I think I must have 'Silver Carpet', a non-flowering variety, because this plant has never flowered for me. That's OK, I planted it for its leaves. Kids love this plant, and I do, too! The leaves are so, so, soooo soft.
Lamb's ears likes full sun and is very drought tolerant. In fact, the only way to kill it is to give it too much water or too rich soil.
Here's an annual I started from seed to fill up some new spots in the garden, and fill them up it does!
This one is huge (150 cm tall?) and I chose it for its beautiful fragrance. It is in full sun.
There are lots of newer varieties of hydrangea that can be babied through Calgary winters, but Annabelle is a reliably hardy shrub. It dies back to the ground every winter, but just needs cutting back in spring and grows quickly into a large shrub again.
Hydrangeas like moist soil and partial shade, so I have mine near a downspout and it needs no extra care.
The flowers are huge and they last and last, and they even look nice dried (I leave mine on the shrub and they look nice all winter long).
These spiky plants come in pink, purple and white, and the flowers open from the top down. You can find them for cheap, cheap, cheap if you wait and buy bare bulbs in the spring.
These are so easy to grow that I stuffed some extras in the "cutting garden" at the side of the house, so I'd have some for bouquets without spoiling the display in the main garden.
spec's: 90 cm tall, full sun, drought tolerant.
Here's the other colour of bee balm I have in my garden. This variety is also highly mildew resistant, which is a bonus.
Again, I like bee balm for its late summer colour, drought tolerance and ability to bloom in partial shade. Not to mention that hummingbirds and bees love it!
spec's: 75-90 cm tall, 45 cm wide, sun to part shade, drought tolerant, low maintenance.
This is the second year for verbena bonariensis in my garden - a butterfly magnet!
I've seen it in the perennial section of certain garden centres for big $$ but it doesn't overwinter here. I started mine from seed, and bought new seed this year because I didn't want to risk not having it again. But, my plant from last year self-seeded all over the place and now I have verbena bonariensis growing up between my patio stones! Not hard to remove, though.
The self-seeded ones are blooming only a week or two behind the ones I started inside this spring, so hooray! Looks like verbena bonariensis is here to stay.
Here's another annual I planted to fill up space in my new perennial garden this year. I threw the seeds in at the beginning of June, and now I have a lovely display of floppy pink and purple plants...
Pretty, but I don't think I'll bother again. I'm fine with perennials that need staking because I keep telling myself that some year I'll actually get around to staking them in time. Annuals? They must be extremely low maintenance to get a spot in my garden. No flopping allowed.
spec's: 60 cm tall, full sun or light shade, drought tolerant, requires staking.
This variety blooms later than my pure purple ones and doesn't get as tall, but it is probably because this one is in deep, dry shade. As you can see, it's right beside a spruce tree (as is almost everything in my yard, for that matter...)
Monkshood supposedly likes moisture but this one is doing OK with no extra care - as bonus, it doesn't require staking!!
spec's: 150 cm tall, partial shade, likes moisture.
I don't usually plant many annuals (too much work) but I started some cleome from seed this year to fill in some spaces as my new hill garden matures. I am loving cleome! It is easy to grow and the white just sparkles in the garden. The white ones have bloomed already and the white/pink mix ones are still in bud.
spec's: full sun, 1 m tall, 30 cm wide.
This is a plant I inherited with my first house. It gets almost 2m tall and looks great at the back of my hill garden, especially backed by blue sky.
It should be staked but I never get around to doing anything to support it except to leave a peony ring permanently in place. A few of the stalks eventually fall over but I see it as an excuse to cut them and bring them into the house.
Someday, someday, I will get around to properly staking my plants...
spec's: 2 m tall, full sun, drought tolerant.
OK, if I were a true sustainable gardener, I wouldn't grow astilbe. They like a lot of water and I don't have anywhere in my garden that I could put them without babying them in that department (lots of trees, too dry).
But I justify it by only having one area where I plant my shade plants that require extra water - having them all in once place also saves on watering time. This garden area also contains hostas, goat's beard, bleeding heart and ferns.
Astilbes come in a variety of heights, flower and leaf colours and bloom times. I don't know what varieites I have because I got them all in a bulk package from Costco a few years ago.
This one has been in its spot for 4 years now and is very happy. Due to the removal of a fence last year, it gets more sun than it used to but doesn't seem to mind. I have several others in my backyard shade garden.
The flowers of hostas are pretty, but they're generally grown for their foliage (which comes in all sizes, shapes and shades of yellow/green/white/blue). In fact, for some of my newer plants, I cut the flowers off for the first few years to give them more energy to grow into larger plants.
Hostas were all the rage for shade gardens a few years ago (like ornamental grasses for sun are now). For a while, I saw lots of articles recommending them for sun, too. Yes, most varieties will do fine in sun if you give them lots of water, but in the interests of sustainable gardening and the environment, I don't recommend it. I think hosta growers just want to sell more hostas! They belong in shade if you ask me.
What a terrible picture but this is my new variegated feather reed grass. I thought the striped foliage would look nice in front of the dark wood, and it fits nicely in the narrow space between my and my neighbour's gates.
It's small now, and will never get as big as its cousin, 'Karl Foerster'. It's also quite shade tolerant, another bonus in my highly treed neighbourhood.
spec's: 75 cm tall, 30 cm wide, partial shade, year-round interest.
I should really get rid of this as I know it is supposed to be very agressive in the garden. But the variegated yellow/silver/green foliage is so pretty, especially with the pink and purple clary sage and cosmos around it!
It's at the edge of the rock garden, how bad can it get? I will probably regret this.
spec's: 90 cm tall, 60 cm wide, full to partial sun, drought tolerant.
Borage is an annual herb that mysteriously appeared in my back garden a few years ago. I let it stay because I am a sucker for blue and anything that self-seeds but isn't invasive. I especially like how the hairy flowers and stems look when they are backlit in the evening - so pretty!! Plus the bees loves it. The flowers open pink and turn to blue, which is also cool.
Apparently it can be added to salads and tastes like cucumber, but I've never tried it. Anyone recommend this?
spec's: gets 60 cm tall and wide, likes full sun, self-seeds, is drought tolerant.
Another great large-flowered hybrid clematis for Calgary. Care is the same as for clematis jackmanii.
I have this planted with 'Jackmanii' and a 'Ville de Lyon' clematis, and hope the flowers will intermingle when the plants get bigger in a few years.
spec's: flower size 12 cm; height 3-4 m; not drought tolerant.
This is a common variety of clematis that does very well in Calgary. It will bloom July to frost. It produces all flowers on the current season's growth, so it should be cut down to almost the ground (the first 2 buds or branches on each stem, or about 30 cm high) in fall or early spring (pruning group C).
Clematis like cool roots, so it is a good idea to put something in front of it - either a bushy plant or a rock to shade the roots. This type of large-flowered hybrid clematis also needs to be planted near a foundation wall in order to make it through the winter.
spec's: flower size 10-15 cm; height 4-6 m; full sun
Not drought tolerant.
This plant is in my hummingbird/butterfly garden and just starting to bloom. It's also a bee magnet.
What can I say, it's pretty, blooms a long time, can take quite a bit of shade, and is drought tolerant. What's not to like? Some older varieties are prone to powdery mildew but this one is supposedly mildew-resistant and so far has been that way in my garden (this is its second year).
This variety gets about 80 cm tall and wide, but bee balm also comes in many other colours and heights. Great plant for late summer colour.
Here is another plant in my dry, south facing "ultra drought tolerant, super low maintenance" garden.
I'm not totally happy with where I put it because it's only supposed to get 60 cm wide but it's definately bigger than that and blocking out some of my lower-growing creeping sedums and hens and chicks. However, since baby's breath doesn't like to be moved (long tap root), I'll have to re-arrange the sedums sometime instead (yah right, i'll get on that right away... not).
This plant gets to be about 45 cm tall and is hardy to zone 2.
Look closely and you will see this grass in front of the shasta daisies. It doesn't look like much now - that's because I bought a $3-sized perennial in the spring this year (can't resist a deal!) and it gets quite a bit of shade.
But in a year or two this will fill in to become a large, dense clump, and I am already loving the fine, airy seed heads.
Tufted hair grass will get to be about 1 m tall and is a highly recommended ornamental grass for the prairies.
I bought a bag of mixed LA hybrid lilies last spring at Costco, and this is what they look like after 1 year. I am impressed!
I have this plant growing under the eaves on the sunny side of the house, which is the "ultra drought-tolerant, super low maintenance zone". Globe thistle fits the bill.
It's a bit floppy, so I should probably get around to staking it, but it's not the end of the world. I generally cut the flowers to bring inside anyway.
This variety gets about 1 m tall and 75 cm wide and is hardy to zone 2.
... is evil! If you see this plant anywhere in or near your garden, get rid of it, fast!
When I moved into my current house, 4 years ago, this plant had taken over many areas of the existing garden. I'm still trying to get rid of it.
My methods have been to pull up the leaves and as much of the root as possible as soon as I see the plant. Unfortunately, the roots break easily and any little bits left in the ground will turn into a new plant (which is why trying to dig it up isn't worth the trouble), so this needs to be done over and over again until the roots finally die. I have also in the past resorted to painting Roundup on a few of the leaves in spring (before any of the other perennials get too big so I don't risk getting it on plants I want to keep) but I had so much of this plant that it wasn't even worth the time and effort. Not to mention having pesticide in my yard.
This plant is in the alley behind my neighbour's yard. I wish they'd get rid of it! It can also spread by seed.
I don't know what I was thinking!!
I went to the garden center in spring, looking for a narrow evergreen to mark the top of my (future) dry stream bed on the back hill. Enamored with the weeping shape, plus the promise of beautiful fall colour, I came home with this weeping larch (larix decidua 'pendula'). When I got home, I read the tag more closely and noticed it said it needed moist conditions.
I don't have moist conditions anywhere in my yard.
I planted it anyway and tried to make sure I gave it lots of water. Apparently it wasn't enough. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be. While I do feel a little guilty for killing a tree, not to mention stupid for buying it in the first place, at least I get to go shopping again for a replacement! Thank goodness for guarantees.
[Update: I went back and looked on the tag that came on this plant, and it says "useful for rock gardens". Since rock gardens are generally hot and dry, I would call this a little misleading and don't feel so guilty anymore...]
This is an annual that self-seeds in my garden, and I always start a few from seed as well, just to make sure I have them every year. The bracts turn pink, white or purple on this plant and are very colourful and interesting.
There are few annuals I grow in my garden but I like this one because it is pretty much zero maintenance.
spec's: 30 cm tall, full sun, drought tolerant, self seeds.
