Archive for the ‘Drought Proof Plants’ Category

Sunrise Coneflower - stunning yellow blooms pair well with blue flowering Perovskia

It’s hard to top Coneflowers as an easy to grow drought proof plant. Echinacea or Coneflower is available in an ever growing palette of color with long lasting blooms.  They are easy to grow in the perennial garden providing an often needed late summer color and of course, they are just loved by butterflies!

We recently teamed up with Stacy Tornio from Birds & Blooms Magazine . Stacy provides insights on selecting the best Coneflowers for your backyard.

Read article:   Top 10 Coneflowers

Marmalade Coneflower grows up to 30" tall and combines well with Ornamental Grasses, Butterfly Bush and so much more!

Coneflowers are one of the best garden plants.  They tolerate heat, wind, humidity, drought, clay soil, and some shade and come in an array of colors, heights, flower forms. It is really difficult to choose because they are so beautiful.   (ok – I’ll  take three of each just because I can’t make up my mind).

Echinacea Marmalade really caught my attention this past year.  It’s no wonder since it’s from breeder Arie Bloom (Plants Nouveau). Arie has been bringing  us so many amazing, mostly double flowering coneflowers such as Hot Papaya, Pink Double Delight, Coconut Lime, and Marmalade to name a few.

There are a few things I noticed about Marmalade Coneflower this past year and why it is such a  jammin great plant.

1 – Double the Color=Double the Fragrance

Beautifully formed 4” flowers each containing 150 vibrant orange petals. Blooms will range from a oh-so-pretty deep

150 FRAGRANT petals that make great cut flower bouquets

orange to a peachy buff color.  Double flowering forms means double the fragrance in your garden!  Plus Coneflowers make for a great cut flower!

2 – Longest Coneflower to Bloom

Marmalade was in full bloom in Mid-June.  In Michigan, Coneflowers don’t even start blooming in July and still in full bloom in September with any cutting back or deadheading!

3 – Lax Attitude

Coneflowers can vary in habit from upright to varying degrees of lax, more open habit.  The later, like Marmalade makes for a fuller plant while providing cozy company when nestled in between two taller plants  (such as Butterfly Bush and Pennisetum Karley Rose).

4 – Lasting Color

Deep orange blooms ages to a long lasting buff color.  Other coneflowers turn black immediately after the flower fades,

Marmalade has transitioned to a soft, buff color and still going strong in late September in Michigan

but not Marmalade. This coneflower will give you long lasting garden performance late in the season before turning dark.

5 – Highest Coneflower Rating

Every year, Great Garden Plants donate new plants to Chicago Botanical Gardens for their Plant Trials.   We were very pleased to hear from Richard Hawke, Plant Evaluation Manager that amidst hundreds of Coneflowers in their evaluation, this was his favorite Coneflower in 2011 for exceptional display and performance.

Add this charming Coneflower to your perennial garden this year, if you haven’t done so already.

Where to Buy Echinacea Marmalade

Tips on Growing Coneflowers

Hellebores have become America’s #1 Deer Proof Plant for Shade Garden.  Pink Frost Hellebore is a  spring flowering shade groundcover with unique silver evergreen foliage. Exciting rare &  drought proof perennial. Watch our video and  find out why this is such a stunning shade plant for the perennial garden.

Grown and shipped in our Jumbo 1 Quart Pots  at www.GreatGardenPlants.com

Earliest blooming Hellebore!

I never thought I’d live to see the day that we were able to grow a true PINK flowered Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger), but famed English hybridizer David Tristram has finally accomplished his goal!

After many years of careful hand-crossing Helleborus niger with Helleborus x hybridus, David was finally successful in creating a true inter-specific cross.

It was originally thought that these two different species would never cross with each other, however Mr. Tristram has proved this theory wrong.

Vast flower colors of Helleborus x hybridus

As you can see from the picture on the right, Helleborus x hybridus comes in a wide variety of flower colors, shapes, and sizes. Whereas the Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger is a pristine, clear white in color.

Walberton’s Rosemary Hellebore is a superb hybrid between these two that now gives gardeners the “Best of Both Worlds”! We get the rich pink flower color from the xhybridus parent and the 3 month earlier bloom time from the niger parent.

Deer proof shade plant Walberton's Rosemary Hellebore

We’ve just finished Halloween here in western Michigan and our plants of Walberton’s Rosemary are coming into full bloom! WOW! I’ve never seen another Hellebore bloom this early in the year.

As you can see from the picture on the left, the hybridization process has also produced a plant with superb vigor! Christmas roses can be a bit tricky to grow in the home garden, but when Mr. Tristram crossed it with the vigorous x hybridus, he greatly improved its garden vigor.

Tremendous flower power of Walberton's Rosemary Hellebore

As you can see from the image on the right, this new hybrid has tremendous flower power! I shot this picture at Skagit Gardens before this plant had been released several years ago. I was simply amazed at the huge number of blooms on these 2 gallon specimen containers!

Congratulations to Mr David Tristram for all his years of dedicated hard work! His new Walberton’s Rosemary Hellebore brings another new realm of great garden possibilities to our favorite and Colorful Deer Proof Shade Hellebores!

Low grow Sedums have low water needs yet thrive on steep banks

Driving thru older neighborhoods, you’ll often see homes several feet higher than the sidewalk with a bank gradually sloping down to street level.  This is a a challenging site to grow plants.

Water runs off quickly rather than soaking in often leading to erosion.  A steep slope may need to be reworked by terracing or creating a retaining wall. For gradual slopes, planting groundcovers is a cost effective solution for dealing with these problem areas while stabilizing the soil, reducing maintenance while turning a negative eyesore into a gorgeous front yard.

The key to making this work is using  groundcovers that are quick to form a  solid, soil-holding mass. You’ll want to space them a bit closer together when planting and make sure you water well the first year so their roots can become established in their new environment.  A strategic placement of large boulders buried about 1/3 of the way into the soil adds interest and breaks up the flat plane of view.

Ajugas fast spreading tenacious roots cling like honey to a biscuit

A favorite and adaptable groundcover is Ajuga Chocolate Chip with persistent, fast spreading roots.  Ajuga is tenacious, spreading by means of runners, or ground-level stems that root and form new plants.  It also chokes out weeds along the way.  Excellent for sunny or shady spots on a slope.

Creeping Sedums are some of the most versatile plants that take hold effortless in dry soil and one of my personal favorites.  They easily root along a stem making this an ideal choice for very steep banks and sunny slopes without any need for supplemental irrigation.  Their only requirement is good drainage. Since they come in an array of colorful foliage colors, plant an array of varieties (such as Sedum Flaming Carpet)  for a truly gorgeous garden display from spring-winter.

Phlox subulata forms shallow roots and their horizontal stems root easily thus its common name creeping phlox.  Their evergreen foliage remains attractive throughout the year and their spring blooms are nothing short of beautiful.

Daylilies form a dense mat and  are ideal for erosion control as the roots trap run off water which it then uses  during dryer spells.  A short growing reblooming daylily as as Happy Returns or Going Bananas would be a good

Plant fast spreading Aegopodium where you can allow it to roam

choice.

Other groundcover considerations

Aegopodium or Bishops Weed

Creeping Thyme

Flowering Vines such as Honeysuckle (Lonicera)

Ornamental Grasses such as Elymus, Festuca, and Panicum

Plumbago (Ceratostigma)

Liriope

Pachysandra

Vinca

There is nothing more satisfying than taking a tough garden spot and turning it from a liability to an asset with easy to grow erosion controlling groundcovers.