Reading the Catalogs: Part I, Perennials

Now that the holidays are over, it's time for gardeners to indulge ourselves – in catalogs! I'm going to treat myself (and, I hope, you) by paging 'out loud' through some new catalogs: perennials this time, and maybe fruits and vegetables the next, and then garden equipment. Since I can, I'm just going to comment on my favorites and the ones I think I want to try. Maybe you can chime in with what you're looking at in catalogs too.

Of course you can start perennials from seed – in fact, in my garden, lots of perennials self-seed – but since so many of them take a few seasons to get going, I'd rather start mine from plants. I have bought perennials through catalogs, and sometimes they arrive as bare root plants and sometimes in small containers. They're always quite small, and you need to soak them well before you plant them, but I've had generally good experiences.

So: remember that what's a perennial in a warmer zone (say, for example, Lantana), is an annual in zone 5. Probably many of the plants that are perennial here could be started from seed more easily where you have a longer growing season. I'll indicate the zone on all the plants I drool over.

1. Achillea, or Yarrow, zones 3-9. This hardy plant comes in several different colors, and it does well in dry heat. It can take wind too, and you can plant it and forget it. While I really like the paprika color, the moonshine, a bright, almost gaudy yellow, is the best performer in my experience. I like the flat top look of the flowers, which give them a distinct look, unlike their neighbors in the garden. They bloom in the summer. I like them with nasturtiums – the two colors are good together, and the broad leaves of the nasturtiums contrast well with the ferny foliage of the yarrow.

2. Alchemilla mollis, or Lady's Mantle, zones 3-9. This is a really nice ground cover that grows just about anywhere that's not full sun and dry soil. The leaves are fuzzy and after it rains – or you water – they hold the drops of water like little crystals. I'm told that it got its name because the alchemists thought that if you drank the water from the leaves you'd find true love: but that might just have been a saleswoman knowing me for a sucker for romance. They have chartreuse flowers in May and June, but to me the flowers are no big deal; in fact, I often cut them back, because I don't want it everywhere (it will self-seed). If you want a groundcover, though, you'll be glad for it to spread. It makes a good filler plants – put a few between masses of more dramatic flowers, and they'll just blend everything. I grow mine as kneesocks for my Thalictrum, or Meadow Rue, and there are catalogs with really attractive cultivars, including Thalictrum 'Black Stockings.' This is a tall plant with fluffy lavender flowers and ferny foliage that does well in the same part shade and not totally dry soil of the Lady's Mantle.

3. Asters, mostly zones 3-8. My favorite is the New England Aster, a tall plant with stunning purple flowers in fall. It grows wild in many places, but the cultivated versions, particularly Purple Dome, behave better, At least they're not as tall. Every garden needs something stunning for September, and this is the one not to miss. You need to prune them back after the first year – prune several times before the 4th of July, so that your plant will be fuller and less leggy. Watch out for self seeding. New England Asters are stunning with goldenrods, One of the best of these is Solidago 'Fireworks', a cultivar that doesn't self-seed appreciably, and knocks you out with its gracefully horizontal flower spikes.

4. Baptisia, or False Indigo, zone 3-9.. These are legumes, which means they develop pods and set nitrogen in the soil, and it's always good to have a few legumes in your garden. The flowers are a deep blue-purple (indigo, I suppose), and they're tall, getting 4 – 5' eventually, and quite bushy. They add nice architecture to the garden, and the silvery-green leaves are interesting in themselves. A late spring bloomer, the False Indigo in my garden rarely gets supplemental water but does take full sun. They'd be nice with the Yarrow.

5. Brunnera macrophylla has a lot of common names. I learned it as Siberian Bugloss, but I see it in catalogs also as False Forget-me-Not too. Zones 3-8. This is one of my favorite plants, and I use it all the time. It flowers with tulips and daffodils, and the sprays of tiny blue flowers are gorgeous and quite long lasting. Then you have the large, well-textured leaves that act as a shade-tolerant groundcover all summer long. It's short so it pairs well with the spring bulbs. It also coexists well with Astilbes (which like pretty moist soil) or with another short spring-bloomer, Polemonium reptans, or Jacob's Ladder. This has a cultivar called Stairway to Heaven that has variegated leaves that are so terrific. You'll be glad for your shady spots with these plants.

6. As long as we're talking about shade perennials, how about Dicentra, or Bleeding Heart (zones 3-8)? There are two I like, Dicentra spectabilis is the larger flower that's very showy in spring, and Dicentra 'Luxuriant' has smaller flowers but continues to pop blooms all summer long. The foliage on both is ferny and both do well in shade or part shade. Again, plant with spring-flowering bulbs and Brunnera.

7. I can't go by the E's without mentioning Echinacea purpurea, or Purple Coneflower (zones 3-8). These daisy-like natives are so reliable, so cheerful, and so pickable! The cultivar 'Magnus' is predictably gorgeous, but you can also try something fun like the Echinacea tennesseensis, which has paler, thinner petals and always faces east. Echinacea seed heads provide food for birds and look great with Shasta Daisies and with Liatris spicata or Blazing Star, a spiky purple native that blooms for a shorter time, but is very dramatic. All of these like sun or part sun and soil that doesn't dry out.

8. Eupatorium coelestinium, or Hardy Ageratum, is a very nice fall bloomer for zones 5-8. The deep blue flowers look like Ageratum, but the plant is taller (and perennial). They like full sun and take moist soil, and they don't self-seed. They're nice with Monkshood (Aconitum carmichaelii), which bloom a little later and keep you cheerful on into October.

9. Eupatorium 'Little Joe' or 'Gateway', or Joe Pye Weed (zones 4-7). Another native, these cultivars are somewhat shorter than the straight species, which in my yard grows to about 7'. The fuzzy purple blooms in mid-late summer are butterfly magnets, and the seeds attract birds all summer. The plant has large, coarse leaves and can be a stand-alone focal point in a garden. I grow mine with Irises, which give a very different foliar look all summer.

10. Geraniums, zones 4 or 5 - 8 or 9. Perennial geraniums, not what's sold in stores as geraniums but the shorter, blue, magenta, and white ones, are among my favorite groundcovers, perfect for the front of sunny borders. I love the Geranium 'Max Frei,' whose magenta blooms are profuse in May but continue all summer long, right up to the first frost. Geranium sanguineum striatum has pale pink blooms in spring. 'Johnson's Blue' has intense deep blue blooms. Geranium macrorrhizum is the native Bigroot Geranium with frangrant foliage; it makes a good groundcover. Go for Geraniums. You won't be sad.

OK, that's enough catalog cruisin' for one blog. I'll do some more perennials next time. And please visit my website at view link