Plant of the Month 2007 - The Natural Gardener

◊ gifts & accessories
◊ plants
◊ fertilizer & soil
◊ garden tools
◊ classes
◊ register online
◊ articles
◊ newsletter
◊ links
◊ sitemap
◊ contact
◊ home

The Natural Gardener
Garden Store Ltd.
4376 West 10th Ave.
Vancouver, BC V6R 2H7
Tel: 604-224-2207
Fax: 604-224-2216
Email

Vancouver Weather

Plant of the Month - 2007

Each month The Natural Gardener will be highlighting one of the many unique and unusual plants here at the nursery.

◊ 2008 Archives | ◊ 2006 Archives

JANUARY: Helleborus orientalis

Helleborus orientalis is available in seemingly countless forms and colours and is probably the one you are most familiar with. It is an evergreen, clump forming perennial that adds interest to your garden all year round. While it is nice to have evergreen foliage in your garden it is the flowers that Hellebores are really grown for. They start arriving here on the west coast in January and will keep on blooming right into April. Flower colour ranges from white, pink, yellow, red, purple to black purple. Some flowers are down facing while others are up facing. Inside, these little gems may be speckled with a variety of different colours. On a cold, wet wintry day there is nothing more special than discovering the first Hellebore blooms of the season. They remind you that spring is on the way though it may seem like it will never get here.

Helleborus orientalis is fairly easy to grow. The one thing it doesn't like is to be too wet so make sure they are in a well-drained location. They can grow in full sun to full shade, in fact I have a couple that grow in deep shade and while I don't get a plethora of flowers they have been growing and flowering there for 8 years now. The leaves start to look pretty tatty by winter so I suggest removing the old leaves just as the flowers start coming up. It really tidies up the area and shows off the flowers to their best advantage.

You may have wondered why hellebores are so expensive, especially the new cultivars like the double white "Mrs. Betty Ranicar". It is because the flower colours don't come true from seed. Due to that they have to be cultured from cuttings or divisions and it can take up to 4 years for the divisions to reach saleable size. Hopefully in the near future a more efficient way of propagating them will bring the price down.

I highly recommend that you add a couple of hellebores to your garden this year. You'll be glad you did.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 4 - 9
Light: Sun to Shade
Soil: Well drained, moist, loamy
Height: 1.5 feet
Width: 1.5 feet

FEBRUARY: Daphne x transatlantica "Summer Ice"

This lovely white and green variegated Daphne is accentuated by very fragrant, pale pink flowers in early summer that re-blooms from summer through fall. Most daphnes are a challenge to grow but Summer Ice is one of the easiest. It prefers full sun and good drainage. Summer Ice is semi evergreen but if there is a real cold snap it will lose all it's leaves. Each year adding a handful of dolomite lime to the soil around it will keep it happy. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to be doing anything the first year you plant it. Once it settles in, which usually takes about a year, it grows quickly. After it is established it is fairly drought tolerant. Reaching a height of 4 feet and a width of 5 feet it is a wonderful, unique addition to your garden.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 6 to 9
Light: Full Sun
Height: 4 feet
Width: 5 feet
Soil: Well drained, moist, prefers a slightly alkaline soil

MARCH: Acer palmatum "Sangokaku"

Acer palmatum "Sangokaku' commonly known as the Coral Bark Maple has to be one of the loveliest maples you can get for your garden. With its small size, 20' tall and 15' wide, and stunning coral coloured bark this is the perfect tree for the small, urban garden. It has 4 season interest with it's deeply cut light green leaves edged in red in spring and summer, golden leaves in fall and brilliant coral bark in winter. Best of all it is easy to care for. Just make sure it is watered regularly especially in it's first year and give it a good feed with an organic fertilizer each spring as it starts to leaf out.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 6
Light: Full sun to light shade
Soil: Moist, well-drained
Height: 20 feet
Width: 15 feet

APRIL: Cypripedium calceolus

This is a stunning hardy ground orchid that isn't quite as hard to grow in your garden as you might think. The trick, as with all plants when you come to think of it, is to provide it with the environment that it needs to grow and prosper. Cypripedium calceolus occur naturally in cool, temperate forests and forest edges, and the key to success is to reproduce that environment. Provide your cypripedium with cool roots and moist soil. They don't do as well in acidic soil so the addition of some crushed oyster shell to the soil is beneficial. It also doesn't like to be planted too deeply. Cypripediums are also quite sensitive to fertilizers so only use an organic fertilizer when feeding your plants. Once they are established it doesn't take long to get a good sized clump and before you know it you will be giving them away to friends. It really is a beautiful orchid that is well worth growing.

Cultural Requirements

Light: Shade to part sun. A spot where it can get morning sun and afternoon shade is ideal
Soil: Moist, well drained, slightly alkaline. The addition of crushed oyster shell is a good idea
Height: 2 Ð 21/2 feet
Width: 1 foot

MAY: Thalictrum finetii syn. decorum - Meadowrue

I first saw this plant last year at Lambert Vrijmoed's Free Spirit Nursery and immediately fell in love with its elegance, charm and outstanding floral display. Its foliage consists of small, grey-blue leaves, and the leaf stalks are attached to the purple-flushed stems with an attractive, frilly, papery white sheathed base. It has a multitude of pendulous, lavender-purple flower buds that develop in open, finely branched, triangular panicles. They resemble inflated balloons and when the slender, pointed sepals finally peel back in a horizontal plane with elegant recurved tips to expose the yellow boss of stamens the effect is stunning. Thalictrum finetii blooms from summer into fall.

If you grow it in full sun and rich soil it will form denser panicles, multiple stems and coarser foliage. In part sun or dappled shade in average soil it will be either single or double stemmed and have a more open, elegant appearance. Thalictrum doesn't usually break dormancy until May so make sure to mark the spot where it is growing and don't despair if it is late making an appearance.

Cultural Requirements

Light: Sun to part shade
Soil: Moist, well drained
Height: 6 feet
Width: 2-1/2 feet

June: Podophyllum Spotty Dotty

With a name like Spotty Dotty you just have to know that this is going to be one interesting plant. It certainly is. A brilliant hybrid of several Asian Mayapples it boasts large, vigorous, lobed umbrella-shaped leaves. Leaves are chartreuse with dramatic and bizarre chocolate-brown spotting throughout the spring. Like nothing you've ever seen! In summer, the leaves are green with lightly spotted areas. Huge garnet-coloured flowers are found under the leaves in clusters of 5 or more.

It spreads slowly and enjoys humus-rich, moist, deep and well-drained soil. During the summer don't let it dry out or it may go into early dormancy. This is a stunning plant for the part shade to shade garden. Spotty Dotty is quite hard to find and we have just a few of them so if you think this will fit in well in your garden don't wait too long to get one. How cool is this!

July: Athyrium filix-femina Frizelliae - The Tatting Fern

This selection of deciduous lady fern from Europe is one of the most unique ferns available today. Found in 1857 in Ireland in the garden of a Mrs. Frizell, the tatting fern is known to most avid gardeners. The narrow fronds, to less than 1" wide, are clothed up both sides with fuzzy green, ear-like projections. I know this sounds really bizarre, but normal folks are even attracted to this unusual fern. This is a great specimen plant for the woodland garden.

One thing to note about the Tatting Fern is that sometimes it reverts back to its origins. If you notice it happening just cut off the offending frond(s) and the new ones should be true to form.

The Tatting Fern likes to grow in moist but well-drained soil in part shade. It doesn't seem to do as well in full shade and will take morning sun. It is a late fern to appear in the spring and is slow to get going but by July it is out in all its glory.

A truly unique fern everyone should have at least one Tatting Fern in their woodland garden.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 4
Light: Part shade to part sun
Soil: Moist, well-drained
Height: 1 foot
Width: 18 inches

August: Echinacea Big Sky Twilight

Over the last several years there have been some amazing breakthroughs in colour with Echinacea and Big Sky Twilight is one of the latest. This remarkable new hybrid Coneflower features deep rose-pink petals surrounding a large burgundy-red button-shaped cone. Blooms are wonderfully fragrant; the plants are well-branched, strong and bushy in habit. "Twilight" is ideal for sunny borders and growing in mixed containers. It is attractive to butterflies and excellent for cutting. Coneflowers begin blooming in midsummer and continue blooming for months if faded flowers are regularly removed. It is quite tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions and is drought tolerant once it is established. It does need to be well watered until the plants are established. If you have room in your sunny border this is a must have plant.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 4
Light: Full sun to part shade
Soil: Moist, well-drained
Height: 2-1/2 feet
Spread: 2 feet

September: Abeliophyllum distichum - White Forsythia

White forsythia is an uncommon shrub in the West Coast Garden but is a beautiful compliment to regular forsythia. It is a multi-stemmed, rounded shrub truly beautiful when it is in flower in early spring but then quite unremarkable the rest of the year. It makes a nice filler plant when grown in amongst other shrubs in your garden. White forsythia comes into bloom in February here on the coast, usually just before the regular forsythia. It prefers full sun but will take some light shade and grows well in moist but well-drained soil. Once it becomes established it is drought tolerant. Prune it immediately after blooming because flower buds for the following year will form on the current year's growth. It needs periodic pruning (at least every 3-4 years) to control and maintain its attractive shape.

Cultural Requirements

Light: Full sun to light shade
Soil: Moist, well-drained
Height: 5 feet
Spread: 4 feet

October: Echinacea Coconut Lime

There are a myriad of new echinacea cultivars out now but Echinacea purpurea 'Coconut Lime' is the first white double-flowering Echinacea. It has a compact habit with over 20 blooms per plant! A really stunning addition to a sunny, dry area of your garden. Echinacea's are an easy to grow family but here on the "Wet" coast make sure that they have good drainage and lots of sun. They are tolerant of all soil types and are quite drought resistant once they are established. Leave a few flowers go to seed as the cone at the centre of the flower is appreciated by a variety of different birds. The flowers start appearing in July and keep on coming right through September. An added bonus is that they make excellent cut flowers that will last for a long period of time in a vase.

The Natural Gardener still has a few of these beautiful cone flowers left so come by and see them in person.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 3
Light: Full sun
Soil: Well-drained
Height: 2-3 feet
Width: 2 feet

November: Bergenia "Solar Flare"

This new plant introduction from Terra Nova Nurseries is a lovely clumping round leaf bergenia. It is outstanding with its cream-edged variegation that turns to pink tones in fall. The variegation shows best in cool weather making it a perfect choice for the West Coast. Solar Flare prefers to grow in sun to part shade in well-drained soil. Once it is established it is also quite drought tolerant. This is definitely the nicest Bergenia I have seen yet. A definite must for the part shade garden. The Natural Gardener was lucky enough to get a flat of this wonderful Bergenia this fall and needless to say they went quickly. We will have lots more of them for Spring 2008.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 4
Light: Sun to part shade
Soil: moist, well-drained
Height: 10 inches
Width: 12 inches

Azara microphylla - Boxleaf Azara

This native of Chile is a shrubby tree of fine texture that is perfect for the part shade garden. Its dark green, evergreen foliage grows in an open, spray like way making it a wonderful companion for shade plants such as hostas, pulmonarias, primulas, corydalis and podophyllums. In spring little, yellow, pompom like flowers appear that smell wonderfully of vanilla. It is easy to look after and takes hard pruning if it gets a little too big for it's location. Azara prefers to grow in moist, well-drained soil in part shade. It is a unique addition to your part shade garden.

Cultural Requirements

Zone: 7
Light: Part shade
Soil: Moist, well-drained
Height: 15 feet
Width: 6 feet