Eagle Lake Nurseries Gardening Tips

September 2008

Marathon Bloomers

With yards and gardens becoming smaller all the time, each plant must earn its keep with some attribute that makes them worth keeping. With a few exceptions, such as Roses, smaller gardens can’t afford to allot space to plants that bloom for only a few short weeks. Choose plants that offer features such as colorful foliage, and attractive seed heads, this will let you keep your garden looking its best from now till frost!

We’re looking for plants that will keep our gardens flowering from one season to another, and that will perform from early summer thru into fall. Many beautiful plants from bulbs to shrubs are truly ‘Marathon bloomers’, flowering continuously for sometimes two or three months! Here are a few ideas and some of our, reliable, hardy, plants that will provide stunning displays.

Primroses (Primula acaulis) Zone 4 can start blooming as early as March (weather permitting), and have an incredibly long blooming time, with a variety of wonderful colors. Keep them indoors in a cool, bright spot until the soil is warm enough to plant them. Or just enjoy them in containers that can be brought in when the weather is too cold. These short lived plants may not bloom again next year, but they do give us three or four months of bright color just when we need it most!

Pansies (Zone 4) Spring Pansies bloom from spring thru fall, then usually take a little break thru the hottest part of the summer, and start again when the weather gets cooler.

Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) Zone 2 - blooms from May thru to August or September, with nothing more than a little ‘dead heading’ as necessary.

Dropmore Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii) Zone 2 - needs to be cut back hard in July after their first initial bloom (May to July), they could well bloom into October.

Johnson’s Blue Geranium (Geranium sanguineum), Bevan’s Scented Geranium, Brookside Geranium and many other varieties , Zone 3 – will bloom initially in May thru July, then they should be cut back, and will then put on a second flush and bloom thru to October.

Froebelli , Anthony Waterer, & Shirobana Spirea (Spiraea japonica, & Spiraea bumalda) Zone 3 – will also bloom from June or July thru to frost. Froebelli produces deep rose colored flowers while Anthony Waterer has brilliant reddish-pink flowers. The Shirobana is an interesting shrub with dark pink, light pink, and white flowers on the same bush. There are approximately 12-14 varieties of Spirea available at Eagle Lake Nurseries.

But I think the longest blooming shrub has to be the Potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa) Zone 3 – which starts blooming in May and will bloom straight thru until November ! Eagle Lake Nurseries carries as many as 12-14 varieties of this show stopper. Abbotswood – a nice low growing shrub with clear white flowers. Pink Beauty – with its semi double pink flowers and dark green foliage. Orange Whisper – nice mounded shrub with orange tinted blossoms. Gold finger – is a vigorous growing shrub with large deep yellow flowers.

Roses – Explorer, Rugosa & Morden varieties – Zone 2-3 – most Roses will bloom June through Sept. and sometimes even after the frost arrives. At Eagle Lake Nurseries we carry upwards of 50 varieties!

Perennials such as Blue Fortune Anise-Hyssop, Salvias, Rudbeckia and Echinacea only need a little dead heading to keep going thru to fall. Many ornamental grasses such as Karl Foerster, Variegated Moor Grass and Blue Oat grass will bloom from June right thru till the weather shuts them down and they become winter interest in the garden. The indispensable fall asters in shades of blue, purple, pink, crimson and white, require little care and bloom until it snows.

Look around your garden for 'blank spots' that could use a splash of color. These gaps occur when spring and early summer bloomers are finished flowering. To brighten up your borders and pump up the color in your garden add plants that keep going strong, right thru autumn! Walk through your garden and write down plants that you’ll need to fill in these spaces. Maybe, you have specific plants in mind, be sure to write them down (if you haven’t already!)Think of things such as height, color, and growing conditions where these spaces are, and where these new plants are going to go, so that when you get them home, they’ll be happy where you plant them.

Keep in mind that plants with contrasting shapes, textures and colors make good partners. Pair foliage with flowers, feathery Fountain Grasses (Pennisetum alopecuroides), with Autumn Joy Sedum (Sedum spectabile). This will create more visual interest than a bed full of flowering plants. Layer textures such as the ‘lacy’ leaves of: Native Ostrich Fern(Matteuccia struthiopteris) with the large ‘waxy’ looking leaves of the Hostas. Add ‘sword-like’ foliage with Daylilies or Iris, some of which are variegated for a striking contrast.

Consider plants that will create a color ‘bridge’ between your summer and fall garden. If you’re faced with filling in a spot between two clashing colors, you can always rely on plants with shades of gray foliage. (Artemisia, ‘Lambs Ears’ Stachys byzantine, ‘Globe Thistle’ Echinops, ‘Sea Holly’ Eryngium planum, or ‘Rose Campion’ Lychnis coronaria).

Connie Webb
Eagle Lake Nurseries Ltd.