PRG Favorite Perennials

Aster

As I peruse gardening magazines while in the checkout line at the grocery store, I am forever amazed by their “Top 10 “ lists.  Touted as “low maintenance” or “easy care” I consistently disagree with some of them.  So, the time has come to release the PRG FAVORITE PERENNIALS list.  I chose favorite because I am a realist.  Perennials require maintenance.  Yes, some require less maintenance than others, but my experience has shown that home owners confuse “low maintenance” with “no maintenance”, resulting in a frustrated gardener.

Here we go……. (in no particular order)

Keep in mind that I GARDEN, I am not a fan of “landscaping” (there is no relationship in “landscaping”).

1.  Asters – this tends to be a forgotten plants, along with many other fall bloomers.  Asters are very versatile and available in various colors and heights.  If you chose a shorter variety no staking is needed and you get a great pop of color in the garden when other plants are slowing down.  The main drawback is powdery mildew.  In our humid PA summers, Asters can easily be affected but not to worry – plant health is not affected.  Oh – and many Asters are NATIVE!  My favorite is Aster laevis ‘Bluebird’ – just let it lean up against an ornamental grass because it gets very tired by September and wants to lay down.

Epimedium

2.  Baptisia or False Indigo – this lovely has made it on many a list, and rightly so.  Plant it in full sun and leave it until fall cut back – you can’t get any easier.  Most common in a blue purple tone, however new releases include yellow, white,  and bi-colors from the Prairieblues series.  Tolerates our PA summers with ease.

3.  Epimedium or Barrenwort – Not a native, but a very valuable asset to a shade garden.  Epimedium quietly spreads around the garden forming a wonderful groundcover.  Spring flowers remind me of mini columbines, but with refinement.  Flowers emerge in shades of white, yellow, pink and purple and can be ¼” diameter up to ¾” diameter.  The only maintenance you will need for this plant is a quick shear of last years foliage in late winter.  If you really get hooked on these babies you can look to your mail order catalogs for incredible Asian species and cultivars, however they do come with a slightly hefty price tag.

4.  Pachysandra procumbens or Allegheny Spurge – Native groundcover, yes please.  A few years ago when availability was limited, I would understand the reasoning for planting Japanese Pachysandra over our native beauty.  However, now you have NO excuse!  Unlike its Japanese cousin, Allegheny Spurge is a clumper, not a runner.  What does this mean for you?  It won’t eat your other plants.  Plus it doesn’t get the nasty Euonymus Scale that required repeated chemical application throughout the year for control.  Allegheny Spurge is a wonderful blue-green color with clumps that spread nicely over a few years.  The foliage does not die back to the ground over winter but rather lays flat to the ground – in my book that means evergreen (well that’s about as much evergreen as we get from perennials in south central PA).

5.  Asarum canadensis – I love groundcovers that do not belong in the “Big 3” (Ivy, Pachysandra, Myrtle).  This wonderful plant for shade has kidney shaped leaves and spread fairly aggressively with underground stems.  If you really want the WOW, get down on your hands and knees (yes, hands and knees) and look under the foliage – the most intriguing red/burgundy flowers reside there, clutching the soil line.  While not evergreen, the massive root system on this native helps control weeds very well in the garden.

6.  Phlox ‘Jeana’ – If you only have room for one tall Phlox in your garden it should be ‘Jeana’.  The most mildew resistant of all the phlox I grow and butterflies flock to it.  The light pink flowers are smaller than typical Garden Phlox, but the flowers are more abundant.  Sunshine Farm and Gardens grows this great plant (they are the only ones I know) – and it has lived and thrived for me.  (Hey Barry Glick, how about some sending me some goodies for this plug!)

Coreopsis 'Lightning Flash'

7.  Coreopsis tripteris – We need to be using tall plants much more in the garden.  Coreopsis tripteris is a great addition reaching 4-5’ tall and blooming in late summer.  This is unlike the common coreopsis (‘Moonbeam’, Creme Brulee’, rosea, etc.), this is magnificent.  small yellow daisy-like flowers over dark green statuesque foliage.  If you need some additional va va voom, try Coreopsis ‘Lightning Flash’ – a yellow foliage variety (warning – this is not for the weak).

8.  Paeonia japonica – While all Peonies are easy, I enjoy Japanese Peony for it’s delicate white blooms that stay upright and don’t flop.  While this plant is a bit harder to find, it is worth the effort to enjoy the wonderful single white flowers, even if only for a short time.  The show stopper comes later – as the seed pods crack open and bright red seeds are exposed for your viewing pleasure.  Part shade is required or foliage will burn.

9.  Helleborus foetidus and orientalis hybrids – Hellebores have gotten a lot of press lately due to crazy hybridization.  It seems like Hellebores can be added to the Heuchera, Tiarella, Daylily list of plants that have an endless number of named cultivars, thoroughly confusing the gardener.  In a nutshell – if you like the color, buy it.  I have not found a hybrid I have not liked. H. foetidus cultivars might be bit harder to establish, but once you have them you can’t (and don’t want to) get rid of them.  Part shade with a bloom time of late winter through early spring.

10.  Geranium ‘Biokovo’ and ‘Biokovo Karmina’ – I love hardy Geraniums, but this one is the best.  Why?  Because it grows under my very large Silver Maple and does not require constant irrigation.  If you know Maples they have very shallow roots and it is difficult to get anything else to grow there, but ‘Biokovo’ and ‘Biokovo Karmina’ do just fine.  ‘Biokovo’ graces us with pale pink flowers in the spring and ‘Biokovo Karmina’ raspberry pink, positioned above 8” foliage.  When sited in a better location – with more moisture – this geranium might get slightly larger.  Full sun to part shade, moist to dry soils.

Hardy Geranium

Wow, when I started this list, I didn’t realize it would be this intense!

Last, I want to mention one plant in particular that I continue to see on Low Maintenance lists – Astilbe.  When sited properly, Astilbe can be easy, however it is rarely sited properly, plus our summers in central PA tend to be very dry.  Astilbe needs part shade and moisture, two things that commonly go overlooked.  When these two factors are missing, Astilbe becomes a super dog, or maybe I should call it a dog bone – crunchy and brown.