Rozanne and Dusty Miller

I realized I haven't posted pics of the new garden yet.  It's coming together, what with limited budget and lack of free time.  This is a combination I quickly fell in love with.  The perennial Geranium 'Rozanne' will stay low and spread far and wide with it's wonderful little blue-purple flowers, a perfect edging plant for the new foundation planting.  The dusty miller (Artemisia stelleriana) is the fabulous silver foliage in the background that only thrives in my lousy, sandy soil.

To have my own garden after thirteen years in the industry I am beside myself, as you might imagine.  So don't worry, plenty of more pics from the home garden will follow.  For me it's about process, the adventure and what you learn from it that makes you a different person than you were before.  Of course that being said I want the garden to be better and bigger and faster growing already.  I suppose one of the reasons I love horticulture so is because it teaches me about patience.  I am always quick to remind people that "time takes time", and I see now how much I need to listen to my own advice.  The challenge will be to post the imperfect pics since I've only become more of a perfectionist.  But we'll get there.

Plant ID: Rudbeckia maxima

Everyone knows Black-eyed Susans. The reliant summer blooming Rudbeckia fulgida and related cultivars and varieties hold up really well in a number of situations and it's no surprise they are loved and planted by millions. Just today I was walking and passed a patch planted in front of a local brownstone and had to remark to how great they looked. However, many are not aware of the other great species out there within the Rudbeckia genus. One wonderful player is a tall herbaceous perennial I get asked to identify a lot this time of year. This is Rudbeckia maxima.
From the base of blue-green foliage and leaves that are often over 4" in size emerge these tall flower spikes that can reach up to 5' in a happy full sun application.
Hardy in Zones 7-10 these definitely add a great tall element to your perennial garden design. As you can see the ray flowers are that awesome standard Rudbeckia yellow while the central cone of disc flowers are a rich brown that really stands out and draws the eye. This is a good looking clump but admittedly has taken some time and TLC to get established. For maximum impact I like to plant them close and make a nice big cluster of them.
And yes, it's a native species so the local insects and wildlife love them too.

Digitalis (foxglove) gallery

In the photo above you are looking at a number of wonderful perennials and woody shrubs that clearly work together sensationally. In the background you have the bluish foliage of the Rosa glauca on one side and the rounded Berberis thunbergii on the other with those fun purple lollipops of ornamental Allium bulbs which get planted in fall for this great spring show. Then the variegated (fancy botanical terms meaning 2-tone, most often referring to leaves that are green and white) Miscanthus and the Hydrangea macrophylla, the rest of the backdrop for the Iris sibirica and those rocketing blossoms, Digitalis purpurea.

Foxglove as they are commonly known, Digitalis purpurea is a biennial, which is a plant that goes through it's entire life cycle in two years. In the first year the plant produces it's roots and a basal rosette of foliage. It is then in the plants second year that it will produce this tall spike of gorgeous bell shaped flowers. After that the flowers will go to seed and the plant will die away, hoping the dropped seed will take and lead to their next reincarnation in the garden. Every year in the Conservatory Garden Curator Diane Schaub likes to incorporate a few dozen foxglove into the perennial beds to give them that extra spring punch.

Here are a few "hort porn" macro shots I shot the other day.
You can see the intricate markings on the flower which guide in their specific pollinators, which I assume to be bees.
This mix, ranging from white to peach to pink to this stronger rosy shade, is sold in the trade under the name 'Excelsior'.

Happy New Year!

Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' in front of an array of ornamental grasses, herbaceous perennials, and an oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) under fresh snow in the Conservatory Garden, Central Park, New York City, New Year's Eve 2010.

nice combo

Earlier in the day the light was hitting the pink Astilbe in such a way that it really glowed. By this point in the day the Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' was taking more of the attention with its fabulous yellow sprawl. The fine foliage to the left is an annual, Ammi visnaga 'Green Mist', a new one to me this year. I suppose cosmos could work too, as well as some other fine leaved options in the 2' range. The evergreen backdrop is hedged Ilex crenata. I liked this little vista today.