Posts Tagged ‘perennials’

Create a more powerful impact in your landscape when you use Festuca in groupings of 5 or more

Looking for an easy garden design idea that will add some impact to your perennial garden? I love using Festuca Boulder Blue for a number of reasons.  This sun loving ornamental grass is easy to grow, looks great throughout the year and thrives in sun, high heat & humidity in well drained soil.  Hardy from Zones 4-9.   I believe it is one of of the best drought proof sun loving perennial groundcovers out there.

Add Color & Texture

Have some unpleasant spots in your garden?  The handsome mound shape and narrow blue foliage make be just the ticket as it adds season long color & texture.

Break Up Competing Colors

If you have two strong competing colors that are just rubbing you the wrong way try planting a group of this soothing blue Festuca between them.  Festuca is the ideal perennial to help break up strong competing colors in the garden

Small Space Gardening

Festuca grows 12”x12” so it tucks ever so nicely along narrow pathways, beneath shrubs or edging a perennial border.

Plant in Groups

If you really want to add impact, plant in groupings of 5 or more.

Repeating

Some of the most beautiful gardens do a great job in repeating similar plants in adjacent areas. This frequently leads to a more harmonious flow in the garden.

Care & Growing Tips

• Add sand to heavier soils.
• Allow plants to dry out between watering.
• In the spring, use a sheers to prune away any dead foliage from winter
• Fertilize in the spring with Osmocote or a balanced granular fertilizer

I know you’ll really enjoy Festuca - an easy to grow and care perennial.  Click Here for a Sun Perennial Garden Design Idea

Where to Buy Festuca Boulder Blue – www.GreatGardenPlants.com

Mercury Rising is both Heat & Drought Proof with stunning red blooms!

Coreopsis Mercury Rising is one of the most colorful, drought proof perennial ground cover for sunny areas and a personal favorite new plant introduction for 2012.

Finally, a velvety-red flowering HARDY Coreopsis ((PPAF)that blooms for 5+ months, takes on the heat & humidity and is bone hardy to zone 5,  This year our record breaking heat & humidity has not deterred the performance of this stunning, hard working garden plant in my Michigan  garden.

This breakthrough new hybrid is the result of many years of hand-crossing by famed hybridizer Darrell Probst.

Darrell has spent the past ten years striving for a Zone 5 (possibly Zone 4) ultra-hardy bright red-flowered Coreopsis to add to his much-acclaimed Big Bang Coreopsis series. He has hit it out of the park with his new velvety-red Mercury Rising Coreopsis!

Breeder Comments

“From what I have seen, there are no other Coreopsis in the market place that combine short, compact habit and large flowers with striking colors in a zone 5 hardy, true perennial”  stated Darrell.

“Plants are sterile, so no deadheading is needed to keep them in bloom. Plants blooms from early May in the south, early June in the north until autumn frost, producing more and more flowers as the season progresses.”

Prolific in containers as well!

“My Big Bang breeding program (which includes Full Moon, Red Shift, & Cosmic Eye) is from 100% perennial species, no annual species are in their blood and tested as far as Georgia with good results.”

Foliage is a bright, healthy green all season and shows NO hint of the dreaded mildew disease that often affects other Coreopsis.

Helpful Info

• 1 1/2 to 2” red flowers with yellow centers
• 18-24” tall
• Spreading Habit
• Blooms all Summer
• Thrives in Heat & Humidity
• Full Sun- Part Shade
• Thrives in dry, moist, well drained loamy soil
• Pest Free
• Disease Free
• Blooms First Year
• Butterfly Loving

Combine Mercury Rising with Cosmic Eye Coreopsis for a color echo effect

Design

I combined Mercury Rising with  Nepeta Walker’s Low and love how it looks together. Other combination possibilities: Festuca Boulder Blue, Coneflowers, Sedum Angelina , Rudbeckia Goldsturm,  Yellow Knock Out Roses, or  Cosmic Eye Coreopsis Use in groupings of 7 or more for best effect.

Coreopsis Mercury Rising is a powerful color that looks dynamite in the sun perennial garden. As the season wanes the flowers just keep getting bigger.  Late in the season  flowers take on a cream streak.

You’ll want to add this remarkable perennial to your garden so you can start to enjoy the many features and rewards this Coreopsis offers!

Feather Reed Grass is used as a low growing screen to hide an unsightly utility box

Feather Reed Grass or Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ is definitely one of my favorite ornamental grasses to use as a privacy screen, low growing hedge or to add vertical height to the perennial garden.

This non-flopping, sun-loving vertical grass is a delightful accent that is both easy to grow and easy to maintain.  The slightest breeze sets this grass in motion.

Professional landscapers and garden designers love using Calamagrostis for creating a fast developing screen or Hedge Plant.

Calamagrostis will  add height while create a focal point or accent in the  sun loving perennial garden.

Facts about Calamagrostis Karl Foerster:

• Grows up to 60” (in flower)
• Tolerates a wide range of soil from clay to dry sand
• Blooms early in the season (most grasses bloom late)
• Drought Tolerant once established
• Deer Proof
• Winter Interest
• Salt Tolerant
• Low maintenance
• Landscape appeal from summer thru winter.
• Long lasting cut flowers
• Virtually pest free

Calamagrostis offers 3 seasons of interest planted in a long row

The only thing I do in the spring is cut back the stems to about 6 inches from the ground in late winter or early spring.

Calamagrostis pairs well with many garden plants when it comes to garden design.  Partner with Tall Sedums, Butterfly Bush, or other Ornamental Grasses.

If you are looking for a an easy perennial to grow and maintain, this ornamental grass might be just the ticket.

More on:

Ornamental Grasses

Hedge Plants

Where to Buy

Few plant varieties create big impact in this sun loving perennial border

Here’s a simple and EASY Garden Design idea using sun loving drought proof plants that look attractive throughout the growing season.

This garden landscape uses only a few type of plants.  Ornamental Grasses (Miscanthus) create a hedge effect by add height and interest in the background. Sedum Autumn Joy provides midsize interest while the bed is edged in ground cover Sedum.

This island bed requires low water and little maintenance while creating a welcoming entryway and some privacy from a busy and noisy road.

By late summer, Autumn Joy Sedum will be bursting with color while the ornamental grasses develop showy plumes that last well into fall.  Both plants add wonderful interest to the winter garden.

Related Articles:  Our Top 10 Long Blooming Sun Perennials

Nepeta & Roses combine beautifully on this slope

Nepeta or Catmint is one of the easiest drought proof ground covers you’ll ever grow.  This sun perennial is a member of the mint family and known for its fragrant foliage & flowers.  Catmint  will fill in fast, thrive on neglect and little water, yet still reward you with long lasting blooms.

Walker Low's gentle lax habit adds a soft look in this garden setting

I’ve grown a number of varieties of Nepeta over the years, and one that I’m particularly fond of is Walker’s Low .(Zone 3 hardy)  Just give this tough plant a sunny, well drained location and enjoy delightful blue  blooms from early summer-frost.

Here’s why Nepeta is such a great plant:

• Terrific for banks and slopes.  Drought tolerant so it can take those tough sites
• Edging – Gentle spilling habit softens any hardscape
• Ground cover – makes an excellent ground cover for sunny areas
• Sprawling habit  fills in fast
• Blooms the first year
  
• 8” lavender blue spikes (I cannot get enough of blues!)
• Long bloom time
• Thrives will little water
• Garden Design –   Cool blue Nepeta blooms combine so well with warm yellows/golds such as Rudbeckia or Coreopsis,  For one of the longest blooming combinations, combine with Knock Out Roses.
• Resistant to pests and diseases

Nepeta works well in sunny areas as an under planting to small trees

About the only thing I do is shear it back after its first flower flush.  This not only makes for a tidy plant but encourages a new flush of blooms.   I also remove old growth in early spring.

If you are looking for easy gardening – make sure you add Nepeta Walker’s Low to your list – you’ll be glad you gave it a try.

More on Nepeta:

Nepeta & Rose Collection