Planting Design: March 2010

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Gallardia x grandiflora - Blanket Flower (drought tolerant)

www.plantcare.com

Aster lateriflorus 'Lady in Black' - Calico Aster (drought tolerant)

www.phoenixperennials.com

False Blue Indigo (drought tolerant)

www.ces.ncsu.edu

Purple Coneflower (drought tolerant)

grow.ars-informatica.ca

Blue Star Flower (drought tolerant)

www.westonnurseries.com

Starflower

More compact than the species with darker blue flowers, May–June. Mound of dark green lance-shaped foliage turns yellow in autumn. Spacing: 12–15".

Height: 12-15 Inches Hardiness
Zone: 5
Bloom Color: Blue
Appropriate Setting: Border or Bed

Moist Conditions

Flowering Season
Spring
Special Feature
Flowering

Sun Exposure
Part Shade
Full Sun

Campanula rotundifolia (hardy bellflower)

northernshade.ca

Silver Mound Artemesia (salt tolerant)

greenspade.com

Evening Primrose (salt tolerant)

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

Vinca Minor PERIWINKLE or MYRTLE

www.johnstonplants.com

Common Woody Aster (Salt Tolerant)

www.researchlearningcenter.com

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The most amorphous

The most amorphous, low-growing shapes, i.e., extreme filler plants, becoming even more shapeless after flowering:
Geranium * oxonianum 'Rose Clair'
Campanula poscharskyana
Saponaria * lempergii 'Max Frei'
Viola cornuta

Less amorphous

Less amorphous, somewhat taller filler plants that tend to become more amorphous after flowering:
Centranthus ruber
Knautia macedonica
Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon'

Intermediate Plant 2

Intermediate plants, many of them becoming strongly structural after flowering:
Eryngium giganteum
Thalictrum aquilegiifolium
Phlomis russeliana
Salvia nemorosa
Sedum telephium

Intermediate Plant

Intermediate plant, tall and structural in flower, but becoming markedly less structural after flowering:
Hemerocallis hybrids

Macleaya cordata

Molinia caerulea

Phlox paniculata

Persicaria amplexicaulis

Structural plants

The strongest shapes, i.e. taller, very structural plants that maintain their structure even through winter.
Cimicifuga simplex

http://www.dkimages.com/

Filipendula rubra

www.calfloranursery.com

Eupatorium purpureum

www.gbv-uerdingen-nord.de

Miscanthus sinensis

Monarda Hybrids

http://www.datasync.com/

Veronicastrum virginicum

www.gardensandplants.com

Monday, March 22, 2010

Smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens)

©Photo by Mike Homoya
©Photo by Paul E. Rothrock

Kemper Code: K520

Common Name: smooth hydrangea
Zone: 3 to 9
Plant Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Hydrangeaceae
Missouri Native: Yes
Native Range: Eastern United States
Height: 3 to 5 feet
Spread: 3 to 5 feet
Bloom Time: June - September Bloom Data
Bloom Color: White
Sun: Part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low

Best grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in part shade. Tolerates full sun in the northern part of its range, but needs constant moisture. Intolerant of drought, with foliage tending to become significantly less attractive in dryish conditions. If left alone, this Hydrangea can become somewhat weedy in appearance and can spread rapidly by root suckers to form colonies. Blooms on new wood, and in cold winter climates, it is perhaps best grown as an herbaceous perennial (e.g., cut back to 1-2' from the ground in late winter).

Riverbank tussock sedge (Carex emoryi)

©Photos by Paul E. Rothrock

Carex emoryi Dewey
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 16-44 inches
Family: Cyperaceae - Sedge Family
Flowering Period: April, May

Culms: Slender, triangular, usually rough on angles, base reddish-purple, leaves of previous years often persistent.
Leaves: Flat to rolled under from margins, usually longer than culms, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide; margins rough.
Sheaths: Glabrous; lowest sheaths bladeless, outer surface reddish-brown, inner surface white-translucent.
Ligules: Shorter than width of blade.
Inflorescences: Lowest bract leaf-like, equaling inflorescence, others smaller; spikes unisexual; upper 2-3 spikes staminate, .8 to 2 inches long, more or less erect, stalked; staminate scales egg-shaped, brown with tawny mid-vein, tips rounded; lowest 2-3 spikes pistillate, erect to ascending, 1 to 4 inches long, sessile to short-stalked, bases slender, often with few staminate flowers at tip; pistillate scales 1/12 to 1/7 inch long, about as long as perigynia, ovate to elliptic, pale or reddish-brown, mid-vein tawny, tip tapering to point; perigynia numerous, somewhat flattened, ovate, dull green to straw-colored, 3- to 5-nerved on each side, surface granulated, beak minute.
Fruits: Achenes, lens-shaped, 1-seeded, dull brown; stigmas 2.
Habitat: Margins of streams, ponds, lakes and marshes; ditches, wet meadows; often in standing water; usually on calcareous soils.
Distribution: East 2/3 of Kansas.
Comments: From stout, scaly rhizomes. Named for Major William Helmsley Emory, 1811-1887, who participated in the boundary survey between the U.S. and Mexico.

Obedient plant (Physotegia virginiana)

©Photos by Marcia E. Moore

Kemper Code: G620

Common Name: obedient plant
Zone: 3 to 9
Plant Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Lamiaceae
Missouri Native: Yes
Native Range: Central and southern United States and northeastern Mexico
Height: 3 to 4 feet
Spread: 2 to 3 feet
Bloom Time: June - September Bloom Data
Bloom Color: Pink, white
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium

Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)

from Missouri Botanical Garden Kemper Center for Home Gardening

©Photos by Hilary Cox

Kemper Code: L980

Common Name: fragrant sumac
Zone: 3 to 9
Plant Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Anacardiaceae
Missouri Native: Yes
Native Range: Southeastern Canada to southern and eastern United States
Height: 2 to 6 feet
Spread: 6 to 10 feet
Bloom Time: April Bloom Data
Bloom Color: Yellow
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low

False blue indigo (Baptisia australis)

From Connecticut Botanical Society

Blue false indigo grows wild in Connecticut, but it is not clear whether it is truly native to Connecticut, or whether it escaped from gardens. It is definitely native farther south and west.

• Family: Pea (Fabaceae)
• Habitat: rich woods, thickets
• Height: 3-5 feet
• Flower size: 1 inch long
• Flower color: dark blue-purple
• Flowering time: May to June
• Origin: native?

Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata)

©Photo by EcoLogic

Symbol: LISP
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Native Status: L48 N
CAN N

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

©Photos by Marcia E. Moore

• Family: Bellflower (Campanulaceae)
• Habitat: streambanks, swamps
• Height: 2-4 feet
• Flower size: 1-1/2 inches long
• Flower color: red
• Flowering time: July to September
• Origin: native

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

©Photos by Alicia Douglass

• Family: Madder (Rubiaceae)
• Habitat: swamps, edges of streams and ponds
• Height: 3-10 feet
• Flower size: 1/3 inch flowers in spherical clusters 1-1/2 inches across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: June to August
• Origin: native

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

©Photo by George Yatskievych

Stout blue-eyed grass is probably the most common of six species of blue-eyed grass found in Connecticut. The photo below right shows some of the distinguishing features for stout blue-eyed grass. Incidentally, don't rely on the name narrowleaf blue-eyed grass; this species, in fact, has the widest leaves of any blue-eyed grass in the state.

• Family: Iris (Iridaceae)
• Habitat: meadows, shores
• Height: 4-20 inches
• Flower size: 1/2 inch across
• Flower color: blue
• Flowering time: May to July
• Origin: native

Blue star willow (Amsonia tabernaemontana)

©Photos by Marcia E. Moore

Symbol: AMTA2
Group: Dicot
Family: Apocynaceae
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Native Status: L48 N

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

©Photos by Marcia E. Moore

• Family: Aster (Asteraceae)
• Habitat: fields, open woods, roadsides
• Height: 1-3 feet
• Flower size: 2-3 inches across
• Flower color: yellow and dark brown
• Flowering time: June to October
• Origin: Midwestern U.S.

Bird's foot violet (Viola pedata)

This species seems to be everyone's favorite violet. The large, flat-faced flowers with prominent orange stamens and the very finely cut leaves distinguish birdfoot violet. Coast violet and early blue violet have cut leaves, but their flowers look fairly different.

• Family: Violet (Violaceae)
• Habitat: dry, sandy fields; sunny rocky areas
• Height: 4-10 inches
• Flower size: 1 to 1-1/2 inches
• Flower color: purple; upper petals sometimes much darker than the lower petals
• Flowering time: April to June
• Origin: native

Arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum)

©Photo by Anita Bracalente

The name arrowwood comes from the long, straight branches, which were used for arrow shafts.

• Family: Honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae)
• Habitat: woods and open woods
• Height: 3 to 12 feet
• Flower size: 1/8 inch flowers in heads 3 inches across
• Flower color: white
• Flowering time: June to July
• Origin: native