Type: perennial
Light: full sun to medium shade (some varieties can take fairly deep shade)
Flower Color: Various pinks, blues, purples, white and bicolors
Height: .5-3 feet (most are 1-2 feet)
Width: 2-3 feet
Soil Requirements: moderately rich, average moisture
Uses: perennial border, mass along driveways, boulevards, cut flowers
Pictured is one of my favorite hardy Geraniums, Geranium pratense Splish Splash. Each individual flower is unique- white 'splashed' with blue! Thriving in full sun or partial shade, it forms mounds of deeply cut, dark green leaves, ideal for suppressing weeds at the front of the border. This variety will be 2 - 2 1/2 feet tall at maturity.
Package of 10+ seeds $3.00US Several varieties - check for availablity
Nursery/plant sales (Canada only): $6.00C- $8.00C (Depending on variety)1 gallon
Type: perennial
Light: full sun to part shade
Flower Color: Various ( white, purple,pink,red, yellow,chartreuse)
Height: 1-3 feet- varies by species
Width: 2-3 feet
Soil Requirements: moderately rich, average moisture
Uses: perennial border, foundation plantings, cut flowers
I find the more I learn, the more I know how much I don't know. I didn't grow Hellebores until I moved to Fort Langley, 12 YEARS after moving to the Pacific Northwest- one of the best places in the world to grow Hellebores! If these will grow in your area, they are worth a try- unfortunately the most well-known and perhaps the most common Hellebore is Helleborus niger, the Christmas Rose. This is perhaps one of the most difficult and fussy of all the Hellebores. If you have tried it and it has died, or failed to flourish- don't be disheartened- just try a different species, like H. Hybridus (usually listed as H. Orientalis), or H. Argutifolius. They bloom for a long time, and often when very little else is even out of the ground yet.
Helleborus hybridus (Usually listed as H. Orientalis)
I still refer to my Lenten Roses as H. Orientalis, though it is now accepted that most plants in cultivation are not true Orientalis. This species is taller than the H.niger, blooms a little later, longer, and is available in almost every color, and even in double form (highly sought after and worth a small fortune!)
Package of 10+ seeds $3.50US Pink or White available
Nursery/plant sales (Canada only): $8.00C 1 gallon
Helleborus argutifolius (Corsican Hellebore)
Dark green leather-like evergreen foliage with apple-green flowers held up high on 2-3 foot stems. Will begin blooming late winter/early spring and flowers continue to look presentable for several months. Good for foundation planting or under high-branched trees.
Package of 10+ seeds $3.50US
Type: perennial /tuber
Light: full sun to light shade
Flower Color: Various (fruit shades- red, yellow, orange, purple)
Height: 2-3 feet
Width: 2-3 feet
Soil Requirements: moderately rich, average moisture
Uses: perennial border, mass along driveways, boulevards, cut flowers
Described by many enthusiasts as the 'Perfect Perennial', daylilies are perhaps the most hybridized perennial around. Thousands and thousands of new varieties are on the market (over 20,000 have been registered by the American Hemerocallis Society), and hundreds of new ones appear each year. Each flower only lasts a day (hence the name daylily), so cut stems with well-developed buds, buds will open on successive days. Trouble- free and easy-care, daylilies only require periodical dividing once blooms begin to decrease in number.
The lemon daylily I have pictured here is a heirloom variety that is one of the few fragrant daylilies available, it spreads quickly to perfume the yard with its wonderful scent.
Catherine Woodbury Nursery/Plant Sales (Canada only) 1 gallon $5.00C
Double Apricot (Kwanso) Nursery/Plant Sales (Canada only) 4" $3.50C 1 gallon $5.00C
Flaming Sword Nursery/Plant Sales (Canada only) 4" $3.50C 1 gallon $5.00C
These colorful relatives of the hollyhock bear enormous red, white or pink flowers 6 to 12 inches in diameter from midsummer until frost. Garden varieties may grow up to 8 feet tall is soil that stays very moist all summer. Southern Belle is a recommended strain. Place them in the back of the border or in groups by themselves
HOW TO GROW
Rose mallows grow in Zones 4-9. They do best in full sun but will tolerate light
shade. Soil should be moist and well-composted. Space plants about 3 feet apart.
When setting out plants place the crowns, or tops of the root structures, 3
to 4 inches beneath the soil. To start new plants from seeds, sow early in spring;
the new plants will produce only a few flowers the first year, but will come
into full bloom in subsequent years. Because the rose mallow clumps do not spread
underground, the plants can be allowed to remain undisturbed indefinitely.
These enormous clusters of summer-blooming white, pink or blue flowers. The most attractive blossoms are unable to produce seeds. These sterile blossoms are flat, four-petaled and 1 inch or so across. Some plants bear clusters containing only sterile flowers, but most have clusters that include fertile ones, tiny starlike blossoms usually at the centers of the clusters.
Big-leafed hydrangea are available in blue, white or pink. Flower clusters are 4 to 8 inches across. Plants may blossom when only 1 foot tall; most garden plants become 3 to 6 feet tall. They have 6- to 8-inch shiny coarsely toothed leaves. All varieties are useful in borders and near a house. The flowers may range from pink to blue depending on the soil's acidity.
HOW TO GROW.
Hydrangeas grow in full sun or light shade and do best in a moist but well-drained
soil supplemented with peat moss, leaf mold or compost. Big-leafed hydrangeas
require acid soil: pH 6.0 to 6.5 for pink flowers, pH 5.0 to 5.5 for blue ones.
They do well in seaside gardens and big-leafed hydrangeas positively flourish
near the shore. For hedges, plant hills-of-snow hydrangeas 2 to 3 feet apart.
Propagate from softwood cuttings of young growth in late spring or early summer, from semihardwood cuttings of more mature growth in mid- or late summer, or from hardwood cuttings of dormant leafless growth in fall or winter. Hills-of-snow and oak-leafed hydrangeas can also be propagated by digging up and replanting the underground branches known as suckers and by forcing a branch to grow roots by ground layering.
Hyssop-Anise (Agastache foeniculum)
Type: perennial herb
Light: sun
Flower Color: light purple
Height:2-3 feet
Width: 1-2 feet
Soil Requirements: well-drained
Uses: perennial border, vegetable garden
This is one of my favorite herbs! It has the most wonderful fragrance! It has a fairly attractive light purple spike shaped flower head- I like to add it to most of my bouquets (especially those I'm giving away) just because it smells so nice!
HOW TO GROW
They do best in full sun but will tolerate light shade. Space plants about 2
feet apart. To start new plants from seeds, sow early in spring; the new plants
will produce only a few flowers the first year, but will come into full bloom
in subsequent years. Because the anise hyssop clumps do not spread underground,
the plants can be allowed to remain undisturbed indefinitely.
Package of 25+ seeds $2.00US