Geum triflora - Prairie Smoke
3/26/2025 9:40 am
Photo from iNaturalist
I was immediately hooked when I saw Geum triflorum (Prairie Smoke) in full bloom at Georgia Perimeter College's garden. It was facing west, getting the fullest sun imaginable. I had to have it. It isn't the first, nor the last time this happened. (I have the dead plants to prove it.)
As a rock gardener, I could not deny the charms of its flowers, its ferny foliage and demure size. The fact that I don't have a prairie did not dissuade me. Yes, Geum triflorum is native to the Northern U.S., particularly prairies as the common name suggests. It is not native anywhere close to Georgia. Indeed, some authorities say it is a Zone 3-7 plant. Tosh.
Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow'
11/26/2024 4:27 pm
Picture courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc.
Winter is not the time that most perennials shine. There are a handful of exceptions, including Yucca and Hellebores. One flowering plant that also fits the bill is Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow' (Ascot Rainbow Spurge).
Geums -- As in "Gee, Am I Doing Something Wrong?
10/14/2024 3:28 pm
I fell for the literature and the promises. It's hardly the first time. Gee, am I surprised? Geum species promise so much. But do they deliver? And if they do, how many years will it take until I figure them out?
My first Geums were acquired in 2014, Geum avens ‘Mrs. Bradshaw'. Their growth was scraggly. The red flowers flopped. I yanked them for not being very attractive.
Ajania pacifica (Gold & Silver Chrysanthemum)
9/8/2024 5:28 pm
©️Liane Schleifer
Ajania pacifica, formerly known as Chrysanthemum pacificum and commonly known as "Gold & Silver Chrysanthemum," is an herbaceous perennial in the Aster family. Its foliage distinguishes it from our typical fall-blooming asters. With petite deep green leaves outlined in silver, Ajania pacifica looks pretty all summer through late fall.
Chelone -- Turtlehead
9/3/2024 12:14 pm
Chelone lyonii 'Tiny Tortuga'
Late summer and early fall is when Chelone, commonly known as Turtlehead, shines.
Chelone requires moist soil to really thrive. It grows mostly in part sun to part shade. It can also take full sun if kept consistently moist (a challenge few can meet). It grows fine in high shade too, although it tends to get leggy. It is a good candidate for use in a rain garden.
Abutilon - Flowering Maple
8/2/2024 3:26 pm
Abutilon - Flowering Maple
Abutilon 'Orange Hot Lava' - Photo courtesy of Plant Delights Nursery
The leaves of Abutilon give rise to the plant's common name, "Flowering Maple," as they resemble maple leaves. That said, the flowers more resemble downward facing hibiscus flowers. Indeed, Abutilon is a botanical cousin to hibiscus. The flowers of Abutilon are more closed, however, in a downward bell or lantern shape. Another common name for Abutilon is "Lantern Flower."
Not Just Red Hot Anymore - Kniphofia
5/28/2024 6:03 pm
Kniphofia 'High Roller' - Picture courtesy of Walters Garden
For many years, you either were or weren't a fan of Kniphofia, commonly known for what they looked like - red hot pokers. Count me in the "not a fan" group. They literally screamed for attention with their loud clashing colors and their formidable height. Lo and behold, the hybridizers managed to change my mind about these plants.
Scutellaria species
5/28/2024 11:57 am
ABOUT SCUTELLARIA
Scutellaria are flowering perennials in the mint family with the characteristic square stem and recursive leaf veins. There are approximately 300 species around the world. There is quite a bit of diversity found in the leaves and stems of the different species but much less in the flowers. A number of available species make attractive garden plants. Other species are somewhat coarse but certainly worthy for consideration in native gardens.
Scutellaria means "little dish" which refers to the covering of the calyx. The flowers look like either mini snapdragons or a medieval hood or helmet.
Baptisia - False Indigo
3/27/2024 9:21 am
Baptisia 'Ivory Towers' - Photo courtesy of Plant Delights Nursery
My dear friend John asked me to write about the top ten perennials. I agreed, as long as he didn't ask me to write about daylilies (also known as "deer nummies" in my neck of the woods). Instead, I chose to write about another highly hybridized perennial, which I actually get to see in bloom for more than a millisecond: Baptisia, commonly known as False Indigo.
This will be an unusually picture heavy article because -- as with hosta -- the distinctions between cultivars is better seen than described. We may get to learn even more about Baptisia when Richard Hawke comes to talk to us during our February 2025 Symposium!
Eucomis - Pineapple Lily
3/10/2024 2:14 pm
Eucomis, known commonly as "Pineapple Lily" comes to us from South Africa. This is a reliably hardy plant in Southern gardens.
Eucomis features dramatic upright and wide strappy foliage. This foliage can illuminate other plants when used as a background plant or it can stand alone as a dramatic accent. Depending on the cultivar, the foliage can range from 6 - 30" tall. You can find foliage that is pure green, a mix of green and burgundy or nearly pure burgundy. Eucomis also features unique looking pineapple-shaped flowers that are long-lasting.
Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' - Variegated Adam's Needle
1/23/2024 4:15 pm
Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard'
Looking for a bulletproof evergreen (and yellow) plant that glows all year including the dead of winter? Snow -- who cares? Ice cold -- it will just give the leaves pink stripes in the center and make it more interesting. Is it prickly? Well, a little -- but nowhere like its cousin the plain green Adam's Needle or those vicious Agaves.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit - Arisaema
1/7/2024 4:34 pm
☑︎ Shade grower
☑︎ Dramatic flowers
☑︎ Dramatic foliage
☑︎ Dramatic seedpods
If these characteristics appeal to you, then you should be growing jack-in-the-pulpits.
Ajuga Grows Up
11/15/2023 2:10 pm
Ajuga 'Canary Cordial'
Ajuga is a well known evergreen ground cover good at choking out weeds. As an added bonus, it is deer and rabbit resistant due to the bitterness of its leaves. It is virtually a carefree plant. In recent years, I've not only allowed what I have to run, but I've moved it around and added new forms in lieu of mulching empty spots.
Perennial Profile Blog - Isodon Effusus
10/3/2023 8:26 am
Isodon effusus aka
Plectranthus effusus (longituba) aka Rabdosia effusus
(Long-Tubed Trumpet Spurflower)
Quite a few of the delighted guests at Michell Thurmond's Garden Party on September 30, 2023 were intrigued by a bright green leaved perennial growing in part shade that had tight flower buds showing a tip of purple. This plant -- which botanists have been changing the name of too frequently -- is one of the few dependable fall blooming charmers which is not in the aster family.
Isodon effusus grows in part sun to light shade. Until it begins to flower, the plant maintains a tidy, small shrub like shape. The flowers are borne along long panicles. As these flowers develop and open, the stems begin to arch from the weight of the multitude of lavender flowers.
Verbena bonariensis
9/17/2023 4:13 pm
Architectural, easy to grow and attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies and bees of all kinds, Verbena bonariensis is surprisingly under-utilized perennial.
Dicliptera suberecta - Uruguayan Firecracker plant
8/3/2023 1:51 pm
If you've got some full sun in a well draining location and wish to have late summer hummingbirds visit, you should consider Dicliptera suberecta (Uruguayan Firecracker plant). Masses of thin bright reddish orange tubular flowers bring hummers in for close up viewing.
Cupheas - The Hardy Kind
6/27/2023 1:13 pm
Looking for a perennial plant that provides pops of color in your garden and is irresistible to hummingbirds and bees? Try the perennial forms of Cuphea. If you can give them at least a half day of sun, these are top notch at attracting pollinators and delighting humans.
Spigelia marilandica 'Little Redhead'
4/4/2023 9:31 am
A plant that ticks off the wish list of many, Spigelia marilandica 'Little Redhead' is a compact form of "Indian pink." It's a native, its flowers are stunning, hummingbirds love it and it is low maintenance!
Clematis 'Jeanne's Pink'
4/3/2023 2:35 pm
Flowers are a beautiful thing, no doubt, and Clematis 'Jeanne's Pink' certainly delivers on those. But as we all know, flowers are transitory and sometimes only last a day or a week or so. 'Jeanne's Pink' is one of those perennials that rewards for a long time, not with just flowers, but with stunning seed heads.
Camassia sp.
1/30/2023 4:09 pm
Camassia leichtlinii is a bulb that brings both high drama and structure to the garden. Growing 2 to 4 feet high, its tall blue spearheads of flowers stand out in late spring and early summer.
Triteleia Species
1/28/2023 4:23 pm
©️Lisa Roper, Chanticleer Garden
Triteleia is a charming late spring to early summer bulb. It was unknown to me by name until Lisa Roper spoke to us in January 2023 and showed how wonderfully this bulb blends into a garden.
Cyclamen for the Win!
1/15/2023 10:18 am
Cyclamen for the Win!
Cyclamen hederifolium 'Sweetheart Splash'
✓ Naturalizing low ground cover
✓ Tolerates weather extremes, drought to drenching, infernal heat to frozen tundra
✓ Grows in dry shade and part shade and under thirsty trees
✓ Charming flowers from summer through fall
✓ Attractive winter foliage that goes dormant in the summer to not clash with summer perennials
Yucca 'Color Guard'
1/8/2023 4:15 pm
Yucca 'Color Guard' is a variegated, evergreen succulent that is well behaved and colorful year round.
Conradina and xClinadina
11/6/2022 5:08 pm
Need a tidy shrublike evergreen perennial that can stand up to heat, drought and humidity? Want to help preserve a regional native*? Then think about adding a Conradina or a cross of it with another native to the border. Just don't stick it in sodden clay! This is a plant that thrives on neglect.
Asters for Fall
10/16/2022 11:35 am
Asters for Fall
The common name “aster” covers a large group of plants with daisy like flowers. Many will bloom in both spring and fall, but our focus here is on the fall stars of the garden.
Strobilanthes hamiltoniana
9/16/2022 6:27 pm
Strobilanthes hamiltoniana - Chinese Rain Bells
Looking for something that blooms prolifically late into winter, maybe even survives a light frost or two and isn't an aster? Strobilanthes hamiltoniana features rich dark green leaves that set off abundant panicles of pinkish/lavender tubular blooms. And did I mention that it grows in light shade?
Lavandula - Lavender
7/2/2022 5:25 pm
There are many good reasons to grow lavender, from supporting pollinators, to fragrance, beauty, medicinal use. But the Lavandula family can be fussy in Atlanta area humidity. Read on to learn about what lavender needs to thrive here, which kinds do best, and the many uses of this prized plant dating back to ancient times.
Campanula 'Pink Octopus'
5/11/2022 4:59 pm
Campanula Pink Octopus
Campanula 'Pink Octopus' is an odd duck plant. In the South, it thrives in some of the worst conditions of my garden -- the driest of shade and part-shade. The lower foliage is rich and lux, forming a dense mat of ground cover. By mid-May, the plant will shoot up flower branches with thin dissected foliage and super cool pink octopus like blooms, as many as 50 to a branch. The entire plant only gets 10-15" tall too, so it is a great underplant.
Salvia elegans 'Golden Delicious'
3/31/2022 10:16 am
𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐬 '𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬’
(𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐠𝐞)
This cultivar of pineapple sage has the same great scent as regular pineapple sage but sports bright golden foliage. Like the straight species, Salvia elegans, the cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’ shines in late fall when most blooming perennials are dying out. Minor frosts seem to have no impact. There are even reports of it blooming through freezing temperatures.
Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'
3/30/2022 3:59 pm
Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’
Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’ is such an amazing performer that it has displaced all other Rudbeckias from my interest. In addition to having a long bloom period, it is visually stunning. It is a prolific bloomer and seems impervious to disease like downy mildew and leaf spot that affect other Rudbeckias like Goldsturm.
Johnson's Hardy Amaryllis
2/27/2022 3:14 pm
Hippeastrum x johnsonii
Johnson's Hardy Amaryllis
When it comes to reliable spring beauty, the Johnson’s Hardy Amaryllis is as good as it gets. About mid-May, an established clump will be covered with stalks of bright scarlet blooms. While it is still a good idea to give the bulbs some mulch over winter, when the strap-like leaves will have wilted, these bulbs have persisted through many a cold, winter day.
Helleborus niger 'HGC Josef Lemper' - A Garden Worthy Hellebore
1/3/2022 12:07 pm
Helleborus niger ‘HGC Josef Lemper’
I frequently call them “hellebore weeds” because of their tendency to seed around and have children that do not resemble their parents. There is one, though, that I do not regard with disdain. Helleborus niger ‘HGC Josef Lemper’, plant patent 15615. The HGC stands for the Hellebore Gold Collection, a Dutch series of improved niger cultivars. It is reported to be the largest of the collection, standing 8-12 inches tall with a width of 12-15 inches.
This tissue-cultured plant was selected for all the attributes that I admire. The bright white flowers shine across the garden from mid-December into spring, holding their faces upright so that you don’t have to get down on the ground to see them. They display lovely yellow stamens. The evergreen foliage is strong. Although well drained soil is recommended, the ones in my garden have faired very well in average, clay soil, although in a slightly raised location. They are growing in full sun instead of the shady site recommended and have not complained.
Hellebores in general are distasteful to deer. While the common hellebore varieties spread madly in my woodland garden, this lovely and welcome plant has so far refused to multiply. If you find it in the nursery, buy as many as you can afford. - Karin Guzy
Photo credit: Heuger Gartenbaubetriebe
