The Heat is On

Hello again,
What a difficult summer we are having. I always argue for the Midwest, saying that we have four seasons and that is why it is better to live in Illinois than in Florida.  Having Winter, makes us appreciate Spring and Fall all the more.  Not having a Spring though, like this year, sure makes this area much less appealing. We went straight from winter to summer this year and left out the part of the year where most of the rain comes.  I've asked you to dance, and we got a little rain today, but not enough.  Even with the extreme heat and lack of water, plants are still looking good.  Our landscape crew at Midwest has been working very hard to keep things looking nice.  Areas of the garden that we never usually water have needed it this year.  So this is a public thank you to Gustavo and Fakundo for taking care of the plants so that I can get decent images of them.  And here they are.

Hydrangea Invincibelle® Spirit
I had a group of students out this week for a tour.  They came from Des Moines area Community College, or DEMACC as they call themselves.  Thanks for making us a part of your road trip touring.  When I asked which of the two they liked better, they chose this one over the Endless Summer® Bella Anna.  The color of flowers is very similar.  Maybe a little darker on the Bella Anna, but the Invincibelle® Spirit as a whole looks like a better plant.


Hydrangea Incrediball®
This is the best this plant has ever looked in our garden. I've seen the mother plant at Spring Meadow and it was very impressive.  I've come to the conclusion this year that Hydrangea arborescens needs three years in the ground to reach their potential.  The added watering that we've needed to do this year has potentially helped them get larger and a little stronger.  The plant itself is still only 3' tall but some of the flowers are nearly a foot wide themselves.

Aesculus parviflora
This is my annual posting of Bottlebrush Buckeye.  I fall more and more in love with it every year.  This hedge was intended as a production hedge where we'd take cuttings every year for propagation.  Well, the nursery manager that asked me to plant it, left a year later and they have left the plants to grow large and beautiful.  Six years in the ground, the plants are 6' x 6' wide and flowering like crazy.  These have not gotten any supplemental watering, so they are proving drought tolerant as well.  The ones in more shade are about a week behind in flowering, but these in full sun look great right now.

Asclepias incarnata
A couple quick pictures of some milkweed here.  I am fascinated by the flowers on these.  A. incarnata is one of my favorite plants.  Monday, I had a good friend in here telling me that she loves to read the blog and hear me say over and over again, "this is my favorite".  So here's to you Brenda!  I like it mostly because it photographs so well.  But also because its genera is the host to the monarch caterpillar.  Insects of many backgrounds flock to this plant to take a sip of its sweet nectar.

Asclepias syriaca
Larger flowers form on this species.  This is the common milkweed plant that you are most likely to see on the roadsides.  It does seed around quite freely.  The biggest threat to this plant though is mowing.  Roadside ditches with this plant in it should be left alone after the beginning of June.  Monarchs are in danger of lower numbers year after year, and if we mow down the plants they require for nourishment, we lose their habitat.  Furthermore, these plants most likely have larvae already on them when we mow, essentially killing one of our continents iconic migratory animals.
Piet Oudolf Garden
It's been a little while since I've posted a picture of this garden.  It is looking quite nice today.  The Echinacea are beginning to bloom all around the garden which really adds a lot of color.  In this picture, Amsonia hubrichtii is beginning to show it's fall color in June per usual. The fine texture of the Narrow-Leaved Bluestar and the Coneflowers mixed looks great.  The garden overall, is looking the best I've seen in many years.  I'm very happy we had Piet out here last year to take a look.  This morning, we had a discussion about removing some plants from the garden.  The targeted plant is the Eryngium yuccifolium.  I love Rattlesnake Master, but it is officially becoming a beast in the garden.  It could be the most difficult of the weeds we've had to remove, but we're going to give it a try.

As I've been typing away, the rain has continued to come down gently.  I want to treat it like I'd treat my young nieces and nephews and say that it can't possibly rain any more.  These clouds are not strong enough to persist through the day.  I just don't believe that they can do it.  Come on reverse psychology!  I hope this rain reaches all of us that need it desperately.  I'm going to continue with the rain dance.  We need as much as these clouds are willing to give.  Hopefully the next few days this will continue and resaturate the ground.  Until next time, thanks for reading and have a great day!

100th Blog!

Hello again,

We've had a lot of great people post their favorite plants thus far. And a couple other blogs in between. There has been a request that I do my favorite plant. And I thought I'd save it for the 100th blog. I've been preparing and preparing, and then the shocker! The patent police are claiming Geranium 'Jolly Bee' invalid. DNA says it's too close to Geranium Rozanne. Most would think that I could easily make the switch. But my loyalties are to 'Jolly Bee', the first plant I've ever been able to definitively say was my favorite. So instead of giving you just one, I have to give you my top ten for sun. The top ten for shade will be seen in a future Landscape Contractor article. So my top ten sun plants in no particular order.

Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei'Such a great overall plant. Very little maintenance is ever required. It makes a stunning perennial hedge, and is the perennial meatball without any pruning for the meatball lover. Plants can be pruned back after flowering to encourage new floral growth.

Amsonia x 'Blue Ice'This is one that always attracts attention when in bloom. It has multiple uses like the Geranium above in that it can also be used as a perennial hedge. In our landscape it is planted with Geranium 'Jolly Bee' and that crawls over the top of Amsonia when it is not in bloom. This extends the time of beauty and usefulness of this plant.

Penstemon digitalisThis is a great native with so many uses as well. The seed heads are so attractive that I've placed those here instead of the flowers. I am very smitten with the flowers as well. Late June these will be blooming their hearts out in front of our nursery. They line IL Route 25 and create clouds of white in early summer.

Allium 'Summer Beauty'I've talked about this a few times in the three years of the blog. Here it is pictured with Festival® Burgundy in a container last year. The combination of these two plants was quite nice. The tropical Festival® Burgundy highlighted the bright green foliage of the Allium. Look at past posts if you would like more information on Allium 'Summer Beauty'.

Campanula 'Samantha'This is one of those plants I thought would be an instant hit. It is a much easier plant to deal with than other Campanula. Namely better than 'Blue Clips'. This flowers for a very extended bloom time and is a great combination with Dianthus 'Firewitch' for early season bloom.

Asclepias incarnata This is the plant that should assume the name of "Butterfly Weed". I see more insects fluttering around this plant than any other plant in the garden. The array of butterflies it attracts is quite impressive. A great plant for the rain garden or any location where it may be moist. Monarch butterflies use the foliage for their larvae. An amazing plant!

Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'This is a non-aggressive Solidago. Flowers that explode in late summer last for quite some time. They make a remarkable combination with Panicum 'Dewey Blue' or Rosa Flower Carpet® Scarlet. In early spring, the foliage is also attractive with reddish tints dominating the look.

Echinacea 'Pica Bella'The Echinacea trend continues to pour out new varieties left and right. This one is one that has a lot of staying power. My mother does not particularly care for coneflowers. She finds the drooping petals depressing. 'Pica Bella' solves that by having very straight rays of petals. The color is fantastic and it also has nice dark stems. Goldfinches enjoy the seeds throughout the winter as well!

Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe' I have to admit that I wasn't that fond of Joy Pye Weed until I met 'Little Joe' He was a little shorter and could stand up straight. Others would lean over and just didn't command the attention of the upright 'Little Joe'. Butterflies, especially Painted Ladies, seem to love this plant. Seed heads remain attractive into winter.

Calamintha nepeta ssp nepetaCalamintha is one of my favorite plants for many reasons. First and foremost is the bloom time. From late June all the way to frost, the tiny white flowers can be seen in abundance. When temperatures are low at night, the flowers transform to a light lavender. Another reason I love this plant is that it attracts all sorts of bees. The honeybee population is quite outstanding and can be heard from afar on a quiet night once we've closed.

These are some of my favorite plants. Of course like I said, there will be an article in the Landscape Contractor that covers my favorite shade perennials. And neither of these lists has my favorite shrubs or trees. I have a lot of favorites. What are some of yours? Please let me know and I'll post them here. Thanks again for reading, and until next time, have a great day!

The Native Plant Revolution

Hello again,
Last week I mentioned native plants and then I didn't show any pictures of them. This week, I will show you some of the great natives and how they look at this time of the year. If you have not yet read Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy, I highly recommend it. It has changed my life and the way I look at plants considerably. You may agree or disagree with his philosophies, but he does have a lot of science to back it up. Here at Midwest Groundcovers, we have a prairie at our entrance that is in the process of being re-established. What was once Crown Vetch and Solidago canadensis taking over, is now a conglomerate of species thriving and looking beautiful. We still have the occasional noxious weed like Canary Reed Grass that we continue to fight and there are a couple of Lythrum salicaria or Purple Loose Strife that need to be removed pronto, and are being removed as I type. But the rest of the prairie looks stunning. Reading the stories about Purple Loose Strife and how dangerous it is to the environment make it twice as scary as I originally thought. There are few insects to eat it, so it eliminates other flora in the area. Once the other flora in the area are gone, the other insects then disappear. Once the insects disappear, the birds, mammals and amphibians that eat them disappear. When those disappear, we disappear. That is a small sampling of what could happen if we allow Purple Loose Strife in our landscapes. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox.

Echinacea purpurea
I still find the straight species to be very nice. There is variation from one plant to the next because they have biodiversity, but I find that to be one of the best attributes. I walked through our prairie yesterday and found ones with dark stems like pictured here, ones with darker flower colors and ones with lighter colors. Some with heavily drooping petals and ones without. I feel like I'm reading Go Dog Go now.

Here they are en masse in the prairie. Peaking up from in between the plants are Coreopsis tripteris and Silphium terebinthinaceum or Prairie Dock if you prefer.





Heliopsis helianthoides
This plant is also thriving in the prairie. What I've found about this plant is that it rarely does not thrive. In my yard it has reseeded often, and I kind of like that. Who doesn't like volunteers? Going away from natives, plant these with Salvia 'Caradonna' for a nice contrast of colors.


Dalea purpurea
I think the species that benefits most from Dalea is the rabbit. They love these plants. They are high in protein which makes the delicious to many mammals. In our prairie though, there are a lot of them and they are sustaining themselves well. They have very fine textured foliage and have done well in our landscape in years where there is significant drought. This year with the wet, they still look pretty good!

Eryngium yuccifolium
I had a hard time deciding whether or not to put this picture on the blog. It is not in the prairie but in our garden designed by Piet Oudolf. It looks the best I've ever seen it this year. In the prairie it looked grand as well, but here it's very easy to see. It is the alien-like white balls floating in the air. It's name is derived from the fact that the foliage looks like a Yucca.

Corylus americana
I was so happy to arrive at the Corylus in the prairie. These big guys were sporting their fancy fruit. It is quite the curiosity the first time you see hazelnuts in their natural beauty. The plants themselves grow up to 16' tall and have superb fall color. They are worthy of the back of the border. Many mammals rely on this plant in the wild.

Desmodium canadense
This member of the legume family boasts purple flowers that are very useful to bees. They love the pollen that they can get from the plant. Being in the bean family, the mammals love to eat them as well. If you have deer issues, you may not want this plant. Wild turkeys are also fond of them. In fall, the seeds stick to your clothing like no other. Stay away from them! Although, if you want more of this darling, touch away and let the seeds fall where they will.
Calamagrostis canadensis
Now we are on to some of the grasses. I've really grown to like the Blue Joint Grass. This is in a wet area where we used to have standing water. Along with plants like Asclepias incarnata, Physostegia and Lythrum alatum, they are drying the area and really providing us with a solution to the area.


Bouteloua curtipendula
Anyone that has attended a tour here in the past has heard how much I love to say Bouteloua. It's the only plant I know of that can scare someone by screaming it's name. Come to think of it, Mulberry might be a scary thing as well. Anyways, this is a nice native grass with pendulous flowers this time of year. They have a purple cast and look well with Liatris 'Floristan White'.
Asclepias incarnata
With a bloom so beautiful, it's amazing these don't make it into more people's yards. The milkweeds are the only plant that Monarch butterfly larvae can eat. Therefore, the butterflies attracted to this plant are amazing. This alone would make me plant one, but the attractive bees that inhabit this plant are almost as cool! They do get to 5' tall or a little more so some space is required. But if you want to give back to nature a little, this is a good start. And with a bloom so interesting as the one pictured, why wouldn't you want that staring at you through your kitchen window?


I typically try to stay off the political soapbox. But in this case, I feel it is important to look at some of the great native plants that could be on your palette. These American Beauties Native Plants not only offer up the beautiful blooms but offer up habitat and food for native insects and birds. I hope you like them. Thanks for taking the time to visit the blog. Until next time, have a great day!