Quick, google Russian flowering sage! and then look at "images" ...there are several pictures of the sage with different dark pink or red flowers: coneflowers, roses, gaura, a red salvia, look and see what you like!

one that I liked in "images" was the gaillardia...nice contrast with the purple finer type flowers. Plus, I planted some of those dark red gailardia and they are pooping out in my heat. I'm going to go cut off the blooms now and see if that helps. I thought they were made of iron!

Thank you rginnie! I've literally googled hours for this, but it's hard to find something hardy to zone 3a, shorter than russian sage and that would look good as a bordering plant. I had seen gaillardia, but wanted something red, with no yellow. Well I just googled (again) and saw that there ARE red varieties hardy to zone 3.

I'm going to have a busy week-end visiting nurseries, trying to find it! :)

Many thanks,

Marie

Marie, I have found gaillardias not to be hardy here in z4. They bloom profusely if kept deadheaded but haven't survived winter more than a few years. A really cold winter killed off every one of mine. They are easy to start from seed though.

mnwsgal, oh no! Well, I might just try a few specimens then, instead of purchasing a whole bunch. We have a very reliable snow cover (at least 6 feet), so I maybe I'll get away with it.

Long flowering might be a problem...but how about lychnis chalcedonica, silene lacinatum, antirrhinums, icelandic poppies, lupine, geum (although not sure how hardy the chiloense cultivars are) arabis, aubretia, lobelia

The composition of your soil will have as much relevance as the temperature zone - for many plants, the killer is winter wet rather than winter cold. Clay soil can present some problems for plants which require sharp drainage.

There are some hardy roses appropriate for z3 although they may lose foliage above the ground in winter...and in the red shades, there are a few procumbent types which might have utility.

Thank you for the list, campanula! I'll make a note of it and try to find them at local nurseries.

Heleniums will be doing their thing at the same time as the perovskia - I am fairly certain they are hardier than gaillardias, and a cultivar such as Sahin's Early would look stunning in front of RS.

How about a red-flowering coreopsis? There are so many varieties available these days, and they are dependable re-bloomers.

The red coreopsis won't work in zone 3 . . . I can't keep them alive here in well-drained soil, so I doubt they have a chance in zone 3. The older yellow and gold varieties are hardier IME.

You could try some of the hardier Dianthus/pinks. I had one, Brilliancy, that bloomed literally all summer from early June through some time in September, and it was really red with only a tiny hint of magenta.

This chart has some red roses with repeat bloom that are hardy to zone 3 and are in the 2'-3' range.

There are a couple of really rich red yarrows, which are hardy to zone 3 and like similar conditions to Russian sage, and with regular dead-heading will bloom for a long time. Check out Red Velvet and Red Beauty.

I don't know if bee balm (Monarda) is hardy enough for zone 3 with good snow cover, but if it is there are a couple of types that are shorter, in the range of 2', and at least one, 'Fireball', is red. It does like to take over territory IME however, so you will need to pull stems that reach out, or plant it with a barrier.

I just came back from the nursery and bought Lychnis arkwrightii on sale. But i think i'll go back for monarda, thank you for the suggestion, NHbabs!

If it survives our winter, fine, if not I'll try other suggestions on this thread.

thank you everyone, your input has been greatly appreciated!

Marie

Ooh great choice - had forgotten about that - my eldest grows 'Vesuvius' in a customers 'tropical' garden after numerous fails with snail-plagued lobelias.

Had to look that one up. I agree - great choice for both foliage and flower combos.

Knautia, Persicaria or Dahlia?