Purple Coneflower / Echinacea spp.
This classic and popular midsummer bloomer has experienced quite the metamorphosis! Different colors, shapes and sizes, but still hardy, hearty and reliable. Try ‘Doppelganger’, a soft rosy-lavender with her garden hat on and ready for the party. Or, pair the orangey-peachy-watermelony ‘Orange Meadowbright’ with steely blue Echinops (Globe Thistle) or bright dahlias like ‘Babylon Purple’ or ‘Gonzo Grape’. ‘Yellow Meadowbrite’ looks like a delicate, lemon badminton birdy; imagine it side-by-side with the soft violet blue of Geranium ‘Brookside’ (Cranesbill Geranium) or hot red of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’.
Height: 24”-30” prefers full sun with well-drained soil;
can tolerate light afternoon shade.
Perennial
Blackberry Lily / Belamcanda chinensis
This fabulous perennial is woefully underused in gardens. Every time our customers see it doing its ‘thing’, their response is one of “Holy #%& -- I have to have that plant!” Strappy, iris-like leaves pop up in May, and stems rising a half-foot above that in July are covered with small, brilliant orange, red and creamy yellow orchid-like flowers. Once spent, the withered buds whorl up like a twist of carnival candy, but the real kicker hasn’t come yet. Do not deadhead, because in late August you will suddenly notice that at some point when your back was turned, all those pretty flowers turned into shiny, deep black berry clusters. Too hard for birds to snack on, these highly ornamental and eye-catching fruits stay on through winter, and cut off and used in holiday arrangements or just hanging in dried bunches from the ceiling create their own happy magic.
Height: 36” needs sun and well-drained soil.
Perennial
Red Valerian / Centranthus ruber
This long-blooming classic is always a welcome sight in the June garden. If you’ve had the opportunity to travel to England in summer, I’m sure you’ve seen clouds of this beauty blooming everywhere! While easy to grow, the one essential tip is to add a handful of horticultural lime to the soil when planting, since valerian needs alkaline soil to truly flourish. In fact, rumor has it that the chalky-soil Cliffs of Dover are absolutely swathed in this plant in June. Hey, let’s go check it out!
Height: 30” Needs full sun, well-drained soil alkaline soil.
Perennial
Spiny-leaved Bear’s Breeches / Acanthus spinosa
This is what we call an ‘architectural’ plant; even just in leaf it has significant visual impact and structure in the garden. In full stride, the leaves are large and spiny-edged, and in June tall spires of unusual looking flowers arise. The bottom lip of the flower is a creamy white, with the upper lip a dusky mauve. These stay for a long time, and if not deadheaded will self-seed into an delightful patch of this wonderful plant for years to come.
Height: foliage to 20”, flowers to 38” prefers sun to
light shade and well-drained soil.
Perennial
Coreopsis v. ‘Heaven’s Gate’ / Heaven’s Gate Tickseed
A new cultivar on the coreopsis scene, ‘Heaven’s Gate’ blooms from mid June until August.
Bright pink flowers with a magenta eyezone around a yellow center create a significant splash in the midsummer garden. And, thankfully, fully hardy for our area, unlike the red ‘Limerock Ruby’.
Height: 18”-24” prefers sun and well-drained soil.
Perennial
Roses
From 1’ tall to 14’ high, antique ones, fragrant ones, striped ones, disease-resistant ones, even ones for shady spots-- we definitely have roses! We’ll even show you how to plant them, tell you how to take care of them, advise you on the best rose for your particular situation. Oh, we love our roses, and you will, too… Coreopsis v. ‘Heaven’s Gate’ / Heaven’s Gate Tickseed Perennial A new cultivar on the coreopsis scene, ‘Heaven’s Gate’ blooms from mid June until August. Bright pink flowers with a magenta eyezone around a yellow center create a significant splash in the midsummer garden. And, thankfully, fully hardy for our area, unlike the red ‘Limerock Ruby’.
Height: 18”-24” prefers sun and well-drained soil
Perennial
Dahlias
We love dahlias! We are dahlia-dazed!
You want big ones -- we got ‘em. You want smaller dahlias for pots--
we got ‘em. You want dahlias that no one else in your neighborhood
or even zip code has-- yep, we got ‘em. All our dahlias are now rip-roaring
ready for your garden and loaded with buds… Easy to grow, easy to
take care of, easy to overwinter. We’ll also provide you with a Dahlia
Cheat Sheet for tips and culture.
Height: from 8” to 4.5’ need sun and healthy soil, can
handle light afternoon shade
Annual
Ageratum ’Blue Horizon’
You may be familiar with the ubiquitous little blue ageratum. Yawn.... Well, get ready for this beauty! At least 15” tall, multi-branched if cut back when first planted, blooms all sum- mer long and makes a terrific cutflower. We love it planted with dahlias, but this soft blue goes with anything.
Height: 15”-24” likes sun to light shade and well-drained soil. Annual
Brazilian Verbena / Verbena bonariensis
Once you have planted this annual, you will never need to do it again. A vigorous selfseeder, brazilian verbena waves its tall, slender purple flowers from July to frost, and is a sight to behold when the monarch butterflies are fluttering gleefully about it. Good as a cut flower and a graceful counterpart to huge dinnerplate dahlias. Pinh back when first planting to encourage branching.
Height: 24”-48” likes sun and well-drained soil, tolerates
light afternoon shade.
Annual
Gloriosa Daisy / Rudbeckia hirta
This is like Black-Eyed Susan on acid! Huge yellow flowers start blooming in late June and don’t stop until the snows fly. We like to pinch them back when first planted so they branch out and flower more. Looks fabulous near anything purple. Sometimes Gloriosa daisies return the following year, but we have found them to be wimpy in growth, so we treat them strictly as annuals. Try ‘Indian Summer’ with dark brown centers, or ‘Irish Eyes’ for a lime green center.
Height: 20”-30” likes sun and well-drained soil.
Annual
Perilla ‘Magilla’
While Perilla is commonly used as an herb in Thai cooking, the cultivar ‘Magilla’ is a wild color combo of burgundy and magenta and fuchsia and green and cream. This foliage plant has an appropriate moniker, as it attains significant dimensions over the summer. It can be cut back, though, to maintain size. Wonderful in the shady corners of the garden, and equally impressive in large containers. Eye-catching and impressive!