Sun Perennials

• Achillea millefolium 'Saucy Seduction'- I have some of these in my "orchard" area. They have nice textured foliage and bright popping flower color.

Achillea millefolium 'Saucy Seduction'

• Agastache 'Blue Fortune'
• Amsonia hubrichtii (Blue Star) - striking fall foliage. Mine are still young and puny - they grow slowly and take a while to fill out.

Amsonia hubrichtii (Blue Star) in fall

• Amsonia tabernaemontana (Blue Star) 'Blue Ice'- darker blue flowers than the species, very compact plants.

Amsonia 'Blue Ice'

• Anemone ‘Alice’ - beautiful large double pink flowers. So far this one has shown an unfortunate floppy habit. Maybe it will bulk up with age?

Anemone 'Alice'

• Artemisia (Wormwood) 'Silver Brocade'- this silver-foliaged plant is so reflective it hurts my eyes! I may have to remove it. It just sticks out too much for me.

Artemisia 'Silver Brocade'

• Calamintha nepeta 'Montrose White' 
• Campanula (Bellflower) ‘Freya’ - the deep blue purple of these flowers made them a nice companion for my pink Damask rose.

Campanula 'Freya'

• Caryopteris (Blue Mist Shrub) ‘Arthur Simmonds’ - I chose this cultivar because it was said to be more hardy than most. It has lovely light blue flowers in late summer.

Caryopteris 'Arthur Simmonds'

• Chrysanthemum 'Glowing Ember' - supposedly these are all hardy sorts of chrysanthemums. This one has red-coral buds and rusty peach blooms. Blooms very late, mid-November here.

Chrysanthemum 'Glowing Ember'

• Chrysanthemum 'Mary Stoker' - straw-yellow. Blooms in late September here.

Chrysanthemum 'Mary Stoker'

• Chrysanthemum 'Mammoth Lavender' (?) - I'm not sure if the cultivar is correct on this one (it's definitely not 'Mammoth Coral', which is what I ordered...), but I did enjoy its truly LARGE blooms that lasted over a month in the garden (Sept-Oct here). We'll just have to see how hardy it is...

Chrysanthemum 'Mammoth Lavender'

• Chrysantheumum rubellum 'Sheffield' - pale pink with coral undertones. These bloom later than my other chrysanthemums - mid-late October.

Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield'

• Chrysanthemum rubellum ‘Sheffield Yellow’- an apricot-yellow version of 'Sheffield'

Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield Yellow'

• Echium amoenum 'Red Feathers'                    
• Euphorbia epithymoides ‘First Blush’ - this cultivar has variegated leaves that take on a pink cast in cold weather.

Euphorbia 'First Blush' flowering

Euphorbia 'First Blush' - summer foliage

• Euphorbia epithymoides 'Bonfire' - burgundy foliage year-round. This one is still tiny after several years, and seems to be a weaker grower than my other spurges. Very pretty color though.

Euphorbia epithymoides 'Bonfire'

• Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion Spurge) - green summer foliage turns burgundy in fall. This most basic and common of spurges is a great garden plant.

Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion Spurge) - bracts fade to orange in May

Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion Spurge) - strident sulphur yellow "flowers" (bracts) in spring

Green foliage of Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion Spurge) in summer

• Filipendula hexapetala (Dropwort) ‘Flore Plena’- a sweet plant with soft ferny foliage, creamy white flowers and cute pink buds. It is growing very slowly so far, but is supposedly long-lived and easy to please.

Filipendula hexapetala 'Flore Plena'

• Gypsophila (Baby's Breath) 'Pink Star' 
• Helenium 'Mariachi Siesta' - I'm hoping to add more color in late summer with this July bloomer
• Hyssopus officinalis (Hyssop)
• Iberis sempervirens (Candytuft) 'Snowflake'  - the flowers of this plant are a really glaring white. Almost a scary white. But I do love the foliage - the tight, ground-hugging plant holds its neat dark green leaves all year, long past frost.    

Iberis sempervirens (Candytuft) blooming in May

                                    

• Kalimeris incisa (False Aster)‘Blue Star’  
• Kalimeris pinnatifida (False Aster) 'Hortensis' - great little plant - blooms from summer through fall non-stop. The rabbits do chew on it sometimes though.

Kalimeris pinnatifida 'Hortensis'

• Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender) 'Munstead' - Lavender can be a challenge to grow in our heavy soil, perhaps best treated as an annual here. Did not return after the winter of 2013-2014. 

Lavender 'Munstead'

• Monarda (Bee Balm) 'Purple Rooster' - a new monarda which is supposedly mildew-resistant...
• Nepeta (Catmint) 'Little Trudy' - a super dwarf catmint which is more floriferous than most other dwarfs I've seen. So far I like it better than my other catmint:        
• Nepeta mussinii (Catmint) ‘Dropmore Hybrid’- this is a relatively short catmint, perhaps not the most floriferous on the planet. Nice blue flowers and great foliage. The best catmints are the giant ones like 'Walker's Low' and 'Six Hills Giant', but they will not grow at the feet of my roses.

Nepeta mussinii (Catmint) 'Dropmore Hybrid'

• Penstemon 'Riding Hood Blue'- I love the electric blue flowers on this penstemon. It flowers together with my late herbaceous peonies, and has fairly decent foliage the rest of the time too.

Penstemon 'Riding Hood Blue' with peony

• Platycodon grandiflorus (Balloon Flower) 'Mariesii' - a compact platycodon with deep blue-purple flowers

Platycodon grandiflorus (Balloon Flower) 'Mariesii'

• Pulsatilla vulgaris (Pasque Flower) - very early purple blooms, fine lacy foliage, and my favorite - fabulous Seussian poof-ball seedheads. Looks exactly like a mini truffula tree! It does throw seeds all around, but they are easy to pull, and if they land in good spots you can certainly keep them for a truffula forest.

Pulsatilla vulgaris (Pasque Flower)

Pulsatilla vulgaris (Pasque Flower) - seedheads

• Prunella grandiflora (Self-heal) 'Freelander Blue'- love the deep blue/purple flowers on this groundcover! This is a new plant for me, so I'm not sure how "spready" it's going to be...

Prunella grandiflora 'Freelander Blue'

• Ruta graveolans (Rue) - I admire the foliage of this rue (which I grew from seed) every time I pass it on my front walk.

Ruta graveolans (Rue)

• Santolina ericoides (Lavender Cotton)
• Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ 

Sedum 'Autumn Fire', Nepeta 'Dropmore Hybrid', Heuchera 'Prince'

• Sedum 'Thundercloud'
• Sedum album 'Murale' - this ground-hugging mat of tight green buds looks tidy all season. Foliage turns purplish in winter, and summer flowers are pale pink.

Sedum album 'Murale' - foliage

• Sedum repestre ‘Angelina’ 
• Stachys byzantina (Lamb's Ears) - I grew these from seed (wintersown). I hope they won't be too seedy themselves... they were so easy to grow so they probably will!

Stachys byzantina (Lamb's Ears)

 

• Stokesia laevia (Stokes Aster) ‘Purple Parasols’ - the foliage on this plant is nothing to write home about. But the large flowers are splendid disks of blue-purple in mid-summer. It likes full sun and requires very well-drained soil.

Stokesia laevia 'Purple Parasols'

• Tanacetum vulgare 'Isla Gold' - lovely chartreuse ferny foliage

Tanacetum vulgare 'Isla Gold' - new young plant

• Thermopsis fabacea
• Thymus ‘Magic Carpet’
• Thymus citriodorus (Lemon Thyme) - the foliage of this thyme releases a delicious fruity scent when crushed.

Lemon thyme at the foot of a damask rose

• Thymus pseudoladuginosus (Wooly Thyme) - really small and wooly!
• Thymus serpyllum (Wild Thyme or Creeping Thyme) 'Elfin' - a very tiny thyme
• Tradescantia andersoniana (Sweet Kate) ‘Blue Stone’ - this plant has somewhat unkempt foliage, which starts to decline as summer progresses. But it opens a new set of cheery blue blooms every day, and has a sort of messy charm to it that I find appealing. It does not like to dry out.

Tradescantia andersoniana (Sweet Kate) 'Blue Stone'

• Waldsteinia ternata (Barren Strawberry) - a creeping plant with dark green, strawberry like foliage that bears strong yellow flowers in spring. (No fruit, naturally.) I find it to be an attractive groundcover among shrubs, perhaps a bit aggressive for perennials.

Waldsteinia ternata (Barren Strawberry) with daffodils