Natives in the Garden

Hello again,
Native plants are looking great these days. So to encourage and inspire you to use some of these great native plants, I've got some pictures for you. Next post will be back to the Piet Oudolf garden changes. Here we go!
Echinacea pallida
One of the more common natives in the garden is the Pale Purple Coneflower. This beauty blooms a couple weeks earlier than the even more common Echinacea purpurea or Purple Coneflower. Both are excellent for your gardens. E. pallida grows 3-4' tall and very upright. It is easily distinguishable from other species by it's heavily drooping petals. There is even a cultivar out there called 'Hula Dancer', because the petals resemble the hula skirts. This grouping is located near the entrance to our facility in St Charles and cannot be missed.

Penstemon digitalisThis is a personal favorite of mine. The flowers are easily seen from far away. Variation of colors can be seen on this plant from pure white to dark pink. Sometimes even the foliage turns red and then gets selected for cultivation like 'Husker Red' did. Now more varieties are in the market including another favorite of mine, 'Dark Towers'. What I enjoy most is the tubular flowers that seem to attract bees and butterflies alike. While some may be wary of its reseeding capability, I think it's worthy of use. In large gardens, seeding around can even be encouraged. In fall the seed capsules and foliage turn dark red and are attractive again causing this perennial to be a 3 season gem.
Heliopsis helianthoidesThis is a plant whose cultivars first intrigued me. 'Summer Nights' and 'Asahi' are two that we currently offer. This is a cheery plant that brings a punch of yellow to you. Growing up to 5' tall, it can also seed around a little. It does like to live, that's for sure. Goldfinches, and other birds love this plant, and I see them and Juncos eating the seed late into winter. The foliage stays very clean, and overall the plant works well in the back of a border. Mixed with Parthenium integrifolium, the combination will offer a very nice contrast of white and yellow.
Asclepias tuberosa
Blooming all over the place right now is the Butterfly weed. It's very hard to miss with its dark warm orange colored flowers. This plant does best with well drained to dry sites, although I've started to see it seed around in areas that aren't so dry. Climate change??? Anyway, this is one from the genera that feed the Monarch butterflies. It is a great thing to plant this in your garden. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of pink and orange together, it looks pretty good around the base of the Echinacea pallida in our front entrance.
Asclepias syriaca
I tend to see more larvae from the monarch on the Common Milkweed. This one does have very large leaves and much larger flowers that are typically in the shape of a ball. It can reseed a little around the garden, so I recommend this as more of a middle of the border plant. If you don't want plants to reseed around, than I don't recommend this to you.

Baptisia leucantha
Over the years I get more and more excited about Baptisia. When seeing them in the wild, it is very exciting. These plants were growing near a stand of Penstemon digitalis at Nelson Lake Forest Preserve in Batavia. This is a very slow growing plant that will reward you if you have the patience to let it grow. This is also a plant that will be happier if there are other plants around its bare legs. I like to see it with Sporobolus heterolepis around the base.
Thalictrum dioicum
A very fine textured plant that has white flowers dancing over the delicate foliage. The dark stems on this particular plant really attracted me to it. There have been many cultivars of Thalictrum produced in the past few years. I personally like the straight species. We do have many of these in the Natural Garden Natives™ product line. They like to grow along the edges of the forest in damp locations and grow to 5' tall.



Thanks again for reading the blog. I hope you've enjoyed once again. Until next time, have a great day.

My Favorite Plant part 2

Hello again. We are here with round two of Midwest Groundcovers employees' favorite plants. Today's guest is Grace Koehler. Grace has been a member of the sales and marketing team since 2000. She works with landscape contractors and architects of the Illinois region. She specializes in the development of our sustainable, green roof and native plant markets as well as our brand programs. Grace graduated from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and is past president of the Midwest Ecological Landscape Association(MELA). Here she writes about the 2010 plant of the year, Baptisia australis and some of it's relatives.

Baptisias add structure and intrigue to any planting. Think of them as a small shrub that dies down to the ground every year similar to Buddleia. The new Prairieblues™ series of Baptisia from Chicagoland Grows opens the door to all types of new colors and variations in form. My favorites are B. australis, with its round bushy form and vivid violet blue flowers that bloom in May and the native B. leucantha which is stunning as it emerges and reaches straight up for the sky with its fluorescent creamy white flowers. B. leucantha has a more upright habit and takes a few years to establish but is well worth the wait. In the fall the foliage turns black and adds a prehistoric look to the landscape. Drought resistant, (the roots go all the way to Tibet) and disease free you can’t go wrong in using these plants. Allow plenty of room for and be patient the first year or two then stand back and enjoy the show.
Baptisia australis: Bushy plant with blue-green pea-like foliage. Flowers are indigo blue in long terminal erect racemes. Produces fruit in the form of a 2-3" long pod that turns black when mature.

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Baptisia leucantha

Tall perennial/shrub with white flowers in early summer. A prairie plant of classic elegance with its small graceful and waxy clusters of lovely legume blossoms. Fixes nitrogen into the soil.

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Baptisia Starlite Prairieblues™

Wide mounding Baptisia with arching branches bearing racemes of periwinkle-blue and butter-yellow florets. Chicagoland Grows selection

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Baptisia Twilite Prairieblues™

Extremely robust, vigorous bi-color Baptisia. Deep violet- blue flowers up to 32" long are held above the blue-green foliage. Chicagoland Grows selection.