Serenity in the Garden

Try  planting  Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'.  And pair it with Baptisia Cherries Jubilee. A deer resistant, native, drought tolerant, purple, long lived perennial! Wow! Photo - Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden - Puple Smoke Baptisia and Carolina Moonlight Baptisia It is a hybrid of  B. australis  and  B. alba and is a vigorous grower.   Discovered by Rob Gardener of the North Carolina Botanical Gardens, it has charcoal-gray stems and is purple.   Baptisia is a native perennial that has a long taproot, loves sunny sites with lean or poor soil. Average to dry soil is best.  Its deep tap root allows it to survive long dry periods, making it a challenge to move once it is established.  Purple Smoke from Bluestone Perennials The flowers resemble lupines and are smoky violet. Numerous flowers open first at the base of the flower stalk in May and ascend upwards, topping out at 4.5' tall. It has fine te...

In 2013 the  Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)  announced its " Plant of the Centenary" - the best plant introduced at the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK in the last hundred years (1913 - 2013). Top horticulturalists helped to nominate the 10-plant shortlist and the public voted and decided that Geranium Rozanne is the best overall plant.  Right now, in August, you can see why they chose this plant - it is a sturdy perennial that requires little attention and is covered with beautiful, violet-blue flowers growing atop mounds of deeply cut, green foliage. Geranium Rozanne, Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' and Blue Annual Salvia at NYBG  - photo by Jan Johnsen  It flowers in profusion from June to frost. Midsummer heat does not deter the flowers and the plants are spreading but not sprawling. It is mounding and can be planted above rocks and walls to great effect. The blue color of the flowers deepens as the weather gets cooler. T...

Amsonia Blue Ice  by Monrovia Nurseries The Blue Star perennial family -   Amsonia tabernaemontana - has a hybrid cousin,  Amsonia 'Blue Ice'  that is an amazingly vigorous, low growing plant with deep blue flowers.    photo by Jan Johnsen Amsonia 'Blue Ice'  has a white, milky sap that is toxic to deer and more. Yay!  Amsonia 'Blue Ice' is easy to grow and drought tolerant.  12-16" tall, 18-24" wide. Needs full sun. It blooms from late spring to early summer.  amsonia Blue Ice fall foliage is stunning - photo by Jan Johnsen It grows in a 15" tall by 2' wide mound of narrow, dark green, deer-resistant foliage. And in spring it is topped with large clusters of lavender-blue flowers which are more vivid than other blue stars.  It  blooms prolifically and turns a fabulous golden yellow in the fall.  Zones 4-9   Amsonia blue ice , Miscanthus 'Morning light' ,  Nepeta 'Dropmore Hy...

Electric Blue Gecko Elephant Ears Want to create a bold statement in your garden this summer? Elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta) sport large, colorful leaves and  give your garden an instant tropical effect. They  like sun, moist soil and warm weather (zones  8-11 ) .  Great in pots - source: Logees The Gecko series from breeder Brian Williams of the mail order nursery,  Brian’s Botanicals  in Louisville, KY is vigorous and change color like a true gecko.  'Electric Blue Gecko'  grows 3 ft x 3 ft and has foliage that can look deep purple, black or even metallic-blue in different light.  It has maroon undersides.  It looks great against coleus and colorful annual flowers!  NYBG - Electric Blue Gecko with coleus and more  Deep blue stems hold the foliage high which makes it look great in a container or in  mass plantings and in the front or middle of the border. It likes  moi...

this is the jardines de la fonte baixa in Asturias, Spain F or a great blog post about this enchanting garden go here: http://www.elblogdelatabla.com/2012/12/jardines-de-la-fonte-baixa-paraiso-de.html

This is the most popular blog post in Serenity in the Garden so I decided to re-issue it... The wonderful Deer Resistant Blue Angelonia flower. (Angelonia with Helichrysum, petunia, Johnsen Landscapes) Blue is everyone's "favorite color."  It is, hands down, the most popular color worldwide and is the least "gender specific" color, having equal appeal to both men and women. Now Purple is giving blue a run for its money as the second favorite color.... Blue is the favored color for toothbrushes, so that says it all!  ( this info is from a great website:  Sensation Color )  but can purple be far behind? Scientists have found that the color blue causes the body to produce chemicals that are calming. This may be why we all like to be around blue....stare at this square and see if it calms you.   In fact, over the past decade, scientists have reported the successful use of blue light in the treatment of psychological prob...

Blue features are the most mysterious elements in a landscape. Nowhere is this more true than in the magnificent ‘Majorelle Garden’ located in the heart of Marrakesh, Morocco. Originally created in the 1920’s by the French artist and gardener, Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962), this remarkable 12 acre haven has revolutionized the way we think of color in the garden.   Majorelle was an avid plant collector and filled his botanical park, now open to the public, with exotic plant species from all over the world.  But the overriding feature in this hot and dry environment is Majorelle’s favorite color: a rich shade of cobalt blue. It embellishes buildings, pergolas, fountains and more. Photo from Talking Dog UK This alluring color comes out of the traditional Moroccan aesthetic but Majorelle used 'his blue' with great abandon.  It serves as a spectacular backdrop for multi-colored bougainvillea, bright orange nasturtiums and planters fille...