Stella!!

That’s my garden blogger’s imitation of Stanley Kowalski. Stella is back–Stella d’Oro, that is, probably one of the most planted perennials of the past 20 years, a plant that is both loved and disdained. I’ve heard it called,”the most worthless perennial of all time,” by Northern Gardener’s own Don Engebretson, a.k.a., The Renegade Gardener, and praised as “the most popular daylily selection of all time.” Of course, it’s possible to be both: Think reality television, Cheetos or stiletto heels.

Here’s my take on Stella: If you’ve got a spot you don’t want to think about much, plant Stella d’Oro daylilies (Hemerocallis ‘Stella d’Oro’). They can handle full sun (see the planting circle in front of the Northfield Public Library for an example) or mostly shade. They bloom consistently and prolifically from late June through much of July. They will re-bloom again late in the summer. Last fall, I had Stellas off-and-on into October–with absolutely no effort on my part. The flowers are a pretty yellow, though the foliage is a non-starter. Mine are planted on the north side of the house near some hostas that also require next to no care. They get a few hours of morning sun, but that’s it. I’ve divided the daylilies once in nine years, though I think they could use it again.

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Blooming Prairie

The back of our yard butts up against what is locally referred to as the “nature area.” It’s a series of storm water retention ponds with grasses and plants around them. The area boasts lots of birds and occasional visits from loons, which my friend, Penny, posted about earlier this year. It also hosts a colony of muskrats and a family of beavers, who have been the talk of the neighborhood this spring. When we first moved here, I spread a mix of wildflower seeds in the meadow right behind our house. During spring and early summer, I get a nice show of blooms. I’m not sure exactly what any of the plants are (though I think the yellow one is a form of rudbeckia), but they are pretty. I especially like these bluish purple blooms, which give the meadow a hazy look in the early morning.

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The Grief of Peonies

During my recent vacation, I read Helen Humphreys’ novel, The Lost Garden. It’s a story about the Women’s Land Army in Britain during World War II. “Land girls,” as they were called, were sent to the countryside to raise food, particularly potatoes, for hungry Britons during the war. Humphreys has a lyrical style and the novel is a beautifully written story of love and loss.

I was reminded of the passage below by the many collapsed peonies in Minnesota gardens this week.

The blooms are white and pale pink, grow upright for now, giant buttons of brilliance festooning green leafy tunics. But soon their heads will become too heavy for the thin, reed-like stalks on which they rise with such hope, and the peonies crash to the ground in a wave of grief. They are too much for themselves and soon they know it… There is something almost heroic in their reckless collapse. And there is nothing sadder than a crowd of stricken peonies, their heads full of rain.

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New Northern Gardener Available

The July/August issue of Northern Gardener will be on news stands soon. This issue features articles on new hydrangeas, how to use tall plants and how to incorporate variegated foliage in your landscape. It also has a must-read article for folks interested in water gardens. Soni Forsman, an expert water gardener who has worked with gardeners at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park in St. Paul, has written an aquatic plant primer full of information on what to plant in water gardens and how to keep your water plants healthy. Soni also took the beautiful photo of a water lily on the cover.

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Bloom Tuesday, No. 7

With the warmer temperatures and steady sun we’ve had the past 10 days, blooms and plants are exploding. Several new blooms are showing up in my garden. One of my favorite shrubs, Goldmound spirea (Spiraea japonica ‘Goldmound’), has started to bloom. These are tough shrubs that you see all over the Midwest. The leaves start out reddish, then go yellow, then turn lime green. The pink flowers last for several weeks. A couple of times, I’ve trimmed them back after blooming and gotten a second round of flowers in the late summer/early fall. These can get rangy, but that’s easy to correct. Simply cut them back to 4 to 5 inches tall. It seems drastic, but think of it as tough love. A master gardener told me spring is the best time to cut them back, but I did it in the summer last year. While the shrubs looked pretty shocking for a few weeks, they recovered and look better than ever this year.

Also in bloom is a plant that was labeled a “local daisy” that I bought at the Northfield Garden Club plant sale in May. I put it in a bed to keep an eye on it this year, but will transplant it to the meadow behind our house later.

Finally, I’ve got two kinds of penstemon or beard tongue in bloom. In the back, the Husker Red (Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’) looks great with its delicate flowers and striking red/green foliage. (It’s the one on the left.) In the front, the Phoenix™ series penstemon is also in bloom. This is a showy annual that looks like a cross between a snapdragon and a foxglove. Penstemon is a huge genus of plants, which include many wildflowers. Recently, fellow Northfield blogger Rob Hardy of Rough Draft posted some photos of a field of wild penstemon in the Carleton College arboretum. Check it out.

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It’s Garden Tour Time

Late June and July are the big months for garden tours in the Midwest. This weekend the Northfield Garden Club is hosting its annual tour, so I headed out early to check out the gardens. I made it to five of the seven gardens on the tour and came home full of ideas and inspiration.

At Judy and Jim Cedarburg’s garden (No. 6 on the Northfield tour), a small meadow of shasta daisies bloomed in a corner of the double-lot garden. Anyone with an area they don’t want to mow could add that kind of meadow, especially if you combined the daisies with ornamental grasses. The Cedarburgs have extensive perennial gardens and a big vegetable patch. They’ve been gardening in that spot for more than 40 years. If you visit, be sure to ask them about the huge oak they planted from an acorn.

Shirley and Bob Cox’s garden (No. 4 on the tour) is designed to attract birds. It includes all of the things birds need: shelter, water, food and cover. The Coxes use boulders throughout the garden to great effect.

If you are interested in attending the tour, you can get a ticket for $10 at any of the tour gardens (the president’s house at St. Olaf is where I started) or at Knecht’s Nurseries or Hodge-Podge Que Antiques downtown.

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Library in Bloom

Kudos to Judy Code, Pat Allen, the Northfield in Bloom committee and the Northfield Garden Club for all the work they have done this spring getting Northfield gorgeous for the America In Bloom judges, who will be arriving in town in July. Many businesses downtown have participated in the project and the garden club has been working with the city to spruce up public spaces. Case in point: the Library.

In May, members of the Friends of the Northfield Library–including yours truly–weeded, trimmed brush and cleaned up the beds and planters around the library. Then, the garden club went to work, adding hostas, daylilies, roses and dozens of petunias. When you come out of the Division Street door, it’s like stepping into a forest glade with all the shade-loving foliage plants that have been added. Along the street, pink petunias, roses and flowering spirea add color to accent the red brick and the green of the vines that cascade down the wall. Great job, gardeners!

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Hydrangea Heaven

Lombard Street in San Francisco is probably one of the most recognizable streets in the United States. Its curves and switchbacks (added in 1922 to reduce the 27 percent grade on the block between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets) are filled with hydrangeas and other flowering plants. Last week, the hydrangeas were in full bloom, making the street a gardener’s heaven.

I walked up the street and then back down taking photos of the plants and the fabulous houses on this block. (Check out the vine in the photo at right.) I was joined by a large group of Italian tourists. Interestingly, and I suppose this reflects the rise of the Euro currency compared to the dollar, a casual observer would think most of the tourists in San Francisco last week were European.

I’m not sure which hydrangea varieties are planted on Lombard Street, and suspect many of them would not grow in the Midwest. Hydrangeas like a soft, moist climate (a la the Pacific Coast) but more hydrangeas have been hybridized in the past decade or so that are winter hardy in Minnesota. An article in the next issue of Northern Gardener, available about June 25, will describe 10 hydrangeas good for our area. I found this blue one in a private garden near Coit Tower, which I visited the same morning. The flowers are about the size of your hand and perfectly formed. Wow.

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Belated Bloom Tuesday (No. 6)

The blog has been quiet this past week because I’ve been on vacation. My family took a train trip to Portland, then visited San Francisco. It was a great trip and it reinforced how BIG this country is. North Dakota and Montana alone seem to go on forever. I visited a few gardens during the week–more on those in later posts–but found plenty blooming in my own garden upon return.

First, it’s peony time. I have four peonies in my yard, but this one is the most mature. Peonies take two or three years to get going, but they are such a tradition in Midwest gardens I think everyone should have at least a couple. Once established, peonies will last up to 100 years. They only bloom a short time, but the blooms are glorious and the foliage provides a backdrop for other plants in the garden.

Also blooming is this bulb, an Allium moly I planted last fall. I’m not sure what went wrong here. I planted 45 of these bulbs and this is the only flower blooming. The rest may have fallen victim to the hungry pocket gophers that have lived near that part of my garden in the past.

Also blooming is this dianthus (Dianthus deltoides ‘Arctic Fire’) and the feverfew (shown at top of post) I purchased at a local plant sale earlier this year. Lots of annuals are also blooming, but more on those later.

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Bloom Tuesday, No. 5

According to my neighbor’s rain gauge, we had a hair under 2 inches of rain over the past week. This has not promoted much blooming this week, but it has encouraged growth, particularly of weeds! I spent part of last night roving the yard, pulling up some of the interlopers. We do have plenty of blooms, too, however. The dogwoods (red twig and Pagoda) are still blooming, as are the highbush cranberry, salvia in the front-yard garden, and many of the annuals. (I’m thrilled how good the pansies still look.) The lilacs are fading fast, however.

Two new bloomers emerged this week. In the front yard, the Charles Albanel roses (Rosa rugosa ‘Charles Albanel’) started blooming. These are extremely hardy, low-growing roses that flower repeatedly throughout the summer. They are part of the Canadian Explorer series of roses, which were developed in Canada to survive winters on the Canadian plains. If you are not up on your Canadian explorers, Charles Albanel was a French Jesuit missionary who was involved in explorations of areas around Hudson Bay in the 1600s. Like his rose, Albanel is described as “stubborn and energetic.”

The other new bloom is the lovely Wine and Roses® weigela. (Photo at top of post.) This is one of several new weigela shrubs that have been developed by Proven Winners, one of the big plant wholesalers. It is planted in my front foundation bed, facing south, on a hill, and it has been great from the moment I planted it. It’s about 4 feet tall now and bursts into these trumpet shaped flowers in early summer. The burgundy foliage is eye-catching all year long. Proven Winners has been promoting its My Monet® weigela heavily the past two years, but that plant did not preform well for me. I was given three trial plants in 2006 and they all died within days of being put in my garden. Last year, I got more trial plants, but figuring I was cursed, gave them to a friend in Northfield who is an excellent gardener. Her My Monet plants are alive and looking good as of last week. I prefer wine and roses.

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