Archive for the ‘Sun Plants’ Category

One of the most frequently asked questions we get from fellow gardeners is what are the best, fastest growing, and most colorful groundcovers for sunny locations.

Well, here’s 4 of my favorites that fit the bill!

Delosperma cooperi – Ultra hardy, extremely fast growing and a dazzling display of brilliant 1″ pink flowers all summer long!

Sedum Angelina – Vivid yellow foliage thrives without water for weeks on end! Rapidly forms a colorful matt up to 2′ across. Perfect along hot asphalt driveways where it shines!

Sedum Voodoo – Another vibrantly colored and highly drought-proof Sedum. Voodoo has wonderfully dark red foliage that remains showy from spring thru frost. Dark pink-red flowers top the plant in early fall.

Aster Wood’s Light Blue – This is a great groundcover that puts on a burst of much-needed blue flowers in the fall. Each plant is covered with 100’s of azure-blue flowers that are visible from 300 feet away!

So, there’s my top picks for ultra-hardy, fast-growing, & colorful groundcovers!

Breeder Arie Blom & his Hot Papaya Coneflower

I’d like to introduce you to the man behind many of the very BEST double-flowered Coneflowers currently in American gardens. He is our very good friend, Arie Blom of The Netherlands. Arie studied advanced plant breeding at the University of Florida and after receiving his graduate degree, he worked in a tissue culture laboratory in California before returning to Holland.

Arie is an extremely friendly guy and is passionate about his breeding work with Echinacea. I’ve had many opportunities to sit down and talk with Arie and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to visit his seedling fields this summer!

Arie began breeding Coneflowers in 2002 and started in his backyard. A few of his initial goals were to breed for very sturdy, vigorous garden plants with a heavy flowering tendancy.

Echinacea Pink Double Delight

Echinacea Pink Double Delight was Arie’s very first introduction and he hit it out of the ballpark!

This bright double pink Coneflower has multitudes of large 2-3″ flowers held atop very strong stems that don’t flop in the dirt. Plants are very well branched and produce a flower show from mid-June until September!

Echinacea Coconut Lime

Arie’s second introduction was Echinacea Coconut Lime. His breeding goal was to produce a full double-white coneflower and he greatly succeeded!

Coconut Lime Coneflower is extremely floriferous with large 3″ flowers of white which turn a pleasant lime-green as they age. Its strong stems and heavy flower count make it a perfect subject for cut-flowers.

Many people don’t realize that DOUBLE Coneflowers will last over 2 weeks as cut flowers indoors. And, many are highly fragrant…which adds to the show!

Echinacea Hot Papaya

Then along comes the FIRST-EVER DOUBLE Orange Coneflower with Arie’s Echinacea Hot Papaya! WOW!

When I first saw Hot Papaya Coneflower, I could not believe how tremendously STRONG the stems were! They were like thick pencils! This interspecific cross (a cross between 2 species) has produced this amazingly colorful hybrid with its giant 3″ flowers of brilliant orange and fully double.

Hot Papaya Echinacea also has wonderfully fragrant flowers and I had them last over 18 days as CUT FLOWERS in our offices of Great Garden Plants.

I have the extreme privilege of calling Arie Blom my friend! He is a very passionate plantsman with a willingness to share with others!

Stay tuned NEXT WEEK when I’ll show you his BEST new Double Coneflower for 2011!!! You won’t be disappointed! Chris

Mum Matchsticks - Hardy thru Zone 4

“What’s Old is New Again!” This is the case of Mum Matchsticks – an exciting New Sun Perennial! I was visiting with Kevin Hurd over at Walters Gardens and he asked me if we had ever considered selling this unusual-looking Chrysanthemum. I, personally, am not a huge fan of Mums…you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. BUT, when I went to their growing field and saw the extremely unusual flowers on this plant I knew we had a huge winner!

Striking QUILLED flowers are about 2″ across with bright yellow centers & hot red fluted flower tips. I’ve never seen anything like this! This hybrid has been around for 20-30 years so you know this is a very long-lived garden Mum.

Matchsticks Mum - Compact & heavy-blooming habit!

A vigorous grower, Matchsticks Mum produces a compact plant 20″ tall and 24″ wide and is LOADED with dozens of these colorful blooms which require NO staking!

And, we’ve had them last over 3 weeks as cut flowers! What more could you ask for in a ultra-hardy Garden Mum?

If you only try one Coneflower this year – make it Red Knee High PPAF Echinacea.

Why?  You’ll get a good reliable Coneflower that comes back every year and it is drop dead gorgeous!

Dependable? You bet!  It has purpurea in its bloodlines which means it will come back year after year. Nothing wimpy here with great performance and LOTS OF BLOOMS!

Echinacea Red Knee High PPAF

I have it on my list of Goosebump plants – we all have a list like that. They are  plants our neighbors google over and well, they give us goosebumps just talking about them.

Red Knee High – yep it’s knee high all right;  nicely proportioned, blooms a long time and the color pairs well with so many colors –  Place it in the middle of the perennial border  and pair with some blues –(I’m fond of Russian Sage Perovskia and Caryopteris)  Enjoy the  butterflies that linger for the show.

Coneflower tip—if you really want some oh-la-la impact, you just got to plant this beauty in groups of 5 or 7.  Seriously, not just 1 or 2, the more the better!

Hardiness, color, performance, goosebump plant – make sure to include Echinacea Red Knee High PPAF this year in your garden.

Oranges and Lemons & Christmas Eve

A December email I received from Dianne S. in California is a nice reminder that Christmas plants go beyond the traditional Poinsettias, particularly if you live in California.  Dianne writes:  We planted Gaillardia Oranges & Lemons last spring and ignored it.  We’ve just had a very unusual rainy spell.  Many of the plants that do bloom this time of year have suffered and have a few blooms, but are a bit bedraggled.  It is Christmas Eve and the Oranges and Lemons Gaillardia is the brightest spot in the yard.  It has grown quite large and is just full of large brightly colored blooms.  (It hasn’t stopped blooming since we planted it in the spring).  You might not think of it as a Christmas plant, but it is helping my Christmas spirit.

Thank you Dianne for a terrific tribute to a persistent long blooming perennial and that your nurturing spirit has not been dampened by the unrelenting rainfall you’ve been experiencing.