Wayside Gardens Voices

Campanula 'Pink Octopus': Fun and Hardy

Campanula, the common Bellflower, the name is Latin for little bell. Despite the cute name and dainty bell-shaped blossoms, this is a very tough and adaptable genus of plants. They can be grown as biennials, perennials, or annuals, depending on the species and the climate. They are native to regions spanning from the Mediteranean coast to the arctic tundra. There are hundreds of cultivated varieties famous for their distinctive blooms and trusted for their hardiness. They are popular in gardens all over Europe, especially in the United Kingdom.

Pink Octopus is a sun-loving perennial originally cultivated in Korea. The uniquely splayed blooms defy the bell-shape characteristic of the genus - the petals reach out to become the tentacles of the pink octopuses. The blooms are popular with hummingbirds and other pollinators, but deer are not attracted to them. If promptly dead-headed, this Campanula will provide an impressive mid-summer bloom period.

New Unique Blooms For Spring 2009

We've really got some interesting flowers in our line-up this spring. Wayside Gardens is known to many gardeners as the place you go to get the varieties you can't find anywhere else, but some of the new blooms are extraordinary.

One of my personal favorites is the Centaurea "Gold Bullion". This beautiful little perennial ground cover will sparkle in your garden. It is hardy from zones 3-8 and does well in part shade or full sun. The bright chartreuse leaves and delicate blue blooms will add the color variety you need.

Another plus for many gardeners, Centaurea are big nectar producers which make them attractive to pollinators like butterlies, humming birds, and honey bees. And, they are less than $10 apiece!

Mikinori Ogisu: The Indiana Jones of Botany

I was browsing through our catalog, as I sometimes do when I can't think of anything else to write about. I just find a pretty plant and then talk about how pretty it is. I know it's boring, and I apologize, but they really are very pretty.

This time was different. It wasn't the picture that caught my attention, but the description. Epimedium Osigui was "named for Mikinori Ogisu, the famed Japanese plant hunter...In the native it is found among limestone deposits near waterfalls." It was discovered in the mountains of Sichuan, China.

Plant Hunter! Browsing the InterWebs, I found Mr. Mikinori was connected with the discoveries of many popular plants. One blogger called him the "most important man in Epimediums." He has trekked though thick forest, up high mountains, and deep into dense river gorges to find some of the rarest and most exciting new plant varieties. One of the most interesting articles was from the Historic Roses Group written by another famed botanist and plant hunter, Martyn Rix. He described Mr. Mikinori's discoveries of exotic Chinese Roses. He spent ten years combing the Chinese wilderness, and has provided us with cultivated varieties of plants that, before him, very few people had even seen.

I guess it was naive of me, but I just had never thought of botanists as adventurers. I guess somebody had to go out and discover all of these things. As gardeners, we often fill our gardens with exotic plants from all over the world, provided either by our local nursery or ordered from a catalog like Wayside Gardens. Rarely, if ever, do we think about how that plant came to be cultivated. Who took the first sample of seeds or the first cutting. Some of the species that Mikinori Ogisu discovered only grow natively at very high altitudes or in deep gorges where there are no trails. The man is a modern pioneer, forging paths for knowledge and future discovery.

Tricyrtis 'Lightning Strike'

It has, for the most part, been a pretty dry year for us here in Hodges.  The last couple of weeks have shown us a healthy dose of much-needed rain, though.  I had the urge the other day to go wandering outside for a bit in the rain.  A coworker and I strolled through the Trial Gardens and the Garden Center, and I was struck as we passed some stunning little plants with small, prolific blooms.  I'm a sucker for interesting and unique blooms, and Toad Lilies are always some of my very favorites.  This was the Japanese Toad Lily 'Lightning Strike,' and each plant had tons of perfect little flowers, each white with blue speckles.  Even in the dark gray, rainy day and light fog, these plants, with their prolific flowers and gold-laced leaves, kept my attention for several minutes.  These are definitely worth a spot in any garden, especially since they're so easy to grow and produce so many flowers (as many as 300 per plant).

Paris Polyphylla Could Be the Most Unique Flower in Your Garden

Every time I flip through the Wayside Gardens Fall catalog (and I flip through it a lot, as I'm sure you can imagine), I'm stopped by the photo on page 13 of the Paris polyphylla flower.  With it's unusual leaf-like green petals arrayed symmetrically around ruby red stigma and long yellow anthers, it really is an arresting site.  It's not just unusual in our catalog, either.  Because this plant is very difficult to propagate (though remarkably easy to grow once you have a plant sprouted), it is a very rare plant.  Rare enough, in fact, that I know of no common name.  This rare little part-shade plant comes to us from the woodlands of Asia and is in the same family as Trillium.

Exciting, Intense New Hemerocallis 'Prarie Wildfire'

I love Daylilies (Hemerocallis) for great midsummer color.  The blooms are interesting, with great form and colors, and they're really easy to grow.  To me, though, the best thing about Daylilies is that these unique blooms last only a day.  Normally that might be a bad thing, but on Hemerocallis it's wonderful.  You see, healthy Daylillies bloom profusely all along their stems, and they replace fallen flowers very quickly, so you'll often have loads of flowers for the entire bloom season.  Because they're different blooms every day, though, the plant is amazingly dynamic, truly a different plant every day.  For an easy gardening centerpiece,  you just can't beat that.

I'm especially excited about the new Hemerocallis 'Prarie Wildfire' that we've just made available exclusively to our internet customers.  It's a large plant, reaching about 23 inches tall, and its particularly prolific blooms are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.  It's also relatively drought-tolerant and disease-resistant, meaning that it's especially easy to grow.  While all of that is great, it's the rich, intense color of the blooms that really sells me on this plant.  I have only rarely seen hemerocallis display such deep red tones, and they are set off perfectly by the yellow throats that each bloom sports.  So, if you're looking for a truly jaw-dropping centerpiece for your summer garden, consider this stunning Daylily.

Toad Lilies for Really Unique Blooms

I get a lot of questions from customers asking about unique and interesting blooms.  A lot of gardeners love to have centerpiece flowers that really draw the eye and make you want to lean in for a better look.  My first responses are usually flowering vines, particularly Passion Vine and various Clematis varieties.

Of course, despite my great love for them, climbers are not always the right solution.  Another of my favorite blooms that is both really unique and that you don't see in a lot of gardens is Tricertys, common name Toad Lily.  The blooms of the Toad Lily are absolutely fascinating, and really invite you to stop, come closer, and give them a nice long inspection.  They do well in full and part shade, which brings out the texture and form of the flowers and lending a certain air of mystery to the rich colors.  We chose the Tricertys 'Raspberry Mousse' for inclusion in our catalog because its very nearly solid coloring (unusual among Toad Lilies) really brings out the best qualities of the almost alien form of these small blooms.  The flowers are small; just about an inch across, but they bloom all along the stems, so the size only serves to make them all the more interesting.  If you're looking for a truly unique flower to star in your shady garden, you really can't do any better than this Toad Lily.