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Extending the Spring Season into Summer
By Susan Rafanelli - Botanica Designs
Include shrubs and
perennials with foliage that works for you all the time.
Variegated, red, yellow, bronzy or
blue- gray foliage add interest for a longer period of time.
Use prudently and don't overdo. Let foliage pick up the colors
of summer blooming perennials in the same area. Select cultivars
for more than just blooms.
Shrubs and subshrubs:
- Nandina
domestica - many cultivars and heights. New foliage emerges
bronzy or plum color then turns green. Cold weather colors
foliage up reddish. This is semi-evergreen.
- Weigelia
florida 'Variegata' 'Java Red','Wine and Roses' or the dwarf
'Midnight Wine' - an old fashion favorite late spring bloomer.
Choose cultivars with interesting foliage. Deciduous.
- Abelia
grandiflora 'Edward Goucher' - semi-evergreen shrub, fall
bloomer with all new foliage emerging bronze and blush pink
flowers.
- Berberis
thunbergii - many types. These deciduous varieties have
red or yellow leaves. "Rose Glow', 'Crimsom Pygmy'
and 'Aurea'.
- Pieris
japonica 'Forest Flame', 'Mountain Fire', or 'Valley Valentine'
or 'Variegata' - winter blooms, new foliage emerges orange
to bronzy. Evergreen shrub.
- Spireas-
deciduous shrubs for sunny locations. 'Goldflame', 'Limemound'
or 'Goldmound' have the most interesting foliage color.
- Herbs-
Lavendula, santolina, salvias officinalis
all are evergreen herbs and have interesting texture and
blue-gray foliage color or in the case of salvia - other
foliage color options.
- Hydrangea
macrophylla 'Variegata' - variegated hydrangea is a white
lacecap type. Decidous.
- Rhododendrons-
the Yaku cultivars- have fuzzy indumentum on new emerging
foliage and indumentum stays under the foliage. Some good
cultivars include: 'Gertzel', 'Teddy Bear', 'Yaku Prince'.
Evergreen shrubs.
Perennials:
- Heuchera
'Chocolate Ruffles', 'Purple Palace' or any of the purple
or marbled foliage types
- Hosta
- bold leaf perennials for the shade. Color foliage ranges
from blue-gray to variegated cream and green. Flowers in
the summer/ some are fragrant. A wonderful planting companion
for spring bulbs.
- Caryopteris
x clandonensis/ bluebeard is a woody perennial that blooms
late in the summer. Most have gray foliage but one 'Worchester
Gold' has striking yellow foliage with a bright blue flower.
- Alchemilla
/ ladies mantle has a very long bloom season from June-August
- Asters
- late summer and fall blooms
- Coreopsis-
long bloom season
- Geraniums
- endressii - blooms pink off and on all summer, great color
foliage in the fall. Other geraniums have great value.
- Phlomis
fruticosa- Jerusalem sage- interesting yellow flowers in
June, will rebloom if flowers are deadheaded.
- Sedums
- 'Autumn Joy' one of the taller and more attractive. Foliage
is blue-gray, flowers deep carmine pink in late summer.
Makes a great and long lasting cut flower.
- Hemerocallis
- daylillies - many colors and heights, some are fragrant;
blooms in June-July - grass-like foliage.
- Rudbeckia
- perennial with late summer blooms many good cultivars.
Grasses:
- Carex
- morrowii 'Variegata'- evergreen and variegated cream or
yellow type C. flagellifera and buchananii -everbrown with
orange highlights C.glauca -blue-gray
- Helictotrichon
semperviren - blue oat grass - 'everblue' needs to be raked
out with a wire rake to remove dead foliage
- Miscanthus
sinensis 'Zebrinus' or 'Strictus' - porcupine grass - tall
grass with horizontal yellow stripes on the blades. Stripes
become more prominent in sun and as the summer warms up.
M.s. 'Variegata' and 'Morning Light' both have variegated
foliage. Deciduous
- Luzula
sylvatica / wood rush a low growing evergreen grass with
narrow cream colored edge.
- Stipa
gigantium - tall and airy deciduous grass -Deciduous
Set large container pots in the beds
for special shrubs or annuals so they don't have to compete
with the big guys. Annuals usually
grow better in containers anyway. Try to include a feature plant
that will give interest to the container even in the winter
season. Containers can also be moved out of the beds in the
winter-time if needed. Remember that plants in containers are
more vulnerable to winter cold temperatures because there is
less soil to insulate from the cold. Containers make plants
more visible and so you can see delicate flowers and leaf structures.
They say "Look at me !"Use summer blooming light vines
to add interest to shrubs that have already flowered for you.
Clematis, akebia, honeysuckles all will add interest into the
summer.Experiment and have fun with plants. Don't be
afraid to move plants if they are not doing well for you in
one location. Many gardens have unusual micro-climates within
them. Make observations and keep a garden journal of what you
find. Repeat... if you have the space it is always best
to plant in groupings of odd numbers. A mass planting makes
a big statement. Smaller plants need to be repeated or planted
in large groupings for greater visual impact. |
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