No-Nonsense Plants for the Garden
Gardening Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 3 - June 2012
As a garden instructor, I’m frequently asked about foolproof plants. Before growing
or buying new plants, I go through a mental checklist that puts me on course to
no-nonsense selections. First, I determine the function the plant must perform.
Will it be used to create privacy, as an accent plant to attract and hold viewers’
eyes or to instill a particular mood in the garden? Next, I confirm the shape,
eventual size and the grow-out time required to achieve the desired function. I
also learn about the plant’s hardiness, adaptability to urban conditions (I live in
the city) and its ability to tolerate various light, moisture and soil conditions. Care
and maintenance, including watering, fertilizer, pruning and disease prevention,
are critical if the plant is to thrive. Last, I consider availability and cost; however,
to me cost is relative, as I would rather pay more for a plant that will thrive than
buy a less expensive plant that will be only a disappointment.
In addition to my own selections, I often look to garden designers’ choices, as
meeting client needs and avoiding costly plant replacements is a must for them.
The following is a list of the attributes of truly practical plants.
Dependable Performers
Over the years, these garden
achievers demonstrate their worth
by thriving and persisting in a variety
of environments. They outperform
others and look good even under
adverse growing conditions. They
include:
Native plants that have a long
history of adapting to and thriving in
local conditions;
Plants that are somewhat flexible
to being planted in sun or part
shade such as Jacob’s ladder
(Polemonium spp.), bugbane
(Actaea spp.), various columbines
(Aquilegia spp.) and foxgloves
(Digitalis spp.);
Perennials such as daylilies
(Hemerocallis spp.), peonies, iris,
coneflowers (Echinacea spp.) and
lupines;
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A lovely and hardy cornelian cherry
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No-Nonsense Plants for the Garden
Gardening Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 3 - June 2012
Woody plants such as cornelian cherry (Cornus mas), pagoda dogwood
(Cornus alternifolia) and witch hazels (Hamamelis spp.).
Multi-Season Interest
No-nonsense plants contribute year-round aesthetic qualities to the garden.
When flowers wane, their form, fruits, bark and foliage take over. For example:
Serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.), with their white spring flowers, attractive
red summer berries, yellow-to-reddish fall colors and dusky-grey bark;
Royal purple smoketree (Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’), with its misty
pinkish-purple flowers and brilliant purple foliage;
The spectacular oak-leafed hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), adaptable to
sun and part shade with cone-shaped flowers that change color from creamy
white to amber, complemented by eye-popping purple-red fall foliage;
Fothergilla species, with their bottlebrush-like white spring flowers and
captivating red, yellow and orange colors in fall.
An oak-leafed hydrangea adds multi-season interest to the garden.
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No-Nonsense Plants for the Garden
Gardening Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 3 - June 2012
Prominent Flowers
From a designer’s standpoint, foolproof plants present their blooms high above
their foliage. As a bonus, some flowers appear well in advance of foliage,
making them even more apparent and certainly standouts when viewed from
decks and balconies. The following are a few of my favorites:
Woody plant examples include the showy redbud (Cercis canadensis) and
the shrubby Chinese redbud (Cercis chinensis), both with their pink, confettilike flowers; tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera), with their spectacular yellowgreen tulip-like flowers and star magnolia (Magnolia stellata), with white
star-shaped May flowers;
Border and meadow perennials, such as blackberry lily (Belamcanda
chinensis), lupines (Lupinus spp.), yarrows (Achillea spp.), astilbes and
coneflowers.
Feathery astilbe blooms
Abundant star magnolia flowers
Enduring Blooms
Practical plants have long-lasting flowers and, in some cases, blooms that
repeat. Here are some fine examples:
Japanese spiraea (Spiraea japonica), blanket flowers (Gaillardia spp.),
daylilies and various hydrangeas;
Semi-double and multi-petal flowers, such as the exquisite double
bloodroots (Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Plena’), coneflowers and Japanese
anemones (Anemone hupehensis var. japonica);
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No-Nonsense Plants for the Garden
Gardening Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 3 - June 2012
Plants that set multiple flower buds for repeat long blooming periods, such
as the cinquefoils (Potentilla spp.), masterworts (Astrantia spp.) summer
phlox (Phlox paniculata), dwarf bleeding hearts (Dicentra eximia) and various
repeat-blooming daylilies, irises and roses;
Plants such as flowering and kousa dogwoods (Cornus florida and Cornus
kousa) that have modified leaves (bracts) that look like showy, long-lasting
flowers.
Immediate Impact
No-nonsense plants bulk up early to make an impact in the garden. Here are my
suggestions:
Groundcovers that grow efficiently, shade out weeds and provide a stage
for other plants to perform upon, such as Japanese spurge (Pachysandra
terminalis), barrenwort (Epimedium spp.), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum),
green and gold (Chrysogonum virginianum), ajuga and foam flower (Tiarella
spp.);
Taller stately subjects, such as the spiky, statuesque culver’s root
(Veronicastrum virginicum), ironweed (Vernonia spp.), ostrich ferns, mulleins
(Verbascum spp.) and thoroughwort species (Eupatorium spp.).
Low Maintenance
Being relatively easy to care for is another attribute of practical plants. Please
note that I said “low maintenance”, as I’ve still to find no-maintenance plants.
Here are some:
If you favor hostas, search for slug-resistant varieties and cultivars. Thinner
leaved ones and those with an abundance of white tissue seem to do worse
in my garden than blue-colored hostas, which have thicker tissue. Examples
include some of the slower growing but thicker-tissued ‘Halcyon’, ‘Blue Angel’,
and ‘Blue Mammoth’, to name a few;
The increasing popularity of the beautiful river birch is in part due to gardeners seeking birch trees with resistance to the dreaded bronze birch borer;
Common hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), a native tree to Ontario, Canada, is
adaptable to a variety of soils, including dry ones, and to urban conditions,
where it is being used in parking-lot landscaping;
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No-Nonsense Plants for the Garden
Gardening Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 3 - June 2012
Ornamental grasses are popular due
to their hardiness and resistance
to disease and insects. One of my
all-time favorites is blue oat grass
(Helictotrichon sempervirens), which
is almost self cleaning, as dead
grass blades can easily be removed
in the spring by simply raking
through with a fan rake or with your
fingers;
Mildew-resistant bee balm (Monarda
‘Jacob Cline’) and phlox (Phlox
paniculata ‘Laura’ and ‘Blue
Paradise’), if kept a little on the dry
side with good air circulation, are
also valuable low-maintenance
plants.
Low-maintenance phlox (background)
and enduring daylily blooms(foreground)
Drought Tolerance
Heat, dryness and wind are increasingly a major concern for gardeners. Plants
that thrive in such conditions usually exhibit a number of moisture-saving
characteristics, such as having smaller leaves, reflective gray foliage with a
waxy coating, fine hairs on their stems and leaves to withstand drying winds
and deep tap roots to search out ground water. A few examples include:
Various yuccas, prickly pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa), Russian sage
(Perovskia atriplicifolia), lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina), lavender
(Lavendula spp.), wormwood (Artemisia) and hens and chicks
(Sempervivum spp.).
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No-Nonsense Plants for the Garden
Gardening Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 3 - June 2012
Deer and Rodent Resistance
A main concern for country gardeners is deer that browse plants down to
the roots. I have been told that starving deer will eat or try to eat almost any
plant. There does, however, seem to be consensus that some plants are
more deer resistant than others. These include plants with coarse foliage
(thorns included), hairy foliage, bad taste (some herbs) and various chemical
substances.* Examples include lamb’s ear (Stachys spp.), various pines
(Pinus), spruce (Picea), daphne, foxgloves (Digitalis spp.), mulleins, hellebores
(Helleborus spp.), wild indigo (Baptisia spp.), lady’s mantle (Alchemilla spp.)
and buttercups (Ranunculus spp.).
In my urban garden, squirrels devour my crocus and tulip bulbs voraciously. I
now interplant them with fritillaries (Fritillaria spp.), daffodils (Narcissus spp.)
and alliums that contain various substances* that seem to deter the squirrels.
In closing, note that you should ensure the no-nonsense plants you select will
not become invasive thugs and take over your garden. Talk to other gardeners,
your horticultural college contacts and rural farm cooperative representatives to
benefit from their experiences.
(* Editor’s Note: Plants that contain various chemical substances that deter
deer and rodents should not be planted in gardens frequented by small children
and pets. Read plant labels carefully to become familiar with all effects of the
plants.)
Text by Frank Kershaw
Photos by Marilyn Cornwell
Frank Kershaw is an award-winning horticulturist with thirty-five years’
experience. He teaches garden design and horticultural courses at George
Brown College in Toronto, Ontario, and at the Toronto Botanical Garden. Frank
is also a presenter at the Lee Valley Tool Ltd. seminars at the Toronto stores.
Photographer Marilyn Cornwell lives and gardens in Toronto, Ontario. Her
website is marilyncornwell.com.
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