Plant of the Week Echinacea Coneflower

 Why Echinacea/Coneflowers? They are standouts in the perennial garden! I've had one blooming in a pot next to my patio since late June. The color is a remarkable orange/red.

Years ago, when I first started at Valley View Farms, Echinaceas were available in purple and white. The coneflowers were shaped like a badminton birdie, with a very pronounced golden center. Breeders have worked with the plant for decades for color, disease resistance, and flower shape.

Terra Nova Echinacea Kismet Intense Orange
(Photo courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries)

 One breeder, Dan Heims of Terra Nova Nurseries, has created hybrids in orange, pink, red, yellow and rose to name a few. The award winning plants are sold in nurseries like ours throughout the nation. The daisy-like flowers may still have the cone shape or may have a flatter presentation. 

Echinaceas are wonderful pollinators. Mt. Cuba Center has performed long-time studies of Echinaceas as pollinators in their trials in Pennsylvania. The Echinacea 'Fragrant Angel', a white variety, was the number one pollinator-visited plant in a campus full of pollinator -attracting plants. 

Fragrant Angel photo courtesy of Mt. Cuba Center

Bees and butterflies love Coneflowers

Coneflowers tend to be deer-resistant. That's important in my home garden that sees deer as regular browsers in the garden.

Stop in total a look at these native beauties.They prefer full sun, well-drained soil and are surprisingly long bloomers. And, as a bonus, they are beautiful cut-flowers.

Plant of the Week-Lantana

 Lantana is a solid performer in the garden for areas with full, hot sun. As a bonus, it is deer tolerant and pollinator friendly. I always remember this being a John Collins' favorite, my co-host of over 20 years on Sunday Gardener.

Notice the bee?

I t doesn't seem to matter whether we see them at flower trials, like the ones we attend hosted by Penn State in Landisville or The Ohio State University in Columbus in mid-summer, all of the varieties grow incredibly well. Many of the series' names on the plants are indicative of their uses. As an example, Ball Horticulture offers Little Lucky for small pots, Shamrock and Lucky for medium growing habits and Landmark as the most vigorous variety. Landmark and the Proven Winners Luscious varieties are great for landscapers and home gardeners with lots of space.

Penn State Trials

I recommend going to the Penn State Trials this summer to see all of the various plants that can be compared to one another. It is open to the public beginning June 1. Visit the Penn State Annual Field Trials page to learn more. The plants are all graded by gardeners, growers, garden centers and other interested people. The results are available online at season's end. 

Cultivate Trade Show

Our industry's annual trade show, Cultivate'23, is held in Columbus, OH each season. New varieties of  lantanas always look good on the show floor. Of course, they have to. By toggling back and forth from the results at local trials, hearing about new varieties from plant supplier representatives, and following national trials often held in April, we get a nice read on what plants we should grow next year. 

New at Cultivate '23 was this Passionfruit Lantana. Passionfruit has a beautiful hanging habit and will be part of our summer hanging baskets  next year. Thank you to Ball for sharing this photo with me. 

 Lantanas grow as small shrubs in Florida, and we occasionally get some that have trained into a standard or tree form from there or specialty growers farther north. Terrific in planters or in the ground, the mild fragrance of the plant is not off-putting to humans but keeps deer and bunnies away.

Front yard planter in my yard

Best of all, our pollinators love lantana. Bees, hummingbirds and butterflies find even the smallest flowers to provide nectar. And, they can handle a little drought, though my own lantana, pictured above, may have been underwatered, causing the smaller blooms. 

Hummingbird image copied from Menard's website

Simply beautiful

Lantana is a beautiful companion in a mixed planter to other sun lovers, like coleus, petunias, crossandra, canna lilies and other summer stalwarts. 

They thrive in the garden with New Guinea Impatiens, Persian Shield, verbena and geraniums too. 

Try lantana if its not already one of your favorites. 

Plant of the Week: Mediterranean Vinca

Annual Vinca, aka Catharanthus rosea, is the go to flower for late spring to late summer blooms in containers and garden beds. The Mediterranean and Cora Cascade series of Vinca are known for the way they spread in the garden and trail in hanging baskets and containers. 

Mediterranean Vinca Red in a hanging basket

These Vinca grow to just a height of 4-6 inches and spread to an astonishing 20-30 inches! Vincas love full, hot sun and survive in areas where water is limited. Our summer droughts have been a good test for these blooming beauties. 

Mediterranean White just beginning to trail

The Mediterranean Vincas are sold in solid colors as a part of our summer annual offerings. In hanging baskets, our grower has blended several colors to create a beautiful color palette of plants that trail well beyond the edge of the pot. 

We often visit trial gardens to see how the plants grow in our region before choosing varieties

Plant of the Week July 3, 2023

 Hydrangeas for Pollinators

Hydrangea trials at Mt. Cuba Center

Hydrangeas have become our most popular shrub in recent years. Their flowers are undeniably their primary draw, especially the large mophead blue and pink varieties. But for pollinators, go beyond the mophead varieties to the lacecap types, notably Hydrangea arborescens. Sam Hoadley, of Mt. Cuba Center, invited a group of  'Ladies in the Landscape' to view the trials that were being held to determine which of the hydrangea cultivars were among the best to draw pollinators. It was an eye-popping experience to see the scores of bees and other insects visiting the flowers. 

See the bumblebees?

Hydrangea arborescens bloom on new wood in June and July. They can be pruned from fall through winter and still provide an incredible show every summer. A cold winter may appear to kill them to the ground, but they reemerge, blooming right on time. Hydrangeas do better with some shade, especially in the afternoon.

Fertile flowers by larger sterile ones

 The lacecap heads contain hundreds of fertile flowers ringed by larger sterile ones. Flower heads remain through fall and winter providing interest in the garden. Flowers are mostly white; some cultivars feature pink or lime green as well. It was amazing to see the lacecap flower heads so full of pollinators while the larger mophead types drew so few. A volunteer group from Pollinator Watch, a trained group of volunteers, observed and recorded the number of pollinators that visited each of the varieties in the study. 'Haas Halo' was the top performer as both a plant that grew well and strong and one that had many of the pollinators visit its flowers. 

Stop in this week to see the amazing hydrangeas at work providing for our pollinators.

Top performer!

Visit mtcubacenter.org/trial for more information on this trial and the many others held at Mt Cuba Center

From the website: 

Mt. Cuba’s Hydrangea arborescens Top Performers:

1. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Haas’ Halo’
2. Hydrangea arborescens ‘SMNHALR’ (Lime Rickey®)
3. Hydrangea arborescens ‘NCHA2’ (Invincibelle® Spirit II)
4. Hydrangea arborescens ‘NCHA4’ (Incrediball® Blush)
5. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Abetwo’ (Incrediball®)
6. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Bounty’
7. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Dardom’ (White Dome®)
8. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Total Eclipse’
9. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Mary Nell’