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Native Wildflowers for the Garden

Spring Virginia bluebells in woodland - April 2007
Spring Virginia bluebells blanket a woodland garden floor. (Image by Jessie Keith)

America’s eastern native plants are a national treasure.  They also offer a wealth of material for American gardens.  This is perhaps most evident in spring, when many of the most beautiful native wildflowers strut their stuff in our fields, forests, or perennial borders.

Bloodroot

Bloodroot
Bloodroot is a very early spring bloomer. (Image by Basefilm)

Among the first of these to bloom is one of the queens of the Eastern forest, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis).  Its broad, scalloped, kidney-shaped leaves unfurl in early spring, sending forth dainty, white, short-stemmed flowers that shatter within a few days of opening.  Far longer lasting, however, are the breathtaking double blooms of the cultivar ‘Multiplex’, whose sublime form would do the finest waterlily proud.  In whatever form, bloodroot makes a wonderful subject for massing and naturalizing in dappled shade.  A moist, relatively coarse soil suits it best (amend heavy or sandy soils with a good compost such as Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost).

Virginia Bluebells

Virginia bluebells along stone path
Virginia bluebells have great color and naturalize effortlessly. (Image by Jessie Keith)

Another first-rate naturalizer for moist shade, Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) sends up clusters of nodding, long-necked bell-flowers that morph from pale pink to summer-sky-blue upon opening in early- to mid-spring.  The 15- to 18-inch-tall plants are well furnished with broad, blue-dusted leaves that tone prettily with the flowers.  As bloom fades, so does the rest of the plant, yellowing and dwindling to a thick fleshy rootstock in late spring. Colonies of seedlings often follow.  Wild-collected roots and plants of Virginia bluebell are sometimes sold by disreputable dealers, so buyer beware.

Celandine Poppy

Celandine poppies
Celandine poppies add a golden glow to the spring wildflower garden (Image by Josve05a)

With its sunny yellow mid-spring flowers and penchant for self-sowing, celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) makes an excellent shade-garden companion for Virginia bluebells.  The 2-inch-wide, crepe-textured, four-petaled poppies are borne atop 18-inch clumps of bold foliage with oakleaf-shaped lobes.  Bristly seedpods resembling miniature gourds ripen in late spring, with dormancy (and enthusiastic self-sowing) ensuing.  Both celandine poppy and Virginia bluebells work well with other, more persistent woodlanders (such as ferns and Solomon’s seal) that fill the gaps left by their early exit.

Woodland Phlox

Although many native woodland perennials die back after blooming in spring, some stay around for the long haul.  These include two species of Phlox that make excellent subjects for borders or naturalistic plantings.  Woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) produces drifts of fragrant, five-petaled blooms on wiry, foot-tall stems with paired, pointed leaves. The flowers are typically periwinkle-blue, but white, violet, and other colors occur in the wild and in cultivation.  Their form and hue combine effectively with Virginia bluebells, celandine poppy, white trilliums, wild geraniums, and other wildflowers that bloom in mid-spring.  After flowering, plants persist through the growing season and beyond as low semi-evergreen hummocks.

Crested Iris

Yet another splendid spreader for partial shade, crested iris (Iris cristata) grows from knobbly rhizomes that walk along the soil surface, like a bearded iris in miniature.  Fanned tufts of arching, 6-inch, blade-shaped leaves give rise to proportionately large blooms that slightly over top the foliage in mid-spring.  Flower color ranges from violet-blue to white, with contrasting yellow and white markings.   Several cultivars are available.  A lightly shaded site with moist, fertile, relatively porous soil is ideal.

All of these – and many more besides (including Geranium maculatum, Hepatica acutiloba, Trillium grandiflorum, Delphinium tricorne, Tiarella cordifolia, Polemonium reptans, and Uvularia grandiflora) – are essential plants for any eastern North American garden that seeks to embody a sense of place.

All About Growing Tulips

Tulipa red striped lily
Lily-flowered tulips have pointed petals that open wide from vase-shaped buds. (Photo by Jessie Keith)

What would spring be without tulips? Their large, brilliant, jewel-toned flowers, often with playful markings at their centers, are just what we crave after the gloom and cold of winter. Those big bright bowls of color speak directly to our inner child (as well as to children themselves). And with the wide range of varieties available today, tulips can provide a continuous succession of garden brightness from early to late spring.

Tulipa 'Girlfriend'
‘Girlfriend’ is a beautiful recently introduced hybrid of Tulipa vvdenskyi.

Tulip History

Tulips have been seducing gardeners for centuries. Turkish sultans featured them in their palace gardens in the 15th and 16th centuries, growing numerous hybrids characterized by dazzling colors and claw-shaped petals. From there, tulips made their way to Europe, evolving into the blunt-petaled forms that we associate with the genus (know botanically as Tulipa). By the early seventeenth century, tulips were all the rage in sophisticated European circles, triggering waves of “tulipomania” that built and destroyed fortunes.

Today, we’re fortunate to have thousands of tulip hybrids in numerous shapes and color. Further enriching our gardens are the many Tulipa species that have been introduced to horticulture in the relatively recent past. Horticulturists group cultivated tulips into sixteen “classes” depending on their flowering times, characteristics, and lineage.

Wild Tulips

This vast horticultural treasure trove began with a handful of wild ancestors from Central and West Asia, regions where summers are hot and dry and winters cold and snowy. And even today, most garden tulips flourish in conditions that recall their lands of origin. They need sun and winter chill to bloom, and a relatively dry summer rest to perennialize. If you garden in the northern United States and can offer sunny, not-too-damp conditions, tulips of all types will likely thrive – provided the pests don’t get them (more on this later).

Tulipa 'Elegans Rubra'
The heirloom cultivar ‘Elegans Rubra’ is an early lily-flowered tulip.

Fittingly, tulip season begins just as spring officially arrives, in March and early April. Earliest of all are a number of elfin Tulipa species that are comparable in stature to the Dutch hybrid crocuses that bloom alongside them. Many of these pixies (e.g., Tulipa biflora) open wide in sun to reveal white interiors with central yolks of yellow. Perhaps the queen of the early-risers is Tulipa humilis, which blooms in a variety of eye-catching hues including purple, pink, and white, with contrasting eyes.

Hybrid Tulips

A number of larger-flowered hybrids follow closely upon these earliest tulips. Kaufmanniana Hybrids (named after the species that sired them) typically have pointed, white or yellow, red-flamed blooms, with broad basal leaves that often bear showy bronze mottling. Single Early Tulips (such as ‘Apricot Giant’ and ‘Coleur Cardinal’) open their large, goblet-shaped blooms on short sturdy stems just as the Kaufmannianas are peaking, in early to mid-April. Then in the next few weeks comes a succession of other tulip classes, most notably:

Fosteriana Hybrids (including the famed ‘Emperor’ cultivars), prized for their huge, brightly colored flowers on relatively compact stems.
Greigii Hybrids, short in stature, with large cupped flowers and gray-green, maroon-splotched leaves.
Triumph Tulips, marked by their elegant, sturdy flowers and strong tall stems that stand up to inclement weather. Most bloom in the pastel range and many have contrasting petal margins.
Darwin Hybrids, combining the height of the Single Late Tulips with the immense brilliant blooms of the Fosteriana Hybrids, and flowering between these two parent classes.
Single Late Tulips, blooming well into May in a wide range of rich colors, on stems that typically exceed 26 inches.
Lily-flowered Tulips, named for their pointed petals that open wide from vase-shaped buds.
Double Late Tulips (such as ‘Angelique’), among the last to bloom, with peony-shaped flowers in mid- to late May.

Tulipa clusiana
Tulipa clusiana is well adapted to Southern and California gardens.

Altogether, tulip hybrids and species provide more than 2 months of bloom and endless ornamental possibilities. Many species and smaller-flowered hybrids mingle beautifully with other late winter and early spring perennials, both in formal borders and in less formal settings such as cottage gardens. For bold splashes of spring color, nothing beats the large-flowered hybrids, whether in massed bedding schemes or grouped in mixed borders. Some species even naturalize well, persisting and sometimes increasing in garden conditions that are to their liking.
Many tulips also “force” easily in pots, brightening the winter months (see “Forcing Bulbs for Winter Cheer”). Single Early and Fosteriana cultivars are among the best for this purpose.

Planting Tulips

Outdoors, plant tulips in late summer or early fall in a sunny exposure (after the first frost is often a good time). Fertile, not too heavy Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost Blend packsoil is best (amend sandy or clay soils with an organic compost such as Fafard Premium Natural & Organic Compost). Although often treated as annuals, tulips of all classes will usually return for several years of bloom if planted deep (6 inches or more below the soil surface). Deep planting also helps protect the bulbs from their chief bane – squirrels and other furry pests. Inter-plant tulips with rodent- and deer-resistant bulbs such as daffodils to further deter these herbivores.

A few tulips will even bloom and persist where winters are “too warm” for them. Tulipa clusiana – often dubbed “lipstick tulip” for the red central bands that mark its outer petals – grows and flowers reliably in areas such as California, the Desert Southwest, and the Deep South. Others to try in these regions include Tulipa saxatilis and the previously mentioned Tulipa sylvestris. Tulips offer spring-long possibilities wherever and whatever the garden.

Tulipa Ballerina
‘Ballerina’ is an award-winning, late-flowering tulip with lily-like blooms of orange and red. (Photo by Jessie Keith)

New Flower Introductions for 2015

The best way to survive winter is to dress warmly and dream of spring. And the best way to dream of spring is to get acquainted with new plant varieties. For maximum spiritual uplift, start with flowering annuals and perennials.

If you were conjuring up the perfect flowering annual or perennial for 2015, it would possess all the traits that gardeners have come to expect over the last few years. The ideal plant would feature a compact growth habit, making it suitable for both in-ground and container gardening, and it would bloom continuously or rebloom regularly throughout the growing season. On top of all that, the ideal plant would be fragrant, adaptable to varying cultural conditions and resistant to pests and diseases. Shade-loving paragons of perfection would feature interesting foliage or conspicuous flowers, or, ideally, both.

The following are some of the picks of the 2015 introductions crop.

Annuals

Superbells Cherry Red in pot
Superbells Cherry Red Improved gets top ratings from Proven Winners customers. (Image by Chris Brown)

Millions of Petunias: Petunias and their smaller relatives, Calibrachoa, abound among this year’s introductions, with breeders bringing out new colors, forms, and expansions of existing lines. Vivid red-and-yellow striped ‘Caloha Double Trouble’ from Cohen Propagation Nurseries features double flowers and a trailing growth habit. Proven Winners adds to the Super Bells series of single-flowered calibrachoa with the vivid cerise ‘Superbells Cherry Red Improved.’

Foliage Drama: Coleus continues to dominate among annual shade plants. New entries include Ball Seed’s maroon and green ‘Coleosaurus’ and ‘Box Office Bronze.’ Rex begonias also come on strong with the introduction of the Jurassic Series from Ball Ingenuity. The plants feature lobed foliage variegated in shades of green, red, white, bronze, purple and silver.

Osteospermum ‘Blue-Eyed Beauty’
The impressive Osteospermum ‘Blue-Eyed Beauty’ is a floriferous new introduction from Ball Seed. (Image care of Ball Seed)

Tougher Impatiens: For those who have given up impatiens because of disease issues, help is at hand in the form of Selecta’s Bounce and Big Bounce series. Bearing flowers in an array of colors, these impatiens are disease-resistant interspecific hybrids that are able, according to marketers to rebound from fungal disease.

Crazy Daisies: With their colorful petals and blue-tinted centers, floriferous daisy-form osteospermum, native to South Africa, are wonderful for containers and garden beds. New varieties include ‘Blue-Eyed Beauty’ from Ball Seed’s, with golden petals surrounding a blue-purple central eye.

Perennials

Uptick in Tickseed: American’s love affair with Coreopsis or tickseed continues unabated with many new varieties of this daisy family member. Veteran breeder Darryl Probst of Walter’s Gardens makes a big noise with his compact Little Bang series, including ‘Enchanted Eve,’ which is yellow with red centers; rosy ‘Red Elf’ and white-petaled ‘Starlight,’ which also features rosy centers.

The soft colored blooms of 'Candy Love' Hellibore come in shades of pink and primrose yellow. (Image care of Plants Nouveau)
The soft colored blooms of ‘Candy Love’ Hellebore come in shades of pink and primrose yellow. (Image care of Plants Nouveau)

On the Rise: Vertical gardening continues to thrive everywhere and this year’s clematis introductions take it to new heights. ‘Fireflame’s red flowers grow as large as 6 to 8 inches, appearing as single or double forms over the course of the growing season. With raspberry-pink petals edged in white, ‘Maria Therese’ is a compact, large-flowered variety introduced from Pride of Place Plants. Planted in containers in-ground, ‘Maria Therese’ combines big visual impact with a manageable size.

Early and Often: Shade-loving hellebores have caught the fancy of many breeders and gardeners, providing bloom and color in late winter and early spring. Color ranges have increased, with breeders also working on new leaf colors and shapes. One of the better varieties from Plants Nouveau is called ‘Candy Love’ and has blooms in delicate shades of pink and yellow.

Compact and long-blooming, Geum 'Sun Kissed Lime' is a superb introduction from Terra Nova Nuseries. (Image care of Terra Nova Nurseries)
Compact and long-blooming, Geum ‘Sun Kissed Lime’ is a superb introduction from Terra Nova Nurseries. (Image care of Terra Nova Nurseries)

Geum Generosity: Cheerful, low-growing geums have come into their own because they suit plots or pots and rebloom over the course of the growing season. One of the most vibrant of the geum tribe is the new ‘Sunkissed Lime,’ from Terra Nova. The 9- inch tall plants feature eye-grabbing lime green foliage and vivid orange flowers. ‘Sunkissed Lime’ offers garden smooches in sun or light shade.

Butterfly Magnets: With plentiful flower spikes that attract butterflies and garden visitors, while repelling deer, ornamental salvias have long been mainstays of the sunny garden. New varieties abound for 2015, including Salvia nemorosa ‘Blue Marvel’ from Ball Seed. The color is similar to old favorite ‘Mainacht,’ but the flowers are larger. The Color Spires series from Proven Winners expands the Salvia nemorosa color range and includes three new varieties: ‘Crystal Blue,’ ‘Violet Riot’ and ‘Pink Dawn.’

Clematis 'Maria Therese' hybrid from New Zealand
Clematis ‘Maria Therese’ is a spectacular new offering from Pride of Place Plants. (Image care of Pride of Place Plants)

With daylight on the increase and green thumbs beginning to tingle for another year, get a good start on the gardening season by making lists of interesting, newly-introduced plants that might work in your garden. Stock up on necessary garden components like Fafard Natural and Organic Potting Mix for containers and Fafard Garden Manure Blend to build soil fertility. The last frost date will come sooner than you think.