Summer Gardening and Flowering Plants

It is July, and though the solstice has passed, true summer is bookended by Independence Day and Labor Day, two months’ reward for seemingly six months of winter. Time is set aside for travel, vacation, summer camp, rest and relaxation. However, it is still a good time to garden, despite the old notion that it is too late in the season to plant. Indeed, this used to be true: when plants used to be field-grown for transplanting into a new garden, digging them up in the summer was risky business. Today’s plants, from trees, shrubs and vines to perennials, are grown in containers to make their transition into the ground practically stress-free. While it is true that summer additions to the garden must be watered, it’s equally true for those plants that were put in this past spring. (Please, don’t rely on lawn irrigation systems to do the job for you, unless you have a dedicated drip zone. Lawn irrigation does not water deeper-rooted plants sufficiently.)

The fireworks that light the skies on the Fourth are echoed in the flowers of summer, as July and August are the months of Coneflower (Echinacea) whose large bright daisies burst into dazzling and clean displays of traditional dusky pink (such as the standby cultivar ‘Ruby Star’,) but newer hybrids now offer shaggy mop-headed types such as the orange ‘Marmalade’ and ‘Hot Papaya’. ‘Evan Saul’ (Sundown™) evokes a desert sunset, with bright orange “petals” highlighted with rosy-purple. ‘Green Jewel’ offers cool light green “petals” – a unique color – surrounding a central green cone. Coneflowers are butterfly magnets, and their brown seed heads are prized by finches in late summer and beyond. They all do well in sun to part shade, and are drought-tolerant once established.

We are well-stocked with interesting and well-grown trees and shrubs. Our specimen Stewartia tree planted beside the barn has been flowering since June 20, and is just halfway done blooming, an inspiration for the smaller ones we have ready for planting. Summer-blooming azaleas are hardy, colorful and fragrant, and are superb for planting near a deck, patio or pool, where their sweet scent may be enjoyed in the day or evening. Several varieties are offered, and are in flower now. Buddleias (Butterfly Bushes) are budded and will be opening soon, as will the many types of Clethra (Summersweet) that we carry.

Ornamental grasses are now coming into their own, and will only continue to get bigger and better through the season. Plant them now to enjoy through the fall, as most types need the warm soils of summer to become established before winter.

Astilbe at The Mixed Border

And for the shadier gardens, our Hostas are spectacular, as always. We have on hand over a hundred varieties, from tiny-leaved miniatures such as ‘Baby Booties’ to ‘Empress Wu’, the largest Hosta to date, and with a wide choice in leaf colors and patterns of variegation. Astilbes are coming into flower, and we have a good selection of perennials, wildflowers and ferns for shade.

We welcome your visit.

Nursery Hours, July to September:

Monday: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
 Thursday through Saturday: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Sunday: 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

We are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, except by prior arrangement.

Please note that in the event of dangerous weather (such as thunderstorms or extreme heat) we may close earlier than scheduled, for everyone’s sake. Please call ahead (603-882-5538) if bad weather is forecast on the day of your visit.

Fall: The World’s a Stage

“Hardy” mums. I just don’t get them.

Rather, I don’t understand why people continue to plant them, when there are better choices for the fall garden (more about those in a moment.) Sure, they’re colorful: bright beacons of hope that perhaps the frost-free days of early autumn will last a bit longer. But these beacons are often as subtle as airport landing lights – unblinking yellow or white gobs that fairly scream, “Look at me!!!” when the brilliant harmonic tones of the maple, the birch and the sumac – the symphony of the season -- is reaching its colorful crescendo before falling to the ground in a whisper.

The calmer pinks, bronzes and oranges of mums are hardly better, as each plant is pinched and squeezed by the grower into a perfect pompom of flowers with no greenery to dilute the effect; an unnatural natural object in the landscape. And the term “hardy mum” is a bit of a misnomer, as these highly bred beauties are no match for a heavy frost which withers their blooms, or for our cold winters, which usually are fatal.

Consider in their place plants which reliably return each year to offer colorful drama without the harsh stage light effects. One that I feature often is an Aster called ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ (Aster oblongifolius ‘Raydon’s Favorite’), with its cheerful bright blue daisies in September and October. Unlike many, perhaps more familiar asters, ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ remains dense and bushy without losing its foliage to disease. It likes full sun, and tolerates drought once established.


Raydon’s Favorite

I particularly like to use it as a companion to ornamental grasses, most of which achieve glory in October. Even after a heavy frost has dealt a crushing blow to many perennials, grasses such as Miscanthus (with its many varieties) are at their peak, carrying silvery plumes above the graceful clumps of foliage. The onset of winter causes the stalks and stems to turn tawny, but they are sturdy enough to shrug off winter snows to provide a quiet presence in the barren landscape. Other ornamental grasses such Switch Grass (Panicum), Bluestem (Andropogon), Fountain Grass (Pennisetum), Indian Grass (Sorghastrum), and many others, continue to please into the fall.


Miscanthus in fall

Threadleaf (or Arkansas) Bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii) is a simple yet attractive plant with 3 seasons of interest. They bear small blue starry flowers in spring, and by summer have become durable low bushes of long, thin leaves arranged on willowy stems. Perhaps the best is saved for last, as in September the green becomes chartreuse, and eventually golden by October: a perennial with fall foliage. These are best planted en masse, and combine well with bolder- leaved plants to create a contrast of textures, the fundamental way to develop garden interest. Plants for such supporting roles must include Alum Root, or Heuchera, which is not the old-fashioned Coral Bells of your Grandmother’s garden. Today’s Heucheras have been hybridized to offer stunning foliage in a wide variety of colors including lime, chartreuse, peach, burgundy, purple, and near-black. Cold weather often brings out secondary colors and overlays of red or silver.


Amsonia hubrichtii in fall


Heucheras

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’) have been out of flower for a few weeks now, but their chocolate cones are a food source to gold and purple finches which will feast on the black seeds until winter. There is a longer blooming variety known as fulgida, still in bloom now with fine bright yellow daisies. Surely these are better than mums! Allow the seedheads to remain on Black-eyed Susans: the birds will benefit, as will anyone who is able to appreciate their blackened skeletons outlined against the snow. For while it is easy to savor the bravura spectacle that surrounds us now, we must find joy in the far subtler qualities of the garden in winter, long after its notes have faded.


Black-eyed Susans