American Holly

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American Holly, Ilex opaca, is a familiar broadleaf evergreen found throughout Bucks County. It is one of those native evergreens we have grown up with. Its glossy green leaves and bright red berries grace the winter landscape and are used to decorate homes and greeting cards for Christmas.

This tree type Holly is a slow grower to 40 or 50 feet with a 20 to 40 foot width. It likes moist, well-drained soils with plenty of organic matter and will grow in sun or partial shade. As I drive along River Road I spy Hollies that have self-seeded under taller trees and along unmown property edges. Like all Hollies, they are dioecious, having separate male and female plants. Only the female plants produce berries. One male in your neighborhood can pollinate several females. Self-pollinated American Hollies can have dull olive-green leaves. The cultivars ‘Jersey Princess’ and ‘Jersey Knight’ have been introduced through Rutgers University and have consistent dark green foliage. Other cultivars such as ‘Old Heavyberry’ also present abundant fruits. Over 1000 cultivars have been named including ‘Canary’ with yellow berries and ‘Steward’s Silver Crown’ with variegated leaves. All broad leaved evergreens, including Hollies, Rhododendrons and Cherry Laurels, should only be planted in the spring. A coating of an antidesiccant in late fall, such as Wilt-pruf, a wax based spray, will protect leaves from harsh wind and dehydration.

Probably like you, I always thought of American Holly as being synonymous with a cold and snowy location; that is until the year I moved to Seal Harbor, Maine. You see, American Holly, one of the hardiest evergreen Ilex species, is only hardy from the coast of Massachusetts to Florida, zones 5 through 9. And though, Seal Harbor is zone 5 at its location along the Atlantic coast, the extreme cold wind is not tolerated by evergreen Hollies. Grown instead are the native Winterberry shrubs, Ilex verticillata. Winterberry are deciduous native Hollies. They have small thin leaves that drop in the fall and bright red berries that cling to their branches throughout the winter. In Maine, they surround the banks of “ponds” and flourish in bogs and wetlands. Winterberries are a wonderful addition to the shrub border, setting off evergreens with their profuse sprays of red berries. ‘Red Sprite’, a dwarf Ilex verticillata cultivar, only grows 3 feet tall. Be sure to include the correct pollinator, ‘Jim Dandy’ for the best berry set. The majority of Winterberries grow 6 to 12 foot tall and include Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Red’, ‘Afterglow’ and ‘Cacapon’. Be sure to use a pollinator that flowers the same time as the females for good fruit set.

Returning to Pennsylvania to begin a landscape business brought a whole new joy of designing and gardening with Hollies. Living without evergreen hollies instilled a love for these plants that makes me glad whenever I see them. There are many non-native species and hybrids of evergreen Hollies we can use in gardens ranging from shrub to tree types. Still the native American Holly deserves its place.

Native Plants in the Cottage Garden

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This month my cottage garden is in full swing. Some of my favorite native plants are playing star roles. Orange Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberose), False Yellow Lupine (Thermopsis villosa), Coreopsis (Tickweed) and Stokes Daisy (Stokesia) sing soprano to rest of the choir. Filling the musical gaps are the non-natives; Happy Returns and Stella Dora Daylilies, Red-hot Poker (Kniphofia), Catmint (Nepeta) and Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’). It is a symphony of sunset colors.

This garden was inspired by the Cottage Garden at Sissinghurst Castle in England. Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson created the famous gardens in the 1930’s. It includes many American natives such as Columbine, Solomon ’s seal, Goldenrod and Cardinal Flower. American gardens have been greatly influenced by their English counter parts for the past 200 years. In that time American native plants have been collected and put to good use by English gardeners to the likes of William Robinson, Gertrude Jekyll, Margery Fish, and Penelope Hobhouse. It has only been the last quarter century we, as Americans, have placed value on these plants.

My native plant aha moment came in 1991 when I worked in Seal Harbor, Maine installing a garden designed by Penelope Hobhouse. Mrs. Hobhouse mixed natives with non-natives effortlessly as was the style in Great Britain. Her design added native lilies, Sweet Fern, Snakeroot and Baneberry to the garden. I contributed a Sweet Bay Magnolia and Aromatica Sumac. I didn’t consciously think of these as natives. They were just great plants worthy of any garden and used in my designs today.

Maine was a hotbed of great native plants. Too cold for evergreen Hollies, the deciduous Winterberry Hollies flanked the Maine “ponds” with bright red berries all winter. Cardinal flowers grew along streams and lupines on embankments. Low bush blueberry was used as a groundcover. I often use Winterberries as a great addition to evergreens for winter interest. My Magnolia Virginias have been perfuming the neighborhood with their sweet scented flowers all month. Next month Cardinal Flowers will bloom outside my office windows, their bright red flowers attracting hummingbirds from near and far.

Weather to spruce up a meadow, add interest to a perennial garden, or attract butterflies and hummingbirds, native plants are a worthy addition to your garden.

Think Spring Bulbs

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It is bulb planting season. As the fresh autumn breezes rustle through the changing fall leaves, spring is not the first thing that comes to mind. In order to be rewarded with brilliant colored spring flowers we need to get a move on. Put an order into a bulb supplier or visit a garden center. We all know those stop you in your tracks favorites like yellow Daffodils and Red Tulips, but have you thought about extending your spring season with Snowdrops and Winter Aconite that can begin flowering as early as February? Blue Siberian Squill and Chionodoxa are soon to follow. These bulbs all flower ahead of the common Crocus, which is now available in some not so common new colors. Try some pastel varieties of crocus such as Blue Pearl, Romance and Firefly. Crocuses are not only for spring. Fall flowering varieties can also be planted now along with their cousin the Fall Blooming Colchicum.

Daffodils, botanically known as Narcissus, are deer, rabbit and squirrel resistant bulbs and are available in a huge range of heights, flower size and color combinations. I love the small Jonquils and many miniature varieties. One of my all time favorites, great for naturalizing, lining a walk or for the edge of a garden bed is N. Minnow. It has small white petals and tiny sulfur yellow trumpets on multiple flowers held above each single stem. An even earlier cousin of Minnow is the well known Tete-a-tete with its long yellow trumpet and reflexed petals. Similar to Tete-a-tete, N. Pencrebar is a double flowered version and N. Rip Van Winkle sends up short stems of yellow starburst flowers. Narcissus Geranium, one the latest flowering Tazetta Daffodils, is fragrant with white petals and orange-red trumpets. It is another multi flowering type. I like to plant it with early Tulips such as Red Riding Hood and blue Grape Hyacinths. There are more fragrant Narcissus to seek out as well as the double flowering types. I grow pink Daffodils with Virginia Bluebells. Small cupped Daffodils like Pheasant’s Eye, are some of the latest large flower varieties to bloom and fragrant. Daffodils are true, long lived, perennial bulbs. They are resistant to animals. And they will give you many years of spring color.

Tulips, though certainly not deer or rabbit resistant, add such a splurge of color in the spring garden. Some of the little species tulips are fun to try, like Tulipa Tarda that looks like a fried egg with its flattened petals. Tulipa hummilis varieties are available in shades of magenta and T. Ice Stick and T. Lady Jane resemble candy canes with their red exterior and white interior petals. Large flowering Tulips run the gamut of shapes, colors and flowering times. Look for the Virdiflora Tulips with their delicately feathered green outer petals supplanted on inner petals of varying shades. Parrot Tulips are so called because their many faceted petals resembling the feathers of birds and the bright colors of parrots. Peony flowering types have big, double blooms and are great for arrangements as are striped Rembrandt Tulips made known in the 1600’s during the Dutch tulip rage.

Besides these wonderful spring blooming bulbs, a few hardy summer flowering bulbs can also be planted now. Alliums and Lilies are great bulbs to tuck around perennials as an accent or to fill a space when perennials are out of bloom.

A perfect companion to spring bulbs is the fall pansy, so called because it is available for fall planting, but not restricted to fall flowering. Pansies planted in fall will continue to flower as long as temperatures remain above freezing. Do not wait too late to plant fall pansies OR daffodils as they will need to develop a good root system to get them through the winter. But then, oh my, they will be the best spring pansies you have ever grown. Some mild winters they flower straight through from fall until they go to seed in June or July. Happy planting.

Hydrangeas

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In my garden, Hydrangeas are the gift that just keeps giving. From June until frost there is always a Hydrangea in bloom here. Once you start growing Hydrangeas you just can’t stop adding them to your garden. Just ask Michael Dirr, the famous plantsman, who has written an entire book on Hydrangeas, “Hydrangeas for American Gardens”. While researching for his book in England, Dr. Dirr visited a garden with approximately 360 cultivars of Hydrangea macrophylla. In his words, “The mind became mush, the knees buckled, and the camera imploded.” And that was just one species!

Hydrangea macrophylla or Bigleaf Hydrangea is the well-known species we grew up with. Its large pink to blue snowball flowers are seen far and wide. Because it doesn’t mind a bit of salt spray we find them growing abundantly from Cape Cod south along the coast to Cape May. If the weather is right they seem to flower forever, four weeks or more! Most flower on old wood, or on last year’s growth, so be careful not to prune too early or too late. The new Endless Summer Hydrangeas are an exception to this rule and will flower on the current season’s growth. They are good cultivars to grow if you have winter browsing deer in your Hydrangea garden or cannot coordinate a good time to prune.

Hydrangea macrophylla is not just a delicious bearer of snow cones, also referred to as hortensias. There are cultivars which produce another flower form called lacecaps. These have a lighter, more delicate appearance with a more flattened cluster of open blossoms on the perimeter of unopened buds. The colors are in the same range of whites to pinks to blues and mixtures depending on the acidity of the soil. My Tokyo Delight lacecap Hydrangea has been morphing from the palest blue to pink to rose for several seasons now. It began blooming the first week of July and is still holding onto its flowers in mid-August.

Hydrangea serrata is akin to Hydrangea macrophylla. Though said to be smaller in stature and flower than Bigleaf Hydrangea, my ‘Bluebird’ is the largest Hydrangea in my garden. It has certainly lived up to its reputation as a tough plant. The 90 foot oak tree that provided the perfect shade for my Hydrangea ‘Bluebird’ was felled two years ago, opening the site to hot afternoon sunlight. ‘Bluebird’ has stood the challenge! Its pale blue lacecap flowers are a bit paler. Still, it defies the hotter, dryer and brighter conditions. It has also withstood being topped by flood water four times as have all of my Hydrangeas.

Early to flower, Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris) is a true aristocratic vine. It is a climber able to cling to any structure displaying its beautiful leaves, white lacecap flowers and graceful habit. An ugly chain link fence can easily be disguised behind this lovely billowing vine. Small plants might take years to finally start growing and flowering. I tell customers to buy the largest plants they can afford to get off to a good start.

Oakleaf Hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) are large, white Hydrangeas perfect for a shady location. Put these at the edge of your woodland for the perfect light factor and to brighten up that spot from across the yard. They have huge elongated flower clusters, often 12 inches long that turn from white to pink, rose and red as the night temperatures dip.

At the back of my garden stands a Peegee Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) I have trained to a tree form. Mostly available as white flowering types, mine is the little oddity, ‘Limelight’. The flowers open a margarita lime green in late July, turn all white by mid-August, then take on a dusty rose color as autumn temperatures drop, before drying to paper bag brown. Dried flowers can be cut and kept in a dry vase all winter indoors.

I don’t grow Hydrangea arborescens (Smooth Hydrangea) but I am adding it to my wish list. I have seen Hydrangea arborescens growing in very shady locations. It begins to flower in June with apple green flowers that turn off-white then brown with age. According to Dirr, Hydrangea arborescens flowers on NEW wood and makes excellent dried arrangements. Now where can I plant one?

Asain Cuisine Garden

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A cuisine garden is a group of vegetables and herbs grown together as ingredients for ethnic recipes. Growing in individual raised beds makes the perfect setting for a collection of world cuisines. I meet cooks from many cultural backgrounds and am always jotting down new ideas for recipes that I am translating into gardens. Since we have not reached the last frost date it’s a good time to plant cool crops. What better than a spring Asian cuisine garden?

These gardens can be started as early as you can get the soil worked. If you are a little late getting started, try cool weather varieties that can tolerate warming conditions; such as Mei Qin Shoi, a baby Bok Choy that has a good tolerance to bolting. Snow peas can begin to be planted in March. The bush types are easy to grow in raised beds and produce pods sooner. Hybrid Michihli Chinese Cabbage types are also slower to bolt. Japanese Daikon radishes are much more tolerant to heat than red salad types. Now is the perfect time to sow bunching onions or scallions. Stokeseeds.com has a very good selection of “Chinese and Oriental Vegetables.”

RECIPE: Stir-fried Vegetables with Ginger

Serves 4 – 6

2 – 2 ½ lbs. mixed Asian vegetables

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. peanut oil (or less)

1 inch fresh ginger root peeled and grated

1 hot chili (optional)

Sauce:

2 tsp. dark soy sauce or tamari

1 tsp. sugar

1 cup chicken stock

2 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. of the above stock

1 tsp. five spice powder

Heat a wok or large skillet and add the oil, hot pepper and ginger for 1 minute. Add the vegetables that have cut into bite size pieces. Stir-fry until tender crisp and remove to plate. Add the sauce ingredients and quickly cook until it thickens. Add back the vegetables. Coat and heat through. A drizzle of sesame oil and fresh ground black pepper can top the dish.

Oh Deer

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Probably the only certain guard against deer browsing is using a fence that they cannot jump over. There are many to choose from. I recommend a small garden just off the house with a lovely ornamental fence and gate for my customers who cannot live without their favorite deerlicious plants; roses and hydrangeas being at the top of the list.

And then what to do when a fence just won’t do? Though there is never a 100% guarantee against deer browsing, I have been planting resistant gardens for years. In general, fuzzy, pubescent leaves will make a deer gag. These plants include Dusty Miller, Artemisia, Lavender, Catmint, Russian Sage, and Lamb’s Ears and Blue Mist Shrub (Caryopteris clandonensis).

Deer will not eat ferns nor most ornamental grasses. Daffodils, Alliums, and Winter Aconite are good hardy bulb choices. The most successful flowering annuals have been Annual Vinca (Catharanthus rosea), Ageratum and Cleome. I have been growing a long list of deer resistant perennials. Among them are: Ginger, Helleborus and Bleeding Hearts for shade. Baptisia, Coreopsis, Rudbeckia, Catmint, Peonies, Anemones and Goldenrod all have proven resistant in sun gardens.

Two of the best evergreen shrubs in the war against deer are Boxwood and Cherry Laurel. All Barberry shrubs are deer resistant. I grow the low varieties with purple foliage like Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea ‘Royal Burgundy’. Barberries produce berries that attract birds as do Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana ) and Bayberry (Myrica pennsylvanica); three native shrubs worth adding to your deer resistant garden.

Each garden has its own degree of deer resistance which can change due to increased deer population, availability of natural foraging areas and other conditions. I knew a landscaper who planted a very populated area with the most toxic of plants; Aconitum and Digitalis. The deer completely leveled the garden. Now that WAS some hungry deer!

In retrospect I always advise monitoring your garden plantings. Apply netting or deer repellent if you must. Protect your investment.

Silver-leaved Plants: Foils for your garden.

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In fiction, a foil is a character that enhances the distinctive characteristics of another character. In the garden, as in fiction, a foil is a plant that contrasts with another plant in order to highlight particular qualities of the other. ’I am resolved my husband shall not be a rival, but a foil to me’ (Charlotte Brontë).

Think of the foil wrappings around Easter flowers and then use Artemisia, Eryngium planum (Sea Holly) and Stachys (Lamb’s Ears) to accent yellows and blues in your garden. Flowering grey leaved perennials and shrubs give the garden a two for one shot of color. Nepetas (Catmints) flower early then provide a soft grey-green mound around the feet of taller, later flowering plants like Aster Purple Mound and Sedum Autumn Joy. Caryopteris ‘Longwood Blue’ spices up the garden with its silvery and pungent leaves all summer, then bursts into flower just when needed, in late summer.

Not only do silver and grey leaved plants set off the colors and textures of other plants but they are tough, often drought and deer resistant plants that will not be foiled by varmint or weather. Lavender, not a perennial, but rather a semi evergreen shrub, can be set along a walk to flower in summer then sheared to a fragrant hedge. Like lavender, most grey leaved plants resent poorly drained soils and excessive irrigation. They are perfect for sunny, dry, less than perfect locations. Deer find the often fuzzy or waxy foliage repulsive.

Here are some of my favorite deer resistant, drought tolerant foils:

Annuals for gardens and containers

Centaurea cineraria (Dusty Miller)

Lotus berthelotti (great in pots)

Helichrysum petiolare (Licorice Plant)

Salvia leucantha (Mexican bush sage)

Perennials

Achillea millefolium (Yarrow)

Artemisia sp.

Dianthus ‘Pomegranate Kiss’, Neon Star, and Fire Star ‘Fire Witch’ to name a few

Eryngium planum (Sea Holly) – requires staking but worth it

Euphorbia myrsinites (can take light shade)

Lychnis coronaria (Rose Campion)

Nepeta sp. (Catmint)

Perovskia sp. (Russian Sage)

Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s Ears)

Shrubs

Buddleia davidii ‘Silver Frost’, ‘Lochinch’ and all of the ‘Nanho’ series (Butterfly Bush)

Caryopteris x clandonensis (Bluebeard)

Lavandula (Lavender) Grosso, Hidcote, Provence to name a few

Shade tolerant, need a bit more moisture

Athyrium nipponicum ‘Pictum’ (Japanese Painted Fern)

Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’

Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’, ‘Beacon Silver’, Orchid Frost’, ‘Purple Dragon’

Pulmonaria longifolia var. cevennensis and ‘Bertram Anderson’

Andalusia

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I joined the Martha Washington Garden Club for a tour of the house and grounds at Andalusia recently. They remembered that I had been the head gardener at Andalusia during the 1980’s and thought I might enjoy seeing the place again. It was better than returning to my alma mater. Improvements have been made everywhere. The gardens and house are more charming and more interesting than I remembered.

Andalusia is the historic seat of the Biddle family, located on the Delaware River, in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia. The tour included the grand Greek Revival mansion, affectionately called the “Big House” as well as a tour of the grounds and gardens.

The house and grounds were acquired by Nicolas Biddle in 1814 through marriage to Jane Craig. Five years later, Nicolas Biddle was appointed as president of the Second National Bank of the United States. Nicolas Biddle, a banker, financier, politician, lawyer, and gentlemen farmer was also responsible for writing and publishing the Lewis and Clark journals. Nicolas Biddle was one of the most prominent men in the United States. Historical figures, the likes of President John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Joseph Bonaparte, were entertained at his homes in Philadelphia and at Andalusia.

The “Big House” holds many treasures collected by generations of Biddles over the past 200 years. A large oriental light brought back from the east by Commodore Biddle, hangs below the wide staircase. The library houses Nicolas Biddle’s extensive library and includes his edition of the Lewis and Clark journals. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out across the rolling lawn to the river from the twin front parlors. Family portraits by Thomas Sully, gifts from Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquis de Lafayette grace the remarkable collection.

The front lawn gently slopes to the Delaware River where you will find the historic Grotto built between 1834 and 1836 as a Gothic “ruin”. The Engine House also sits on the river and was used to pump water to the graperies. It is now used as a boathouse. Walking south along the river reveals the Billiard Room built by Mrs. Biddle so the men-folk would have a separate place to smoke and play billiards. The “Cottage”, a Gothic Revival mansion, is used by family members as a private retreat.

The formal gardens are located behind the Cottage and include perennial gardens on each side of the pool pavilion. You cannot miss the walled garden with its formal rose garden and historical interpretation of the Graperies. The two 17 by 280 foot brick and stone walls were built by Nicolas Biddle in the late 1830’s as the northern supporting walls for glass lean-to greenhouses used to grow grapes. The early 1800’s was a period of experimental farming for many a gentleman farmer. Nicolas Biddle’s pursuits included the first introduction of Guernsey cows to the Americas, growing Mulberry trees in an attempt to develop a silk worm industry, and his eventual success of growing grapes in the glass graperies.

After heavy storms destroyed the glass graperies in the late 1800’s the area between the walls was used for cold frames and vegetable and flower gardens. The crossing pea gravel paths were lined with boxwood that grew to maturity in the 1990’s. After 1933 most of the walled garden became lawn with the exception of the rose garden, still there today. Wisteria vines grace the southern side of each wall in May, around Mother’s Day.

The “Green Walk”, a dwarf conifer garden, the Dog Cemetery and the woodland garden are just beyond the walls. Today Andalusia is used for tours, events and weddings. For more information about Andalusia or to arrange for a tour visit the web at:

http://www.andalusiapa.org/visit/

Or call 215-245-5479

Grounds for Sculpture

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At Grounds for Sculpture, a 35-acre sculpture park and arboretum in Hamilton, New Jersey, large contemporary sculptures line the entrance drive, and you think, “This place is all about the art, right?” Then you step out of your car, and along the walkway there are waves of turf with undulating metal edging, and you realize that this is also a very different kind of arboretum.

Here, plants are no less sculptural than the artworks they enhance. More than 25 species of ornamental grass and bamboo are used as hedges, accents, and herbaceous borders. Pennisetum ‘Karley Rose’, accented by its pink inflorescences in June and July, leads you along a curving path from the Visitor Center to access the park. Leymus, Panicum and Festuca look like a blue haze planted around a pond filled with lotuses. A bamboo grove becomes part of the sculpture Erotica Tropicallis. Go through the bamboo, past skulking voyeurs, to enjoy Seward Johnson’s metal and Styrofoam rendition of Henri Rousseau’s painting The Dream.

It is hard to believe that as recently as 1989, this lush garden was the old dilapidated New Jersey State Fair Grounds. Then it was a flat vacant wasteland with part of an old race track, abandoned exhibition buildings, and “crummy soil,” according to Brian Carey of AC/BC Associates, landscape designer for the park. In less than two decades, the original 17 acres and 12 trees have grown to 35 acres and more than 3,000 trees and shrubs. With the excavation of berms, ponds, and watercourses, the designers sculpted the flat land into a charming contoured setting that obscures the industrial surroundings and becomes a backdrop for sculpture.

The transformation happened in part thanks to tree donations and to Carey’s ability to rescue large specimens from construction sites and abandoned nurseries. Six lacebark pines (Pinus bungeana) were saved from destruction with only a few days’ notice. These three-needled pines with mottled exfoliating bark are some of the finest examples of the species anywhere. Hundreds of red maples, grown inches apart, were transplanted from the defunct Princeton Nurseries. Carey explains how the trees were “dug in blocks of eight, like sausages,” then spliced back together to create a narrow allée, creating a tunnel of color in the fall. “The best part is that so far, only one tree has died,” he says.

When it comes to handouts, Carey says he will “take anything with interesting or exfoliating bark,” including thorns. An area unofficially known as the “pain garden” contains thorned honey locust, castor-aralia (Kalopanax pictus), pyracantha, and trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata). Throughout the park, look for trees with ornamental bark, such as stewartia, river birch, parrotia, and paperbark maple.

Conifers abound with 15 species of pines, as well as deciduous conifers that offer a splendid palette of spring and fall color. In front of the museum building stands a 50-year-old hinoki false cypress donated by nurseryman Tom Dilatush. Rare fastigiate conifers from Nancy Vermeulen dot the landscape. Not to be missed is a towering golden oriental spruce (Picea orientalis ‘Aurea Compacta’). Portals of weeping pines and spruces guide you from a wisteria-covered arbor to the Visitor Center.

Do not overlook the water garden. Here Carey shows “water used in as many ways as possible,” including fog that circulates around sculptures and around the sculpture-like leaves of coltsfoot (Petasites japonicas). A Camperdown elm (Ulmus glabra) serves as an umbrella to keep you dry. Nearby, take a walk through the Domestic Arts Building, pass through its indoor exhibits, café, and bookshop and go out to the Acer Courtyard, home of 47 rescued Japanese maples. Then relax, have a seat at one of the courtyard tables, and take in the view.

Grounds for Sculpture is located at 18 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton, NJ, 609-586-0616 (groundsforsculpture.org).

Iris

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Irises are the cornerstone of my May garden. Because of their diverse forms, color range and bloom times, Irises can be used multiple times in one garden without creating stagnate duplication. Their strong stems need no staking. And except for occasional dividing and deadheading their care is minimal. That is a pretty good track record for a plant so provocatively beautiful.

Though there are over 200 species and many more hybrids of Iris, I grow and design with three widely available types; Bearded Hybrid Iris, Siberian Iris, and Japanese Iris. These Irises grew in the formal perennial gardens at Temple University Ambler campus where I studied floriculture under the auspice of Viola Anders.

Miss Anders was the Julia Child of horticulture, tall and talented with that high-pitched voice that spoke of no nonsense gardening. The gardens were an amalgamation of her experiences gardening in England and gardening for a privileged clientele here in the states. We learned to design pastel gardens for a set of people who summered in Maine or on Nantucket using perennials that flowered from spring until the Fourth of July. Irises fell right into the mix. An Anders favorite was Iris x ‘Beverly Sills’, a beautiful pastel coral-pink Iris that took my breath away.

May begins with Bearded Iris. These are hybrids sometimes incorrectly listed as Iris germanica, which is actually a parent species used to breed some of the most remarkable, tall Bearded Irises. Bearded Iris is one of the most diverse groups of Iris. The American Iris Society has subdivided them by height. They range from the earliest flowering miniatures to the tall late spring Standards. The flowers are characterized by their bearded falls. Colors range from snowy white through every conceivable shade of single and multi-colored flowers. My favorite is a tall Bearded Iris sold as Orange Harvest. Actually a shade of apricot, it combines well with the blue Siberian Irises. Orange Harvest is a re-blooming Iris that presents us with a second flowering in late summer and early autumn. Other notable re-bloomers are: Immortality (white), Victoria Falls (bright blue), and Autumn Circus (white and purple bicolor).

Just as my apricot Breaded Irises produce their second flush of flowers, my stately Siberian Iris opens. Siberian Irises are one of the easiest and most dependable perennials to grow. These are a class of Iris regarded as “beardless”. They grow best in full sun but will tolerate partial shade. Their only care involves occasional division every 3 – 4 years. My favorite is Iris sibirica ‘Caesar’s Brother’. It has purple velvet flowers on strong 3 foot stems. Iris sibirica ‘Butter and Sugar’ is another good choice with creamy white and yellow flowers that re-bloom.

Japanese Irises, Iris ensata, bloom third in our sequence; early to mid June. They will tolerate a wet site and can be used in a rain garden. Their beardless, flat flowers appear to fly like aircraft on top of strong stems. Colors range from white to pale blues, lavender, and all shades of purple and magenta often with darker contrasting veins. If you can provide a bit of moisture, these are the Irises for you. My pick is Iris ensata ‘Flying Tiger’, 36 inches tall with pale violet-white flowers that have purple veins. Iris e. ‘Sensation’ runs close second, sporting large magenta flowers with yellow signals. A show stopper!

Even if you are not in the market for more garden plants, take a trip to your local perennial nursery or Iris farm. You will be fascinated by the diversity these low maintenance perennials can offer.