Cool Plants

Hummingbird attractors

Rick chose some plants specifically to attract hummingbirds to the nursery and less than a week after we planted them we now have two hummingbirds visiting our gardens!

Crocosmia has a fascinating flower, delicate and spine-like in a brilliant orange-red. These are hardy plants that produce clumps of green sword-shaped leaves. They also make fantastic cut flowers.

Salvias are also great for luring little hummingbirds as well. We carry one particular cultivar called 'Forest Fire' that's pictured below.

Put some peanut butter and chocolate in your garden!

Melianthus major is a great center or back of the border perennial that has greenish/blue serrated leaves with a blush of pink, and grows into a fantastic specimen about 3’ high and 3’ wide.  It is an herbaceous perennial meaning it may die back to the ground each winter but return in the spring.  If the leaves are bruised or rubbed they smell just like peanut butter. Plant Cosmos ‘Atrosanquineus’  also known as chocolate cosmos next to the Melianthus Major.  This plant has beautiful dark maroon petals and a black center.  The flowers smell just like chocolate although the plant should not be eaten!.  This is a tender perennial that should be dug up and the tubers stored in the garage over winter or just plant it as an annual. Together you get chocolate peanut butter!  Both plants like full sun and can be planted together for a stunning effect.

Hemerocallis 'Golden Zebra' is a variegated daylily with foliage as beautiful as the flowers, and just as reliable! Every leaf of this plant is boldly striped in gold, for an elegant look in bed and border that lasts well beyond bloomtime! This plant is perfect for edging or a large planting near the front of the border, where you can enjoy the showy leaves en masse. They emerge bright yellow-striped in spring and keep their color all summer, beautifully complementing the 3-inch golden flowers that arise all season (but most heavily in midsummer).

People who adore spring blooming azaleas can now enjoy an explosion of Encore Azalea® color season after season. Encore Azaleas® are the only patented brand of azaleas to bloom in spring,summer and fall.

Most Rudbeckia come in shades of yellow or orange, with a dark center seed head, but there are also russet, bronze and mahogany tones. The flowers are daisy-like and can be single, semi-double and fully-double. You can tell them apart from coneflowers by their coarse-textured, hairy leaves.

Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ is one Rick loves because it has dark burgundy leaves and wonderful orange/red flowers.

Hebe 'Amy' is a handsome evergreen shrub to 18" x 18" with dark stems, dark green leaves and spikes of purple flowers in late summer. Grow this one in sun to part shade in poor to moderately fertile soil with moderate water. Another great hebe is Hebe ‘Great Orme’ is a lovely plant with elegant lance shaped, glossy, mid-green leaves and charming bright pink, slender flower spikes up to four inches long.

The flowers fade to white as they age, which makes a pretty picture as the shrub flowers from mid-summer through to mid-autumn, so both pink and white blooms are present together. It is ideal for a mixed border as it grows to four foot by four foot and will thrive in sun or partial shade. Grow it in poor to moderately fertile, moist but well drained soil that is neutral or slightly alkaline.

Portulaca, or moss rose, is a popular drought-tolerant annual. These plants are low-growing spreaders with thick succulent stems and vibrant, cup-shaped flowers. The flowers come in a wide range of colors.

Gaura will bloom for many weeks, with loose sprays of white flowers tinged with pale pink. In the breeze these move constantly, looking like a cloud of small butterflies. The plants flower for the entire summer and fal New plants will often appear from self sown seedlings. Superb in containers, the subtle colour blends easily in borders. Guara is drought tolerant once established.