Good Luck Plants

What are you loving? What are you happy you planted? What is quietly successful even if not spectacular? This is a thread in which to share what plants do very well in your garden, plants that you love for one reason or another.... form, color, aroma, special character, or some other reason.

I am loving my Russian Rock Birch (Betula ermanii) planted 2 years ago. It is beginning to develop beautiful peeling peachy-brown bark and doesn't mind clay soil stays rather wet in the Winter.

Another favorite is Osmanthus x Burkwoodii whose small evergreen leaves look good in all seasons and is about to bloom with small white flowers that have a lovely scent. It is planted by my parking spot and welcomes me home every day.

Also, Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) a small evergreen conifer whose appearance is similar to a young cedar, but will not get so big eventually.

Carex testacea, a perennial sedge with copper and green narrow leaves. Looks good with different plant combinations. I really l;ike it with a pale yellow flowered Helianthemum.

Helianthemum, a low growing perennial with green or grayish leaves that comes in several flower colors, red orange pink or yellow.

I'll have more later. What are your happy plants?

This is a fun idea for a thread!

One of my all time favs has to be the Mondo grasses, all three of the ones I've got are great and they are doing exactly as described-slowly spreading.. They make me very happy.

So far, all of my Hellebores are on my happy list.

I've got a Helenium that was mis-tagged but is 2-3ft tall and just blooms and blooms and blooms. Bees love it and it just sits there and flowers all season.

edited to add heucheras-love them, love them, love them, despite the root weevils.

Well, that's all that's coming to mind right now but I'm sure that's not all. I'm in a critical phase right now, though-evaluating things to stay and go. The bar is being set higher. This could be an interesting year around here....

This message was edited Apr 3, 2011 12:41 AM

Cornus Kousa 'Milky Way', (milky way dogwood) lives up to its reputation.

My 4 betulas also have been a delight---don't know the variety.

Foxgloves paired with hosta----keeps the deer away from my hostas, and they are just so beautiful.

Viola 'Bowles black' coming back strong right now as a perennial. Started those from seed last year, and was surprised to see them coming back for me.

Alchemilla (lady's mantle) paired with purple salvia.

Pinus sylvestria 'fastigiata'. My favorite evergreen in the yard. I have about 10 or so scattered around. I just love their columnar form. (And they looked really cool decorated 'en spiral' with white Christmas lights this past winter.)

Sango kaku (red coral bark maple). You can't beat them for winter interest---they are true show stoppers in the winter. I have 5, and they are stars.

Interestingly, the mondo grasses failed for me, so I would put those on my bad luck list. I had 2 large patches planted, but they died from cold weather. We live in a frost pocket valley, and they were very exposed, far from the house. It is good to know they do well up in Vancouver, WA. Perhaps I will try them again adjacent to the house in a protected area.

HEUCHERAS! I've actually spent whole minutes thinking about how sad I'll be if they ever go terribly out of style. Cause I love love them and they are so easy to divide (once Katie59 talked me thru my fear at slicing up my perfectly good plants).

Adding on the love for all things H - I'll second the votes for Hostas, Hellebores, and Heleniums. Alnd alchemilla mollis and black mondo grass float my boat as well - so many cool foliage combos you can make with 'em.

Also: Cardoons, Amaranth 'Oeschberg', Purple Tiger pepper, fennel and dill as fillers, nasturtiums, and poppies of all kinds! And clematis. All of them.

Well will have to say Heucheas are also my most loved plant. I think I have one in every pot. Love them. My have gone over the top as I believe I have over 30 kinds around my yard. I guess it is looking a bit like Grandmothers garden but I just have to add the newest one. Sad to say there is more coming mail order in May. Yikes--I'm sick in the head.
Just added a coral bark maple to my yard last Spring. Oh so pretty. It is in front of my arborvitae hedge. Love viburnus, at least the ones that smell good. Japanese forest grass, Have a few different kinds. They are in pots because they seem like they could become invasive.
I'm still looking for that variegated plant that was posted after the visit in Montana. It was Heliopsis Lorian Sunshine but have only found it mail order.
I also like all the rhododendrons. Very easy.

I've got patches of both black mondo grass and dwarf mondo grass underneath my Sango Kaku. I don't do much of anything to them, but I do leave the coral bark leaves down as a winter mulch. Maybe that's the reason they do well-they get just slightly covered up. It's fairly dry under there as well-but my other moister spots of mondo grass are also doing well. I have lost a couple pieces of the black if they get too much sun, though.

Yay for "H" plants :)

I also love Hakonechloa grasses and have found them to be extremely well-behaved. They seem to gently expand a couple of inches a year. Has anyone had problems with them becoming thugs?

On the subject of grasses, what luck have you all had with a full sun low water site? I'd like to plant some around and about my patio at the top of a west sloping hill. Doesn't need to be too tall or fancy, I'm after a native look.

I have a Mexican Feather grass in a sunny low-water site that gets intensely hot in the summer (by south facing concrete wall). It doesn't grow tall, is somewhat delicate looking in a small clump, but seeds itself readily. I have not experimented with other grasses because I need to research what is truly clumping rather than spreading with agressive roots. I have enough groundcover plants htat have run amok.

Heucheras! Yes! I too love Heuceras, and have a variety of colors. Some have done well for me, and others not so much. I think it is due to drainage or lack thereof. My current favorites are Frosted Violet and Creme Brule for leaf color. I had a Crimson Curls that was doing great until this Spring. I think the wet got to it. I also have one with plain green leaf color, but it pumps out the flowers and they last a long time. That one is called Ruby Bells. It is little but flashy and fun.

Another plant I really like is Nepeta 'Walkers Low' because it has cute, fuzzy looking leaves and the bloom lasts a while.

One of my favorite plants is an old fashioned single peony. Looks great all season, one of my early emergers with bright red shoots, fuschia flowers, grows with no disease or insect problems, nice fall foliage. What's not to like about it? I've divided it a number of times, both to share with others and to spread it around my place. Wish I knew the cultivar, but I don't even remember where I got it from - I think either my mother or my first neighbor.

Maury----question on your walker's low catmint----I have several, probably 40 or so. They do great, get big, pump out the flower power all summer. However, I've been disappointed by the shade of purple. It's kind of a washed out lavendar purple---rather than the more medium purple I prefer in catmints. I've also noticed the same issue with my wisteria vine---washed out looking color to the flowers. Lots of them, but rather bland color. Do you have the same issue with your walker's low? I'm wondering if there is something I can put in the soil to intensify their color.......(along with the wisteria).......??????? I've attached a pic of mine from last year so you can see what I'm talking about.....Looking at this pic, they look more purple than I recall......perhaps b/c it's so gray outside today that this pic looks like it is bursting with life. But, truly, they are kind of a bland grayish lavendar color which has been disappointing.

I'm also planning to add some more vibrant yellows and pinks to that bed, which might make them appear more purple. The bed was so pastel that it just didn't pop. And if you look closely in the pic, you can see that I made some mistakes planting 3 different things that bloom in the exact same shade of purple (Jacob's ladder, the catmint, and scabiosa). So it looked like one giant mishmash of lavendar. I will be rearranging things, and my monarda that I started from seed last year should bloom this year for the first time (growing like gangbusters in that bed) to add some pop.

I have some grasses one is the Mexican feather grass and some different carex. Love them but you do find them growing in places you didn't plant. I had a brown carex ( don't remember the name) grew in the cracks of the sidewalk.
Deb, If you want you can have some divisions of mine. Not sure if the carnex will grow in a hot area. My yard is never very hot. There a some nice grasses out there. Wish I had some room for some of the larger ones. In Chelan there are some wonderful landscapings with grasses. So pretty when a breeze flows through them.

Julia, I would love to nab some grass starts from you. I will shortly have a huge area to plant, and am looking for ways to fill it up without breaking the bank. If I can ever get out beyond our creek (currently at flood stage) I will plan to move a bunch of ferns up to start off the one shadier corner. I will get in touch with you when I get closer to actual planting time (still need to amend the soil and add in a lot of compost).

Ok then, I will start to pot up on the first dry day.

I'm not a grass lover, but I have several of these and I actually love them. Feather Reed Grass, Calamagrostis acutifolia 'Stricta'. http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/landscaping/ArkansasSelect/2003/feather_reed_grass.htm They really look great, and the "feathers" make excellent additions to flower arrangements.

Mine is not a real vibrant bloom color either, but I only have one and it is planted with an orange flowered Helianthemum and a grey leaved Dusty Miller, so maybe it is the combination that helps it look good. But I think the picture of your flower bed looks great!

Thanks---I've typed in all kinds of google searches like "how to intensify purple color in flowers".....wondering if I could add extra potassium or something that would deepen color in flowers.......???? Haven't found anything.......so if anyone knows a trick----let me know!!!!!

I heard epson salt will do that. Anyone else now about this?

Springflower! You are genius---THANK YOU! Going to try it. Upon reading, it sounds like it is useful for "producing vibrant flowers." But you only need spare amounts---1 tsp-1tbsp in a gallon of water per plant. I think right now is the ideal time to apply it. I'll probably do just 1 tsp in 1 gallon for the Nepeta, and I'll probably only apply it to 5 or 6 of them to do a comparison with the rest, and make sure it tolerates it. But I'm going to do a full tablespoon for the Wisteria. I'm so curious to see if it works. It is Mag sulfate, so shouldn't be harmful. thank you, thank you, thank you. It would make sense that my soil needs something like that b/c the heavy rains wash away minerals. (And when you look at pics of walker low catmint online, it generally is a more intense color.)

sorry, Springcolor!, not flower on the username

Huh, magnesium. I wonder if that means that adding calcium would help, like ocean pearls. I also just discovered a really cool rock dust that's basically powdered mineral rock. very cool stuff, loaded with all sorts of mineral supplements. I'm going to buy it locally, but here's a little info.
http://www.groworganic.com/gaia-green-glacial-rock-dust-50-lb.html. I'd really be interested to hear if anyone else tried this and what they think of it.

( I wish I got to see my walker's low bloom a bit better. My cat prunes it back for me....)

Oh, and I love peonies! I completely agree. They bloom heavily, get deadheaded and then just have great looking foliage the whole season.

Kosk, I don't know if it' the cold that did the Ophiopogon in. I have it in a couple of places and it's doing okay. My neighbor has a stand of it, literally, in her front yard. We're probably a the bottom of zone 7 sometimes, with the north-facing slope, being in a draw and the freezing rain with no snow cover and we're just above a wetland.

I don't think anybody's mentioned Physocarpus - I love them all. And Pieris have also done well for me. I've heard them mentioned as a good plant for Mason bees, since they're in bloom much of the time these little sweeties are out, regardless of the current weather.

I'm a big fan of Heucheras, Hydrangeas, Viburnum, and Japanese maples. Lonicera fragrantissima has done wonders for me. It doesn't blooms as much as it would in a warmer climate, but the smell is heavenly.

Love the smell of Osmanthus - burkwoodii is what I have. I love Magnolia stellata and the exotic white blossoms.

I love woodland flowers, Hepatica, Cardamine, Hellebore, Trillium. And I'm a fan of the unusual - Sanguinaria, Petasites, Podophyllum, Darmera, Podophyllum, Arisaema, Dracunculus (though I can't ever keep this alive), and Gunnera (ditto on this). Ephemerals are fun because I'm so grateful when they emerge . . .

Willows are forgiving - Hashiro Nishiki comes to mind. And my Wiegela has been tough as nails and a reliable bloomer.

Wow, Katie ! More learning to do from that list. I think the prob with my mondo is that it was dwarf and planted in the fall so it didnt eatablish any deep roots. 3 months later in december it was 15 degrees x 5 days. The grass froze solid. Then with thaw It turned to mush. Then never returned in the spring. It is listed as zone 6 to 10. That weather was sub zone 6. We are at 700 feet elevation which also contributes to a cold micro climate.

And had it been in awhile. My neighbor's has really good drainage and has been in awhile now . . . that might make a difference, as well.

I love my black mondo grass and wish it were a little less 'well behaved'. It seems to just sit there looking fine, but not putting out much new growth. I have small pink species tulips planted with it. If they are still there, they look great.

Nice idea for a thread. And I hope you will start another one when the summer stuff starts coming out. Here's my loved plant list. I've only included things that when I see them I think 'Gosh, I'm glad I planted that'. They have to be easy to care for and easy on the eye:

The H plants: Heuchera, Hydrangea, Hellebores
Alliums of almost any variety.
The podophyllum I got at Heronswood before it closed. Expensive and worth every penny. Plus the voles are not touching it.
Japanese forest grass - the best grass ever!
the small golden barberries
Spirea 'goldmound'
the combination of the golden ninebark and flowering current. Stunning together.
all of my primulas
The giant ornamental rhubarb that is so incredibly red this time of year.
the hybrid butterfly bushes, especially 'evil ways'.
my bay laurel
and my black bamboo.

So many ideas for plants I could try...but I need to remember that there are many factors that contribute to successful plants besides the basic PNW climate that we all share. I have tried Spirea because I have read they do fine in wet ground, but mine always end up looking burnt and unhappy in full sun. Hellebores on the other hand are growing nicely in the shade of some shrubs that are now big enough to provide them cover.

I absolutly love the color of Physocarpus coppertina, but the leaves keep getting powdery mildew. I wonder what I am doing wrong. I so want this to be a happy plant for me.

Willows and Weigela, both plants I have read do fine in clay soil. Thanks for reminding me of these, as both have been on one or another of the many plant lists I scribble out when reading various websites and catalogues.

I've been afraid to try a butterfly bush since I have read they can be invasive and there is a big woods next door for it to migrate to that the neighbors are wanting to keep as a native area (getting rid of blackberry, holly etc. Are they hybrid types different, so I could safely plant one?

Most of the butterfly bushes you buy are sterile and will not seed. It's the wild type that takes over. I have never had a seedling. Not one. Get a named variety and you should be fine.
I wonder why your spirea is unhappy in your sunshine? They are commonly used as landscaping plants because they are practically bullet proof. That's too bad. Maybe the darker leaved varieities would work better.

Another plant I love: climbing monkshood. Planted on the north side of my house, it climbs into an old rhody by the front door and blooms in the fall.

Well then, I'm going to get a butterfly bush. Hmmm, now to choose a color. Maybe one of those ones with two tone flowers that I have been admiring.

I might try a spirea again now that I have a few spots where things died over the Winter. See, this is the good part about plant loss, it gives me an excuse to go plant shopping.

Another few plants I love:

Prairie Fire crabapple. It leafs out burgundy and then has pink flowers.

Trumpet lilies with their tall stalks and dramatic flowers. I think the ones I have are called Golden Splendor and African Queen. Dramatic names too.

Pulmonaria, because it has both interesting white spotted leaves and early Spring blooming flowers.

Saxifrage, a cute little ground hugger that is sending up little reddish flower buds right now. There is also a white flowered version that I tried to get going, but it got swallowed by some fast growing neighbor.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2011 10:43 PM

Pixie, I have never heard of a climbing monkshood. I do have one that I have been moving around trying to find a good home for, and perhaps it has tendencies to climb rather than stand up straight. The variety is Henryi Spark and it just sprawls. Started out on the east side of the house with two other monkshoods. Moved it to an inside corner on the west side which gets strong afternoon sun. Still seems to be reaching for the sun or perhaps just flopping. I was going to move it to a full sun spot this year, but maybe I should try giving it a plant to grow into. How does yours climb?

I love those little saxifragas, too. Here's one of mine this morning. 'Highlander Rose shades'. They are darling.

Holly, they have a good deal on the bicolored butterfly bush at Mcclendon's right now. Don't know if you ever get over that way. I love all the plants you listed. My pulmonarias are so cheerful right now. I do love their spotted leaves. I think my crabapple is Prairie Fire. I love it.

Deb, I think the one I have is Aconitum hemsleyanum. It twines through the branches of the rhody, but it does not cling. It's a vine, though. I have found that my other monkshoods need more sunlight than where I had them and I moved some to a sunny spot last year. They got really tall and lanky and couldn't stand up, so I figured they were reaching for the sun. We shall see how they do this year. They reproduce easily in my garden.

Love the saxifrages. I've killed so many of them the little bun shaped ones. I have a ground cover one that apparently is surviving, of course.

Orchid cacti - ^_^ I can only kill them when they are rooting. Past that they do well.
Catmint - I have very little luck with catNIP but Catmint fairs well. It even does well in the house. I butchered a 6 inch plant, to divide it, and have 3-4 plants now.
Monarda - It started doing great when I realized the tag that it came with was wrong. It doesn't fair well with mice around though.
Lupine and Columbine - I couldn't kill these even if I tried.
Peppermint - I don't water it, I don't pick it, I ignore it. You could say all mint is like that but I actually killed my spearmint.

I like the little saxifrages too, but I've also killed a lot.

I've decided that another plant I want to put on my good list is Saruma Henryi. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Soft gray felty leaves, light yellow flowers, hardy, not too bothered by critters, looks good all season..... I haven't had it all that long, though. I think I got it in Spring 09, so it's just past its second winter. Maybe it's too new, but I just love it anyway. I really hope it sticks around.

That is a stunner. Have you seen Cistus' new on-line catalog w/photos? Be still my heart. I have a list of things I love but I won't get many of them. http://www.cistus.com/mail_order/plant_catalog/a-b.html
Check out Buddleja colville. Very different. I probably have a place for that one.

Pixy, is this the same woman who brought down a massive and impressive truck load of plants/pots/windows/who-knows-what-else to Lynn's house very recently? I thought you were DOWN-sizing?? Although I guess one can still dream...

That is a nice buddleia-if the flowers are the scale I think they are, it seems kind of like a panicle-y version of a weigela bloom but more interesting. Very cool.

I think I got an email about the new Cistus catalog but hadn't let myself look-now I have (ahem!!)--they've done a really nice job with it, although I can't let myself scroll through very slowly as it would be too easy to find stuff I want--and then drive there....

BH, if Pix can find a way to indulge her love of all plants fabulous and extraordinary and still simplify, I'm all in favor! More power to her! I wish I was that good a gardener...maybe I'll learn a few things...

Oooh. Should be going to bed. But check out the podophyllum pleianthum . . . Melissa, why oh why did you have to tempt me?

Deb, believe me, I AM downsizing! LOL! Well, simplifying, anyway. It's hard to downsize a yard. It is what it is. The size is already determined. And I lost several things, more than several actually, to voles over the last years. (thank goodness I think they reached their population peak last year. there is less damage this year for sure.) So I'm replacing things that are either on their last legs, are too hard to care for, etc, with easy-care shrubs. But just because something is easy to care for doesn't mean it has to be boring. So I'm always looking at shrubs. The goal is to satisfy my plant lust without going overboard. I've been very, very good. Frighteningly so, actually.

Katie, I had to tempt you because misery loves company. LOL!

Also on my lust list from cistus: Gunnera prorepens (wondering if I could use it to cover the veggie filter for my pond)
Lithocarpus densiflorus var. echinoides
Lonicera crassifolia
Mahonia eurybracteata
Ribes x gordonianum
Senecio cristobalensis
Trachelosperum asiaticum 'Theta'
Cestrum parqui

No, i can't have them all. I just like these. Now to create a Joy creek list.

Hm, does this mean you're contemplating a road trip? (I'm afraid to look at any of those, lol.)

arrgh, that Trachelospermum is fantastic!!!


(so much for not looking, lol)

This message was edited Apr 21, 2011 8:59 PM