Perennial Road Trip

Every year or two, I like to take a "road trip", part business, part pleasure, to visit a horticultural destination or two somewhere in Ontario. We tend to think that the great little gardens, or the collectors of the truly rare and new plants, are elsewhere, i.e. Britain or Holland, but forget how much horticulture is right here in our own "backyard", and also how big this province and country is. For example, you could be an avid gardener in the Niagara region for years without knowing about Bruce's extensive Hosta collection at the Old Towne Garden in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

In any case, while delivering some plants to the Toronto area last week, I took the opportunity to visit the newly renovated Toronto Botanical Garden. The new building itself was certainly impressive -- bright and modern, and yet beautiful and serene as well. I was particularly drawn to the water features, which complimented both the architecture and the gardens, providing those most desirable sights and sounds that only water can.

The gardens themselves were also magnificent. I particularly appreciated the significant use of new/newer varieties, and also the planting in large groups. One neat combination that caught by eye was this Salvia and Astrantia:











A neat plant that I've seen before, but not at its peak as it was here, is Phlomis tuberosa 'Amazone':















Close to the main entrance was a magnificent stand of Gillenia trifoliata, commonly called Bowman's Root or Indian Physic. We tried to grow this plant for a few years with little luck.











I've always been a Penstemon, or Bearded Tongue fan, long ago attracted by those tubular flowers and the range of form and colour. Here is a beautiful grouping of our native (from Ontario and Quebec down to Tennessee and Wisconsin) P. hirsutus:















I also took the opportunity to visit Larry Davidson at his Lost Horizons Nursery, just outside of Acton, which IMHO is the destination in the province for rare and new plants, of both perennials and shrubs. It also has a tremendous garden to see many of these new/er plants in "action".















Here's Nectaroscordum siculum ssp. bulgaricum, an Allium (Onion) relative from SE Europe.















Here's Paeonia japonica, a wonderful woodland species from Japan:












Plan an horticultural road trip -- as they say, "It's worth the drive to Acton".

Cheers,

MPD

A Worthy Perennial II

Here's another perennial that I've simply grown to love over the last few years. Earlier, it had always been somewhat of an oddity, but upon planting one in an older trial garden we had years ago, and in my own garden since then, it has been reliable and impressive.

I'm speaking of Baptisia australis, or the False Blue Indigo, native of Northern Virginia to Western Pennsylvania, east to Missouri and Kansas and south to Georgia and Texas (although the USDA seems to indicate a much wider range, which see here).















Small plants planted in your garden will, within a couple of years, produce large, almost shrub-like plants, 90cm wide by 120cm tall (3' by 4'), covered with Lupine-like spikes of brilliant, indigo-blue flowers in late spring and early summer.















According to Allan Armitage, in his ever-so-useful treatise on herbaceous perennials, the flowers were once used as a subsitute for the true indigo, Indigofera of the West Indies. When the real thing was in short supply, the English government contracted farmers in Georgia and South Carolina in the mid 1700's to "farm" the lovely False Blue Indigo, or Baptisia australis, to produce more dye.

In any case, it's a beautiful and easy plant. I find it self-seeds, but isn't a problem. The seedheads in late summer make interesting "rattles" for young children, and likely useful as ornaments in dried flower arrangements.












Also of particular interest in recent years, is the renewed effort in Baptisia selection and breeding. One I am quite excited about is Baptisia TWILITE PRAIRIEBLUES, an interesting hybrid between B. autstralis × B. sphaerocarpa.

A cool article on the genus by plantsman Tony Avent is available here. He refers to them as the Redneck Lupine, and for all intensts and purposes, Baptisia is indeed a much better choice for the usual summer heat and humidity experienced throughout most of North America.

Cheers,

MPD