PEREN N I AL FOCUS
BOBBIE SCHWARTZ, FAPLD Bobbie’s Green Thumb Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is one of the longest blooming perennials in the garden, but requires plenty of room to grow, as it is a wide-spreading perennial.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERENNIAL GARDEN DESIGN AND MAINTENANCE Now that the catalogs are arriving and we are starting to dream, it’s time to think about the relationship between garden design and the amount of maintenance that will be necessary. I’m trying to cut down on maintenance time because there never seems to be enough. We all know that the most beautifully designed and installed garden can become the garden from hell if not properly maintained. One of the first considerations is the nature of the perennial you have or wish to use. Is it a clumper, a runner, or a seeder? If it’s a runner, how fast does it run? Epimedium, for instance, is a lovely, drought tolerant groundcover for shady areas. Although rhizomatous, it spreads very slowly. On the other hand, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, a tall, stately perennial for the back of the border, will quickly overtake everything in its path.
I love many seeders but the most important question is whether the seedlings are easy to pull. This is known as editing. Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ is widely grown because it will grow almost anywhere but the seedlings will inundate a garden. Aquilegia, however, is a moderate seeder and the seedlings are most welcome because the parent plant is often besieged with leaf miner, leaving behind unsightly plants. continued on page 10
8 | Official Publication of The Ohio Landscape Association
