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

Early Season Bloomers

Hello again,

It has been some time since I last posted on the blog. I apologize for the length in time. Hopefully some beautiful pictures will make up for it. Midwest Groundcovers is offering some really great

plants in new sizes!

Salvia 'May Night' is a tried and true perennial that has some excellent uses. We are now offering this plant in a flat of 12. These plants offer themselves up very nicely to combination gardens. The 04 size is easier to carry around, and there are more varieties to choose from. Allium 'Summer Beauty', Sporobolus heterolepis, and Geranium 'Max Frei' to name a few.

Zizia aurea This American Beauties Native Plants® offering is a prime candidate to be combined with Salvia 'May Night'. The color combination is striking and they start to bloom around the same time. Zizia is a highly beneficial perennial for the native garden. Its early season flowers offer pollen to insects which feed migratory songbirds and the foliage is food for the black swallowtail butterflies.

Using 60% Salvia 'May Night' and 40% Zizia aurea creates and excellent Midwest Solution® for the dry sunny area of your garden. The combination will reach heights of 24-30" tall.

Thanks for reading and until next time, have a great day!

Natives Now!

By Christa Orum-Keller

There's never been a better time for Native Plants!

Midwest has long been a proponent of using native plants, some might say we have been so before our time, but if ever there were a time for using native plants, it is now.

A few reasons to plant natives:

• Native plants are preferred by the Sustainable Sites Initiative
• Native plants are preferred by many city, county, state and federal institutions
• They can help reduce maintenance costs, particuarly in relation to mowing and turf chemical costs
• Most species offer disease resistance
• Native plants can help reduce runoff
• Deep roots on so many species make them more drought resistant
• Native plants are a resonsible ecological landscaping alternative
• Most native plants are winter hardy, durable and long lived

The American Beauties Native Plant program offers an easy way to help the public, landscape designers and contractors use native plants - in all native plantings, or in combined plantings. They have an excellent website http://www.abnativeplants.com/ and attractive containers and labels. And the American Beauties Native Plant program partners with the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF). The American Beauties program is promoted by the NWF. By using American Beauties Native Plants, you can help your customers obtain their NWF Wildlife Habitat Certification. Learn more here: http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/certify.cfm?campaignid=

But most of all - Native Plants are BEAUTIFUL!!!

We are approaching the height of color and interest for many of our prairie species. In fact, here are just a few of our American Beauties Native Plants which are blooming in our St. Charles trial gardens right now.

Geum triflorum
Prairie Smoke
12-18"
Full sun

Small statured, under-used, graceful little plant. Beautiful in flower and a peculiar little surprise which explains its name after flowering.











Eryngium yuccifolium
Rattlesnake Master
3-4'
Full Sun

Wonderful toothed edged blue green foliage, later in summer, whiteish blue round spikey flowers - amazing!












Penstemon digitalis
Foxglove Beardtongue
4-6'
Full Sun to part shade

Clouds of striking spikes of flowers right now!













Echinacea pallida
Pale Purple Coneflower
3-4'
Full Sun

Pastel, gentle petals fall away from seedhead and float romantically with its prairie partners.












Amorpha canescens
Lead Plant
3'
Full Sun

Delicate blue green foliage will make a perfect backdrop as soon as the blue/purple flowers open.












Silphium terebinthinaceum
Prairie Dock
3' foliage with 6-8' flowers
Full Sun

King of the prairie if there ever was one - broad, rough leaves create an impressive broad texture and backdrop for delicate folaige and flowers. Wonderful when paired with the fine texture of Sporobolus.























Silphium laciniatum
Compass Plant
3' foliage with 6-8' flowers
Full Sun

If you're lost, you can easily find the foliage of Compass Plant and you'll find your way!














Heliopsis helianthoides
False Sunflower
5'
Full Sun to partial shade

The perfect happy yellow!

Tradescantia ohiensis
Spiderwort
3'

Full sun to part shade