the years went by its fine qualities slowly revealed themselves. For those qualities it gained a place among my favorites- combining good looks and usefulness. There are many fine...
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Ten Top Perennial Choices

Posted in general gardening, perennials, plant lists If I was reduced to ten plants around which to plan the gardening season, which would I choose? This post is based on the one I wrote for my blog, but I think I would stand by the thoughts written in 2004.This isn’t based upon the criteria of “what I liked the most” in a favorite plant, bloom, or season, but in what I think are the most useful, satisfyingly attractive,...
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