Here is my most recent "Garden Hoe" (Thanks Jonathan!) column on Low Maintenance Perennials... Low Maintenance Perennials Years ago I was asked to give a talk about low maintenance perennials to a community group in Orange. I selected ten plants and with slides and handout sheets I explained why I chose those particular perennials. When I was finished a gal in the back of the room asked: “Amanda, do you ever sell those plants that come back year after year?” Now, when I discuss perennials I start with a definition. A perennial is a plant that comes back year after year ... until it dies. Some perennials live a few years and then fade away. Others, like peonies or dictamnus (gas plant) will probably last longer than the person who planted them. A low maintenance perennial would be one that it is reasonably long-lived, but not what I call a “bully” perennial. These can take over the garden in a few years. When a neighbor comes over with a paper bag stuffed full of bare roots and says it is “... a really easy perennial to grow,” be very careful! Low maintenance perennials do not need need to be staked, nor do they have to be pruned of dead headed (although that never hurts). These plants are not troubled with diseases like powdery mildew or prone to insects like aphids or spider mites. And these are plants that look good the entire growing season, not just when they are in bloom. STACHYS LAMBS’ EARS - ‘Helen von Stein’ --- I don’t care for the lambs’ ears grown from seed, because it sends up what I consider to be unsightly scapes and odd blooms which need to be cut. The foliage also tends to die away in the center. Stachys ‘Helen von Stein’ is grown from cuttings, not seeds, and as such rarely flowers. One common name for this plant is “elephant ears”, as the leaves are twice the size of the seed-grown varieties. It provides nice waves of silver in the garden. SEDUM ‘kamtschaticum’ --- Most people are familiar with ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum, which is nice, but I particularly like the low growing sedum ‘kamtschaticum’. It is a thick green ground cover in the spring that bursts into yellow blooms. When they go by the spent stems and flowers turn a rusty red. DAYLILIES --- These reliable plants withstand neglect. They can be used as erosion protection or ground cover and they increase in size each year. If you were to just grow one daylily, ‘Stella de Oro’ would be a good choice. It is a lower growing plant with orange/yellow flowers. It reblooms on and off the entire season. This cultivar is widely used by landscapers. ASTILBE --- Typically sold as a shade plant, I find in northern Vermont astilbe does fine in full sun, as long as it is not planted in dry, sandy soil. In fact, in the shade it doesn’t bloom much for me. Astilbe has feathery plumes and comes in white and many shades of pink, red, and purple. If I were to pick just one variety, I would stick with ‘Visions,’ which is a lower growing (18”) cultivar that has done well for us in all growing conditions. It has raspberry rose plumes and large clear green leaves. VIOLA ‘Purple Showers’ --- This plant combines the old-fashioned charm of a violet with modern vigor. Some years it blooms all summer long. BAPTESIA - (False Indigo) --- Baptesia is one of my favorite perennials. It takes a few years to size up, but then it behaves like a trouble free shrub, about 4 feet tall with spikes of violet blue flowers followed by pods. It has a nice vase shape to it when it’s not blooming and I also use the foliage in bouquets all summer. AMSONIA (Willow Blue Star) --- This plant has light blue flowers in the spring and is native to the Eastern US. It is totally trouble free. A three foot, upright plant, like baptesia, it almost appears to be a small shrub. The foliage is long lasting in bouquets and turns golden colored in the fall. SIBERIAN IRIS --- All siberian iris are low maintenance, until four or five years when it’s time to divide them. Then a jack hammer comes in handy, or a strapping young man. Meanwhile, you have lovely flowers in the spring. They bloom around the same time as peonies. If you don’t deadhead the flowers, the seed pods can be used in fall dried bouquets and the foliage looks nice all year, kind of like an ornamental grass. Hostas are the best selling perennials in the US, but the slugs and the deer love them, so where I live that involves a lot of maintenance. Every plant needs a bit of attention. A new planting needs moisture to get the roots established and placing some mulch around the base will help with weeds. Next Month I will write about deer resistant plants. If you have any gardening questions you can e-mail me at [email protected] or call me at 426-3783.
oo! can't wait to read, but have to! i'm off to work, but will be back to see your stuff!! thanks again, Amanda!
Our new house, although 60 years old has a near barren garden. The last tennant was a professional gardener for a local botanical garden but there was no busman's holiday in this yard -- he did diddly squat here! (he was 32 and too busy raising his 5 children -- catholic....) My last garden we had no lawn and I gardened the whole yard organically, in an English cottage style, which almost killed me. This time I am going to do a lot more low maintenance landscaping and lawn and keep just a couple of mixed flower borders for seasonal colour, so this article is an inspiration to think simple.
Most of what you talked about today would be a tasty lunch for the deer in my area. In our beds we've done best with daffodils (the deer don't eat them) and we have really beautiful bearded iris (purple and lavender in color) that DH's grandmother had us take out of her yard. I'd love to learn about some deer proof plants. I had hostas, speckled trout, tulips, day lilies and peonies but again it just made a tasty salad for the deer. The chipmunks destroyed my potted carnations.
You are in the wrong area Amanda, but man I would love to know why I seem to be the only person who can't keep geraniums alive in Arkansas. Is it just too hot, maybe I water too much. Drives me crazy. I used to plant them and loved them everywhere else I have lived but here.
I look forward to next month's feature on deer proof plants. Around here, those buggers would eat your plastic flowers! This time of year we get a lot of button bucks in the yard. They're so hungry they'll chew through my bird feeders to eat the seed! :clueless: I've not tried the False Indigo or the Willow Blue Star, they sound nice. I'll have to put them on my short list!
Ohhh perfect timing. I just finished raking up the yard (60 bags of leaves!) and am now looking forward to the "fun" stuff. susan
Hi - so many questions - so little time. Shade - very difficult. Low maintenance perennials for shade would include solomon’s seal, cimicifugia (ONLY the darker leaved ramosa ... not the species), hostas if you don’t have deer, pulmonaria and brunnera - there’s a great new variety called “Jack Frost.” One thing I like to do is put planters with annuals in my perennial gardens. I know, it’s cheating - but I take an established flowering basket, remove the basket and plop it in a half- whiskey barrel - instant color all summer. Deer - well, that’s my topic for next month - but basically they don’t like “smelly” plants like salvia (smells like cat’s pee) or bee balm (it’s in the mint family) - and they don’t like fuzzy leaves like lambs’ ear. I’ll post that article when I get around to writing it. Julie - I don’t know why you are killing your geraniums! They do need to dry out between watering, and they should love the heat. I was transplanting tomatoes tonight and dumped one whole flat on top of another flat. x:powwows: Meanwhile - the first rummage sale is Friday and I have way too much to do around here - but I’ll be in line before they open the doors. Woo Hoo!
