Perennial Pros Share Their Favorites

Nina A. Koziol

New plants, old plants, and tried-and-true gems. That’s what attendees heard from some preeminent plant geeks at this year’s regional Perennial Plant Association symposium, moderated by Richard Hawke, the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Evaluation Manager and Associate Scientist. “We had a great line up of speakers sharing a wide range of expertise,” Hawke said. We can’t cover all the plants discussed, but here are some favorites that caught our attention. Angela Treadwell-Palmer, found-

er and co-owner of Plants Nouveau, a new plant introduction and marketing company, is wild about Lisa Marie lungwort (Pulmonaria ‘Lisa Marie’). “This one was found by Hoffie Nursery in Illinois and it’s been the most amazing plant in my garden,” she said. “It’s not the typical pulmonaria — it doesn’t skip a beat and I’m growing it in full-on, hot afternoon sun. The plants can flatten out a bit but they come right back up. It has enormous leaves up to 18 inches long and it’s a wonderful dry-shade-loving perennial.”

Dianthus ‘Pink Fire’

If your clients enjoy scent and color, check out Dianthus ‘Pink Fire’. “It’s incredibly fragrant and retained a nice, tight upright shape in my garden,” Treadwell-Palmer said. “And, it bloomed until early August.”

Monarda Bee-You®

Bee-You® Series of bee balm (Monarda) is another new treasure. “Bee Happy has done well in trial gardens and at 3 1/2 feet tall it has beautiful color and doesn’t get mildew. It attracts bees and other pollinators and it doesn’t spread like some varieties,” she said.

Pycnanthemum muticum

Treadwell-Palmer touted mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), a sunloving native prairie plant. “This is just a gorgeous perennial,” she said. The pollinators — oh my gosh — they’re everywhere on it.” Richard Hawke agrees. “There’s no better pollinator plant,” he said.

Sedum Mojave Jewels™

Sedum Mojave Jewels™ is a series of deep-colored hardy sedums receiving accolades from landscape designers. “I really like them,” Treadwell-Palmer said. “It’s a plant that absolutely needs full sun. They’re drought-tolerant and everybody loves Ruby. It starts out with super black chalky foliage and pink flowers. In a matrix planting it looks great with purple love grass.”

Cotinus obovatus American smoke tree

The native smokebush, aka American smoke tree, (Cotinus obovatus) is a woefully underused woody in residential and commercial designs. “This is my absolute favorite shrub for fall color,” Treadwell-Palmer said. It’s a deciduous, rounded tree, or large, upright shrub typically growing about 20 feet tall. After blooming in midsummer, the spent flower clusters turn a smoky- to purple-pink adding multi-season interest.

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Director of New Plant Development, at Walters Gardens, in Zeeland, Michigan, has bred, selected and introduced hundreds of new plants, including the Decadence® series of baptisias, the hellebore series Wedding Bells, countless hostas and other unusual perennials. While it’s very difficult to pin him down to a short list of favorites, here are a few he discussed. Hibiscus Summerific® Berry Awesome

One of Hansen’s favorite genera is Hibiscus (hardy rose mallow). “It’s a very big crop for us. Currently we just surpassed growing one million plants.” Summerific® Berry Awesome was selected for good flower coverage, a high bud count, overlapping petals and good foliage. “It’s our number one selling hibiscus and was the 2019 Proven Winners Perennial of the Year. It’s got olive-green foliage and high flower coverage from top to bottom.”

Hibiscus ‘Inner Glow’ and ‘Blackberry Merlot’

New for 2021 are Hibiscus ‘Inner Glow’ and ‘Blackberry Merlot.’ The latter has 8-inch-wide deep, rich velvety red flowers produced on a tight, upright habit of deep green leaves. Inner Glow has luxurious rose pink flowers with a lavender-purple halo at the center. The flowers cover dissected, olive-green leaves in mid-to-late summer for a colorful finish at the end of the growing season. Leaf color and flower performance are best in full sun.

Hosta Brother Stefan

“If I had to pick one hosta, it would be Brother Stefan,” Hansen said. It was selected as the 2017 Hosta of the Year and that’s not surprising given the striking, large leaves with heavy seersucker texture and bold variegation. The foliage is vibrant chartreuse with irregular centers and margins in graduating shades of dark green that make it pop in shade. In early summer, strong, sturdy green stems with yellow outlines support racemes of nearly white flowers.

Paeonia (Intersectional hybrid) x ‘Bartzella’

Hansen gives kudos to Bartzella Itoh Peony Paeonia (Intersectional hybrid] x ‘Bartzella’ for its incredible flower power. “It’s like the Rolls Royce of the peony world. It has a long season of bloom — two to three weeks — and has as many as 80 flowers on a mature clump.” The plant’s double bright yellow blossoms offer a pleasant spicy sent. Foliage is dark green and deeply dissected. Bonus: It’s an especially vigorous plant with sturdy flower stems that don’t need staking.

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When it comes to spacing perennials, forget the rules. Kelly Norris,

author and plantsman, Gardens by Kelly Productions, is a huge fan of packing plants in tight. “There’s no opportunity for weeds to come in when you jam things close together,” he told attendees. “I’m always trying to maximize abundance. It’s amazing what plants will do when we actually let them grow at a density that’s much more akin to their ecological and evolutionary history than the horticultural one we stamp on them.”

Echinacea Kismet™ Raspberry Throughout his matrix plantings, Norris looks for perennials that offer multi-season interest and Raspberry coneflower does just that. It flowers from early summer until frost with large raspberry-colored flowers on upright, compact plants. Each flower lasts for weeks and the dark seed heads during winter are a plus.

Andropogon ‘Blackhawks’

Norris touts Blackhawks big bluestem introduced by Brent Horvath of Intrinsic Perennials in Hebron for its incredibly dark foliage. “This grass creates a coal, slate-colored [vertical] line in the garden and that color lasts in some form throughout the growing season. It’s dark in spring, turns green in summer, then dark again in fall.”