Back from PPA

Hello again! Sorry it's been a little while. I've been off on vacation to Yellowstone National Park and a great business trip to the Perennial Plant Association in Philadelphia. While Yellowstone was awesome in every sense of the word, I will not be showing you any pictures; this week at least. Who wants to see a picture of a moose in a field of Lupines?

Philadelphia was great as well. The architecture was fantastic. They had fountains that would make Buckingham Fountain in Chicago blush. We went to the top of the museum and took our pictures with the statue of Rocky and ate at some great restaurants. We walked to see the Liberty Bell and then strolled through China Town. That was an experience to say the least! But all that wasn't what I was there for. And no, I wasn't there for the Philly Cheese Steak, but I admit to having one and it was great! We were there to talk plants.

If you have not been to PPA before, it's very much a gathering of plant geeks! This was my first time, and I've never felt so comfortable. It's quite exciting when people you don't know are walking up and introducing themselves. Especially when they are well known plants people. I don't want to be a name dropper, so I'll keep that part to myself. But if you have never gone, and really like plants, it is a must. Next year is in St Louis, so it's a little closer for me. If you like natives, you must attend the next symposium. Down below, I have chosen a group of pictures to show you. It's real hard to choose 10 pictures from over 700, but I lost a memory card so that eliminated 250 or so. So then I was able to narrow it done to 23. 10 just isn't enough! Also a special thanks to Diana Reavis for two of the people pictures. The following will be given out as awards:

Best Daylily: Everyone who knows me, must know that this is a tough award to give:

While I am unsure of what the name is, we saw this at Stephanie Cohen's house. It was 6 inches across. If anyone does know the name, please let me know!!!! I've never really wanted a daylily like I want this one before.




Best Seed Pods:

This is the woodland Paeonia japonica. This was found at the incredible home of Peter and Eve Thyrum. I am not the most fond of garden art, but they have done it very well. Plus the miniature Hosta collection that they have is to die for. A very prominent plants person said aloud, "I've never seen miniature Hosta displayed so well!" It was true. Speaking of garden art....


Best Garden Art:

This was tough. This was at another private home where the house is dubbed "Wyneden." They had an incredible forest of bamboo, which I'll show you later. But this little bird, I found interesting.




Most incredible tree:

One of the main reasons I couldn't wait to go, was the hopes that I'd see a Franklinia alatamaha blooming. At Longwood Gardens, my wish came true. Who needs Disney World? If you don't know of Franklinia, you should Google it! This was a difficult award to give as well, mainly because we went to Scott Arboretum which had some amazing, huge trees. I highly recommend a visit there.


Best use of corn:

This was located at Chanticleer Gardens. This was perhaps the finest stop in my estimation. From large trees, to innovative plantings of corn, to a bog garden, to an amazing Lotus pond. This place has it all. More pictures to follow!




Most Maintenance required:

While a lot of the places we saw most likely required a lot of maintenance, Conestoga House was clearly one of the most interesting. A significant portion of the plants here are tropical. They bring them in every winter. There were 20 foot tall plants that they bring in and out, and actually plant them in the soil. Amazing! They claim to be the hidden jewel of Philly. I agree.


Best Container:

I went through all the pictures of containers and had to pick this one. Granted, I didn't take pictures of all the containers at the Symposium, and there were some great ones there. But this one is in the middle of the garden at Chanticleer and I have fallen for succulents! This was one of many containers at their facility placed perfectly into the garden.


Scariest Plant:

The bamboo was attacking me and my camera. The roots were trying to trip me. Once enveloped by the bamboo, you really need to watch your step. While it was very cool, I do get a little nervous when I see it run that much. There is a lot of interest in clumping bamboos. And while I love them, I don't want our backyards in the Midwest to have a plant with this much invasive potential.






Scariest Plant Part 2:


Have you ever seen these at Longwood? They are among the coolest plants I've ever seen. But holy cow, are those thorns vicious! The pads are annual and the plants are sometimes 4 pads up to 5' wide each. Ooohhh...Aahhhh....



Best Architecture:

This was at Swarthmore College/Scott Arboretum. I truly felt that if I looked around long enough, Ben Franklin would walk around a corner. This place was magical in both its architecture, and it's trees. While sitting under a mammoth Kentucky Coffee Tree, I pondered the notion that maybe Ben did sit under this tree at one time. And if he didn't, I bet some other famous individual did.






Hosta of the Year 2009:

Hosta 'Earth Angel'







Best Lily Pads:

I know, what kind of an award is that? It looked pretty cool to me. This was at the Conestoga House.






Best Orchid:

Longwood Gardens has over 4000 orchids in three greenhouses. If you have not been into their conservatory, start making plans for a vacation. It was quite cool.





What PPA really looked like:

This was at Creek Hill nursery. On many of the tours, crowds do look like this. On one tour(the one that went to Chanticleer) there was a photo bus tour. This bus arrived an hour before everyone else. While it was hard getting on a bus at 5:45 am, it was worth it. If you are going to St Louis, it should be considered!



Best Small Garden:

If you look long and hard, you can sometimes find some nifty little gardens. I cannot take credit for finding this one. I'm way to big picture to see a couple toadstools in the middle of an incredible garden. So thank you Chris Darbo for stopping me in my tracks.




Best use of Sporobolus:

This is in Chanticleer. Can you tell I loved it there? This Sporobolus meadow was interplanted with Echinacea. The fragrance was just beginning. Of course, I could have posted about 20 pictures just of this meadow because I found it fascinating, but I'll spare you. But what a great way to use natives!



Best use of Allium 'Summer Beauty'

As a hedge!!! Why didn't I think of that. This one was taken at...... Chanticleer.






Best use for old buildings:

You'll never guess where this is from! Chanticleer has an old ruin that is quite phenomenal! The building has incredible reflection pools and interesting plants inside and out. Doors to the outside world made for interesting photographs.




Best Unnamed Plant:

This is a Polygonatum that was planted at Yoder. It came from Japan supposedly as a plant that was in specials because it didn't look like the rest of the plants. Their junk is our prize!!! It could take a while before this plant makes it to commerce, but I'll be waiting!!!! Just not ready to pay over $100 for a 3" pot.



Most Curious Plant:


These Pitcher plants were photographed at Mt Cuba in Delaware. The gardens here were fairytale like. When we first arrived, a person who likes to travel around the world said to me, "This is the most beautiful place in the world!" I didn't really believe that. I just came from Yellowstone for crying out loud. But as I walked around, there was a magical feeling about the place. I could imagine what it would look like in spring with all the woodland ephemerals blooming. Mount Cuba, along with Longwood and Chanticleer will be revisited. And all of the above, should be vacation destinations to plant geeks.

The Chicago Crew:

On the last night of the festivities, we were able to share a beer or two at North Creek Nursery. The five of us from left to right are: Christa Orum-Keller, Kevin McGowen, Chad Osborne, Drew Koschmann, and Chris Darbo. It was a great night, and made for a fun ride home. It was here that I wished we had more time. Elvis made an appearance!


Thanks for your patience in waiting for my next post. I appreciate it. I promise not to let it go that long again. Until next time, have a great day, and thanks for reading!

What's blooming now?

Hello again,

I hope all is well with everyone. It is the busy season and things can be a little crazy around here. I find myself getting more and more behind every day. But that's why we're in this business right? We like to go a little crazy. It makes the rest of our lives seem simple and more manageable.

There are a couple things I want to go over in this edition. The more and more I have landscape architects and designers come out, the more I hear of a "problem" with the Knock Out(TM) Rose. Finally last week, a group came out and expressed a problem with the Flower Carpet(TM) rose. Not that it's a good thing to be losing any rose, but part of the reason we may lose so many Knock Outs is because that is becoming the overwhelming favorite of landscape contractors. While it clearly is a gorgeous rose, over planting of it has made it a bad guy. I think back a couple years when a lot of roses died from the winter and having a customer call me and tell me about losing all his 'Lady Elsie May' roses to the sum of 200+. Here's the problem in my eyes. Because we call them "Shrub roses", people expect them to perform like a Spiraea. But if we are honest with ourselves, it is more like a perennial. And the whole point of these stories isn't to say bad things about the aforementioned roses, it's to create awareness that it's not just one or the other that may not be overwintering or performing. It gets really easy, especially with the marketing involved on these to get into a pattern of using the same roses over and over again. And while a signature plant isn't a bad thing, when everyone has the same signature it could be. Chances are, if you planted many different varieties of roses, you would have many different varieties die. Of course, there could also be a way around it. Here at Midwest Groundcovers, our solution is to put pine fines around the base of the plant its' first winter. We rarely lose any roses in our garden. Even in our Virgil location where winds blow and winters are very cold, we didn't lose Knock Out(TM). So the moral of the story is to be more diverse. Try a couple new ones out. You may like them, and with proper sighting and a little pre-winter care, they should survive and be enjoyable.

Rosa 'My Girl': Speaking of new roses, this new Easy Elegance(R) rose is quite unique in that it has flowers very similar to a hybrid tea rose. The only difference being that there are many flowers on a stem. It is very fragrant and has done admirably well in our landscape trials at both locations. This could be a great landscape rose. Not pictured is another success call 'Kashmir'. Kashmir is dark red and only has one rose per stem. Very hybrid tea like. Picture to come.

Itea 'Scarlet Beauty': Speaking of plants notorious for die back, Virginia Sweetspire gets a face lift with this Chicagoland Grows introduction. Very little die back in comparison to Henry's Garnet and Little Henry. This also has great fall color with yellows, oranges and reds all at the same time. More upright than the others and still suckers occasionally. The more wet the planting, the more suckering that will occur.

Achillea 'Walther Funcke': Yarrow sometimes gets a bad wrap for being floppy. This plant stands like a wooden soldier. When it flops, which it really doesn't, it falls straight over like a wooden soldier. In the landscape here, we have them planted in marching lines like, well...you get the picture. Anyways, this is a great plant. I highly recommend it. There isn't enough orange flowering, tough perennials on the market. Grab one while you can!

Phlox x 'Minnie Pearl': 'Minnie Pearl' has got to be the best white phlox I've seen. Super glossy foliage without any trace of mildew. These plants look great all year long. While it's not a Garden Phlox, or Phlox paniculata, it retains the qualities of these but with a much earlier bloom time. Better than that, it re blooms if the flowers are pruned off. How can you beat that!?! I'll tell you how. It only gets 12-15" tall!

Coreopsis Jethro Tull(TM): I'm about to give away one of my trivia questions for my tours here. Why is this plant named Jethro Tull? Because of the fluted petals! This Coreopsis has performed great in the landscape. We planted this last year as a plug, and it has flourished. While I'm not the biggest Coreopsis fan, I already have this in my home garden. It's great.

Echinacea mix: Echinacea seems to be a little bit of a re seeder in the gardens here. I've had these trials for four years now, and I've gotten to the point where I'm not sure which are true to the original name and which ones the birds and bees have hybridized. Whatever happened, these look great with all the colors mixed together. They have created quite the interesting family.

Veronica: These two here are much happier as a couple. This is V. 'Purpleicious' on the right and V. 'Fairytail' on the left. Together they are stunning. Not that they aren't on their own, but they definitely look better as a pair.

Geranium 'Jolly Bee' and Coreopsis 'Creme Brulee': While both are great plants in their own right, both look particularly better when planted with friends. 'Jolly Bee' is a plant that likes to stroll into other plants personal space and spread out the blanket. Alone, it can look like a jumbled mess, but creeping throughout, you cannot beat the bloom time. I have a lot of favorite plants, but 'Jolly Bee' is in a class all its own. 'Creme Brulee' could handle being on it's own, but in a combination with blue flowers it really pops. It's raining now where I sit, and it is so bright. I wish I had my camera with me now.

Visitors to Midwest Groundcovers: I am a fortunate person to be able to rub elbows with some of the finest landscape architects and plants people in our industry. Sometimes I am star struck by those that come. Like the gentleman below. I was quite star struck as he jumped up onto our pole building. I'd never seen that happen before. He was there for quite some time too, strutting his stuff. I just got lucky that I had my camera in hand.

Thanks for reading everyone. Until next time, have a great day!

Simply Salvia!

Hello again!

Here we are on a beautiful day in June. Wind is blowing through the window, making me hope that Spring will stick around a little longer. And it looks like next week, we are headed to low 80's. Please be right weather.com!!! Today, I'll show a little bit in the diversity of Salvia. We sell eight different kinds and to most, you know East Friesland, May Night, and Blue Hill. Though all are nice, I want to show you what else there is.


Wesuwe vs. May Night
On the left we have 'May Night' and on the right is 'Wesuwe' Both have very similar color to the flowers, but the 'Wesuwe' is clearly shorter. Is that a trait we want? The reblooming capabilities of both are excellent. These are plants to "Prune to Promote" to quote Roy Diblik. Prune these babies and they will rebloom for you!

Caradonna

Not that I play favorites or anything, but this is my favorite of the purple salvias! The features of this plant are too long to list, but the greatest attribute that separates it from the rest is its' dark stems. The stems contrast very well with the dark purple flowers. In the gardens here, it is the perkiest year round and will rebloom if pruned back.

Amethyst
I had to be careful with my words above, telling you of favorites, because I knew that I was going to put something in here about 'Amethyst'. I did qualify 'Caradonna' as my favorite purple Salvia.
'Amethyst' is my favorite Salvia. It's pink blooms come just once a year, but the color is magnificent. This plant is in dire need of your help! We need people to buy it otherwise, it will no longer make the product line. Please buy! Please buy!

Marcus
'Marcus' is a little guy! He likes to mosey around with the little Alliums, and hang out next to paths to greet you. Quite a friendly little guy. The unfortunate thing about 'Marcus' is that he gets a little crabby in mid summer, often not looking so well after bloom. Pruning helps, but he is not the "Best of Show". For an area where height is an issue though, it's a good option.

Baptisia World!

What's happening in the world of Baptisia today is very exciting. To the left is the Twilite Prairieblues(TM) Baptisia from the Chicago Botanic Garden. This was the first introduction of Baptisia from breeder, Jim Ault. His work here is fabulous. Why isn't this plant used more often? It has a great color, and better structure. Should these be marketed more as an herbaceous shrub? Would people be more apt to put them in their landscape?

The next question is how many can this industry support? To the left here is a very interesting color. Some suggested that Cinnamon would be a good descriptor. I agree. For the plant geeks looking at these plants, this was clearly one of the favorites. However, the question loomed, "Will the end consumer be interested?"




Another wild and crazy hybrid was the one to the left here. The color was interesting, but what really excited the audience was the habit and flower power. "It doesn't even look like a Baptisia", Richard Hawke said. And to be honest, he is right. But with the incredible amount of flowers, and the way they are set into the plant, it deserves a closer look.


Not as wild and crazy as the last two, but interesting nonetheless. This was a creamy white selection that I really enjoyed. I love the habit and the flower color is very marketable. The size wasn't too outlandish, offering itself better to the mixed perennial border.
What do you think of these four Baptisias? Email me at mailto:kmcgowen@midwestgroundcovers.com and let me know what you think.



Iris 'Temper Tantrum'
Quite the Iris this is! Never before have I gotten the comments about an Iris in the landscape as I have with this one. People are screaming and kicking the floor to get them. I thought that plants typically are named for the plant itself and not the reaction to those who can't obtain it yet. The good news is that we'll have it sometime next month! The bad news is that it will be done blooming.

Visitors to the Garden
On Monday and Tuesday this week, this turtle could be seen strolling the gardens looking for somewhere to lay her eggs. Hopefully she found a good spot. There is a lot of traffic around here. She was quite the beauty, but a little shy about it. I think she was embarrased by her long neck, so she was hinding it in her shell most the time. She is a Three Clawed Painted Turtle and is a form of the western Painted Turtle. A nice surprise she was, and she is always welcome back.

Sorry for the delay in between posts. It's definately spring!!! If you have a chance to come out and see the gardens soon, please do. They are looking great, and the start of trial planting has begun! More and more will be introduced during the next month. Exciting stuff!!! Until next time, have a great day!

The Jewels of Chicago

Hello all! It's an exciting time of the year when the plants start to bloom and the customers start to call. It's hard sometimes to get out and see what the world has to offer this time of year. I wanted to show you what exciting things there are to see. Of course with a little of the Midwest Groundcovers gardens as well!

Thursday May 29, we hosted our 2nd annual Garden Writers' Day. 22 writers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois attended the event. Steve Castorani of North Creek Nursery and the inventor of American Beauties Native Plants(TM) was on hand for the event and did a presentation to the group to kick us off. Many thanks go out to those who attended and to those who helped carry out the day. We were able to get a group picture at the end of the tour of all the writers who made it. As you can see, it didn't take long for the poses to become a little goofy.


I guess I expected a little goofing around, but I didn't expect the bunny ears from Mike Nowak.

Green Roofs

On Wednesday a few of us got the rare oppurtunity to go onto City Hall's roof in Chicago. It was quite the experience seeing such an elaborate display of an intensive green roof. Seeing a Washington Hawthorn on top of a building in the city is quite cool.

Here is a picture of an extensive green roof. This one is planted at our St Charles facility. Intensive green roofs have more depth and can hold different types of plants. These are typically irrigated. Extensive systems, like the one to the right, are usually 2"-4" deep and are best planted in Sedum.

While on the green roof at City Hall, we walked upon some bee hives. Quite nice that people in the city are trying to help out our honey bee populations. They are in dire need of help. For more information on the current bee crisis, follow this link.

Millenium Park and the Lurie Garden

The Lurie garden is truly a Horticultural treasure. The Salvia river, and the Camassia bulbs are spectacular right now. If you have a chance to see this soon, go! Never before, have I felt so close to heaven.

Baptisia Starlite Prairieblues(tm)

The first of the Baptisia to bust out in bloom. It's light colored flowers are quite stunning right now. Big and bold and so much larger than the straight B. australis. These have also been a dream in production. They make size twice as fast as B. australis! Next week, I'll be attending a Baptisia Field Day, where we'll look at potential future introductions from the Chicagoland Grows program. Jim Ault is really doing a great job. We in this industry have to figure out how to get the public's interest.

On this cool rainy day, I'm looking back on the things I've been able to do these past couple weeks. It is quite easy for me to believe that I have the best job in the world! Thanks for reading, and until next time, have a great day!

Happy Memorial Day

Hello again. It's been a couple weeks since I last posted. Spring apparently has arrived and business is getting better. It's funny how the people in the horticulture industry anticipate Spring all Winter so that when it comes, we can all get stressed out. It's also curious how for many years I've heard so many people talk about how "In the Chicagoland area, there is only two seasons; Winter and Summer." This year we finally have a great spring and everyone is complaining about how cold it is! It's in the 60's people! It's absolutely fantastic outside! Trees, shrubs and perennials are exhibiting some of the best colors in years. Let's enjoy it while it lasts. Anyways, on to the landscape. Sorry about the diatribe.

The Entrance

I can't tell you the pressure of designing an entrance to our facility. Last fall we decided to plant bulbs around the entrance in between the Koeleria glauca that will eventually make a nice groundcover. Right now you really can't see the Koeleria much. This Spring, I was disappointed when the Hyacinths we planted bloomed before the Alliums. I wanted to see them at the same time. Turns out, the consolation prize wasn't too bad. The Alliums have proven spectacular.

The Hosta Garden

The Hosta garden was installed last year. It was located in an area that was underused and a little raggedy. This year it has began to take off. All varieties of Hosta that we carry are located here. For the Hosta lover, it is worth a stop.

The Experimental Groundcover Garden

This garden was installed two years ago. Some of the plants that are included are, Carex glauca, Phlox divaricata laphamii, Heuchera richardsonii, Alchemilla mollis, Dianthus 'Feuerhexe' and Aster divaricatus. This has become one of my favorite areas in the landscape. The Carex running like a stream through the other plants has a very relaxing effect on me.

The Baptisia Garden

Baptisia is starting to bloom here in St Charles. The first one to bloom is the Starlite Prairieblues(TM). The Baptisia from the Chicagoland Grows program have exceeded expectations as far as growth rate. They blow other Baptisia out of the water in production. Sales is a different story. If you have yet to try one of these great new plants, you are missing out. They are well worth the space required in your garden. Plan like it's a shrub!

Miscellaneous Greatness

Amsonia is blooming! It is quite a sight around here to see all the different types of Amsonia in bloom. From 'Blue Ice' to tabernaemontana var. salicifolia, there is one for everyone. If you are into low growing plants, try 'Blue Ice'. If dark stems are what drives you, try tabernaemontana var. salicifolia. Try saying that three times fast! That's a lot of syllables. A. hubrichtii for the soft textured foliage is nice as well. Get them while they're hot!!!

Heuchera 'Green Spice' is a greatly underappreciated coralbell. The multi colored leaves change throughout the year. It's also a native selection of H. americana to boot. Because it's a selection of a native plant, you can expect success!

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Until next time, I leave you with a quote from Albert Einstein:
"It's impossible to simultaneously prepare for and prevent war." To our fallen soldiers of the past, present and future, we are thinking of you.