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The Garden Life: Build upon successes when expanding your plant collection

The Columbian
Published: July 29, 2010, 12:00am
2 Photos
Heucheras vary in height, width, foliage color and texture, as well as individual flower colors.
Heucheras vary in height, width, foliage color and texture, as well as individual flower colors. Photo Gallery

I suggest that gardeners who want to expand their plant collections, but are not sure they know how to make the right choices, pay attention to the plants that do well in their garden. They can then try other varieties of the same family. For example, most of us have fallen for the good-looking coral bells, also known as alum-root, which is in the heuchera family.

Heucheras come in a mix of sizes that vary in height, leaf color and texture, as well as flower color. If you have had success with the old standbys such as Heuchera Palace Purple and H. Cherries Jubilee, then expand your planting by choosing more plants from the heuchera family.

Just listen to variety names to get an idea of the range of interest in this plant family. There is the golden-orange foliage of Heuchera Southern Comfort, the deeply veined Cathedral Window and the dramatic Midnight Rose, with purple leaves splashed hot pink. You can imagine the sound of a popping cork when you see the foam of frothy pink flowers atop Champagne Bubbles.

Year-round interest

The concept of creating a garden with a “sequence of bloom” is quite simple. Beginning in spring, certain plants come into flower. As these flowers fade, another plant in the garden begins to bloom. By planting the proper selection of trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers and perennials, the process continues with waves of color from one plant to the next throughout the gardening season. The ultimate goal is a garden with twelve months of interesting plants.

Implementing the concept of sequence of bloom is more complicated. It takes forethought, time and effort, three aspects of every garden endeavor. Many gardeners tell me they did not know what their favorite flower colors were, let alone their favorite plants and flowers, until they had been gardening for a few years. Only then were they able to formulate an understanding of how to combine plants in the garden for the best effect of color and foliage. This is the art of gardening.

A gardener eventually expands his or her vision beyond flower production, and goes from choosing mere colors to working to draw the visitor into a complete garden picture. Seasonal leaf color, fruit and berry production, bark and foliage texture, as well as the silhouette of deciduous and evergreen trees all contribute to this creative image. From the dainty white blossoms of early spring snowdrops to the pale, pea-green petals of winter hellebores, the Southwest Washington gardener can have a plant worthy of the best magazine photographer in every month of the year.

Sustainable

For many who garden, the concept of gardening naturally or organically is one of our greatest challenges. Each new generation approaches the modern world from a distinct point of view. While some long-time gardeners feel intimidated by the idea of eliminating all non-organic techniques, those who begin gardening today will likely feel that the use of sustainable gardening practices is simply the best choice they can make.

Sustainable gardening is based on an understanding of how nature creates healthy plants. Whatever we grow, vegetables, flowers, grass, or trees, we can garden with sustainable methods. The ultimate goal of sustainable gardening is to have a healthy living plant and soil ecosystem that survives heartily on its own resources. Sustainable gardening uses natural biological methods to build soil fertility and grow healthy, insect-resisting plants. The raw materials used in the garden are taken from local plant and mineral sources.

When I was a kid and the topic of organic gardening came up, it was often dismissed as nothing more than a hare-brained scheme thought up by a bunch of California hippies, high on marijuana. While some of those details may have been true, time has shown us that organic gardening was far from a foolish concept.

There is no longer any doubt that many of those original organic gardeners had the right idea when they gardened in conjunction with nature.

Work with nature whenever possible.

A few principles:

• Fit your garden to your environment. Select plants that are well adapted to your site, including natives.

• Select plants that are resistant to pests and diseases common in your region.

• Avoid plants known to be invasive in the garden or in the wild.

• Compost yard and kitchen wastes and re-use the compost in your garden.

• Encourage natural predators of problematic pests.

• Practice sanitation; dispose of plant material that may harbor disease and/or pests.

Robb Rosser is a WSU-certified Master Gardener. Reach him at Write2Robb@aol.com.

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