Midway through the summer I paid a visit to our friend Louise Tomchin whose Cicero garden was featured in the July/August issue.
“Come and see what I’m doing this year,” she said, and I gladly obliged.
I hadn’t even stepped onto the front porch when I was stopped in my tracks by the largest and most beautifully grown pot of Dragon Wing ™ begonias I’d ever seen. With a profusion of small but vibrant red flowers arching over a 30-inch wide foundation of shiny dark green leaves, it made me realize anew that this is one superior plant, and I made a mental note to buy it (or its pink cousin) for my own garden next year.
Dragon Wing hit the market a few years ago and it remains a standout. The same goes for the ‘Victoria Blue’ annual salvia, now perhaps 20 years old, which sends up deep-blue flower spikes until frost on foliage that never turns ratty or attracts critters.
And if you plant masses of the blue salvia near your magenta phlox, I, for one, will throw you a big happy kiss as I drive by. I’ve seen enough pairings of magenta phlox with that harsh gold Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ to last a lifetime. While magenta phlox is too rambunctious to ever disappear from the mid-summer garden, toning it down a notch with blue –and maybe some of the excellent new white KnockOut® roses—would make it far easier on the eyes.
Speaking of white, I got to try out a wonderful new alyssum that’s going to be in the garden centers next spring—‘Snow Princess’, an introduction from Proven Winners that is more vigorous and, frankly, exciting, than any alyssum I’ve ever seen. Big, fast-spreading, with brilliant white flowers, and you don’t have to do diddly to keep it at the top of its game. Definitely a plant that’s been eating its Wheaties.
And for something completely different (but equally reliable) be sure to add the stunning new ‘Henna’ coleus to your shopping list. Developed by Ball Horticultural in West Chicago, it has slightly ruffled leaves that are a rich deep red on the underside and a hard-to-describe lime-gold on top—a look that’s transformed when illuminated by the sun. I grew mine in the ground with mostly shade; Bill Aldrich grew his in a large container in front of the Chicagoland Gardening office where they got some sun. Super performance in both situations.
You may hear more about the lobelia and the coleus when Jim Nau, Ball’s trials and new products manager, writes about his favorite 2010 plants in our January/February issue. Back by popular demand, this issue will again be a year-long planning guide brimming with useful information.
Plenty of helpful info in this issue, too. Ideas galore for holiday decorating, houseplants, winter projects, bonsai care, a new daytrip destination, inspiration from two very different home gardens, and finally, an answer to that deeply burning question—what is permaculture? Hadn’t heard of permaculture before? Never mind, you will.
