Accolades for Agastache

It's so easy to say nice things about agastache! At least in my garden and zone, it's close to perfection for a perennial.

Three years ago, I started with agastache 'Acapulco Salmon and Pink'. At least that's what my forum friends suggested as the correct variety. I lost the plant description tag a long time ago. I started with three of these agastache. Once I realized the long bloom season, I started dividing the agastache to increase the clumps in the butterfly garden. I've decided that the pink/orange tubular blooms work so well with the carmine and deep rose blooms of some of my front garden perennials, that I've started transplanting divisions to that area as well. Perhaps I'm going overboard and over-using this agastache. At this point, I feel like I can't get enough of a good thing. This agastache has bloomed continuously since it started back in early June. The blooms haven't faded. It's a nice, full shape of about 3 feet x 3 feet without any staking. It's rated for zones 5-10. The hummingbirds love it! If the color is too much for you, there are some milder colors available.

Here are a few photos from my garden. The agastache provide a colorful display in my butterfly garden.

Note: You can right-click and "open in a new window" to see these in a larger format. When you use a right-click to view a picture or website link, then you won't lose this main page.


Last year, I added 'Blue Fortune' which is a highly touted agastache among the plant retailers. This is another long-blooming agastache. However, the blooms have faded to a dusty blue in my full sun garden. If placed too close to pretty blues, it really looks a bit too dusty. I think it will work better beside some deep burgundy colors. So, I've done a bit of re-arranging to move this agastache away from my salvia 'Black and Blue'. This agastache is loved by Monarch butterflies. This is another tall agastache (3 feet), but not as wide as the 'Salmon and Pink' so you can tuck this narrow agastache in some tight spaces. It does need full sun to reach full height. I have some in part-sun that are only knee high.

Looking for a yellow/gold agastache, I bought a few seedlings of agastache 'Coronado' this spring. The color is more of a fiery gold/orange. However, I'm not put off by the color. I've moved the young plants close to my long-blooming sky-blue salvia uliginosa and my gold cestrum 'Orange Peel'. This is a shorter agastache of about 15" x 12". I cut a bloom and carried it around the garden to see what other colors worked with this. Well, the color works great with purples, blues, lavenders, and even my favorite echinacea 'Ruby Star' as it echoes the cone color. This agastache 'Coronado' is hardy in zones 4-8.

In my experience, the attributes of agastache are:

Deer resistant
Rabbit resistant
Long-blooming (June-frost for my garden)
Disease and pest resistant
Drought tolerant

About the only thing you need to do to take care of agastache is to plant them in full sun with well-drained soil. I leave the blooms on mine over the winter and cut it back in the spring. I don't deadhead any of these over the summer because they are always in bloom.

Agastache should be readily available at your local stores. However, there are many varieties available from the online plant retailers, too. Some of you have probably grown these from seeds. I've not yet tried that as the agastache seeds are the tiniest little things that I've ever seen! It's my understanding (haven't tried this at home) that you can tap the dried stems over a bowl to collect the seeds. Let me know how that works for you! :-)

I love the fragrance! I can walk through my butterfly garden and smell the minty foliage. Some of the blooms are also fragrant, depending upon the agastache. I'm now on the look out for more colors. Perhaps I'll add 'Purple Haze' or 'Black Adder' to my garden.

Garden Book: The Impressionist Garden

For many years, my favorite garden book has been The Impressionist Garden by Derek Fell.

Note: By the way, if you follow the link to the book (right-click to open a new window), you can actually preview the book pages and see the photos!

As described on the title page, it is based upon "Ideas and Inspiration from the Gardens and Paintings of the Impressionists." Although the book was published in 1994, I find that the interpretations of the impressionist gardens are still of interest to gardeners aspiring to achieve the look in their home gardens.

The author takes us through examples of the garden inspirations for paintings by Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh and other impressionist painters. Not only are there layout diagrams of the gardens of some of these artists, but the book also includes small garden design diagrams for the home gardener to get the impressionist look on a smaller scale. The use of color, light and the plants used to achieve the impressionist look are explored in great detail in the book.

While we've vacationed in France on three occasions, I've still not made it to Giverny to see Monet's Gardens...it's on my list of "must see" gardens in the world. So, I most enjoy reading the descriptions of how Monet developed his gardens and selected the flowers for the seasons.

Aside from the structured gardens, the artists were also influenced by meadows and wildflowers. For example, the Impressionists, Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh were influenced by fields of poppies, lavenders and other native plants of the south of France.

Thumb through Fell's book and you'll see glorious color photographs of the Impressionist paintings, the gardens, the gardening plans as well as ample text to describe the relationship between the flowers and the paintings.

What wonderful reading and inspiration for gardeners!

Happy Gardening,
Cameron

Fabulous Flower Seeds

My garden is full of perennials, shrubs, spring flowering bulbs, a few ornamental grasses and a few small trees. These have all been purchased in pots except for a few volunteer seedlings that have sprouted from the mother plants. This fall, I'm embarking on a new adventure...direct sowing annuals from seed!

I read the forums, asked a lot of questions, did my searching and decided to order from two companies. The order from Diane's Flower Seeds arrived in the mailbox today!

Ordering from Diane's Seeds was easy. Deciding which seeds to order was the challenge! There are so many great flowers from which to choose. I decided to try a few different poppies, larkspur, zinnia, and the perennial, echinacea 'Ruby Star' which is already a favorite in my garden (I just want more).

Click to enlarge the photos to read the planting instructions:





The seeds were ordered on Monday, August 18th and arrived today, Monday, August 25th. The seeds arrived by mail in a padded envelope. Each type of seed is individually packaged by hand in glassine envelopes to prevent static. My total order came to $15.45, including $2.95 for shipping.

Among my flower seeds was a surprise! Diane sent me free Cosmos sulphereus 'Ladybird Yellow'. That made me smile! The yellow color will be perfect in my garden.

Now...I've got to get out there and start planning. Yes, planning before I start planting. I want to weave these colors en masse in big swathes throughout the garden to fill in the gaps when the perennials aren't in full bloom. I'll write more about the garden design when I finish my plans and begin my planting.

Some of these seeds may be direct sown in the fall here in my NC zone 7. Others will be planted next spring. A new gardening adventure with fabulous flower seeds. And hopefully, another step toward real cottage gardening!

Happy Gardening!
Cameron

Knock Out® Roses

Our Knock Out® Roses were planted in September 2005 after the house was built. Our landscaper planted seven along the inside of our fence in the cottage garden. I'll share with you the progression of our roses over the last few years from planting until today.

While waiting for the fence to arrive for installation, I had to cover the small roses with deer net to prevent our wildlife residents from munching the new shrubs.





The following summer, we got to enjoy the blooms of our 'Radrazz' which is a cherry red color. The flat cup rose blooms are a medium size. This rose is hardy in zones 5-9, according to the plant care information. This photo was taken in June 2006, so you can see the size without any pruning at all.













The following photo was taken in October 2006. Yes, these roses bloom in cycles from April/May until frost here in zone 7b. Our roses are planted in full sun, southern sky exposure. In this location, ours will keep their leaves until January or February.

When our roses were planted, our landscaper installed a drip irrigation system. I've not used the system much at all. Mostly it was used during the establishment of the roses in 2005 and not much since then. Even during last year's long drought, I seldom used the supplemental watering. These roses were tough survivors, although the blooms were diminished during the drought--which is expected as the roots need the energy to keep the plants alive.

During the summer of 2007, I discovered another enemy of roses. Japanese beetles! I was totally unprepared for the complete destruction of foliage and blooms. We went on vacation and came back to find that the roses were stripped down to the canes. As such, the poor roses had to recover without any help from me. As previously mentioned, we then entered a very long drought that lasted until March 2008. Since I can find no photos of the roses during that time period, I can only assume that they were in recovery.

In April 2008, the foliage looked fantastic as the spring colors started popping in the cottage garden. Just a few days after this next photo, the blooms started coming on strong. The roses came through the drought without any long-term problems.














By May, the lavender, dianthus, roses and clematis were putting on a wonderful show in the cottage garden:














Other than deer and Japanese beetles, I've had no other problems with these roses. There has been no black spot or any other rose disease concerns. The roses have been carefree. I feed them with Plant-tone. You don't have to deadhead these roses as they are self-cleaning. However, I deadheaded this year when the Japanese beetles returned to reduce the appeal. I also used Neem oil mixed with dish liquid and water to fend off the Japanese beetles. I was pleased with the results as an organic solution. It wasn't 100% successful. I still had some damage which I pruned off so that the roses could come back out again.

Now, it is August and the Knock Out® Roses 'Radrazz' are blooming beautifully! The roses have totally recovered from the beetles, after I severely pruned off the damage. I gave the roses a helping of Plant-tone after the severe pruning. I timed it just before a heavy rain. I expect to enjoy these wonderful blooms through October.



If we didn't have deer, I would plant these roses throughout my outer garden.

Happy Gardening!
Cameron

Favorite Flower Bulb: Dutch Iris

Fellow gardeners who have "met" me in one of the gardening forums know that I absolutely love Dutch irises. I also mention these irises as often as possible here on Defining Your Home Garden. There are so many great things to say about Dutch iris that they deserve an article as my all-time favorite flower bulb. I don't have enough of these fabulous flowers. With our 2007 fall drought, I didn't plant any, so I feel like I've lost a year of enhancing my garden with these spring-blooming beauties.

I order my Dutch irises from Van Engelen as they sell larger quantities which lowers the "per bulb" price. If you don't want so many bulbs, there are other companies that sell in smaller quantities. I believe that John Scheepers is the same company as Van Engelen.

If you want an almost sapphire blue with yellow blotches on the falls, look for "Blue Magic". I want to try this one and coordinate that yellow with daffodils (perhaps narcissus 'Arkle').

'Bronze Beauty' has amber/bronze coloring. I have a few clumps of these, but they aren't in a prominent place in my garden. I need to come up with a better idea for companions. The color comes across as very dark.

'Amber Beauty' is a yellow that is on my "must have" list to plant this fall. It looks like a yellow that will work with just about any other color. I believe it will complement the yellow botches in the falls of most of the other Dutch iris colors.

Lavender and purple colors work so well with other color schemes, that I also want to order 'Carmen' and 'Telestar'.

Easy To Grow Bulbs has a gorgeous white/yellow Dutch iris 'Apollo' that is also very tempting to me. In my opinion, their website Easy To Grow Bulbs has the best planting instructions. I want to give this company a try this fall.

The Dutch irises have a very delicate bloom for such a sturdy plant. I've not had to worry about these irises flopping over. They stand tall and straight. The foliage is thin and may be mistaken for wild onions in the spring, so be careful to feel the foliage for an edge to avoid accidently pulling it up.

These irises make great cut flowers! The blooms and stems hold up well in vases. My nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' is usually blooming at the same time. The nepeta blooms and foliage work well in a vase with the Dutch iris stems.

I started taking photos of my Dutch irises on April 13th here in zone 7b. However, they were in bloom at least several days before I took the photos. Those in the sunniest spots bloomed a few weeks earlier than those planted in partial shade locations.


I also like to use nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' or 'Walkers Low' as companions for the irises in the garden. Planting the Dutch irises just behind these perennials is more than just visual. The nepeta will fill out and cover over the dying foliage of the irises.

I plant my Dutch iris bulbs in mid to late October here in my zone in North Carolina. Since the bulbs are small and can be planted 4" apart, I dig up a nice rounded area (a circle) for my groupings. I don't plant these in a row. Within my planting circle, I place at least 9 bulbs to create the mass you see with the nepeta. The irises will multiply each year.

For a smaller space where the irises are accents instead of focal points, I plant at least 3 bulbs together. This fall, my intentions are to tuck these Dutch iris groupings in strategic places in my outer garden. I want to have enough planted to bring in as cut flowers for several weeks in the spring.

The Dutch irises are also deer resistant and rabbit resistant in my garden (your experience may vary). They've not suffered any damage in my garden where they are planted outside the fence. Since they are the first blooms in my garden, I think this is a good testament to the lack of interest from the wildlife.

Happy Gardening!
Cameron

You Say "Narcissus" and I Say "Daffodil"

As fall is approaching, gardeners are being inundated with flower bulb catalogs for fall planting to get those wonderful spring blooms. The temptations often lead to impulse buys (on my part). Perhaps you have more control.

Before I go into why I like bulbs so much, let's just go ahead and talk about the confusing terms -- narcissi, daffodils and jonquils. I don't want to get this information wrong, so here's what the Merriam-Webster online dictionary says about those three bulbs:


narcissus

Main Entry: nar·cis·sus
Pronunciation: \när-ˈsi-səs\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from Greek Narkissos
Date: 14th century

1 capitalized : a beautiful youth in Greek mythology who pines away for love of his own reflection and is then turned into the narcissus flower
2 plural nar·cis·si \-ˈsi-ˌsī, -(ˌ)sē\ or nar·cis·sus·es or narcissus [New Latin, genus name, from Latin, narcissus, from Greek narkissos] : daffodil; especially : one whose flowers have a short corona and are usually borne separately

daffodil

Main Entry: daf·fo·dil
Pronunciation: \ˈda-fə-ˌdil\
Function: noun
Etymology: perhaps from Dutch de affodil the asphodel
Date: 1548

: any of various perennial bulbous herbs (genus Narcissus) of the amaryllis family; especially : one whose flowers have a large corona elongated into a trumpet — compare jonquil, narcissus


jonquil

Main Entry: jon·quil
Pronunciation: \ˈjän-kwəl, ˈjäŋ-\
Function: noun
Etymology: French jonquille, from Spanish junquillo, diminutive of junco reed, from Latin juncus Date: 1664

: a Mediterranean perennial bulbous herb (Narcissus jonquilla) of the amaryllis family with long linear leaves that is widely cultivated for its yellow or white fragrant short-tubed clustered flowers

For simplicity, I'm going to use the term "daffodil" as it's just easier than trying to sort through the narcissi and jonquils in every sentence. I'm going to use that as my collective term for the group. Maybe not correct, but that's what my grandmother always called those bulbs. However, if you want to throw bulbs at me, I'll take them!

The multitude of daffodil choices astounds me. When I'm browsing an online bulb catalog, I have a tendency to get carried away and put so many in my shopping cart only to come to the realization of the planting efforts. One hundred (100) bulbs doesn't sound like a lot of flowers when it comes to daffodils. However, past experience has taught me that by the time I've planted bulb #30, I'm pretty tired of the whole process.

I'm going to confess that I've actually just tossed some daffodil bulbs into the edge of the woods by the time I got to bulb #90. Yes, those 10 thrown away bloomed without being planted!

When spring rolls around I watch for my daffodils with great anticipation. Then, they look so sparse scattered across the big outer garden. You'll notice that I don't have a lot of photos to show you of my daffodils. I don't have an impressive display. So that's why every spring, I make myself a promise to plant more daffodils in the fall. Look closely in the next photo. Maybe you can see those daffodils!



So, here I am full circle again on daffodils. Which ones...large cup, split corona, double, trumpet, pink, orange, yellow, white, fragrant, short, tall....okay, I'm getting tired!

At least one thing is simple. My daffodils have never been eaten by the deer nor the rabbits. I've never had the bulbs dug up by squirrels or any other critters. Daffodils are keepers!

I do tend to scatter the daffodil bulbs throughout the garden, staying away from the edges. Once upon a time (at a previous house), I eagerly accepted a lot of pass-along bulbs. Excited with my free daffodils, I planted them at the front of a large semi-circle garden bed in my backyard. They bloomed. Then I had to deal with the foliage uglies right in front of my daylilies and other perennials. Digging up daffodils is worse than planting them one bulb at a time. This is also why I don't dig trenches for them. I actually plant one bulb at a time, leaving enough space for the multiplication that will follow.

The yellowing foliage is a necessity. Every good gardening book will tell you not to cut off the foliage since the plant needs the nutrients. Once the foliage is totally unappealing, you can cut it off. Therefore, I try to plant my daffodils beside perennials that will provide generous foliage and blooms for hiding. Some favorites include nepeta, amsonia hubrechtii, verbena 'Homestead Purple' and perennial heliotrope.



Those daffodils in my photos were planted in the fall of 2006. We had a drought in 2007, but all of the daffodils bloomed in the spring this year. I'm looking forward to a more bountiful bloom next spring...especially since I will add more daffodils, more bluebells and more Dutch irises.

There's a poll at the very bottom of this screen where you can vote (choose as many as you wish) for your favorite online bulb companies. The poll closes soon, but the results will be available in the next article about planting fall bulbs for spring blooms.

Happy Gardening!
Cameron

A Year Later: Colorful Coneflowers

Among perennial flowers, coneflowers bloom for a long time in my summer garden. I have several varieties, but my favorite is echinacea purpurea 'Rubinstern', often called 'Ruby Star' coneflower. It has deep carmine-red petals and a large bronze cone and grows on strong stems.

Echinacea is pronounced (by most) as eh-kih-NAY-shah. The name comes from the Greek word "echinos" that refers to "hedgehog" as in the look of the bristled central cone.

Although you may find slight differences in descriptions from plant nurseries, here's the general growing information about echinacea 'Ruby Star'.

USDA Hardiness zones 4-8
height: 36" +/-
width: 18-24"
full sun
moist, well-drained soil (can tolerate some drought)
attracts butterflies
seed heads feed birds in winter (when not deadheaded)
deer resistant (may vary with deer herds)

My 'Ruby Star' coneflowers were planted in early summer 2007, followed by a long drought that lasted until March 2008. All survived the drought and the winter just fine. I started with robust plants in 4" pots from a local nursery. I plan to experiment with seed planting this winter and again next spring.

I have three groups of three 'Ruby Star'. Two groups are mid-slope with well-drained soil. The other group is at the bottom of the slope in my rain garden. The soil still drains, but does so a bit more slowly after a heavy rain. The rain garden can be wet for a long time during the winter months.

One of the best things about the coneflowers is the LONG bloom season!

My coneflowers first started blooming on June 13th (the photo at the top).

July 2nd photo:



On July 5th, I took these photos to show the 'Ruby Star' (with monarda 'Blue Stockings') in the rain garden. Since we've had frequent rains this summer, I've done NO supplemental irrigation with the drip irrigation.







I deadhead the coneflowers to promote more bloom. Since the blooms are long-lasting, I wait until they look rather ragged before deadheading down to leaf junctions where new buds will form. In the next photo, you can see fresh cuts as well as new blooms forming on the clump from deadheading a few weeks ago. This photo was taken August 7th.



I wouldn't hesitate to plant coneflowers in the fall here in zone 7b. Planting in the fall gives the root system time to build up for the following summer blooms. When the main clumps are large enough, I will divide the plants so that I can enjoy more of these in my garden. To divide coneflowers, I prefer to dig up the plant in spring (because I leave the seed heads in the fall) and separate it into nice clumps. With some of my other perennials, such as nepeta or agastache, I simply take a shovel to the early foliage and cut out a clump while the mother plant remains in the ground.

I had only one seedling show up this spring. I wanted more! :-)

The American Goldfinch loves coneflowers! The birds will sit on the coneflowers to pull seeds from the cones. If you see petals missing, it may be from where the goldfinches hang on to the plant while feeding on the seeds. Since the American Goldfinch loves these seeds, I will NOT deadhead the 2nd blooms. I will leave the cones to provide seeds for the birds during the fall and winter months. I will cut back the coneflowers in early spring. If you are interested in attracting goldfinches, then tall verbena, sunflowers and black-eyed susans also provide seed for food.



I've had very good luck with coneflowers escaping critter damage in my garden. There were a few nibbles in 2007 of the newly planted coneflowers. However, that may have been from rabbits, instead of deer. I've not seen any nibbling of these established plants this year.

I use Plant-tone (an Espoma product) in my garden, but I do not feed the coneflowers much at all.

By the way, Plant-tone is organic and it contains blood meal. Last week, I decided to experiment by sprinkling a little Plant-tone around my rudbeckia (black-eyed susans) that were being nibbled by rabbits. The product repelled the rabbits for 5 days. Since it rained today, I will sprinkle more Plant-tone in the area around the rudbeckia. I'm hopeful that the plant food that I use can do double-duty to repel rabbits. The only precaution will be to not over-fertilize the plants. I'm sprinkling the Plant-tone a bit away from the plants to avoid applying too much fertilzer. Since the rabbits are repelled, this may also be a deer repellant. I will continue to experiment and monitor. I may plant a daylily out in the garden to test the deer!

Coneflowers work so well as companions with many other plants. With 'Ruby Star', I like to use spirea 'Neon Flash' for a harmonic color blend. The spirea blooms in June just when the coneflowers are starting up. I shear back the spirea and get the rebloom again in August...now underway as shown in the next photos. Keep in mind that these are August photos and these coneflowers have been in bloom since back in June.







If you like blue/lavender colors with the carmine of the coneflowers, agastache 'Blue Fortune' and salvia guarantica 'Black and Blue' are good choices. I also like eupatorium colestrum 'Wayside' (perennial ageratum) to keep the blue tones coming in August.



If you'd like to coordinate a color combination with the bronze cones of the coneflower, the small shrub crape myrtle 'White Chocolate' provides beautiful burgundy/bronze foliage.



During 2007, I also planted echinacea 'Harvest Moon'. Unfortunately, only one survived the drought and winter. Since the plants were not established before the drought, I would have hope for better results with normal rainfall.



I also have echinacea 'Sundown' in the garden. These bloomed earlier, perhaps due to the location in the garden. I like to use a deep orange/red crocosmia with the orange coneflowers to create a dramatic combination based on the cone color:



Nepeta 'Walkers Low' is a great lavender/blue companion for the orange coneflowers:



If you like orange in the garden, the 'Sundown' can also look great with deep purples like verbena 'Homestead Purple'. While I don't have a photo, I have the combination in my garden.




There are many more coneflower varieties and colors available from which to choose. I've got to find more space in my garden to add some of the others. I'm very interested in trying echinacea 'Pink Double Delight' (pink), 'Coconut Lime' (green)and 'Tiki Torch' (orange). I've also seen some great results with 'White Swan' (white) in the gardens of others.

Look around and find a place in your garden to enjoy the long bloom season while attracting birds, bees and butterflies!

Happy Gardening!
Cameron