Friday, April 15, 2011

The Perfect Perennial?

We were just talking today about these particular plants and I said, "These are the perfect perennial!" Check out some of the traits of this plant:



  • Winter hardy

  • Evergreen foliage

  • Deer resistant

  • Very early Spring bloom

  • Groovy seed pods

What plants am I referring to, you might ask? Helleborus x ericsmithii. These are hybrids from a famous English breeder from Hadspen Garden. YUP, you guessed it, Eric Smith. We find here at Mohonk that the foliage really holds up all winter and this hybrid has a particularly long bloom season. What a pleasure to find the white flowers jumping out of the leaf litter on a rainy, cold spring day. Hope you enjoy them too, our perfect perennial.


Thursday, April 7, 2011

FOXGLOVES!

We never are this lucky.

Mulched with beech and oak leaves.

Our perennial Digitalis always rot so it is rare if we get this.

Digitalis grandiflora

We were circumspect and in the eleventh hour (November), mulched heavily with beech and oak leaves.


Our plants (thanks to adequate snowfall) came through like this.

Heavy mulch protects those sensitives leaves from harsh winter weather.

We always have this,

Digitalis grandiflora

The Digitalis grandiflora is tried and true.


And now all the yellow can be joined with all this pink.

Digitalis mertonensis Strawberry Foxgloves

...........You too can insure your perennial foxgloves make it through by providing protection against harsh winter temperatures. And they fool you because they look so lush and indestructible in the fall. Do not be fooled, those leaves are sensitive and wither when the thermometer plunges. On top of that, if ice forms in the crown, dead.


So, we can't wait for June.