I love the way a bed looks when it is defined by a smaller line of perennials, but I am running out of ideas. HA I thought we may start a list of small, neat rounded plants under 18". Also it would be nice to know if they are shady or sunny.
I'll start:
Coral Bells, Both, depending on variety
Lady's Mantle Sun to part shade
Coreopsis Sun A little weedy unless in bloom
Santolina Sun & Dry...
smaller perennials for front border?
the best is globe basil, william guinness columbine, and mexican primrose are my favorite, they all need part sun but do best in morning sun with afternoon shade.
Hi there ~
Neat thread....Ok, to start I like Helianthemum (Sunrose) for the front of sunny borders....evergreen, mounding plant 8-12" tall, 12-18" wide, and covered in flowers for a long time late spring, thru mid-summer....shear back and they push fresh foliage and sporadic rebloom till frost....Nepeta 'Little Tich" is a nice mounder....purple flowers all summer......Hardy Geraniums are great....many, many are neat mounders, lovely foliage, long-flowering, and many have great fall color as well....some of the Hebes make nice mound of great foliage, and the flowers are a nice plus.....
Pic shows a section of my sunny border with 2 different Helianthemum - 'Ben Ledi' and 'Cerise Queen' I am looking for other pics to jog my memory of what else I have used in border fronts...
Great thread!!!
Jamie
I love the basil. Such a nice form. & the columbine & primrose are great additions.
oooh, I love that red, One site said the helianthemum was good to zone 6. I had to do a search for both of yours... I didn't know sunrose, and my experience is limited to big straggly geraniums. This may become one of my favorites.
Thanks to you both for such good suggestions
I'd definitely do some of the sedums for front of the border. If you want taller you could do the whole heuchera family or, if zone permits, border dahlias. I love the good behavior of Aruncus. The small lavender Pumila astilbe in pale lilac is charming and well mannered. Small hosta for shade along with Japanese Silver Painted Fern. The mounding artemesia is lovely. Ajugas of all kinds for sun or part shade. Dwarf irises in clumps.
Need more coffee to think!
I bought the Key Lime Pie coral bells this Spring and it is so short that I need to move it way up front. Great color!
I love the Snow Angel.
This is an excellent thread. I only knew aruncus as the 4-5' plant. It has a beautiful leaf. & lovely mounding habit. I have mine in a part shady spot. Do you think full sun would suit a dwarf variety?
There are so many nice plants for shade...
One more grass is Japanese wood grass - Hakonechloa macra Aureola It too, is shady.
Are the lighter colored coral bells, more sun tolerant?
This message was edited Aug 1, 2005 8:32 AM
My little Aruncus takes the sun but we also plant in pure compost so that helps it.
What is that beautiful blue flower, if you don't mind? Is that the true color, or was it brightened up on a photo program so everything could show up better? You have a lovely, colorful display-and no weeds! Wish I could say the same for ours, but since my husband took over, things are a little more than natural-he tries though.
Lavender "Munstead" makes a nice edging as long as you have sun and good drainage. Same for sedum "Ruby Glow" or "Vera Jameson" and "Silver Mound" artemesia. For shade or part shade, I agree with everyone who mentioned heucheras--love them all, and also the mounding geraniums for sun or part shade. "Hermann's Pride" lamium is clump-forming and well-behaved, but avoid its cousins! Bergenia is pretty, too--unfortunately, the rabbits in our yard consider it a delicacy.
TUDDYE~
The flowers really are that blue...no color enhancement...:) It is a bulb I plant more of every Fall....Anemone coronia 'Lord Lieutenant'...they really jump out at you don't they?? Brecks has them, I got mine at
www.johnscheepers.com and this year I noticed they have doubles....I have to get some of those this year!! :-)
Here is a better pic....
Jam
I'm so glad for this thread. I am planning to redo parts of my cottage garden to get a better "flow" of plants, and I have been wondering what to put along the front edges. Some of my garden beds are rounded with tall plants in the center like butterfly bushes and hollyhocks and then graduating down in height to daylilies, Shasta daisies and irises. The shortest things I have are buttercups, dianthus, lavendar, and annual herbs. I think I just need to move things around some (actually, a lot), but I love the idea of coral bells. They might need more shade than I can provide, though. You have given me some great ideas here. I need to look up some of the plants you have mentioned.
Dianthus is a good border... especially the blue leaf variety.. I have them mixed with fescue to create a longer blue border.
And for herbs. thyme is a great one... getting to about 8" in flower, staying neat the rest of the time.
Thanks for all the great suggestions.
Jam - that anemone is going on my fall ordering list. Thank you so much for the close up of the flower: it's so beautiful. It would be ideal to put in with daylilies as there are no blues and it would give the blue color where it's sorely needed.
I agree with the dianthus thought: such nice, well behaved plants. We bought a pot of Zing Rose, for $1.00, at the end of the season one year. It's been split several times, parts given away and always looks so neat and colorful! Thyme is heavenly because of the aroma and the nice ground cover it becomes. Many low herbs (perennials) are so terrific for ground cover. The less time you spend weeding the more time you have for buying more plants!
Pirl..will you plant that anemone this fall? will it be hardy in our zone? I would also love to have it but thought it would not make it through the winter.
Ohhhhhhh Noooooooooo! I never even thought of that! Now I need the Kleenex!!!!!!!!!
I'll check on it with Scheepers and report back ASAC - as soon as coffee!
Levilya: you are 100% correct. It's hardy in zones 8 to 10. Now I know why my anemones I purchased and planted last fall never came up! I never even thought I'd have to look for the zone! Honestly - I left my brains somewhere in the garden last fall. I'll have to go dig to find them.
I've been gardening since 1968 and really blew this one! Big time!
Scheepers has them 100 for $18.75 so it would be a nice thing to split up for spring birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day, or for no reason at all - just give a dozen to a friend as a little thank you gift, or as an extra in a trade. You'd pay $9.00 for a flat of annuals anyhow and these, in that heavenly blue, are worth it. You can buy less but why? You can also buy more!!!
yes...I guess we could plant in the spring and just use them as annuals...so order this fall and plant in the spring?
Oh no! Another dilemma. I'll have to find out about that one. Still need that cup of coffee. TTYL
Most bulb companies offer Anemones in fall and spring, so you could just get them in spring instead of storing them. I have a friend here in zone 6 who frequently has them survive the winter, so I bet with some extra protection in your zone 7 garden you would see some return, or you could dig and store them as they go dormant. They are certainly cheap enough to grow as annuals though.
I love little border plants and squeeze as much variety as I can in. Primulas, various sedums, short astilbes, heucheras, pulmonaria, veronica, blue leaved dianthus, and Japanese painted ferns are some of my favorites. I have winding paths throughout my cottage garden to give me lots of places to use little gems like these.
jamie68, what is that grassy leaved plant in the lower right corner of your pic that looks like it's about to bloom? It's very pretty.
Alright, Kneff, we are back to mounding geraniums... Do you have any specific names for perhaps blue/purple or red hardy geraniums..? Neatness counts. I have a terrible time identifying them. And I don't even see them for sale around here.
Hmmm? Wonder why?
This message was edited Aug 2, 2005 7:57 AM
That is a beautiful blue! Any other blue ideas for the cooler zones?
I do not have any mounding geraniums, so I am waiting to learn about them.
Geranium cinereum 'Ballerina' is a beautiful very low pale pink with stripes.
It took me 2 hours but I finally sent Scheeper's an email and asked them about planting and risking losing them or holding them and overwintering them for spring planting.
When they reply I'll post.
Geraniums--Let me preface this by saying that I happen to like magenta, especially in partial shade or in a long border where small pale things seem to get lost. The nice thing about small mounding geraniums is that they're like the aruncus--they stay looking good throughout most of the season, and require NO attention unless you really like to deadhead. Their spent flower stalks hardly show. I've had good luck with the plain species bloody cranesbill (geranium sanguineum) and with the cultivar geranium sanguineum "Max Frei." These stay in a soft mound and don't travel much, but they do reseed somewhat if you leave them alone and you'll find little plants in the oddest places (between rocks or under small trees or taller bushes where you'd never be able to plant them but they look lovely). I also like geranium cantabrigiense "Karmina." This one is very low (6"-8") and crawls a bit. Its leaves are more rounded than the ones above and turn red/orange late in the summer. If you're looking for compact, avoid the blue ones like "Spinner" or "Johnson's Blue." For me, these grow huge and floppy, and they have to be cut back after flowering. I don't know that I've ever seen hardy geraniums in true red, but I wouldn't have been looking for them, either.
Heuchera--some take full sun quite well, although the color is affected. I have probably 30 of the old standby "Palace Purple" in short rows of two, three or four along the front edge of the long, curving border across the front of our house. Between the groups I've used the geraniums above, silver artemesia, lambs ears, cheddar pinks, etc.--mostly silver foliage plants that bloom pink if they flower at all. In back where we have mostly shade, I love heuchera "Purple Petticoats," "Green Spice," "Mars," "Amethyst Mist." I often use them in pots during the summer or fall and shoehorn them into the garden in the spring where I can find a few inches. This year I'm using "Dolce Creme Brulee" in pots. It was the Proven Winners one that the garden centers were selling in 4" pots. If it survives our z5 winter it will go into the garden, too.
Another plant I forgot to mention is brunnera macrophylla (Siberian bugloss). There are variegated versions ("Variegata," "Hadspens Cream," "Jack Frost") that are nice. They grow in sun or shade and have forget-me-not type blooms in the spring.
kneff - you mentioned the one heuchera favorite that I have, 'Palace Purple'. Thank you for all the other names: it will be helpful to me and it's a plant I don't think about looking up in Plant Files. Thanks.
I'm taking notes as fast as I can with all this information. I have Lamb's Ears too. Forgot to mention those as a border plant. They get a little messy after a couple of years, but they sure are nice the rest of the time.
The Lamb's Ears goes exceptionally well with the ajuga Burgundy Glow!
I second the Perennial Dianthus, they work realy well for me too. Other good border plants (not sure what all is hardy outside my zone)....
Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria)
Dwarf Ruellia Brittoniana
Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)
Dwarf shasta daisy cultivars (Snowcap is good)
Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) - can get wide but can be kept in bounds by trimming
Homestead Verbena (Glandularia canadensis) - also can get wide but can be kept in bounds by trimming back
Some Daylilies stay under 18 inches and make great border plants
Re: Jamie68 and her beautiful blue anemones posted early today
From: John Scheepers, printed by permission
Dear Ms. Ryan;
Thank you for contacting John Scheepers.
We strongly suggest placing your order as soon as possible, to insure the
items you have selected are reserved for fall delivery. Please be advised we
will not charge your credit card until we are able to ship the bulbs to you.
John Scheepers Tips on Indoor Planting:
Anemone Giants, Freesias and Ranunculus
Anemone Giants, freesias and ranunculus are all successfully grown indoors
with varied forcing times. They need not be precooled, but should be potted
and placed in your greenhouse or in a sunny, southern window with a 55°-
60°F temperature. Anemone Giants will bloom in about 16 weeks. Freesias will
bloom in 12 to 14 weeks and ranunculus will bloom in 10 to 16 weeks. Anemone
Giants may also be planted outdoors after soaking them in room temperature
water overnight. For Horticultural Zones 3-7: hold the bulbs in 60 F, dry
conditions over the winter** and plant 4" deep and 3" apart after the threat
of frost has passed in the late spring. For Horticultural Zones 8 to 9, they
may be planted upon receipt in the fall.
**Do not expect 100% success when holding your flower bulbs over the winter.
We hope this information has been helpful. Please contact us again for
further assistance.
Sincerely,
John Scheepers Customer Service
Cyndi
(860) 567-0838
(860) 567-5323 - fax
I then asked them if the plants would be available in the spring and unfortunately the answer was no.
Thanks, Pirl...I think I will pass on having them....there are many other things that do well..actually I would like to have the blue meconopsis..but not in my humid summers...but you might be able to. They do well in Vermont (possibly in Long Island). It is the most beautiful flower in the world.
I agree about Meconopsis. The down side, I heard, is that after flowering they die. We have tried them twice but no blooms.
I believe that ...they are apparently very difficult in the wrong situation...I didn't know that they died after flowering however.
((:-((
pirl,
I use to have anemones when I lived in zone 7b. They came back year after year. They were mostly the St. Brigid Mix (doubles) and Monarch DeCaen Mix (singles). I believe these two varieties are hardy from Zones 5-9
I planted some here this Spring so will see how they do here.
Dee
I've had them come back, too, but not the ones I bought and planted so carefully last year. Does anyone in 7a know if I put a ton of mulch on top if it would help? Or burying a little deeper?
Pirl, the John Scheepers co. does'nt put out a spring catalog; that's why they say the amemone are'nt available in spring. Brent and Becky's, Dutch Gardens, and pretty much all the sources that offer summer bulbs offer anemone in the spring.
About low, mounding geraniums; I tried Geranium biokovo and Geranium biokovo 'Karmina' this spring from Bluestone perennials and both make great little edging plants. One is magenta and the other is white with pink stamens and so far they look like they will be well behaved and both bloomed well this year.