Native Honeysuckle, variety 'Blanche Sandman'

Buds just before they flowered

On Deck Railing

Native Honeysuckle (Lonicera Sempervirens) also known as
Trumpet Honeysuckle or Coral Honeysuckle

This is NOT Asian Honeysuckle (that you see taking over many shrubs and yards). This is also NOT Trumpet Creeper (which can be more aggressive then these Honeysuckles).

Type: Perennial Vine  (Zones 4/5-9/10).
Light Requirements: Full to Part Sun (some will work in Part Shade)
Moisture/Soil: Average moisture. Once established can take some drought.
Blooms: Late spring to early summer and often continues to bloom on and off again for the rest of the season. It has a LONG bloom season. Different varieties come in coral, reds, oranges, yellows and pink. Then it gets berries in the fall, which are also attractive.
Leaves: Green (looses them in the winter  but stay on through the fall).
Size: Length: 10′-20′
Additional Info: I grow several coral and orange colored ones on my deck railing in full sun. I bought mine at a native plant sale at Bartrum Gardens. I have also picked up some at the Scott Arboretum plant exchange. There were a lot there and I tried to convince a couple of people to try them out. Here is a useful link to a story from Dave’s Garden: Native American Honeysuckle.

Pros: They are very low maintenance and can take a good haircut. Bees, butterflies  and hummingbirds love them! Does well in my clay soil. Deer resistant.

Cons: Most don’t have a nice fragrance.  They can be too aggressive for some “dainty” applications. I would say that the growth is faster in the wet spring and then moderate to little the rest of the season. I’ve heard it can get mildew, but I haven’t had this problem

Origin: I am focusing on the US native cultivars.

'Blanche Sandman' Variety

Possibly 'Major Wheeler' Variety

Varieties:

‘Blanche Sandman’ – This form has orange-red blooms that are produced even after the initial flush. It is resistant to leaf diseases. I believe this is the one I have.

‘Gold Flame’ (Zones 5-9) (Lonicera x heckrottii) which is a cross between Lonicera L. sempervirens (American) and Lonicera Americana (a European variety) is pink with yellow inside a has the fragrance that I love from the Asian Honeysuckle without being invasive. Reports are that it is more prone to powdery mildew and aphids.

‘Alabama Crimson’ -  Bright red flowers – a cultivar that is becoming very common.

‘Cedar Lane’ – A deep red-flowering form, this plant produces abundant bloom. It is less prone to leaf diseases.

‘John Clayton’ – Becoming more popular in the trade, this selection bears clear yellow blooms that repeat throughout the season.

‘Sulphurea’ (also known as ‘Flava’) – This form features profuse bright yellow blooms and bright green foliage.

‘Major Wheeler’: Coral (pinky red) on the outside and orange on the inside.

‘Dropmore Scarlet’ -  Bright Red.

‘Alba’– White.

Interesting Pairings: I made the mistake of planting invasive honeysuckle with some butterfly bushes in the front yard. It was totally my fault because I ordered it from ebay and they were suppose to send me the native honeysuckle. At the time (7 years ago or so) I wasn’t as experienced with these plants. I think these however would look great planted with butterfly bushes, providing a longer season of color and a nice contrast to the purple flowers of a butterfly bush.

*The Plant of the Week is based on plants that do well in my 7a/6b garden in SE Pennsylvania.

Allium, Purple Sensation

Allium w/ Sensitive Ferns and Hosta, ones on left have not fully opened yet

Alliums (Ornamental Onions)

Type: Perennial Bulb  (Zones 3-8).
Light Requirements: Full to Part Sun (some will work in Part Shade)
Moisture/Soil: Average moisture.
Blooms: Late spring to early summer (varies by variety)
Leaves: Green.
Size: Height: Varies by variety. Purple Sensation grows to about 30″ in part sun and full sun in my yard.
Additional Info: I grow several varieties. I love them and as a bonus the critters tend to not bother them (because of the onion smell).

Pros: They are very low maintenance and pest resistant. Most varieties are also quite reasonably priced (less than $1 a piece). Additionally you can leave the dried seed heads on to provide additional interest. Also they don’t need stacking.

Cons: I can’t think of any.

Origin: Varies.

Varieties: There are a LOT of varieties to choose from. I recommend picking several from different blooming periods. 

‘Purple Sensation’ – 20″-30″ tall, baseball sized flowers, blooms late spring (can be grown in part shade). Quite reasonably priced.

Drum Stick

‘Sphaerocephalon’ (drum stick) – 18″-24″ tall, golf ball sized flowers (reddish purple), blooms mid summer, very old variety, looks best when large quantity are planted. I have quite a few of these. The leaves look like onion grass, so be careful not to pull them out when weeding (which I have done). Very inexpensive!

‘Schubertii‘ – 18″ tall, volleyball size flowers (light purple), blooms very late spring (mine will probably bloom in a week or so). These are magical looking. They are kind of short on the stem, so they need to be towards the front of th e bed so they aren’t hidden by something else, but the flowers are enormous and very interesting.

‘Neapolitanum’ – 12-14″ tall, quarter size flower (white), late spring. Inexpensive, should be planted in mass.

Shubertii

Others (come in colors ranging from purples to white with a couple of varieties in yellow and pink) : Globemaster (extra large and pricey), Christophii, Ambassador, Graceful…

Interesting Pairings: For a couple of interesting companion planting ideas check out www.plantswise.com and her beautiful combination of coral bells/heuchera ‘carmel’ with Allium karataviense and Artemisia with Allium sphaerocephalon.  Apparently the heuchera ‘carmel’ (which I have quite a bit of) can grow in a more sunny location (mine grow in part shade). I may still try this out in the fall.

*The Plant of the Week is based on plants that do well in my 7a/6b garden in SE Pennsylvania.

Bluebells

Patch of Bluebells (after peak bloom)

Close up of Flowers

Mertensia virginica (Virginia Bluebells, Virginia Cowslip, Lungwort Oysterleaf, Roanoke Bells)

Type: Perennial, ephemeral plant (Zones 3-9). Flowers in spring and then disappears by summer.

Light Requirements: Part Sun to Shade

Moisture/Soil: Average moisture. Neutral to slightly acidic soil.

Blooms: Mid spring. Lasts for a couple of weeks.

Leaves: Blueish-green oval shaped

Size: Height: 18″‘  Width: 6-12″

Additional Info:These are native to the eastern part of the US. I have tried to plant them in several clumps. I have move the poor things a couple of times now, so I haven’t had much self seeding yet (hopefully this year). I still need to find a plant to fill in for later in the summer and fall to take their place after they die back (maybe ferns although mine are placed in a part sun location). They would look beautiful with Bleeding Hearts (similar bloom time and habit of dying back). I planted mine from bare roots that I bought on ebay. They didn’t come up the first year so I thought they died, but sure enough the next spring the popped up!

Pros: Beautiful native plant.

Cons: It dies back quite quickly and you may forget where it is planted. Fortunately they always seem to return. They sometimes need staking.

Origin: Eastern U.S.

Varieties: I don’t know of any.

Brunnera with Forget-Me-Nots in foreground

Close Up of Brunnera Flowers

Typical Mound of Brunnera after it is established

Brunnera Macrophyla
(False Forget-Me-Not, Siberian Bugloss)

Type: Perennial (Zones 3-8). Looses it leaves in winter.
Light Requirements: Part Shade to Shade
Moisture/Soil: Average moisture. Doesn’t like dry shade.
Blooms: Mid spring.  Little blue flower similar to Forget-Me-Not.
Leaves: Green heart shape. Many of the other varieties have silver or white highlights. They have a rough texture.
Size: Height: 12-18′ (including flower height)  Width: 12″ (larger if you let it clump)
Additional Info: I have been growing these is part shade to shade conditions and they do very well for me.

Pros: This plant does very well for me in part shade and shade and in clay soil.  The advantage to these over Forget-Me-Nots are that the heart shaped leaves remain all season while the Forget-Me-Nots reseed and then die back by the middle of summer. Also deer and rabbits don’t like them! They also don’t require any maintenance unless you want to divide them.

Cons: They do self seed (I don’t really see this as a con though). Mine are all from a Plant Exchange where they are either self-seeders or divided. One thing to keep in mind that the variegated varieties may not produce true plants from seeds.

Origin: Eastern Europe.

Varieties: There are several variegated varieties to choose from. 

‘Jack Frost’ – Well known for its silver leaves. Very beautiful! I remember when this was introduced about 10 years ago. My mom has quite a few of these. Fortunately they have become much more easy to find and are not as expensive as they use to be.

‘Looking Glass’ – A more silvery version of Jack Frost

‘Kings Ransom’ – Similar to Jack Frost with a creamy yellowish edge

‘Emerald Mist’ – Has silver spots near the edge of the leaf. I just realized that I have a couple of these. (top left photo there are some on the left side)

‘Langtrees’ -  Looks almost identical to Emerald Mist

*The Plant of the Week is based on plants that do well in my 7a/6b garden in SE Pennsylvania.

Kerria in Part Shade

Kerria: Close up of Flowers and Leaves

Kerria in Full Shade

Kerria in Early Spring (currently hiding in the compost pile while the chimney is being worked on)

Kerria Japonica
(Japanese Rose, Kerria Rose)

Type: Perennial Shrub (Zones 5-9). Looses it leaves in winter.
Light Requirements: Part Sun to Shade (in sunnier locations the yellow flowers tend to bleach out)
Moisture/Soil: Average moisture (although does okay with less once established). Neautral to slightly acidic soil.
Blooms: Mid spring.  Lots of Yellow blooms that last for several weeks.
Leaves: Green w/ nice bright green stalks in winter.
Size: Height: 5-7’  Width: 3′-5′ (prune the top if you want it to be shorter & if can get wider if suckers are not controlled)
Additional Info: I like to grow this along the fence. It can get a little top heavy  but I like the shape of the thin arching stems hanging over the fence. I think it has a nice romantic feel. I also cut mine back fairly aggressively after it flowers since I prefer it to look tall and lean over super bushy. Also by cutting it back I usually get a smaller bloom in the fall. I also like to cut out the woodier stems. Also I have noticed that it grows much slower in shadier locations.

Pros: This plant does very well for me in part shade and shade and in clay soil. It seems to do well where other plants might not. The beautiful yellow flowers are very pretty in the spring. A good alternate to Forsythia (which I don’t care for).  In the winter the bright green stems are a nice contrast to the snow.

Cons: The plant will sucker at the bottom. I usually cut these out in the spring. Mine is cut from my mom’s yard (she got some from a friend).

Origin: China and Japan.

Varieties: There are several varieties to choose from, I appear to just have the “common” variety.

‘Golden Guinea’ – Notable for the large flowers (to 2″ wide) that bloom for a long period.

‘Picta’ (probably the same as ‘Variegata’) – Smaller form with leaves edged with a thin white margin. It is a weaker grower (to 4′ tall) and prefers a
shaded spot. The flower performance is also inferior to the species.

‘Pleniflora’ (also listed as ‘Flora Pleno’) – Features double, ball-shaped blooms that are an orange-yellow hue. This cultivar appears to grow larger and
more gangly than the species, to 8′ tall.

‘Shannon’ – This vigorous plant is becoming more common in specialty catalogs. It grows to 6′ tall and offers larger blooms that appear earlier.

Camellia

Close up of Flower

I did not get a chance to list my plant of the week last week, so here it is a little late. I try and focus on plants that are doing well in my yard. Today I am switching it up and highlighting one in my neighbor’s yard. She has a beautiful Camellia growing near her front steps. It is quite large (6′ tall) and has been there for several years now. It is in a part shade location on the northwest side of the house.  We are at the northern edge of where Camellia’s grow so you have to be careful to pick the right variety (and may get some winter burn). But if you get it right, you get such a beautiful show (normally only available to our southern friends)!

Camellia Japonica
(Japanese Camellia)

Type: Perennial Evergreen Shrub (Zones 6b/7a-10)
Light Requirements: Part Sun to Part Shade
Moisture/Soil: Average moisture with acidic soil. Protect shallow roots with mulch.
Blooms: Early/Mid spring.  Blooms last for several weeks. (in our climate, blooms in winter in the south)
Leaves: Dark Green glossy leaves.
Size: Height: 6-10+’  Width: 5′-8′
Additional Info: Can suffer from wind burn. Ideally plant in a protected area. Should plant in the spring to give it time to acclimate.

Pros: They are beautiful and have nice evergreen foliage.

Cons: You have to be careful to situate these in a suitable location.

Origin: Native to Eastern Asia.

Varieties: There are many varieties to choose from in a number of different colors. Ones that tend to do well in colder climates include Camellia Japonica ‘kumasaka’, Camellia sasanqua ‘Kanjiro’ , Camellia japonica ‘Spring’s Promise’ (good to Zone 6), Camellia x ‘Winter’s Snowman’ (good to one 6).

P.S. Anyone have any other recommendations for our 7a/6b climate?

This time of year things are popping up daily in the garden! I was removing some leaves in my shade bed today yesterday. And look what I found! Baby Hellebores! There were between 10 and 12 seedlings and they even planted themselves in a good location. Made my day (I guess that is kind of lame but so it goes). I also found some brunnera seedlings and a couple of the ostrich ferns are starting to appear.  I also noticed some leaves starting to form on my hydrangeas.

Hellebores with the new seedlings in front

Baby Hellebores!

Brunnera (good alternate to forget-me-nots)

Brunnera seedlings! (less than 1" tall)

Ostrich Fern (not yet unfurled)

Nice Mound of Lungwort in my Garden today

Another plant from today

Closeup of the Flower

Since I was writing about alternatives to vinca yesterday, I decided that I should highlight one of the plants I listed.

Pulmonaria Saccharata
(Lungwort, Bethlehem Sage, Jerusalem Sage)

Type: Perennial (Zones 2/3-9)
Light Requirements: Part Shade to Shade
Moisture: prefer moist soil, does not do well in dry areas.
Blooms: Early/Mid spring (start to bloom in March here along side the daffodils). Blooms last for several weeks.
Leaves: Green with beautiful polka dots (other varieties have more silvery leaves)! Sprout in later winter and keeps its leaves through late fall.
Size: Height: 9-12″   Width: 12″-18″

Pros: They are very easy to take care of and provide nice foliage for most of the year.

Cons: If you don’t like to divide them, they can start to look leggy after a few years.

'Majeste' variety

Division: Divide in spring or fall. If you divide in the summer (which I have done before) the leaves will tend to die back, but usually by fall they will sprout again. I received mine from divisions from my mom’s garden. I have since divided mine several times in the last 6-7 years or so.

Origin: Native to Europe and Western Asia. The name comes from the spotted oval leaves that were thought to symbolize diseased, ulcerated lungs, and so were used to treat pulmonary infections.

Varieties: There are quite a few varieties with different spot patterns and different colored flowers. I also have ‘Majeste’ which has mostly a silvery leaf and less prominent pink flowers.

Vinca choking out my irises

Vinca flowers close up

Vinca (aka Vinca Minor, Periwinkle, Myrtle)

I use to LOVE vinca. However that love affair is long gone as I try to extract it from my garden. Don’t get me wrong, it has a place in larger yards where you want minimal maintenance in shady spots and you don’t want to grow anything else with it. However in my small plot of land it has got to go! It is my own fault, I loved it at my parent’s house and my mom brought some to our house at my request about 8 years ago.

Things to love about Vinca:

-The beautiful blueish-purple flowers that bloom in the spring alongside the daffodils
-The green carpet that it provides year around in either sun or shade.
-Unlike ivy it doesn’t grow up trees and shrubs

Things to hate about Vinca:

-It is aggressive and forms large tendrils that block out everything else including bulbs and perennials
-It grows into the adjacent beds
-It is difficult to pull up because it attaches to the ground at so many points, you almost always have to come back later in the season and the following year to pull more out

Now I am in year 2 of a several year plan to extract it! In the meantime I have put together a list of bulbs to replace it. The good news is that most of these are easy to grow and fairly inexpensive. They won’t typically provide any  of the “ground cover” capabilities, but in my case I am not looking for a ground cover so much as a flower alternative to the blueish-purple flowers in the spring. In fact most of these will die back by summer and you won’t even know that they are there. The only  downside to me is that with these type of small bulbs you don’t want to put them in until after most of your perennials are in place, otherwise you will be constantly pulling them out by accident (which means I haven’t been able to put any in yet).

Alternates:

Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) from White Flower Farm, 50 for $16.95

Dwarf Iris, Harmony from Brent and Becky's, 50 for $17.50

Crocus, White Flower Farm, 50 for $21.25

Anemone 'Blue Shades', Brent and Becky's, 50 for $14

Fall Bulbs:

–Muscari (Grape Hyacinth): Flowers at the right time and easy to find in the fall,  but I don’t love the appearance of the flowers. Plant in Full Sun to Part Shade.
–Dwarf Iris: I  haven’t tried these but it is definitely a possibility. I grow a number of other irises. Plant in Full Sun.
–Crocus: Comes in purple, blooms at the right time, although the squirrels love these. Plant in Full Sun to Part Shade.
–Anemone Blanda: I particularly like the “Blue Shades” pictured. Plant in Full Sun to Part Shade.

Lungwort (Pulmonaria), White Flower Farm, $17.95

Perennials:
–Lungwort (Pulmonaria): If you are looking for more of a groundcover for the shade I would recommend Lungwort.  It has beautiful polka dotted leaves and has purple and pink flowers in the spring. I use this quite a bit in the backyard. These grow quite easily and can be divided every couple of years. I recommend finding a gardener who has some of this because typically they would be glad to pass some along.
 
 
 
 
 
 

And the Winner:

Chionodoxa growing in my lawn

–Chionodoxa (Glory of the snow): Comes in Blue and Purple, small similar flower shape to the vinca, tends to self-seed (there are a couple growing in our lawn right now!), SIGN ME UP! I think these are perfect and I might even need to extend these into the lawn! If you do a websearch you can see some wonderful examples of large fields full of these. Plant in Full Sun to Part Shade.

My Snowdrops

Closeup of Snowdrops

Galanthus (Snowdrop)

Type: Perennial/Bulb  (Zones 2-9 but prefers 4-7)
Light Requirements: Part Sun to Shade, excellent for under deciduous trees
Moisture: prefer moist soil, although mine grow fine pretty much anywhere in the yard
Blooms: Early spring (start to bloom in February/March here through end of March). Apparently in the south they can flower all winter. Blooms are white with green highlights.
Leaves: Sprout in winter, die back in summer and come back in fall.
Pros: First thing to flower in the spring. Naturalizes both by self-seeding and bulb offsets.
Cons: If you want a large impact you need to grow a lot because they are small.
Division: After they bloom pull and take the bulb offsets.
Origin: Although these were growing in my yard they are native to Europe and Turkey.

When we bought our house there were almost no perennials or bulbs. Mostly there were overgrown bushes and lots of weedy grass. The first spring we lived here I was pleasantly surprised to find a number of snowdrops in the grass. Over the next couple of years I moved them into planting beds.  They must like my yard because they keep multiplying. It may help that I have moved most of them several times, and when I do I divide the bulbs. They are really easy to grow. You only have to dig into the ground a couple of inches and stick the tiny bulb in!