Archive for long blooming flowers – Page 3

Great Low Maintenance Hellebore Flowers for Winter Cheer

Posted by Carol

· February 8, 2017

All About Amazing Hellebores

Popular Double Hellebore From Englands Ashwood Ashwood Garden Hybrids

Helleborus x hybridus ‘Ashwood Double BiColor Shades’ grown here in the NW by Monrovia.

Red flowered Hellebores are still the holy grail for plant geeks but they are so tough that anyone can covet these and grow them.

‘Peppermint Ice’, ‘Amethyst Gem’ and ‘Ashwood Double Bi Color Shades’ are Hellebore cultivated varieties with red to eggplant hued double flowers. They wow us in late winter with a long vibrant flower display.

As a Portland landscape designer I like to use Hellebore in my designs. The Helleborus x hybridus plants (which is what we are focusing on today) can live for a hundred years, deer don’t like them, they are low water and except for a typically minor problem with aphids, and a little slug activity they are pretty pest free.

Helleborus x hybridus 'Peppermint Ice', Perfect for Portland Gardens

Peppermint Ice has a darker outline around each of the petals. Its adds a lighter touch with pink red flowers.

They are shade tolerant although I tend to use these three in strong morning sun with dappled or full afternoon shade.

Double flowers give us more color than the singles but the singles, with only 5 to 7 petals, are also stunning and low maintenance. ‘Ashwood Double BiColor Shades’ have a wine red petal with a darker edge which is opposite of ‘Amethyst Gem’.

Amethyst Gem a low maintenance NW hellebore.

Amethyst Gem comes from the famous NW Garden Nursery. Double petals with a light edge gives us drama and the contrast needed to appreciate the mass of petals.

Using Hellebore as a cut flower

The flowers last a long time in the landscape but not long as a cut flower because the stems wither quickly. Most people cut the stems off and float them in a bowl. I’ve picked them from my NW Portland garden, knowing they would only look good for a few days. There are techniques for making them last which involve picking them at the right time based on the age of the flower and using an alcohol solution in the vase. Follow this link to NW Garden Nursery and read the bottom of their culture sheet. Now that you are bringing the flowers inside please be aware that all parts of the plant are toxic.

All Hellebore flowers tend to nod down rather than face up. This protects the flowers from cold damage (disfigurement/freezer burn) because water drips off the flower and is not trapped inside. Nature designed this plant to flower in winter.

Great low maintenance Hellebore foliage.

Hellebore foliage looks fantastic with the lacy Himalayan Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum venustum) on this wall of boulders.

Great Foliage Year Round

Of course, it’s not just the flowers that encourage me to use hellebores in landscape designs. The leaves are leathery, attractive and provide interesting contrast with a range of plant material including feathery fern fronds, ornamental grasses or tiny leafed boxwood.

The summer foliage of hellebores look great with many plants including Sweet Flag (Acorus gramineus).

What about aphids?

What about aphids? My only problem with Hellebore is aphids. Some years I don’t have any noticeable aphid activity. When I do it’s so early in the year that handy predators like lacewing and lady bug are still in sleep mode or haven’t hatched yet so I’m on my own. Dealing with them is easy. Use a spray bottle filled with water or 1 tsp of dish soap to 1 gallon of water and spray down your plant. Use your hose or this great gadget called the bug blaster which you can buy at Portland Nursery. (I’ve got to get one this year to use in my veggie garden too.) Don’t use a pesticide because most of them will harm bees even if they are not present when you spray. Aphids have soft bodies and will be damaged by the force of the water or the soapy solution will invade their bodies and disable them. You will have to knock them down with water or soapy water once or twice a week to prevent the temporary cosmetic damage. I’ve never lost a hellebore plant to anything let alone a virus but in recent years virus has spread from plant to plant by aphids. It is only an issue for professional growers or collectors.

Check out this bowlful of hellebore beauties

How to care for your Hellebore

How to care for your Hellebore: I water once or twice a week its first summer and then once a week after that. Drip irrigation would be best rather than overhead sprinklers because drip can water deep into the soil. Established Hellebore become quite a low water needs plant and might be content with every ten days or less. An application of mulch around the plant once or twice a year is a good practice. If your soil is so good that they make seedlings, be aware they won’t have the same flower as your hybridized plant. I cut the old leaves off the plant in late winter so that the flowers are not visually diminished by the previous years worn foliage.

Helleborus x Hybridus 'Peppermint Ice' photo by Terra Nova

Helleborus x Hybridus ‘Peppermint Ice’ has double flowers that hang down but the overall effecting your winter landscape is very colorful. The flowers last a long time.

How to kill a Hellebore

Plant it in a low spot where winter rain will rot the roots. Over water it and fertilize it heavily.

If you are interested in adding the low maintenance, amazing Hellebore to your landscape, contact me for an appointment.

Winter Color provided by Hellebore 'Peppermint Ice'

Helleborus x Hybridus ‘Peppermint Ice’ is another Winter Gem by NW Garden Nursery. It is grown by Terra Nova so is available at local garden nurseries. Photo by Terra Nova.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Plants I Recommend, Shade Plants, Spring Gardening, Winter Gardening

Tags : cutting flowers, dramatic flowers, dramatic winter plants, garden tips, long blooming flowers, Winter Color in the garden

Colorful Cape Fuchsia Makes Beautiful Summer Memories

Posted by Carol

· December 14, 2016

Add Cape Fuchsia to Your Modern or Cottage Portland Landscape

NW Portland roof garden with cat Cracker Jack

My cat loved to watch hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds love Cape Fuchsia for the nectar. I love to use it in designs because it adds so much color, is easy to grow and the new varieties work well with modern and cottage garden styles. This plant is a crowd pleaser and I use it frequently.

I planted my first Cape Fuchsia, Phygelius x rectus ‘Salmon Leap’ on my roof garden in Portland’s West Hills. It was at 900 feet and we had snow every year. The house was designed so that the third floor master suite had easy access to and a view of my roof garden. It had a hot tub that was 20 feet from my bed, a big overstuffed outdoor sofa with an overhead cover and plenty of Cape Fuchsia! In spite of the colder winters, the Cape Fuchsia (native to South Africa) never flagged or failed in the 12 years I lived there. I loved my roof garden and the only family members who loved it more were the 4 leggeds, Barley, Cee Cee and Cracker Jack. One particular day everyone was curled up on the sofa. I was reading and pets were napping. All was peaceful. I heard a strange whirring noise. At first I didn’t see anything unusual. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my pets’ heads were going up and then down and then up, I saw a small blur. What was happening?

My roof garden 2006.

Humming Bird Mating Ritual

We were witnessing a hummingbird mating ritual. The male made a 90 foot oval flight pattern to within an inch of his intended. She was steadfastly ignoring him and drinking nectar from my Cape Fuchsia. There wasn’t even a flicker in his direction. The buzzing sound was made by his high speed downward trajectory. It abated on the way up. It was mesmerizing. It was one of those beautiful summer garden memories that I treasure. Just us mammals all watching the entertainment together.

Phygelius ‘Salmon Leap’ (Janet Loughrey Photo from Joy Creek Nursery)

Cape Fuchsia Varieties for Hummingbirds

If you would like to have some close encounters with hummingbirds or you just love colorful plants, the Cape Fuchsia is the perfect addition to your garden. The best hummingbird attractors are the older varieties because they flower in the most intense coral red shades. My favorites are ‘Devils Tears’, ‘Salmon Leap’ and ‘African Queen’, but they can a bit too rowdy for a small yard.

New Varieties of Cape Fuchsia

The new varieties are more compact and a little tidier in habit. The flower colors are available in more traditional flower petal shades. When these new colors first came on the market I was annoyed. I felt like they had dumbed down a great plant by removing the coral shades…….but then I saw it wasn’t an either or. I now had more choices and that is always a good thing for a garden designer.

If you love modern landscape design style but don’t want to give up color, these new Cape Fuchsia are perfect because they are smaller. They look great in a mass.

2006 2 new varieties from Skagit Gardens:

Full sun easy care yellow sovereign cape fuchsia for modern landscape design.

Skagit Gardens ‘ Yellow Sovereign’

'Croftway Purple Prince' Cape Fuchsia for your modern landscape with intense dusky violet magenta colors

Cape Fuchsia ‘Croftway Purple Prince’ by Skagit Nurseries photo

Skagit Gardens’ Phygelius aequalis ‘Croftway Purple Prince’ has that intense dusky magenta violet color. I think it looks really good with Black Mondo Grass………Morticia Adams where are you now? The magenta violet glows in the evening light. ‘Croftway Purple Prince’ is cold hardy for the Pacific Northwest and listed as zone 6 Yay!

Phygelius Aequalis ‘Croftway Yellow Sovereign’ is 18 to 24 inches tall by 24 inches wide. Many plants with soft yellow flowers burn in full sun but ‘Yellow Sovereign’ can take the sun and heat.

Barbara Ashmun, Portland garden writer has a great article about Cape Fuchsia’s. It’s an older article but most excellent.

I don’t tend to use the older coral red colored varieties of Cape Fuchsia in front yards as the winter appearance is too ragged without a major trim. If you love this plant like I do, simply cut it to the ground in mid December for a tidy look. People who like a very tidy landscape may want to pass. It will seem too messy for them.

If you’re interested in adding Cape Fuchsia to your landscape or are interested in a colorful modern landscape design, contact me.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend

Tags : dramatic flowers, food for hummingbirds, long blooming flowers, low water plantings, plants to attract birds

Hummingbirds Favorite Summer Flower

Posted by Carol

· November 16, 2016

Cape Fuchsia's tubular coral scarlet flower is a hummingbird magnet

Phygelius – Cape Fuchsia ‘Passionate’

Cape Fuchsia, Phygelius, is a colorful, low maintenance long blooming summer flower for the Pacific Northwest. I use it in landscape designs for clients who love color and watching hummingbirds. It’s a personal favorite of mine and rates at least 2 blogs.

Cape Fuchsia Practicalities

If you are a person who wants a tidy landscape that looks perfect all year long, this is not your plant. I consider this plant to be low maintenance but not no maintenance. Clients who love the color and the hummingbird show simply cut it to the ground in December eliminating the messy twigs.

Photo shows Cape Fuschia is tough enough for full sun in a parking lot.

Mass of Cape Fuchsia at local Portland coffee shop

It can spread some. In the spring if the plant is taking more territory than you want, simply pull on the stem that is straying. Pull it out of the ground and cut the root off near the mother plant. It is very easy, I promise. Give it lots of sun, decent soil and water the first year. It will need less water the following year. Some clients water it about once every two weeks.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with needing a calm and low maintenance landscape. We are all unique and a plant that makes one person feel delight can make another person feel claustrophobic. I notice clients who grew up in climates where plants tend to be sparser can feel uncomfortable with the full flush of plantings possible here.

Design creates masses of color to offset the swimming pool

Mass planting of strong plant colors including Cape Fuchsia, and a path help to break up the lines of the pool.

Cape Fuchsia used for Mass Plantings in Swimming Pool Garden Re-Design

The first time I used this plant was for Art and Linda in SW Portland. They had a 1960’s swimming pool in the backyard that dominated. It visually ate the backyard. They wanted a cottage garden style with lots of color. My design solution successfully put the pool in a subordinate position to the landscape. I created some great paths and shapes for the planting beds that broke up the lines of the pool visually. We needed masses of strong plant color in the backyard to offset the powerful aqua rectangle. I’m not a big color wheel garden designer but colors like coral and salmon are opposite the wheel from aqua. The Cape Fuchsia flowers are perfect for this situation because they flower in these colors and they flower all summer, hitting their stride during hot weather. My clients enjoy hanging out by the pool and are entertained by the antics of hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are strongly attracted to the hot coral red tones of the Cape Fuchsia.

Morris before back yard landscape design 1996

Art and Linda’s back yard needed some color to offset the aqua of the pool water.

Fav Planting Combo is American Switch Grass with Cape Fuchsia

My favorite planting combination for this design was Panicum Virgatum, American Switch Grass ‘Heavy Metal’ with the Phygelius x recta ‘Devils Tears’. They are a perfect contrast combination! The Switch Grass blade is a fine silvery blue texture. It contrasts with the Cape Fuchsia’s dark green leaf and hot colored tubular flowers. The inside of the tube is a mellow lemon yellow but mostly the hummingbirds are the ones who see this.

If you research this plant on the internet, you will read that Cape Fuchsia are not cold hardy here since they are native to South Africa and they need a lot of water. Not true for Portland, Oregon. I have grown them at 900 feet on a roof garden and only watered them every two weeks. They were successful for 12 years and were still there when I moved.

I’m always advocating for low water use so planting Cape Fuchsia with American Switch Grass results in a very low water landscape pairing.

New Varieties of Cape Fuchsia

While I love the old fashioned varieties, the new varieties of Cape Fuchsia are shorter and flowers are in softer more traditional colors. These new Cape Fuchsia are more versatile and can work well for small properties and containers. But when you select a softer color over the intense coral red, hummingbirds are not nearly as attracted but you still get a great plant. Check out other great hummingbird plants.

Are you wanting more out of your landscape? More color, more interactions with nature, more privacy? Your landscape can be made to suit your lifestyle with a thoughtful landscape design process. Go to my contact page and let’s talk soon.

Categories : Before and Afters, Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, Low Maintenance Landscape Examples, Plants I Recommend

Tags : dramatic flowers, food for hummingbirds, long blooming flowers, low water plantings, plants to attract birds, swimming pool plants

Hellebore Heaven

Posted by Carol

· January 5, 2016

A sample of the many varieties of Hellebore in bloom at the open garden.

If you love Hellebores (like I do) don’t miss this open garden. The O’Byrne family designs Hellebores and have an international following. Marietta and Ernie are rock stars in the garden design world. Their Hellebores will dazzle you with color and form. Plus they are sturdy plants, bred in Eugene Oregon at the Northwest Garden Nursery.

Why go?

First, you’ll have a chance to buy these unusual and fantastically beautiful plants (most are not available locally). Second, you can buy them in a large 2 gallon size, not in tiny sizes.

Hellebore in woodland setting.

Display Garden

Walk through a 1.5 acre garden with many different micro climates. See Hellebores planted en masse in an open woodland with companion plantings of shrubs and spring bulbs.

Here are Hellebores with drought tolerant Yucca in full sun.

Also see the large sun garden where you will find Hellebores in combination with interesting rock garden plants, succulents and more. Most people think Hellebores are for shade only.

The garden art is unique, interesting and never overwhelms the garden, something I appreciate in a design.

My sister’s feet on a Jeffrey Bale stone mosiac landing.

Open Garden in February

Call a friend and save the date: Northwest Garden Nursery holds an open garden every year, typically the third week of February. Last year I took my sister Donna and her friend (and my client) Sherry. They are plant fiends and appreciated seeing such a large display of Hellebores. We were not able to purchase any plants, however, because they were sold out! So make sure you go early in the week if you want to make some purchases.

We also visited Greer Gardens and I got to say good bye to Harold Greer who is beyond the rock star status. His lifetime of work with Rhododendrons and other plants has enriched my designs and my life, so it was poignant to go and purchase a few last plants from him. I purchased a rock garden plant, Rhododendron kiusianum White Form. It was exquisite. He has closed his mail order company. Bloom River Gardens will be trying to fill Harold’s shoes.

Pictures left to right: Double Hellebore covers my fingers. Amazing foliage. Dark edge contrasts with sunlit pale petals.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, Plants I Recommend, Shade Plants

Tags : cutting flowers, dramatic winter plants, flagstone in the garden, garden design with stone, long blooming flowers, spring flowers, Winter Color in the garden

Sheri loves the views from inside her home

Posted by Carol

· October 21, 2015

Rain does not spoil this ‘Itoh Peony’ flower

My client, Sheri Mead, sent me this note from Camas, Washington. What she had to say points out several important garden design concepts:

“Hi Carol,

I thought of you this morning as I got to the bottom of my stairs, turned the corner and was greeted with a happy, bright pink display of peonies in full bloom.

Spring rain does not spoil this flower. I thought back on how much time and effort you put into envisioning the garden from the inside of the house, anticipating what would be showcased at various angles.”

Easy care ‘Confetti’ willow in the perfect shade of pink

Sheri’s note points to design principles that can make your gardening experience more enjoyable and give you the results that you crave:

Envision the view of your garden-to-be from inside your home. What views of which plants would make you smile? This is the way your designer thinks.
Use plants to bring the outside into your home. The pink and white plant color scheme of Sheri’s flower garden matched her favorite room in the house, the master bedroom and sitting area.
Choose long-lasting varieties to extend your viewing pleasure. Note Sheri’s reference to the special rain resistant variety of peony Carol selected. Remember the possibilities of variegated foliage as in the willow. We used sun tolerant white hydrangea with Salix Integra Hakuro Nishiki ‘Confetti’ willow shrubs and peonies for 6 months of color and winter interest from red willow stems.

Colors for Sheri – Hydrangea Paniculata ‘Pink Diamond’

Her Landscape Design in a Day included several planting compositions intended for viewing from inside the home. Once we completed her design, the clients were very hands on. I ordered plants and on site I coached her brother Rick on how to plant them properly. Rick also built an arbor room using a design we “borrowed” from my portfolio.

As Sheri said, “Mission accomplished!”

Categories : Customer Testimonials, Design Basics, Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips

Tags : diy, dramatic color, dramatic flowers, garden view, hydrangea, long blooming flowers, spring flowers

Archive for long blooming flowers – Page 3

Sheri loves the views from inside her home

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