Any pleasant surprises this year?

gardenfanatic2003

16 years ago

I had some pleasant surprises this year. I got Walker's Low nepeta and Blue Hills salvia. Love, love, love them! And so do the butterflies! Not that I expected to dislike them, but I didn't think I'd be positively enthralled. They bloomed all summer. The nepeta got kinda sprawly, but that was fine with me, because the garden was looking bare due to losses from the April freeze, so it filled in rather nicely. And the grayish green foliage is so pretty. I didn't think Blue Hill was supposed to bloom all summer, but they sure did, and a beautiful color to boot! And best of all, the butterflies went crazy for them. The latter part of the summer, there would always be dozens of butterflies flitting about the nepeta and salvia.

Another pleasant surprise - echinacea Sunset. Got it last year and it didn't do much. I think it was getting established. This year it really grew and bloomed - I love that shade of rosy/orange - don't know how else to describe it. Every morning when I got up I'd look out my kitchen window directly to where that cheery Sunset was, and it would brighten up my day. Tried to find another one this year, but they were sold out. I'm going to get one early in the season next year.

Anyone else have some plants that you ended up liking even better than you had expected?

Deanna

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Comments (3)

laceyvail 6A, WV
16 years ago
Several years ago I planted a Persicaria 'Crimson Beauty'. But it wasn't until this year, after my new back porch was built, that I really appreciated it. From that vantage point, the 'Crimson Beauty', which is just now passing its prime, stands behind a Miscanthus 'Gracillimus'. In the afternoon, from about 3 P.M. until 5 P.M. or so, the light makes those two plants absolutely glow. Other plants in the picture include Sedum 'Autumn Joy' to the right of the Miscanthus (the flower heads are the same color as the Persicaria blooms), and Perovskia.

(For those of you who don't know this terrific Persicaria, yes it is a relative of the dreaded Japanese Knotweed, but I've had it for 4 or 5 years and it's a clumper and doesn't seed around either. It's about 12 feet tall with the typical bamboo like stems, and the blooms, which appear in every leaf axil, start out ivory and turn to a rich cherry red. Fabulous!)
hostaholic2 z 4, MN
16 years ago
My Tiger's Eye Sumac and Little Bluestem, Blue Heaven. The sumac's finely cut foliage was a bright lovely chartreuse, now becoming yellow and shades of red are beginning to appear. The little bluestem was a lovely clump of short blue grass until about July. Then it became a tall blue clump with beautiful burgundy coloring along the stems. Strong winds, heavy rains, it stood up to both and great movement in the garden.
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highalttransplant
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Any pleasant surprises this year?

Comments (3)

laceyvail 6A, WV

hostaholic2 z 4, MN

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