Spring Spotlight: 'Heart Attack' Sweet William

While most varieties of Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) are biennial, 'Heart Attack' is one that is known for its longevity. Bold, clusters of carnation like flowers are blood red with a hint of chocolate and a white eye. Blooming on rich evergreen foliage from mid April until early June, it is the star of our spring garden.

'Heart Attack' was an introduction from a local nursery, Plant Delights, and was found in Southern Europe by their plant explorers. It grows in zones 4a through 8b, and prefers to be shaded from the afternoon sun in southern gardens. It generally likes well drained soils, but does fine in our clay mix. This year, the blooms first started to show April 20th, as the tight buds opened one by one. Although the petals are now starting to fade and some stalks are flopping from the rains, it still makes an impact. After cutting it back I usually get a smaller flush of flowers in mid summer.... but I might wait this year so I can collect some seeds.

The deep purple winter color is also a great feature on the evergreen foilage, making it an excelent choice for year-round interest in the front of the border. The new grows appears rich dark green in the spring, as the purple coloration fades. It gets to about 16 inches in height when in bloom, and otherwise the foliage stays low.

'Heart Attack' Sweet William is one of my favorite plants, and from what I hear about its perennial nature I will be enjoying the blooms for years to come. Its rich color is made even better by a pairing with the spring blooming 'Minnie Pearls' Phlox, another Plant Delights introduction which will be the topic of my next post in the Spring Spotlight series.

"How can one help shivering with delight when one's hot fingers close around the stem of a live flower, cool from the shade and stiff with newborn vigor!" ~Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

Spring Spotlight: Small's Beardtongue

Penstemon (beardtongue) is a spring staple in the garden, and we have a couple in our perennial areas as well as wild ones that have free-seeded into the sunny areas near the stream in the back. My favorite specimen of the genus, the native Small's Beardtongue (Penstemon smallii) is no small bloomer. At over 2 feet tall and covered in lavender-colored blooms, this beauty is paid frequent visits by the bumble bees and every so often a humming bird.

The bumbles fly from flower to flower, crawling all the way inside the calyx to get the sweet nectar. Looking closely at the trumpet-shaped flower, the pubescence on the tongue-like petals makes you realize why they call it "beardtongue".

Small's Beardtongue is native to the mountain regions of the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama and grows in USDA zones 5a through 9b. In its native habitat it grows in light shade and well-drained soils, but in the garden it does best in full to part sun typical of Penstemon species. My plants (its a clump of 3) came from a class I took in the NCSU horticulture program last year, and grows in 4-5 hours of morning and mid-day sun. It blooms earlier, and for a longer period than our Penstemon digitalis varieties, starting in late April and continuing into mid-June. Last October it graced us with a second, smaller flush of blooms. I hear this is a short-lived perennial so I let it go to seed before cutting it back.

Following the heavy rains we've experienced in the past few weeks, a few stems have flopped, but it stood its ground better than expected for such a tall plant. We placed these near the front of our landscape border, near a downspout garden.  Great for the middle or front of any border or rock garden, this beauty is one of my new spring favorites and a has been sure place to spot the seasons first male hummers.

"The little purple plant, tended by its Maker, closed its petals, crouched low in its crevice of a home, and enjoyed the storm in safety" ~John Muir

Spring Spotlight: Banana Shrub

With so many things going on in the garden, its hard to keep up on what to blog! So I've decided to start a 'Spring Spotlight' series with some of my favorite plants for the season. Hopefully it will introduce readers to some new plants and inspire some gardening ideas. I imagine this will follow into a 'Summer Spotlight' and so on... but who knows! This spotlight is Brian's favorite at the moment. The smell on a warm day is pure bananas!

Banana shrub (Michelia fugo) is a member of the Magnolia family, with thick evergreen leaves and cream-colored flowers. Hardy only in USDA zones 8a-10b, it was a throwaway plant from the nursery where Brian works due to winter damage. We took it home, nursed it back to health, and it thanked us with a month long showing of banana scented flowers from mid-April to mid-May. Ours is only a few feet tall, but the shrub attains a full size of 10-15 feet tall and wide. It prefers an acidic soil so we feed it Holly Tone a few times a year.

The bugs love this shrub too! Maybe the small spider mite problem draws them in, but I always catch butterflies, arthropods, or beetles sitting on the leaves and flowers. Watching the flowers opening on this shrub were particularly interesting.. I like to think of it as a little botanical study. The bud is encased in a leathery covering which sheds as the petals grow inside. The pink rimmed petals open to show a bright green stamen. As the petals fall off one by one, the stamen is left behind and remains until a new leaf beings to grow.

Introduced to United States in late 1700, this is one of the classic evergreen shrubs of the old south, although the banana shrub is originally from China. It was named after Pietro Antonio Michele, 1679-1737, a Florentine botanist. This plant is new to my garden and we've "Gone Bananas" for it!

"To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment."  

~Jane Austen