What I Like

By: Irvin Etienne

As the last bits and pieces of the garden get picked up and the house is about to burst from all the plants I’m trying to save, I need an occasional reminder of why I do all this. Okay, I need multiple reminders some days. One of the reasons for my plant obsession (besides just being a plant pig) is the excitement of trying new plants. Just as there are only a precious few people you would want to spend your whole life with (if you can find one you are damn lucky), there are only so many plants you want in the garden year after year. So in addition to my can’t-garden-without-it-every-year plants I like to add some new material to the mix. These may be completely new species or just new cultivars of plants I’ve grown for decades. Whichever the case, this new plant material revitalizes the garden and the gardener. So what did I try this year that has a chance of being asked to come back next year? So glad you asked. I’ll tell you of just a few.

Red fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) has been around for nearly two decades. By around I don’t mean like your sister. I mean it has been readily available – that sounds kinda like your sister too. What I mean is you could find it for sale fairly easily (your sister again, I’m sorry). Let’s just move on. This year a variegated form of red fountain grass became available called ‘Fireworks.’ This version has vertical stripes in shades of cream, pink, and red through the burgundy leaves of the grass. The cream doesn’t last too long and changes to the pinks and reds. My plants didn’t get quite as big as the old variety but that could have been nurture rather than nature. ‘Fireworks’ fountain grass is definitely worth repeating.

Cannas are one of my favorite plants. Period. I love their foliage and their flowers, sometimes one more than the other. It just depends on the cultivar. This year I planted ‘Orange Punch.’ Grow this one for the flowers. They are intense. The individual blossoms are quite large and a stop-you-in-your-tracks fluorescent orange with a bright yellow throat. An added bonus is the way the flowers are presented. Unlike the usual upright canna flower spike, ‘Orange Punch’ flower spikes curve downward or to the side as they develop. You get a sort of weeping flower stalk. Very nice. Foliage is green with a hint of burgundy at times. Mine topped out at around 4-5 feet tall, a very easy size to use in any garden situation.
I tried two new cultivars of Torenia, Wishbone flower. Like the blue forms that have been available for a few years, these are vegetatively propagated, not from seed. I really like the blues for their non-stop color and vigorous growth. I’ve seen hanging baskets three feet long. But you need more than blue. This year I tried ‘Yellow Moon’ and ‘Magenta Moon.’ These two are more clumpers than viners. ‘Yellow Moon’ is yellow with a purple center to the flower. ‘Magenta Moon’ is light magenta-purple on three petals with the fourth a pale tan. A very unusual color indeed. But it goes great with purples and the golden amber and tan foliage of certain Heuchera (coralbells) and Carex (sedges) plants.

I hope all of you experimented a bit with the garden as well. There is no reason not to try a new plant (or seven) each year. Just think how much your sister has experimented.