By Country - New Zealand

Want a long-blooming, low-growing easy-to-grow, winter-hardy perennial Look no further than Soapwort , Saponaria x lempergii Max Frei. You may already be familiar with the spring-blooming Rock Soapwort ( Saponaria ocymoides ). I grew it years ago and loved its warm, pink flowers. But, as things go, I got rid of it. I dont remember exactly why. Saponaria ocymoides Back in 2013, while perusing Digging Dog Nurserys website I found Max Frei. I liked that it was a summer bloomer instead of spring and I knew exactly where I wanted to grow it. I have it cascading over a small rock wall, with a similarly colored hardy Fuchsia called Pink Rain nearby. The most challenging thing about this plant is trying to get my camera to capture the right color of the flowers. Theyre a more on the cool...

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After a rare--for August--rainy morning yesterday, most of the taller perennials are bowed over from weight of the raindrops. Especially annoying is the Phlox paniculata and if its flowers werent so delectable to the swallowtail butterflies, I might be tempted to cut it all back. Sanguisorba hakusanensis Lilac Squirrel isnt leaning as badly. And it is my plant of the week! Check out the flowers and youll see why it is called Lilac Squirrel. This winter-hardy perennial (Zone 4a to 9b) starts out as a 12 inch wide basal clump with dark green, serrated, pinnate leaves. The green leaves belong to Lilac Squirrel. The leaves edged in white, to S. Dali Marble Starting in July, flowering stems rise to 4 or 5 feet (in my garden) and produce bodacious pink boas as Digging Dog Nursery in California calls th...

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When I was about four years old, I distinctly remember the magic of fragrant flowers. It was the face of a pansy flowers soft petals caressing my nose. One of my parents had planted a bunch of them in our front yard on the other side of the driveway. To this day, when I stick my nose in a pansy blossom, Im that four year old once more. Circa 1964, My little brother Ronnie and me Fast forward six years and Im in Hawaii, discovering good and bad things about life. The good things included fragrant flowers. I remember my mother taking us to visit one of her wealthy friends who lived in a beautiful house and garden on a hillside in Kailua, Kona. Included in the landscape was a ginormous, blossoming Gardenia bush. Back in Oregon as an adult, my love of plants has never wavered and I continue to love a fragrant flower! Years ago I boug...

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In 2007, I bought Mukdenia rossii Crimson Fans after somewhere seeing--I forget now--photos of the pretty leaves. I remember that I spent $18 for a one gallon and at the time, it seemed like such an enormous sum to spend on a plant--such an extravagance for a penny-pincher like myself. It grew. Its an easy plant with no fussy requirements at all except moist soil. (But wait.) Its deciduous and in spring, it pushes up new leaves of bronze. There are also these comparatively banal flowers. The flowers persist as the leaves grow. Eventually, if the conditions are right, the green leaves develop a pretty crimson margin--the Crimson Fans. Yes, Im a fan of the crimson fans. And this, my friends, is where things get tricky--if the conditions are right being the operative p...

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Here is a cutie pie. Herons Bill ( Erodium manescavi ) is a long-blooming, sun-loving front of the border beauty. It is also a nice rock garden plant and will reseed a little if one is lucky. I got my plant from Robin Parers Geraniaceae Nursery back in 2018. I knew exactly where I wanted to plant it, under full sun, in loose soil by my outer pond. It has been growing here ever since, slowly expanding its ferny foliage and increasing its flowering stems each year. The flowers are a cool, lilac color with slightly darker veining on the petals. Once the flowers finish, the seed pods develop their signature Herons Bill look. But that doesnt mean the show is over as more flowers continue to bloom... ...enhanced by the soft, ferny foliage. Here is my plant a few weeks ago: ...

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After a ridiculously long self-imposed hiatus from my blog, Im back. Again, it wasnt easy to pick a favorite because, as all plant people know, there are so many plants to love. But with Belle Etoiles exquisite fragrance wooing me as I meandered my garden paths, I chose to focus on her. After all, she is in her finest element right now. In early June Philadelphus Belle Etoile or Mock Orange explodes with hundreds of three inch flowers on lax branches. They emit a powerfully, sweet, slightly citrus fragrance. I bought this shrub back in 2007 from Dancing Oaks Nursery. But nowadays you dont have to seek out a specialty nursery to find it since its fairly readily available. My plant is growing in part shade and still puts on quite a show. A variegated shrubby dogwood ( Cornus alba Argenteovariegata...

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Hi Plant Peeps. What to choose, what to choose for the plant of the week So many plants are worthy of a post, as you fellow plant lovers know. After much contemplation, I decided to go with this lovely variegated Spiraea. Spiraea x vanhouttei Pink Ice. This plant is one of the legacies of the now-defunct Fry Road Nursery. It came as a spunky little thing, in a four inch pot or it could have been a plug since I bought a lot of my plants that way back in the day. This one specifically in the year 2009. Any plant with pink in its name will pique my interest and I swoon over variegated foliage too. I was defenseless against this beauty. This is how it looked a few weeks ago as the flower buds were forming. The little sputnik flower buds, protruding from their bright pink petioles are utterly charming. Event...

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