I was recently asked to give a talk at the GLTE - Great Lakes Trade Exposition and I was asked to speak on my 10 favor shrubs. I don't know about you but this is nearly an impossible task. Every day I have a new list of favorites - depending upon what's going on in the garden.
Any way it got me thinking - and I added some pics of a few of my current favorites to the bottom right hand side of my blog page. I also thought it would be interesting to hear about your favorite plants - especially any new plants that you think are exciting and would like to share with everyone.
So Tell Me - What are your favorite plants? And tell us why.
Post your list as a comment and tell us your favorites.
Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost', a 2006 AAS winner, a 'Proven Winner, and 2008 'Plant of Merit for the lower midwest.
ReplyDeleteDiamond Frost®
Genus: Euphorbia
Common Name: Euphorbia
"...the second year 'Diamond Frost' has earned this award. Plants just kept flowering and flowering all season. They never stopped, period! We placed plants in containers and in the garden, and in both cases they were outstanding. The habit was perfect, never exceeding 20 inches in height, and maintenance was minimal." -Dr. Allan Armitage, University of Georgia
"AMAZING!! I never really believe publicity hype around a plant until I have grown it... but this one lived up to everything positive you could say about it and MORE!! LOVE IT!! Public adored it... It was probably the most asked about plant by the millions of visitors our gardens receive annually. What a great plant. Needless to say, it will be showing up again and again in our displays." Janet Draper, Smithsonian Institute
Just another rave review of Diamond Frost Euphorbia - truly a "winner"! SOOOO much better than Lobelia and it even put Million Bells to shame. I had it planted with dark blue/purple Angelonia and wow! ... North exposure with early morning full sun and late day filtered sun - no leaf drop, disease, maintenance - WOW. I was very frugal with fertilizer and it didn't seem to matter - it flourished. A PLUS to the Hybridizers. Have a great 2007. Gail, Canada
Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'. Another Proven Winners selection, this is a very different look for a Euphorbia. I first saw one in a large container by itself and it was lovely with masses of tiny, white flowers that create a baby's breath effect. I like it in a mixed planter where it makes a nice contrast with larger-leaved plants. It grows about 18 inches tall and a foot wide and blooms nonstop. NGA (National Gardening Association)
I fell in love with Diamond Frost Euphorbia from the moment I laid eyes on it. I purchased two small plants and put them in a hanging basket with Fiesta White and purple allysum. When I first planted the Diamond Frost plants they looked a little puny, but you should see them now. They have spread to about three feet and look beautiful. I will definitely do this again next summer. Thanks for a great plant! Shirley, Kentucky
I've been planting containers to decorate our front steps for about 10 years. This year I found a garden center that sells a wide selection of PW's & bought almost all PW's. My containers are spectacular! They never looked this good before. One of the plants I chose was the 'Diamond Frost' Euphorbia. I put it in 2 of the pots. Wow! Love it. Love it. LOVE IT!!! Love the way it sets off the other plants and with absolutely NO deadheading...it has bloomed nonstop - even through temps in the 90's. One was in a pot in the full, baking sun - not a lick of shade - in a spot by itself & I forgot to water it for several days during the hot spell. By the time I got to it the soil was bone dry & I expect it had been that way for several days. It was still looking fresh & beautiful. Next year 'Diamond Frost' will be showing up in all my containers. Patty, New York
Features
Heat- and drought-tolerant plants; clouds of airy white flowers all season; low maintenance
• Best Seller
• Deadheading Not Necessary
• Deer Resistant
• Drought Tolerant *
• Heat Tolerant
• Landscape Plant
*Even drought tolerant plants will need water for the first few weeks while they get established. After this, little or no supplemental water will be necessary when planted in the ground. No plant is truly drought tolerant in a container; water is necessary for all plants in containers.
Ornamental Characteristics
Flower Color
White
Foliage Color
Green
Height
12-18" (Medium)
Spacing
10-12"
Habit
Mounded
Container Plant Style
Filler - Intermingles well with other plants to fill in the middle ground of a combination
Patent Information
Diamond Frost® 'Inneuphdia' US PP17,567; Can. PBRAF
Plant Needs
Duration
Annual
Bloom Time
Planting to Frost
Zone(s)
Annual except in zones 10 - 11
Hardy Temp
40°F (4°C)
Exposure
Plant in sun or partial shade
Water Needs
Dry to Normal
Maintenance
Easy
Uses
Landscapes and containers
Plant alone or in combinations in all container types and landscapes
Growing Tips
Self-cleaning, no deadheading necessary.
Plants in the spurge family often will bleed a milky, white sap if cut or wounded. This sap is a form of latex. Most people will have little or no reaction due to sap exposure from the euphorbia that Proven Winners sells. However, people with sensitive skin or latex allergies should be cautious when handling euphorbia. Poinsettias are in this same family. If you have ever experienced a skin irritation due to contact with poinsettias you should be cautious with all euphorbia.
Right now, though it's unproven, fine line buckthorn. I've got it in the corner of the entrance to my new garden.
ReplyDeleteEchinacea 'Green Envy'
ReplyDeleteHosta 'Stitch in Time'
Hoast 'Hanky Panky'
We grow mostly species because of the wildlife value.
ReplyDeleteBut...
The Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima' is a favorite.
Hydrangea quercifolia
'SNOW QUEEN'
HYDRANGEA arborescens
'ANNABELLE'
I love the
Panicum virgatum species with its overblown seedhead that has withstood some mighty rain and wind and still looks like a beautiful misting fountain.
But also grow 'Shenandoah' for the pretty burgandy mixed in the foliage and it's look of solid strength through winter.
This summer we grew an annual coreopsis that varied in color from very red to red tinged yellow. It was a bee favorite and long blooming. I wish I knew the name.
Comments; favorite plants
ReplyDeleteBasically just about anything that grows at the edge of the forest and beckons you into it with the doorway of beauty that will behold, redbuds, dogwoods, elderberry, ferns, sumac, mulberry, chokecherry. The edge of the forest and or the edge of a highway that has been allowed to grow somewhat wild all have my interest and respect, for they can grow and take the opportunity when we as civilization tries to nip the spread in the bud.
I can't drive anywhere without rubber necking at the roadside to find the opportunistic beauty that nature is recovering from our civilized sprawl. But, I have the most appreciation for the poison ivy that I see climb up some fence post or a telephone pole that must be left alone to it's own will of horizontal snaking into the air, leaving a testament of how nature will usually win this war and reward us with the beauty of shape and cherry red fall foilage.
I have tried to "plan" for similar groves in my own yard. It is difficult to stay native but I succeed on come scale each year.
Thanks,
Tim Swan
Sambucus 'Black Lace' for its elegantly dissected dark foliage, lovely flat caps of pink lace in summer, and later studded with clusters of nearly black berries.
ReplyDeleteRhus 'Tiger Eyes,' with bright yellow leaves that turn orange in autumn. When they drop, the furry staghorns are fun to look at.
Barbara Blossom
www.barbarablossom.com
my favorite plants are but not limited to crape myrtle because of its colorful bloom. I enjoy a lot of natives because I live in the Chihuahua desert located in El paso TX. I like soap tree yuccas i just let mother nature takes its course an enjoy. Very low in maintenance and water. Spanish broom because its scent an flowers. Lantanas because of the different colors of bloom. Chocolate Daisy's because its scent of chocolate and its bloom. I also enjoy some roses, geraniums and of coarse different types of cactus es
ReplyDelete