The three butterfly bushes, Buddleia davidii ‘Black Knight’ are flowering again this year. This plant appears to be marginally hardy here in Alberta, but obviously in a protected site it can survive.
My favourite sedum in the trials is Sedum ‘Autumn Charm’. The plants are dense, compact mounds with dark green and ivory/gold foliage.
False sunflower adds a pop of bright yellow colour to the late summer garden. Many of them, however, can be just too large for small urban gardens. Heliopsis ‘Tuscan Sun’ is a dwarf form from Proven Winners that was planted last year inthe trials. It is about 65 cm tall this year and the flowers are just as bright and sunny as the larger varieties.
Bouteloua gracilis, also called mosquito grass or blue grama grass, is another one of our visitors’ favourites. It is a small fine-textured grass that is native to Alberta. The seeds heads look like eyelashes.
Agastache ‘Golden Jubilee’ is a graduate from 2008. The bright chartreuse foliage is a great contrast to the spikes of the purple flowers. A little warning though – this plant does self-seed, although we haven’t found it to be a huge problem.
The newest ligularia in the trials, Ligularia ‘Osiris Fantaisie’, is flowering for the first time. This is a dwarf ligularia with daisy-like flowers. The leaves are dark green with dark purple undersides and dark purple stems.
Echinacea ‘Coconut Lime’ is looking like it may be a winner. Three plants were put in last year. They emerged early, grew vigorously this year and are now blooming prolifically. Several gardeners in Calgary report that this coneflower has done very well for them over the past few years.
The weather in Calgary is feeling rather autumnal lately. There is even a frost warning for tonight! Let’s hope for a warm and beautiful fall. We certainly haven’t had much warm weather all summer.
August 30, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Very interesting post!! The sedum is GORGEOUS!! I would love to have this variety. I really like the dwarf heliopsis, I have many of the full sized ones, and as lovely as they are, they can dominate a garden bed. The new mulch looks great! 🙂
August 30, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Thanks for your kind comments Rebecca. Yes, the sedum is gorgeous. It’s definitely on my wish list, along with the heliopsis, the ligularia, the echinacea…..!
September 3, 2010 at 10:57 pm
I bought that Helenium because of you. It’s absolutely stunning.
September 4, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I hope it grows as well for you as it has for us! It is a beautiful plant.
September 13, 2010 at 9:38 am
You are a very dangerous lady. I bought the ‘Coconut Lime’ Echinachea as well!
I’m sorry to hear that the Perennial Trials will be winding down. I’m going to write my MLA about this.
September 13, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Oh, I do hope ‘Coconut Lime’ does well for you too! Much better to buy an echinacea that has been in the trials than to experiment on an unknown variety, especially since they can be so expensive.
It is unfortunate, but yes, this is the final year for the Alberta Perennial Trials(see my next post).