One Fine Plant

By: Irvin Etienne

By the time this is published we should be in full gardening mode. I looked at last year’s article from the same time and found the weather to be about the same as I write today - sunny and nearly 70 a week ago and snow showers today. Just one more example of why we need tough perennials when we garden in the Midwest. I know if my bleeding hearts (Dicentra spectabilis) get damaged they will still survive, even bloom. But the show won’t be as great as when they do not get beat up by Mother Nature (she’s got a mean streak in her). Since this issue covers June and June is Perennial Gardening Month I thought I would mention a few choice ones you may want to try.

The Perennial Plant Association (PPA) chooses a Perennial Plant of the Year annually (how ironic). This plant is chosen by the members of the PPA. For 2009 the selection is probably my favorite grass, Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, Hakone grass. This beauty has golden chartreuse leaves with a thin edge of bright green. Not only is it gorgeous, it likes the shade. One of its other common names is Japanese Forest Grass. We are constantly on the look-out for shade plants other than hostas and ferns so this is a real winner. Hakone grass is, quite simply, sexy. Yes, sexy. It sways and moves like a high-priced street walker on Saturday night in a tight mini-skirt and six inch heels. This grass flows. If you planted a long line of it through your garden it would look like a stream running through your other plants. Its bright chartreuse/gold color contrasts wonderfully with dark leaved shade plants like Ligularia dentata ‘Britt-Marie Crawford’ and Actea ramosa ‘Hillside Black Beauty’ (one of the bugbanes and also known as Cimicifuga). But perhaps its greatest contribution is to texture in the garden. The fine leaves of Hakone grass contrast beautifully with the big bold leaves of hostas. Planted with hostas that have some yellow in the leaf and you have a color echo that works all season. Hakonechloa also makes a great container plant, especially planted on the edge of the container so it can flow over the side. At the end of the season just plant it in the garden and next year you can dig it back up or leave it in place. This is not a fast growing plant, it spreads slowly by stolons (underground shoots). It makes a wonderful clump 12-18 inches tall and around 18 inches wide. You may also be interested in the cultivar ‘All Gold’ which as the name suggests is all gold. It’s actually a more vigorous grower than ‘Aureola’. There is a green and white variegated cultivar called ‘Stripe It Rich’ and multiple plain green cultivars.

Other past PPA choices for plant of the year that I would suggest trying include Phlox paniculata ‘David’ (tall garden phlox), Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Leucanthemum ‘Becky’ (Shasta daisy) and Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ (catmint) for sunny areas. I’m not a big fan of the smell of Nepeta but there is no denying ‘Walker’s Low’ performs. Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose) and Athyrium nipponicum ‘Pictum’ (Japanese painted fern) are two more good selections for shade.

You can find Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ fairly easily now days but I must recommend my very own IMA greenhouse of course. There you will find many fine perennials for your garden and knowledgeable people to help (not me, I’m in the gardens). I think if you buy one Hakone grass you will soon go out to find some more. It really is one fine plant.