Iris x Edith Wolford and Penstemon hirsutus

Edith is one of Ben Hager's best, and winner of the Dykes Memorial Medal. The Penstemon blooms for a short time but overlaps the Tall Bearded Iris season perfectly - try it with a velvety black such as Before The Storm or Night Ruler.

Exbury Azalea - Rhododendron x. Gibraltar

One of the shortest of the deciduous Azalea hybrids in my garden, Gibraltar tops out at about 5' with fragrant ruffled flowers in smoldering burnt orange - you can see it a mile away! Introduced in 1944, it is an enduring American classic for full sun, and at its best in the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest (so long as it does not dry out in Summer).

Hosta fortunei Gold Standard

Cannot say enough good things about this Hosta, and have written aboiut it before in Growing Trends. Great, wide, sun and heat tolerant plants have masses of foliage in an excellent reverse bicolor of chartreuse-gold edged forest green.

Exbury Azalea - Rhododendron x. Klondyke

Klondyke is the gentle giant, very undemanding and now 8' tall in my back yard. This shot is of one of the topmost umbels, with me standing on my toes and I still could not get it dead-on. Excellent, mildew-resistant bronze green foliage turns warm mahogany in the fall. Very fragrant!

Broccoli Packman Hybrid

This is a fast-groing, early Broccoli with a smallish but very tasty head. Small side shoots appear after the main head is cut, and come very quickly during hot weather, so many and fast that a few may blow open with flowers before you can get to them.

Papaver orientale Pizzicato Mixed Colors

Pizzicato is a dwarf strain of Oriental Poppy from seed. The knee-to-waist high (I am only 5' 6") plants come in a range of colors including a strange, nauseating grayish plum, with flowers approaching 8" in diameter. I thought I'd try my Georgia O'Keefe thing with a plant that bloomed in the more traditional scarlet.

Iris x. Siberica Reprise

This is one of the late Bee Warburton's crowning achievements in her line of preferential remontant (quick-cycling rebloom) Sivberians. Nice, starchy, well-blocked form. Rebloom stalks begin to appear almost as soon as the first flowers have faded, with occasional bloom into August! This one has never failed to rebloom for me here in the Chicago area.

Lamium maculatum Shell Pink

Similar flower color but better silver coloring in the foliage than Pink Pewter, this one blooms on and off from Spring until frost when kept evenly moist. Tolerates full sun when well cared for.

Paeonia lactiflora Sarah Berhnardt

This fat old crone, circa 1906, with its half-pound, 6" - 8" flowers, is a far better cut flower than a garden plant! In fact, this is one of the worst of the old, floppy-stemmed dooryard cultivars which eventually led to the invention of the Peony Hoop! Keep the old bag around for vase material only, unless you are willing to prop her up every year. And pay the bucks for newer varieties noted for their better garden constitution!

Paeonia lactiflora Sarah Berhnardt

Yeah, another shot - they are kind of hard to resist and so innocent in a vase, without the usual splatter of mud!

Rosa x L.D. Braithwaite

One of David Austin's lesser known and sometimes ill-regarded English Roses, introduced in 1996. The bush is tall (to 7'), brittle, bristling with thorns and marginally winter-hardy here in Chicago, but the flowers! Classic, fully quartered, in a magnificent shade of magenta plum with a strong myrrh fragrance. Alas, I keep threatening to rip it out and may yet someday!

Rosa x. Red Ribbons

This J&P hybrid Shrub Rose is hardly ever out of bloom. It is a densely spreading, waist-high groundover and bone hardy. Very thorny - prune with caution. No fragrance.

Campanula glomerata Superba (Cluster Bellflower)

I whittled my original population of variable plants from seed down to one solidly performing plant, but decided to rip this last one out anyway - so here is the memory. If ever I grow it again I will choose Joan Elliot or another more predictable, consistent, vegetatively-propagated clone.

Heuchera (Coral Bells) x my unnnamed selection from Bressingham Hybrids

Ok, what do I do with it? It is half the height of regular Bressingham from seed, and it reblooms 'til frost, so I keep dividing it to increase it vegetatively. Is it of commercial quality? You tell me!

Amelanchier canadensis (Juneberry, Serviceberry, Saskatoon or Shadblow)

This is what my small harvest looked like before I turned it into the best damn pie I ever ate! The Petunia is an experimental trailing variety from Syngenta. My lone tree bears every other year, but I've added three A. x. grandiflora Princess Diana so in a few seasons, I hope not to skip a year between pies. Completely pest and bird resistant!

Nigella damascena Persian Jewels Mixed Colors

Why do so many people fuss over a flimsy, old-fashioned annual that is only in bloom for the better part of a week? Here's your answer! Closely allied to Adonis and Consolida (Larkspur), they are best seeded direct in late fall to late winter where they are to stand, and allowed to reseed on their own.

Lupinus polyphyllus Russell Hybrids Mixed and Rosa x. Iceberg

Lupins and Roses are a classic June combo. Despite their frailty, disease problems and general lack of stamina in our area, Lupins can put on quite a show! Try growing them in pure sand - where they seem to do fine on the Michigan side of the lake! Iceberg is very winter-hardy and reliable, but it can defoliate and look ratty in midsummer.

Vinca minor Illumination

Yeah, this newly introduced cultivar hardly ever blooms, but with fast coverage like these year-old plants provide, who really gives a darn anyway! A great, tough, evergreen groundcover for sun or shade!

Echinocereus triglochidiatus (Claret Cup Cactus)

Native to my former home town of Cańon City, CO, this is one of my more unusual successes here in Illinois - Thank You, Mom! (And pardon the cottonwood fuzz - no thanks to my next-door neighbors!). Very slow to establish, but bone hardy and quite distinct from the lone yellow-flowered Opuntia (Prickly Pear Cactus) native to northern Illinois.