Tired of winter and ready for spring? This plant is one of the earlier bloomers, putting on it’s show in late February. It’s a bit pricey, so hold on to your wallet, but what a treasure in the shady woodland garden, or under a stand of birch trees. The flowers come first and grow to about 10” and then the dark, glossy, evergreen foliage grows to about 15”. Hellebores are perfect for the woodland garden, preferring a pH of 7.

This is not your Mother’s big red geranium. This plant has more delicate foliage and makes a terrific groundcover. It prefers shade with lots of organic matter, and so works well under trees. It grows 8-12” high and has loads of light pink flowers from May to June. The foliage turns red and gold in the fall. Other geraniums to consider are Geranium macrorrhizum, (Bigroot Geranium) which grows to 15” high and has white to magenta flowers, is a big spreader, and Geranium sanguineum, (Bloody Cranesbill)6-8”, which is the most drought tolerant, because of it’s deep root system. The Rutgers Fact
Sheet lists G.macrorrhizum as the more deer tolerant, but Bowman’s Hill lists G. maculatum as the most deer resistant. So I guess it depends on the deer.

Are you tired of pachysandra and looking for an unusual alternative for dry shade? Try epimediums. It may take 4-5 years for it to fill in, but the rewards are many. It has lovely flowers, the foliage emerges red, and remains evergreen in protected locations. Epimedium x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’ has yellow flowers 15-20” which bloom from April to May. The foliage, which is just as tall, emerges red and is evergreen into November. Foilage should be cut back in winter. Epimedium x perralchicum ‘Frohnleiten’ has deeper yellow flowers and a red center. Epimedium x youngianum ‘Niveum’  is more of a clump former; leaves die to the ground in winter, but it has lovely white flowers in the spring. The foliage has shades of purple in the fall. Try Epimedium with daffodils for a nice spring show

A native to the shore of NJ, this plant has deep roots, preferring sandy well-drained soil,  and is very drought tolerant. It has 30” tall blue flower spikes in May, and the foliage continues to grow to 4’. The foliage is gray green, but turns black after a heavy frost. It has a bit of a weedy look in the fall, and may look better planted around other tall plants like grasses. Favorite varieties are ‘Screaming yellow’ with bright yellow flowers, ‘Carolina moonlight’ with creamy yellow flowers, and ‘Purple smoke’ with blue flowers and growing to 36” tall.

This is fabulous plant that provides 3 seasons of interest. It is a Midwestern native, which produces vanilla scented, light blue flowers in May. The foliage is 2-3” long and thin and gives a soft texture to the garden. It looks best in drifts of 10-20, and is nice with lilac trees and tulips in the spring, or with grasses like panicum ‘heavy metal’ for more year round appeal.  It grows to about 3’ x 3’, prefers full sun, and moist soil. Fall color is yellow and persists into December. ‘Montana’ is the shortest at 2’. ‘Blue ice’ is about 30” H and has the darkest flowers. ‘Seaford Skies’ is 3’H and has light blue flowers, ‘Blue Ice has broader, glossier foliage.

I attended a lecture on “Tough Plants for Tough Sites”. It was given by Bruce Crawford, who is the Director of the Rutgers Gardens at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. Bruce is an oustanding speakers and has a way of making even the most mundane subjects, absolutely fascinating. For me, the subject of plant selection is anything but mundane, but for many, it can be overwhelming. Following are excerpts from his class but with a twist—I’m including only plants that are deer “resistant.” And, as we know, here in New Jersey, one can only say, “resistant” as deer have been know to eat just about anything if they are hungry enough. Each Day, I will add a new plant to the blog.

 Aurinia saxitalis, Basket of Gold  
Sometimes known as Hardy Allysum, this plant has silver foliage and masses of small yellow flowers which bloom in May. It grows to about 10-20” high and needs full sun and well-drained soil. It does well in rock gardens and looks great flowing over a boulder wall.

Perennial Plant Conference
Friday, October 16, 2009, Swarthmore College

By Susan Haake

It was a cold, rainy day, but the conference was packed with gardeners anxious to learn about the latest and greatest perennials. Not many wanted to venture outside to take the short tour of the courtyard, but I was glad I did. After looking at a thousand photos of perennials, it was nice to get out and actually see them. The focus of the tour was on tough plants with great texture which mostly included grasses, and not the kind you have to mow every weekend. The Scott Arboretum is making an effort to be more sustainable, taking out more lawn and putting in grasses to facilitate drainage. They have several infiltration beds where the water drains into a sistern which collects the water for re-use.

We saw several grasses that were used as groundcovers. The long strands of Japanese Sedge, carex morrowii made for a nice groundcover which had the appearance of waves. It is “evergreen” and has a thin white edges and needs virtually no care; they don’t even mow it. It would be stunning under a stand of birches or a paperbark maple, and likes moist soil and light shade. Prairie Dropseed sporobolus heterolepis, was used in the infiltration beds along the sidewalks and has nice winter interest. Once prairie dropseed is established, it is very low maintenance and even drought tolerant, only needing the dried grass removed once in late winter or early spring. That sure is a lot easier than mowing every weekend. It is a native to Missouri and likes full sun and has a fragrance like cilantro. Blue sedge carex flacca, ‘Blue Zinger’ is a beautiful blue green grass used as a groundcover in the shadier areas around the trees and shrubs. It is about 6-12” high and can grow in diverse habitats and in diverse conditions, but prefers moist soil and light shade. It can take the sun but it bleaches out. Creeping Liriope, liriope spicata created a nice thick mat in areas that needed heavy coverage, but was described as a thug, because of it’s spreading habit. They would mow it down in the spring. liriope muscari was recommended as a better option, having good coverage but being somewhat less aggressive. Japanese Forest Grass hakonechloa macra is all the rage here in NJ, and I always liked the look of it, until my husband, Bob commented that it reminded him of Japanese Stilt Grass. Hakonechloa can be grown in dry soil and part shade and was voted best Perennial by the Perennial Plant Association for 2009.

We saw some ornamental grasses that stood out for there unique texture. Purple Love grass rragrostis spectabilis, is a low growing grass that is nice for the front of borders and has nice fuzzy reddish seedheads, which looked especially nice in the rain. Calamagrostis Stricta was a taller Reed grass (2-3’ high) that provided a nice tall structure behind the Love grass. the Sedge, carex ‘red rooster’, is a native to New Zealand, has a copper color, a fountain-like appearance, and looked nice in a grouping along the boarder, but also does well in containers.

Although I enjoyed the lectures, I think I remembered more from the tour since I could actually see the grasses in the environment, For more information on the grasses at Scott Arboretum, go to www.scottarboretum.org/publications/ornamentalgrasses.pdf YES8254BGJ9V