I love foxgloves! They remind me of stately, old English gardens. Late June is when they look their best and are standing tall — except if it rains. I don’t normally stake my foxgloves, but find it necessary when we get a pounding rain, like we did yesterday. As long as the flower spike isn’t snapped, they can be slowly stood up and tied to a thin bamboo stake. We have several species and hybrids – Digitalis lutea, the yellow flowering foxglove is bit understated compared with other showier varieties, but it tends to be longer lived and you should see them persist in your garden for 5-10 years. Digitalis purpurea ‘Chamelot’ series reliably blooms the first year and it is making a real show right now in my yard! The bumblebees love it too! If you don’t want seedlings throughout your garden, be sure to remove the flower spike when there are just a few flowers left to bloom on the tips. Don’t forget, these are biennials and will produce a flower spike one year and a rosette without a spike the following year. Foxgloves are most effective in the garden when they are massed in groups and make outstanding verticle accents in any garden.

Digitalis purpurea ‘Chamelot Rose’

If you’re like me in the spring, you can’t wait to try new ideas and plants for your garden. Here are a few simple tips to keep in mind when refreshing your gardens:

• Test your soil. Here’s a great source for information on where to send soil samples
• It’s okay to pull older varieties of plants that aren’t performing as they once did. With all the new cultivars coming out every year, it’s easy to update your garden with the newer varieties
• Make sure plants are not shading or crowding out other plants- prune woody shrubs and divide perennials
• Add organics to your garden soils – I especially like cow/horse manure and milorganite
• Try different and new textures in your garden. Is it all perennials? Try softening it with grasses or creating a focal point with an interesting woody shrub
• How about adding some bold, bright tropical plants? Bananas and cannas would fit the bill nicely. Or add some really bold annuals like lantana, verbenas, sunflowers!
• Try adding garden art- fountains, statuary, etc.

Happy planting!

The CK Pat Perennial border in early June here at the Garden

 Posted by Cynthia Druckenbrod

The Woodland Garden is full of hidden treasures. Many of its interesting plants don’t really leap out at you demanding attention. Instead they simply grow, awaiting the curious or leisurely visitor to discover their hidden charms. 

One of these subtle charmers is the little native perennial known as Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense). It forms colonies of heart-shaped leaves about 4 inches tall. The common name comes from the spicy aroma of its roots. The plant is not related to the culinary spice (Zingiber officinalis), but aparently was used by Native Americans to flavor foods at times.

Another common name for the plant, Monkey jug, is used in the southern states. This seems like a whimsical description for the odd little brown flowers that sprout from the base of the plant in springtime. Not really visible from above without pushing apart the leaves, they seem well-suited for pollination by crawling insects like beetles and ants.  

Posted by Ann McCulloh

Lots of flowers have “lily” added to the name: lily-of-the-valley, waterlily, daylily, calla lily, to name a few. It’s understandable – the lily is an archetypal flower, equal to the rose in history and symbolism, with thousands of years of reverence attached to it. Those other “lilies” have plenty of charm, but none of them have the sheer presence of the true lily.