Midwest Natural Gardens

Hello,
With sun, we finally are getting a little busy. So due to time constraints, this week's edition will be short and sweet. Here are some of the great plants over in our Midwest Natural Gardens site. Things are looking very beautiful over there. Here are the highlights!

Hierochloe odorata

Sweet Grass

Phlox bifida

Sand Phlox

Caltha palustris

Marsh Marigold

Geranium maculatum

Wild Geranium

Inspiration for Spring!

Hello again, On this cool and dreary day, I thought I would send some color your way. Things are starting to wake up and look fantastic. Below are some great items to get your imaginations going. I hope you enjoy them. - Narcissus 'Dutchmaster' This is your common daffodil. But I just think it's such a great sight to see when all we've been looking at is brown all winter. Other varieties have started as well. And with the heat that is coming this weekend, I would imagine most will be in bloom by the 15th of April. It's a great time to think about going to the Morton Arboretum to get more inspiration in their Daffodil glade. Pulsatilla vulgaris var rubra This is the first time we've carried this plant. Also known as Pasque Flower, this beauty not only looks great in flower, but the seed heads become a feathery mass that float gently above the foliage. Pasque Flower grows best with well drained soils in full sun. It also grows well above City Hall in Chicago on the rooftop. Helleborus 'Ivory Prince' This is my favorite Hellebore by far. What makes it so great in my opinion, is that the flowers face upward rather than the majority that face the ground. The subtlety of the green, white and pink colors dancing on the flower are romantic and a welcome sight once the snow finally melts away. These will grow well in most shady to part sun areas.

Phlox divaricataThis is one of my all-time favorite native plants. The light purple flowers above the clean green foliage are delightful. In the woods, this naturalizes well with Geranium maculatum. This requires some moisture if planted in full sun, but is very easy to maintain if given some shade. The foliage isn't the greatest after the blooms have faded, but if it is too unsightly, it can be pruned back and it will reflush as nice as it was in spring.

Thanks once again for taking the time to read. I hope you have a wonderful day and beginning of spring. Until next time, have a great day.

Summer Is Perfect For American Beauties Native Plants!

Right now our Midwestern prairies come into one of their most beautiful seasons! The purple / pinks of the Echinaceas fade and the warm yellows and oranges of summer pop up as the prairie grows in height and complexity. Look for Heliopsis, Asclepias tuberosa and the soon to be bobbing tall yellow flowerheads on Silphium species.

For summer Garden Center sales, bring a fresh crop of these lovely summer American Beauties into your store. It's not too late to plant, and American Beauties are the perfect solution. Listen to what young gardener, Christian Keller, has to say about American Beauties:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hty0HWBn32A

Featured in the video:

• Amorpha canescens - Lead Plant (full sun, dry soils, 2-3' tall, attracts butterflies)
• Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe' - Little Joe Dwarf Joe Pye Weed (full-part sun, consistently moist soils, 3-4' tall, attracts butterflies)
• Silphium perfoliatum - Cup Plant (full sun, moist-wet soils, 6-8' tall, leaf base forms cup which holds water)
• Dalea purpurea - Purple Prairie Clover (full sun, dry soils, 2-3' tall, attracts butterflies)
• Echinacea paradoxa - Yellow Coneflower (full sun, dry soils, 2-3' tall, bright yellow)
• Geranium maculatum - Wild Geranium (full-part sun, consistently moist soils, 1.5-2' tall, lavendar pink flowers)

Learn more about the American Beauties Native Plants Program here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rxgkIhj6RM&NR=1

A Couple more Pictures of Fall

Hello again,
I have a few more shots from last week that didn't make the blog. When I looked back through my pictures, some of my favorite ones were not used. How wasteful! Well, I couldn't just let them disappear and never be seen, so here they are.
Geranium maculatum
When I first started working here, we had a pretty extensive display of Geraniums in our perennial garden. Many of the varieties we never sold and some, like 'Jolly Bee', have gone on to be superb sellers. This is a seedling that arose in a nearby spot that I have kept since that time. I like the blooms and by golly, I love the fall color. I think this is the best fall color I've ever seen on this variety. It is getting a fair amount of sun, though the plants typically grow in shade. Well, I think this fall color is enough to make me want these in full sun.
Aconitum fischerii
Speaking of blooms, these are still looking fabulous. After frost and rain, these plants look stunning. There is not a lot of purple this time of year. The question I have is, would anyone buy these? If your company would, please email us at mgplanttrials@midwestgroundcovers.com. It only takes a couple seconds to let me know if there is a market for these. If nobody replies, I'll assume that there isn't interest in monkshoods.
It's always a pleasure to eat lunch and then hang around the pond at our site. It is always chock-full of bullfrogs and sometimes the occasional turtle, as well as some giant Asian carp that lurk around. Right now though, the Bald Cypress with their rusty brown needles dropping into the pond are the stars. It's fun to see the rusty rim that forms around the pond from the needles floating to the sides. In the background, my favorite oak tree on site is turning shades of orange.
Fothergilla Beaver Creek™
What a beautiful plant in fall. My favorite attribute of the plant is the fall color. The flowers are great and all, but nothing beats the fall color of Fothergilla. The name is excellent as well. Who doesn't like saying Fothergilla. It's kind of like saying Bouteloua! I find it amazing that these haven't been ravaged by the rabbits. At home, the rabbits love this plant. I rarely get to see fall color over the height of 4". Wascally wabbits!
Euonymus europaeus
These plants have always been interesting in the landscape. We have them in multiple locations and they've been there longer than I've been with the company. Therefore, the fact that I have not seen any seedlings of this in the forest or anywhere else in the landscape leads me to believe that this is a Euonymus that I need not worry about. It's fall color is in shades of pink and orange.

Thanks again for reading! I hope you've found it enjoyable. Until next time, have a great day!