Hot September

Hello again,
Back like I promised! Today we have some very interesting shrubs and some other star-worthy plants. This summer has been brutal to many plants. Whether it be the very wet and rainy month of July or the super dry conditions of August. Plants have been put to the test. Here are some of the most beautiful plants in our landscape.
Cotinus Golden Spirit
This is a very showy shrub that has now been in our landscape for four years. Bright yellow foliage proceeds excellent fall colors of oranges and reds. For this plant, we pruned it back to the ground this spring in order to flush out larger foliage. When left unpruned, the foliage will tend to be smaller, but you'll get the "smoke" flowers that the plant is commonly known for. Smokebush does not produce those blooms when cut back, but it does produce larger, more lush foliage. After pruning to 12", this is now 5' tall.

Flower Carpet® Pink Supreme
I've been really impressed by the performance of this groundcover rose. At first, I was sceptical about how different it truly would be from Flower Carpet® Pink. But it is. The flowers are a richer pink, and the foliage much cleaner. The bloom time seems to be better as well. The next generation of Flower Carpet® roses have really performed up to the marketing. It's not always that the plant is as good as the hype, but these pass the test.


Hydrangea Little Lime™
So, I'll do a little hyping of my own here. This is a very cool plant. When I first saw this at Spring Meadow Nursery, in Dale Deppe's yard, I was very impressed. That was three years ago. It's really hard for a plant geek to wait that long. I believe this plant is worth the wait. And, isn't it refreshing to know that they made sure the plant was going to be great before releasing it! The flowers on this star are never white according to Spring Meadow. These plants will always have a touch of green. A dwarf version of the best Hydrangea paniculata to ever hit the market, 'Limelight', this one is sure to please everyone who lays eyes on it. The largest plant I've seen on this was about three feet tall.
Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'
I think every year this has bloomed in our garden, I've shown a picture. Does this fall under the perennial that's too tall category? It does grow to 4' tall and could flop if not surrounded by friends. But knowing that, we can lend support to 'Henry Eilers' and give him friends like Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' and Eupatorium 'Little Joe'. Who wouldn't want to hang with Henry, Joe and Karl? Phlox 'David's Lavender' also looks stunning with the flowers of 'Henry Eilers'. That's if you prefer to have a party of four.
Aralia racemosa
I always forget the common name of this plant when people ask me, so I'm going to publish it here so that it hopefully stays with me. Spikenard. Can you see why I'd forget that? The fruit of this plant is to die for. It is not poisonous, so you will never die literally from it. The fruit is really what people who visit our gardens love. The plant itself is attractive and gains interest, but when the fruit is there, it's hard to walk past. I've used it in cut floral arrangements and it holds up well.

Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'
When I think of the movie, The Last Samurai, I'm reminded of the Samurai who was always looking for the perfect flower. In the battlefield, at the end of the movie, he is dying and looks up at the flowering cherries that surrounded him and says, "They're all perfect". When I think about how this flower comes so late in the year and has a pure white color to it, I'm reminded of that line. This simple flowers of this plant are perfect.


Hopefully you've enjoyed this weeks rendition of the blog. Check in next week to see the projects that we are currently installing. I'd have shown them today, but didn't want my camera to get soaked. Until then, Have a great week!

Phlox trials and the IGC Show.

Hello again,

Last week I had the opportunity to go to the Independent Garden Center Show in Chicago. I hadn't been to the previous two that were held here, so I was very excited to have the chance to go this year. The show did not disappoint. Traffic was good. Plants looked great. People were placing orders! This doesn't sound like a typical trade show in Illinois. That's because it's not. Heard around the show were many people saying that they would not be at MIDAM this year. The IGC Show is what they want to put their marketing dollars into. As I tried to scavenge at the end of the day for free plants, I found that everything was sold! That's great! It's usually a chore to get all those plants back home. Now there are customers to take them. Sure beats bringing forced plants in 18 degree weather.

If you were able to attend, let us know what you thought. Are you going to next year's IGC Show with America as the performing band? Are you going to both the MIDAM and IGC Show? Are you just going to MIDAM? Email us at mgplanttrials@gmail.com

And now for the plants in the landscape.

Phlox 'Babyface'
I've been looking for the counterpart to 'Minnie Pearl', a beautiful spring blooming white Phlox. They didn't bloom at the same time, so it doesn't qualify as it's counterpart, but the height is right. Some foliage towards the bottom of the plant is asterizing, but otherwise, flower quality is very good and overall the plant looks like a winner. These are 25" tall which is enough for it to go to the top of my trials list.
Phlox paniculata 'Swirly Burly'
This isn't the greatest performer overall. I really enjoy the flowers, but the habit of the plant is fairly poor. I've seen this happen with some of the other new introductions of Phlox in the past couple years. This is a case of, great flower, poor plant. If only I could hide the foliage behind something else, then this would be a keeper. Now, it's nothing more then a pretty face with a cute name.
Aster 'Blue Autumn'
I've been very pleased with this plant. The question here is, do we need to offer another Aster? I'd love to see 'Purple Dome' go away and be replaced with this, but it is much shorter and not an A. novae-angliae, so it wouldn't work as a sub for New England Aster. That would be a problem I suppose. They are blooming now, which is before the others. So, is this something that is needed on the market? Let us know.
Sedum 'Jose Aubergine'
I've talked about this plant a couple times this year. I wanted to show it with flowers on. Still a very attractive mound of foliage with the pink flowers just emerging. This is a great plant!!!

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Weigela Ghost
This is perhaps the strangest plant I have ever seen. The foliage is so unique, you might wonder what is wrong with it. I have shown this plant in previous posts, but the coloring on the foliage wasn't as good as it is now. This is something that may scare you! But it's okay. The leaves are supposed to look like that!

Eragrostis spectabilis
Purple Love Grass, they call it. I think it's because when you see it, it is breathtaking. You could very well fall in love with it. The first time I saw it "naturally", was in Michigan when it lined the highways. I am down to this one clump where it is still alive or looking good in the landscape. The others rotted away. They like sharp drainage, and if you can give it to them, they will reward you with purple love.

Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'
I've talked about this plant a bit in the past couple years. When it flowers, it still does the same thing to me. It makes me wonder how something like this could happen naturally. A very interesting bloom on a nice, clean plant. This one however, could be considered a weeping perennial. Plant it with something that can lend a shoulder to lean on.

Last week someone mentioned to me that the house near our property was looking spectacular. I couldn't get a picture to truly tell the story, so I skipped it. This week I focused on the rain garden and wasn't disappointed. You can see the Molinia 'Transparent' with Amsonia hubrichtii and Nepeta 'Sweet Dreams' . All plants are flourishing! There is no better place for Molinia than in a rain garden. This is their spot.
Dianthus 'Little Maiden'
I've mentioned this a couple times this year as well. I thought it would be important to show how clean this plant can look at this time of year. If you are tired of Sagina subulata not always surviving, then try this plant. It still likes good drainage but it sure looks better then any Irish Moss I've planted. A customer walked by these one day and said, "I could just lay down and go to sleep on those!" I concur. They are quite pillowy.
Euphorbia corollata
This is the native Euphorbia that we have in the landscape. It is a plant that I wish I could be more excited about. If I was planting a native area, this would be there. But in a manicured landscape, the weepy plants may not be encouraged. I could still see a combination of it with Sporobolus heterolepis and having a stunning combo. A great plant, but it needs a helping hand.

Aralia racemosa
This is a plant that needs to be part of the American Beauties Native Plants® brand. You can see the scale of the fruit versus the size of my thumb. The fruit is absolutely gorgeous. If only it could look that way around Christmas, it would be a great holiday decoration! Alas, it does not. But it looks really cool right now. And the flowers a few weeks ago were pretty interesting as well. In full sun, it has grown to 5' tall and close to as wide. In shade it can reach to six feet.

Finally, this is a combination in the landscape that I couldn't overlook. Hydrangea 'Limelight' and Eupatorium 'Phantom'. We do not carry the 'Phantom', but we do carry the similar 'Little Joe'. These are great plants together. Similar heights, and similar insects to enjoy the nectar. They are flowering the same time which offers even more excitement. I had a picture of Eupatorium 'Little Joe' but it was a little blurry so I stayed with the 'Phantom'.

This is such a great time of year to be looking at plants. Whether it is by going to the Independent Garden Center Show, the garden centers themselves, or by going into your own landscape and enjoying the sweet fragrances of late summer. The Japanese Beetles are starting to regress, the heat, though never really here this year, is starting to pass. Plants are just looking great! If temperatures stay where they are now, can we start the "Fall is for Planting" in August? I know it's a couple months early, but it could strike up some sales! Until next time, have a great day and thanks for reading.