Beyond the Bloom!

KCB is a professional gardener and friend who does wonderful work in the Greater Portland area. KCB is also an accredited Master Gardener by the Cooperative Extension Service and we are honored to have KCB as part of our Skillin's Garden Log family. KCB can also be found at the awesome Finishing Touches website.


The following is the basis for an exciting Beyond the Bloom Class that was held Saturday, April 17 2010 at 2 PM at Skillin's Brunswick, Cumberland and Falmouth.

For a great companion article to this post click here  for a recent piece titled "Foliage takes top billing over flowers in leafy landscapes" by Valle Novak.



Who doesn’t love bright bodacious blossoms? Nevertheless most blooms of our favorite perennials are fleeting. Get the most bang for your buck by incorporating plantings that offer interest long before and after the bloom has blown.


Consider the following for a landscape that offers 4-season interest:



 TEXTURE

o Combine Strap-like spiked leaves with bold broad leaves.

 Daylilies with Heuchera

 Ornamental Grasses with Sedum

o Complement lacy greenery with succulents.

 Hosta or Bergenia with Astilbe or ferns

 Succulent

• Sedum

• Ajuga

 Evergreen - Other than the usual subjects (needle and broadleaf shrubs)

• Astilbe, Heuchera, dianthus, ajuga,

 Lacy

• Ferns, Astilbe, Yarrow and Artemisia

o Tree Bark

 Paperbark Maple

 Birch, Paper or River

 American Beech

 Winter Honeysuckle

 Shag Bark Hickory

 Hornbeam

o LOOK FOR COLORFUL FOLIAGE. Combine Silvers w/burgundy, Neon greens & yellows w/deep green or blue green.

 Silver (these also have the added benefit of ‘glowing’ in the moonlight)

• ‘Snow in Summer’

• Wormwood

• Lambs Ear

• Sea Holly

• Munstead Lavender

 Burgundy-Perennials

• Endless list of heuchera

• Sedums

• Astilbe

• Bugbane

 Variegated

• Perennial Cultivars with variant greens, creams, and yellow foliage increase almost yearly.

o Hosta, Iris, Solomon’s Seal, Obedient Plant

 Other: Japanese & Ghost ferns Silver with Burgundy-a must for any shade/woodland garden.

 Succulent

• Sedum

• Ajuga

 Evergreen - Other than the usual subjects (needle and broadleaf shrubs)

• Astilbe, Heuchera, dianthus, ajuga,

 Lacy

• Ferns, Astilbe, Yarrow and Artemisia

 Fall Color

• Ferns, bloody geranium, grasses, Hosta

 SHRUB-SHRUB CULTIVARS WITH INTERESTING FOLIAGE

• Nine Bark

o Diablo

o Dart’s Gold

o Coppertina

• Black Lace or Black Beauty Sambucus Elderberry

• Weigelia

o Wine & Roses

o Fine Wine

o Red Prince

o My Monet

• Willow

o Hakuro Nishiki Willow

• Hypericum St. John’s Wort

 Berries

• Cotoneaster, Virburnum, Winterberry, Beautyberry. elderberry, Shrub St. Johns Wort

GO BEYOND SIGHT-INCLUDE ALL SENSES.

 Plant a fragrant shrub under a window

o Clethera

o Roses

o Lilacs

o Bugbane (perennial but tall enough to reach a window

 Some ornamental grasses offer a soothing ‘swish’ sound in the breeze.

 Many plants are tactile

o Lambs Ear

o Cone flower ‘cones’

o Creeping Thyme

o Allium

o Lady’s Mantle