Perennials Add Pizazz To Your Yard
A few weeks ago, I proclaimed to my husband Jim that I was through redesigning the yard - no more new flower beds, no more lugging boulders and no more truckloads of 4-way-mix piled on the driveway. (According to him, I must be the only person with a personal charge account at the local soil company). But that was three weeks ago and a lot can happen in three weeks.
Having seen the list of perennials available for this weekend’s Friends of Manito plant sale, I’ve decided “just a little” more lawn needs to be sacrificed. Just how much lawn will be removed will depend upon the number and variety of plants I’ll choose at the sale. And since the sale will offer more than 12,000 plants from more than 140 varieties, I’ll have my work cut out for me.
A few that caught my eye might also feel right at home in your garden:
Ajuga (uh-JOO-guh): This colorful groundcover really adds a spot of liveliness to the shade garden. Grown in sun or shade, its leaves blanket the garden floor in shades of white, green, pink and bronze. Its three-inch spiked flowers transform the floor into a sea of blue during the late spring. It’s a tough little fellow needing well-drained soil.
Artemisia (ar-teh-MEEZ-ee-uh): The variety Powis Castle is a shrubby two- to three-foot-high plant with deeply cut silvery white foliage. It enjoys full sun and is drought-tolerant.
I can’t say enough about using the colors silver and gray. Not only are they luminous, but their soft hues work magic against the green leafy tapestry of the garden. They’re much more gentle than white, making them a splendid choice to weave in and out of the garden’s color scheme. They seem to make the bright colors brighter and the soft colors softer.
Perennial geraniums: These hardy fellows are not to be confused with the zonal geraniums which are used in northern climates as annual plants. The hardy geranium is usually a rounded mound that can grow from one to four feet tall. The pretty fivepetaled saucer is usually single as opposed to the cluster of geranium flowers we are so accustomed to. Their colors range from white to blue, purple, rose or pink, often with deeper-colored veining. These round mounds are effective near spiky plants like iris or daylilies.
Russian sage (Perovskia, per-OFF-skee-uh): This three- to fivefoot, airy, shrub-like plant will quickly grab your attention. Its tiny sprays of powder-blue flowers appear on gray-green stems with sharp-toothed, gray-green leaves. This summer bloomer is an excellent companion to evergreen shrubs and pink, yellow and blue flowers.
Obedient plant (Physostegia, fie-so-STEE-gee-uh): This is a mid- to late-summer bloomer with tubular flowers that run up and down spiky stems. Since the flowers seemingly stay in the position in which they are growing, they’re called obedient plants. They enjoy sun to part shade and moist soil. Organically poor soil is preferred over rich soil, as rich soil seems to encourage floppiness. Combined with rue, white phlox and sunflowers, it’s a beauty.
Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum, poe-lig-oh-NAY-tum): Neither formal nor wild shade gardens would be complete without Solomon’s seal. Small bell-shaped white flowers dangle from graceful arching branches. They are marvelous when mixed with ferns and hostas.
These and dozens of other varieties have been lovingly raised from seed by the Friends of Manito volunteers. As in the past, more than a thousand houseplants will augment the bounty for sale. There will be easy-to-grow houseplants for children, hard-to-kill plants for college dorm rooms, extra-large plants for offices and special plants for greenhouse rooms.
The sale will be at Manito Park Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. for Friends of Manito members and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday for the public. Hope to see you there.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review