The Perennial Plant Association has chosen blue false indigo, Baptisia australis, as its 2010 perennial plant of the year.  Other common names for the plant are wild indigo, baptisia, indigo weed, rattleweed and rattlebrush.

      The Perennial Plant Association describes the plant as follows:  “Newly emerging shoots produce violet-blue, lupine-like flowers in erect 10- to 12-inch racemes atop flower stems extending well above the foliage mound of clover-like, trifoliate, blue-green leaves.”  Many of several sources researched mention the dramatic combination of leaf and flower color in the early blooming season.

      Blue false indigo grows three to four feet tall and four feet wide, making it a good plant for the back of the border.  The first few years, the plant will have just a few stems and appear sparse.  It will take three years or so for the plant to reach full size, so keep that in mind when placing other plants around it.

      Blue false indigo is a native prairie plant,  It grows best in full sun and is drought tolerant.  Plants grown in shade may become floppy and require staking and produce fewer and less vibrant flowers.

      This plant has a taproot, a single root like a carrot, so decide where you want it and plan to leave it there as it is almost impossible to transplant and cannot be divided.  With luck you can expect indigo to live for 20 years or more.

      Blue false indigo blooms in spring and early summer and then produces large pods which turn charcoal black when ripe.  The dried pods are beautiful in flower arrangements and rattle in the wind, thus the common names rattleweed and rattlebrush.  In earlier times, children used the pods as rattles.  The name “indigo” refers to use by early Americans as a dye, although it was inferior to the true indigo of the West Indies.

      Blue false indigo is a good plant for cottage gardens, native plant gardens, prairies and meadows.  Since it has a shrub-like habit, it is also useful as a specimen plant or planted in small groups. 

      Butterflies are attracted to the flowers.  There are no serious insect or disease problems and deer seldom bother it due to its bitter taste.

      Blue wild indigo is propagated by seed.  You may find seedlings growing under your plant that can be transplanted when very young.  If you collect dried seed to grow on your own, the outside of the hard seed must be scratched with a metal file or sandpaper or nicked with a sharp knife to weaken the seed coat to allow it to germinate.

      One out of every three bites of food we eat is provided through the work of animal and insect pollinators.  The mysterious colony collapse disorder among commercial honeybees, disease and loss of habitat have severely affected pollinators that sustain our food crops and quality of life.

      Other insects besides bees act as important pollinators.  These include butterflies, beetles, moths, wasps, flies and even mosquitoes.  Hummingbirds are also significant pollinators.

      It is important to encourage pollinators in our yards and ensure their health so they are able to continue their important work.  To do this, we need to make our yards and gardens hospitable to pollinators and their larvae.  They need food, shelter and water, just as we do.

      Butterflies generally are attracted to bright flowering plants in full sun, protected from the wind.  Some good shrubs for butterflies are spicebush, eastern ninebark and aromatic sumac.  Perennial flowers include milkweed, daisy fleabane, tickseed, joe-pye-weed, sunflowers, sneezeweed, blazing star, beebalm, phlox, coneflower, heath aster and wake robin.  Wet muddy areas provide butterflies with moisture and minerals they need to stay healthy. 

      Bees, wasps, beetles and flies are not as exciting or as pretty as butterflies.  Nevertheless, it is increasingly important to make them welcome in our yards as the commercial bee population continues its decline.

      Good trees and shrubs to invite these pollinators are maple, service berry, pin cherry, black willow and linden.  Helpful flowers are black cohosh, red columbine, yellow trout lily, gentian, alum root, cardinal flower, Virginia bluebells, foamflower and spiderwort.  Herbs like mint, garlic, chives, oregano, parsley and lavender and annual flowers including zinnias, cosmos and single sunflowers also provide food for pollinators.

      Plant flowers in groups for more efficient pollination.  The pollinators learn where to find pollen in each type of flower and with several of the same species nearby they won’t have to explore each new flower to try to locate it, in the process wasting valuable pollen as it falls off their bodies.

      A little planning and attention to bloom season will provide your yard with beauty and food for insects from early spring to late fall.  Plant a diversity of plants to provide food for different pollinators.  Vary colors, fragrances and heights to attract different pollinator species.

      To further encourage these insects, allow things to become a little messy – leaf litter, weeds and dead branches all provide shelter.  Provide a pool, pond or even small containers of water for drinking.  Sloping sides or stones for them to stand on will prevent them from drowning.

      If you must use pesticides – which are extremely toxic to pollinators – use great caution, use as little as possible, and make sure you are using the proper pesticide for the problem you have.

      There is a website you can visit to find more information on making your yard a haven for pollinators.  Visit www.pollinators.org and enter your ZIP code for specific plant recommendations.

      My vegetable garden is a large rectangle running east–west along the northern boundary of our property.  Over the years, the open field north of our fence has grown up into a wooded area.  In mid-summer, even though the woods is north of the garden, it casts quite a bit of shade.  The garden once got 14 hours of sunlight a day but now gets only 6 hours, not enough for good vegetable production.

      After considering several plans for moving the garden to a sunnier spot, I decided to rotate it 90° so that the rectangle runs north-south.  It will be exactly the same size, so it seemed at first a simple matter of lifting about 2/3 of the fence and changing the shape.  Well, the fence doesn’t come out so easy.  I don’t’ know why we thought we needed rebar posts with anchor plates to support a chicken wire fence. 

      While my husband struggled with moving the fence, I laid down large pieces of cardboard from every appliance we had ever bought over the grassy area which is to become garden.  Over the cardboard I spread a thick layer of straw.  The cardboard will kill the grass underneath and in spring the whole area will be tilled.  Meanwhile, I am tossing items which would normally go in the compost into the new garden so they can compost in place and improve the soil.  After I rake in fall I will shred the leaves and spread them over the straw to add even more organic matter.

      The part of the old garden which will become lawn next spring holds three raised beds.  The boards holding the soil in place will be moved to the new area this fall, but some of the plants inside them will have to wait until spring.  There is a yucca plant, the herb lovage, some pretty Asiatic lilies, strawberries and a small blueberry bush.

      I will move the soil from the old raised beds to the new ones and with the soil will come seeds of flax and calendula which will germinate next spring.  There are wood chips surrounding the raised beds, so those will be raked up and moved to the new pathways.

      On the west edge of my current garden are peonies, raspberries and rhubarb.  After the move, these three will be orphaned in the middle of the grass.  The rhubarb can be moved in early spring just before it starts to grow.  June-bearing raspberries are biennial plants, so the ones growing now will produce next year.  The producing plants will stay where they are next summer, but any new plants will be moved to their new location as soon as they sprout up.  After raspberry season, the old plants will be cut down and then that area can be planted in grass.  Peonies should be transplanted in September so they will stay where they are until next fall.

      Moving my garden is a year-long project but eight additional hours of sunlight will be the reward!

Annual flowers bloom, set seed and die in one growing season. Perennial flowers live three, five or even thirty years. At first glance, it would seem that perennial plants are the way to go to save both the time of replanting each year and the money spent every year to purchase annuals.

      There is more of a financial investment in a perennial plant than in an annual plant.  Annuals can be purchased in 4- or 6-packs for about 25¢ a plant, or grown from seed for only pennies.  Perennial plants may cost from a few dollars for something like an astilbe to $70 for a yellow Bartzella peony.

      Besides their lifespan, there is one other important difference between annuals and perennials.  While most annuals blossom all summer long, perennials have a shorter bloom period.  Some flower for only a week or so, while others like yarrow, coreopsis, and catmint may bloom for a month or even more.  But some of those perennials are so beautiful that the one week of breathtaking bloom is worth the spot they occupy in the garden.

      After planting, annuals basically need watering and sometimes deadheading of spent flowers to keep turning out blooms all season.  Some perennials need deadheading after bloom and then division every three years or so, and cutting back in fall or spring. 

      Ideally your garden would have something in bloom at all times.  Here’s how it works in the garden I have around my pond.   In spring, daffodils bloom first.  Red tulips overlap the daffodil bloom.  Pink and white bleeding hearts come next, along with white and purple violets.  At the pond’s edge, yellow irises bloom.  Next comes dark red and light pink peonies.  As soon as those finish, the roses come into bloom along with comfrey, spiderwort, creeping bellflower, speedwell, yellow yarrow, lemon lilies and coreopsis.  In the pond, pink waterlilies look so perfect you’d think they were fake.

      On the slope in back of the pond, creeping baby’s breath has small pink and white flowers, snow-in-summer shows pure white blooms, lemon thyme has purple blossoms and creeping sedum displays bright yellow starry flowers. 

      Soon red yarrow, white campanula, orange dayliles and purple Russian sage will bloom.  Behind the pond, another creeping sedum will bloom in dusty rose and germander will show its pink blooms.  The snow-in-summer and creeping baby’s breath that I cut back after first bloom will produce a few more flowers. 

      In late summer and fall when all the other plants have finished their bloom, ‘Summer Glory’ and ‘Autumn Joy’ sedums will bloom in light and dark rose.

      It took many years to get this garden blooming in succession the way I wanted it.  Still, there are times when it looks drab.  That’s why I let white alyssum, pretty johnny-jump-ups and airy cosmos self-seed, and I move containers of petunias and geraniums among the perennial plants wherever needed.

      Spring is the best time for transplanting or dividing most plants but there are some that should be transplanted later in the growing season.

      Irises are transplanted or divided as soon as they finish flowering.  Cut the flower stems off and cut the leaves back to 4-6 inches with a scissors, leaving a fan of leaves.  Lift the rhizomes (the roots) out of the ground and cut off any diseased or rotten areas.  Replant the rhizomes so that the top half of each rhizome is above the soil line.  Irises look nice planted in circles of 6-10 plants with the rhizomes toward the center like spokes on a wheel.

      Peonies are best transplanted in late summer.  Lift the plants and you’ll see thick, fleshy roots with new, pink, pointed shoots or eyes.  Cut each root into sections with 4-5 eyes each.  Dig a hole 8-10 inches deep and plant with the shoots no more than two inches below the soil surface.  Water well and check to make sure that the roots haven’t sunk too deeply into the loose soil.  If they have, lift them up and reset them at the correct depth.  Planting too deeply is the most common reason peonies fail to bloom.

      Tulips, daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs should be transplanted in mid-October just about the time when you’d be planting newly purchased bulbs.  Of course in October you’ll have no idea where your underground bulbs are located since the foliage has long since died back.  If you are intent upon transplanting spring bulbs in fall, make sure to place a marker in the soil of your flowerbed before removing the dead foliage in summer so that you’ll know where to dig when it’s time to transplant.

      September is a good time to transplant trees and woody shrubs.  In autumn, they are entering a period of dormancy so their energy is going into their roots rather than being expended on producing new foliage and above-ground growth.  So along with the shock of being transplanted, they have to deal with only one other task, rather than two. 

      The same is true of most perennial flowers.  Move them in early September so they have to chance to get established in their new location before the ground freezes.  After transplanting, mulch trees, shrubs and flowers with shredded leaves, ground bark or straw to retain moisture and moderate soil temperatures.

      What if you absolutely must move your hostas or your bee balm in mid-summer?  It can be done, but try to dig as large soil ball as you can around the roots so they are disturbed as little as possible.  After replanting, water daily.  If the new location is sunny or windy, rig up something to provide shade and wind protection for a couple weeks until the plant is established.  With extra care, any plant can be moved at any time during the growing season.

      Annual flowers bloom, set seed and die in one growing season.  Perennial flowers live three, five or even thirty years.  At first glance, it would seem that perennial plants are the way to go to save both the time of replanting each year and the money spent every year to purchase annuals.

      There is more of a financial investment in a perennial plant than in an annual plant.  Annuals can be purchased in 4- or 6-packs for about 25¢ a plant, or grown from seed for only pennies.  Perennial plants may cost from a few dollars for something like an astilbe to $70 for a yellow Bartzella peony.

      Besides their lifespan, there is one other important difference between annuals and perennials.  While most annuals blossom all summer long, perennials have a shorter bloom period.  Some flower for only a week or so, while others like yarrow, coreopsis, and catmint may bloom for a month or even more.  But some of those perennials are so beautiful that the one week of breathtaking bloom is worth the spot they occupy in the garden.

      After planting, annuals basically need watering and sometimes deadheading of spent flowers to keep turning out blooms all season.  Some perennials need deadheading after bloom and then division every three years or so, and cutting back in fall or spring. 

      Ideally your garden would have something in bloom at all times.  Here’s how it works in the garden I have around my pond.   In spring, daffodils bloom first.  Red tulips overlap the daffodil bloom.  Pink and white bleeding hearts come next, along with white and purple violets.  At the pond’s edge, yellow irises bloom.  Next comes dark red and light pink peonies.  As soon as those finish, the roses come into bloom along with comfrey, spiderwort, creeping bellflower, speedwell, yellow yarrow, lemon lilies and coreopsis.  In the pond, pink waterlilies look so perfect you’d think they were fake.

      On the slope in back of the pond, creeping baby’s breath has small pink and white flowers, snow-in-summer shows pure white blooms, lemon thyme has purple blossoms and creeping sedum displays bright yellow starry flowers. 

      Soon red yarrow, white campanula, orange dayliles and purple Russian sage will bloom.  Behind the pond, another creeping sedum will bloom in dusty rose and germander will show its pink blooms.  The snow-in-summer and creeping baby’s breath that I cut back after first bloom will produce a few more flowers. 

      In late summer and fall when all the other plants have finished their bloom, ‘Summer Glory’ and ‘Autumn Joy’ sedums will bloom in light and dark rose.

      It took many years to get this garden blooming in succession the way I wanted it.  Still, there are times when it looks drab.  That’s why I let white alyssum, pretty johnny-jump-ups and airy cosmos self-seed, and I move containers of petunias and geraniums among the perennial plants wherever needed.

      The Perennial Plant Association has named Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (golden hakone grass) its perennial plant of the year for 2009.  It derives its name from “hakone” a region of Japan, and “chloa” the Greek word for grass.

      The Perennial Plant Association describes their choice:  “Golden hakone grows 12-18 inches tall and 18-24 inches wide with an arching form that resembles a cascading miniature bamboo.  Individual blades are ½” wide and bright yellow in color with very thin green stripes.  In the cooler days of autumn the golden foliage becomes tinged with shades of pink and red.  Hakonechloa is used mainly for its golden foliage, although it does produce tiny, inconspicuous flower spikes from late summer through mid-autumn.”

      Does that sound good to you?  Here’s what you need to do to grow it successfully.  Golden hakone grass is hardy to USDA zone 5, so we are right on the edge of where it will thrive.  It would be best to locate it in a somewhat protected area, i.e., not in the middle of your open one-acre lawn.  It grows best in moist, humus rich, well-drained soil.  It will not do well in heavy clay or very dry soils. 

      Full sun to part shade is best as deep shade may reduce the golden leaf color.  It requires very little on-going care.  Just cut the dead grass back in late winter or early spring.  It grows slowly so it won’t crowd out its growing companions.  The slow growth means that it won’t need dividing for many years.  If you do divide golden hakone, do so in early spring just as new growth begins. 

      Golden hakone grass has very few insect or disease problems and is not favored by deer.  However, in Wisconsin we know that deer will eat anything if they get hungry enough. 

      The Perennial Plant Association suggests that golden hakone makes a good companion to hostas, especially those that have a golden edge or a bluish cast.  They also recommend planting golden hakone with any plant that has purple or dark leaves, like heucheras or bugbanes.  Other suggestions for nearby companions are astilbe, wild ginger, bleeding heart, epimedium and lady’s mantle. 

      This versatile grass can even be grown in a container on a shady deck or patio.  It will cascade over the sides of the container providing a tropical look and feel.  It can also be used as a ground cover, in front of a border or in a mass planting.

      Golden hakone grass will light up any area that is dark or drab.  And just wait until you see the breeze rippling through the leaves!

      There are four requirements that must be met for a plant to be selected Perennial Plant of the Year.  The plant must be suitable for a wide range of climates, low maintenance, easily propagated and exhibit multiple season interest.  It seems they’ve picked a winner this year!

      You may be ready to hang up your gardening tools for the year, but there is one more task to complete yet this year if you want a beautiful early spring garden.  Mid-October is bulb-planting time. 

      Flowers like tulips, daffodils, crocuses, muscari, hyacinths, alliums and scilla all grow from bulbs.  They can be planted in and around established flower beds or comprise their very own spring flowering bed. 

      As in any flower bed, the taller bulb plants go in the back and the shorter ones in the front.  In the back you might place alliums, daffodils and tulips, while hyacinths fill in the middle and crocuses and snowdrops line the front.  Most of the bulb plants, except allium, bloom early in spring and will be up before any of the other perennials in the flower bed. 

      After bloom, the foliage from bulb plants must be left in place to die down so the leaves can produce food to nourish the bulb for the next year, so plant them in back of another perennial or behind where you plan to plant some annual flowers.  The later growing plants will hide the dying foliage.

      Unless you have an extremely formal landscape, avoid planting the bulbs in straight rows.  They look more natural planted in drifts, or at least in groups of five to seven plants. 

      Crocuses bloom first, followed by daffodils and then tulips.  Each of these plants has early, middle and late blooming varieties.  With a little planning you can have an extended overlapping season of bloom.  Read the package, or the catalog description if you are mail-ordering, for bloom time.

      For a natural effect on your lawn, take a handful of bulbs and toss them gently on the grass.  Plant each bulb where it falls.  Although this works with any of the bulbs, crocuses and muscari are best for this technique as most people begin cutting their lawns long before the foliage of tulips and daffodils dies down.

      When shopping for bulbs, look for firm healthy looking ones.  Don’t buy them if they have soft spots or rot.  It’s okay if the papery outer layer falls off or peels away.  Even though the bulbs are dormant, they are living things, so handle them gently.

      Plant bulbs pointy-side up with the point about 2 ½ times as deep as the bulb is tall.  For example, a 2” tall bulb would be planted so its growing tip is 5” below ground.  There are tools at the garden center for individual bulb planting, but it is easier to dig a large hole and set five or more bulbs firmly around on the bottom.  Toss in a handful of bulb food or bonemeal.  Refill with soil, water well and wait for spring!

      Its name is rather off-putting for someone who wants to grow a nice plant, but dead nettle is a pretty solution for the oft-asked question, “What can I grow under my trees in the shade where grass won’t grow?” 

      Nettle implies something prickly or spiny, and dead, well dead implies dead.  Dead nettle is neither prickly nor dried-up dead.  Although the leaves have a superficial resemblance to other nettles, the “dead” part of its name refers to the fact that there are no spines or prickles.  Maybe they ran out of good names by the time they got to this one!  In any case, the Latin name is Lamium pronounced “LAY-mee-um.”

      Silvery or gray-leaved plants are useful in the garden.  Their neutral colors can balance and unify many different colors and provide a sense of cohesiveness.  There are very few silvery or gray-leaved plants that thrive in the shade, but there are some dead nettle cultivars whose silvery leaves provide a spark of brightness to shady areas.     ‘Herman’s Pride’ has green leaves with heavy streaks of silver and small yellow flowers.  Leaves of ‘White Nancy’ and ‘Beacon Silver’ are silver with a thin green border.  ‘Nancy’s flowers are white and ‘Silver’s are pink.  ‘Chequers’ has green leaves with a wide silver stripe down the center and purplish pink flowers.  ‘Pink Pewter’ has pink flowers as does ‘Aureum’ whose leaves are variegated with yellow instead of silver.

      Dead nettle thrives in spots where nothing else will grow.  It competes well with tree and shrubs roots so it is good for those dry shady spots.  It also does well along the north side of buildings, even in poor post-construction soil.  Dead nettle is a ground cover that grows 8 – 18” tall and spreads slowly but indefinitely.  Most dead nettles, except for ‘Herman’s Pride’ are on the shorter end of that range.

      Propagation is easily done by division in spring or fall.  No need to be careful; these are tough plants.  Just dig up a piece with some roots attached and move it to where you want it.  Stick it in the ground, give it a good watering and watch it grow. 

      Dead nettles are in the mint family so they can become invasive in moist, fertile soil.  They pull out easily, however, if they happen to grow where you don’t want them. 

      Dead nettle dies to the ground each winter and comes back again in spring.  The leaves of the young plants are edible and can be used in salads or stir-fries.

      It’s hard to have missed the news articles over the past several years on the many health benefits of flaxseed oil.  The omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed oil help lower cholesterol and blood pressure.  Other parts of the plant are also useful – the fibers are used to make linen cloth, high quality paper and rope.  The seed produces linseed oil which is used as a drying agent in paint and varnish and in making linoleum floors. 

      Flax is also a wonderful plant for the perennial flower garden.  The inch-wide five-petaled flowers are sky blue streaked with darker blue lines and float above stiff, wiry two-foot tall stems with needle-like leaves.  The flowers bloom from May to September and even into October or November if the fall is mild.  Each flower lasts only one day, but there are so many stems that there is never a day without flowers. 

      Flax is a tough, long-lived plant.  It grows in pretty much any well-drained soil in full sun or light shade.  The plants don’t require division and need watering only in extreme drought.  Once established, flax needs very little care other than cutting it down in fall, which is easily done with a hedge clippers.

      You could transplant a clump of flax from a friend in early spring, but it is just as easy to grow from seed.  Don’t waste your money buying a half teaspoon or so of seed in a packet and paying a couple dollars for it.  Instead, buy flax seed in bulk at the grocery store for about $1.59 for a whole pound.  Yes, this is the same flax seed you buy for using in baking or sprinkling on your yogurt. 

      In spring, broadcast the seed on the soil and cover it with about a quarter inch of fine soil.  Keep moist until it germinates.  You should have flowers in about 100 days.  Seed can also be planted in fall and left over winter to germinate the following spring.

      The flowers produce many seeds and the plant self seeds freely.  Any plants growing where you don’t want them are easy to pull up when they are small.

      Flax is prettier in a large patch rather than as individual plants.  Flax interplanted with red or pink poppies would be gorgeous.  Another lovely combination is flax with alliums, lupines and wild geraniums.

      Plant flax and beginning just before the peonies and roses bloom in June, you’ll have your own little piece of blooming sky.