This week-end is Perennial Premiere at the IMA’s Madeline F. Elder Greenhouse. As some of you know, our retail shop is open year-round with houseplants and tropicals for sale. But the third week of April, we break out the perennials, woody plants, and my favorite: the summer annuals. Sue Nord Peiffer, Greenhouse Supervisor, maintains a good mix of cutting edge new plants and tried and true favorites.
Being the nature woman she is, there is also a wide variety of natives for sun and shade. For those more in to garden rooms than gardens, there’s a wide range of non-plant garden related items as well (I’m a big fan of the battery operated paper lanterns). But since I get to write this blog, I’m going to concentrate on plants- particularly the ones I like best.While the perennials will be available all season long (April – October), remember, some plants may be in short supply so members get here Friday, it’s your day. For everyone else, all I can do is suggest you become an IMA member right quick or get here early in the week-end. It’s not my fault if all the Actea/Cimicifuga simplex ‘Black Negligee’ is gone. Actually the Greenhouse gets in new plants fairly often through May and June so more may come in. Or they may not.
Looking over the perennials available, I did a quick design in my head using three plants that like sun to light shade – Heuchera ‘Tiramisu’ (coralbell/alumroot) Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Leprechaun Gold’ (columbine), and Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’ (spurge).
The thing that ties all these together is foliage. Keep in mind most perennials bloom for a month or two so foliage is very important as it’s around 7 or 8 months.
Heuchera ‘Tiramisu’ is one of the new H. villosa hybrids. The infusion of H. villosa gives us a much hardier plant and usually a much larger plant. It’s not so fussy about soil or our hot humid summers followed by vicious winters. ‘Tiramisu’ is chartreuse (Mmmm, chartreuse) and red in spring with the red changing to amber in summer then back to red in fall.
I’m going to have to watch it in my own garden to know the time-table on this color change as the information varies with the source. Pink flowers, as if I care. H. ‘Miracle’ would give the same effect if all the ‘Tiramisu’ is gone.
Aquilegia ‘Leprechaun Gold’ has gold and green variegated foliage with violet flowers. It’s nice to have the flowers but again it’s the foliage that counts, deep blue-green with gold splotches and specks.
Euphorbia ‘Fireglow’ has nice coppery green foliage in spring with a bright coral midrib.
In summer the leaves will be a deep green with red stems. But to be honest, while the foliage caught my eye, I want this one for the flowers as much as anything. Multiple sources call them orange-fuchsia. That color makes it a “must have” for me. As with most Euphorbias, it’s the bracts- not the actual flowers- that provide the most color. So with these plants you have the red in the Heuchera picking up the red in the Euphorbia, the Chartreuse in the Heuchera picking up the yellow in the columbine, and the dark green of the Euphorbia picking up the dark green in the columbine.
Another plant that would be a good addition to this little collection would be Heuchera ‘Citronelle’, a pure chartreuse (Mmmm, more chartreuse) coralbell also with H. villosa genes. Since you can never have too much chartreuse I’ll also mention Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’ (Mmmm, even more chartreuse, on Sutphin Mall) and Tricyrtus ‘Heaven’s Gate’. Keeping with the color theme is Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, Hakone grass, Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year. This is a plant that is always in my top picks for gardens and containers. It’s beautiful, absolutely flows in a design, and is very hardy.
I think the redbuds being offered will sell out real fast. Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ has purple leaves with darker than normal flowers while Lavender Twist™ is a lovely strongly weeping form with the usual lavender pink flowers. Both can be found in the gardens at the IMA, ‘Forest Pansy’ near the Garden for Everyone and Lavender Twist™ as you exit Deer Zink into the Overlook. Also available is Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ which grows in large masses outside the 40th Street entrance.
I have to mention the annuals and tropicals even if the event is called Perennial Premiere. You will have to keep these indoors or move them in and out according to temperatures. Again, some of these can sell out. Being a big fan of the bananas I was glad to see the virus tested Musa bajoo, a hardy species, will be available. I planted one of these at home last year and it got 8-10 feet tall with about a half dozen pups. Unfortunately I mulched it really late so it may not come back. For those that don’t mind things a little prickly there is the Agave bovicornuta ‘Reggae Time’, a cultivar of cow’s horn agave (bovi=bovine=cow, cornuta=horn). A large assortment of succulents will be available as these are still trending very hot. And of course we have many coleus, begonias, and flowering tender plants.
The hours for Perennial Premiere are Friday 11am – 5pm, Saturday 11am – 5 pm, and Sunday 12 noon – 5 pm. Those are just the regular hours the greenhouse is open every week (actually next week they will return to the 11am – 8pm schedule on Fridays). This week-end, all the Horticulturists will be working in the greenhouse along with the regular staff to help you make wise selections. Please join us for three special days of plant shopping and fun. Since some of you all may be unfamiliar with this concept of shopping and fun I strongly recommend you watch this important video before traveling to the IMA Greenhouse (be sure to catch the Spring Blossom Festival).
Filed under: Current Events, Horticulture