Plant of the Week: Saponaria x lempergii 'Max Frei'

Want a long-blooming, low-growing easy-to-grow, winter-hardy perennial? Look no further than Soapwort, Saponaria x lempergii 'Max Frei'.

You may already be familiar with the spring-blooming Rock Soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides). I grew it years ago and loved its warm, pink flowers. But, as things go, I got rid of it. I don't remember exactly why. 

Saponaria ocymoides

Back in 2013, while perusing Digging Dog Nursery's website I found 'Max Frei.' I liked that it was a summer bloomer instead of spring and I knew exactly where I wanted to grow it.

I have it cascading over a small rock wall, with a similarly colored hardy Fuchsia called 'Pink Rain' nearby. 

The most challenging thing about this plant is trying to get my camera to capture the right color of the flowers. They're a more on the cool side. 

'Max Frei' starts blooming in early July and goes until late summer. It doesn't need deadheading. It just blooms and blooms.

When it's finally finished, I just cut the whole plant back.  Missouri Botanical Garden's website lists 'Max Frei' as being hardy in Zones 3-7 but I'm in Zone 8b and it does fine for me. I have it planted in morning sun and afternoon shade and I supply it with regular water. 

Are you growing this sweet plant?

Plant of the Week: Sanguisorba 'Lilac Squirrel'

After a rare--for August--rainy morning yesterday, most of the taller perennials are bowed over from weight of the raindrops. Especially annoying is the Phlox paniculata and if its flowers weren't so delectable to the swallowtail butterflies, I might be tempted to cut it all back. 

Sanguisorba hakusanensis 'Lilac Squirrel' isn't leaning as badly. And it is my plant of the week! Check out the flowers and you'll see why it is called 'Lilac Squirrel'.

 

 

This winter-hardy perennial (Zone 4a to 9b) starts out as a 12 inch wide basal clump with dark green, serrated, pinnate leaves.  

The green leaves belong to 'Lilac Squirrel'.  The leaves edged in white, to S. 'Dali Marble'

Starting in July, flowering stems rise to 4 or 5 feet (in my garden) and produce "bodacious pink boas" as Digging Dog Nursery in California calls them. 

 Aren't they fun? The typical height of the flowering stems is purported to be 24 inches so maybe it's my cramscaping that fuels their need to reach higher.

As you can see below, the "boas" eventually fade to a tawny color, at which point can be clipped off. 

Planted in a full sun or a mostly sunny spot, this plant will perform better with moist, freely draining soil. With its simple met needs, it will increase in size and "flower" production each year. I believe they make cute cut flowers too although I haven't attempted it.

Plant of the Week: Erodium manescavi

Here is a cutie pie. Heron's Bill (Erodium manescavi) is a long-blooming, sun-loving front of the border beauty. It is also a nice rock garden plant and will reseed a little if one is lucky.

I got my plant from Robin Parer's Geraniaceae Nursery back in 2018. I knew exactly where I wanted to plant it, under full sun, in loose soil by my outer pond.

It has been growing here ever since, slowly expanding its ferny foliage and increasing its flowering stems each year.

The flowers are a cool, lilac color with slightly darker veining on the petals.

Once the flowers finish, the seed pods develop their signature "Heron's Bill" look.

But that doesn't mean the show is over as more flowers continue to bloom...

...enhanced by the soft, ferny foliage.

Here is my plant a few weeks ago:

It's about two feet wide and twelve inches high now--it's mature size.

The aforementioned "Heron's Bill" seed pods will drop a few seeds and baby plants will emerge. Not nearly enough though, if you ask me.

There you have it, my plant of the week. Thank you for visiting!

Plant of the Week: Philadelphus x 'Belle Etoile'

After a ridiculously long self-imposed hiatus from my blog, I'm back. Again, it wasn't easy to pick a favorite because, as all plant people know, there are so many plants to love. 

But with Belle Etoile's exquisite fragrance wooing me as I meandered my garden paths, I chose to focus on her. After all, she is in her finest element right now. 

 

In early June Philadelphus 'Belle Etoile' or Mock Orange explodes with hundreds of three inch flowers on lax branches.  They emit a powerfully, sweet, slightly citrus fragrance.

I bought this shrub back in 2007 from Dancing Oaks Nursery. But nowadays you don't have to seek out a specialty nursery to find it since it's fairly readily available.

My plant is growing in part shade and still puts on quite a show.  

 

A variegated shrubby dogwood (Cornus alba 'Argenteovariegata') is situated nearby and I like their white color echo.

The variegated foliage of Japanese Iris (Iris ensata 'Variegata') also contributes to the green and white theme. And if you look closely at the upper right of the photo above you'll see a white-blooming Fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica 'Hawkshead'). Blooming since early May, this is its earliest ever, thanks to a mild winter. 

Once it is finished blooming, I'll cut back all of the lax branches and give it a good drink. It responds well, maybe even better than I need it to. 

 Now, I'm going to go outside and pick a bouquet. Thank you for visiting.

Plant of the Week: Spiraea x vanhouttei 'Pink Ice'

Hi Plant Peeps. What to choose, what to choose for the plant of the week? So many plants are worthy of a post, as you fellow plant lovers know. 

After much contemplation, I decided to go with this lovely variegated Spiraea. Spiraea x vanhouttei 'Pink Ice.'

This plant is one of the legacies of the now-defunct Fry Road Nursery. It came as a spunky little thing, in a four inch pot or it could have been a plug since I bought a lot of my plants that way back in the day. This one specifically in the year 2009. 

Any plant with "pink" in its name will pique my interest and I swoon over variegated foliage too. I was defenseless against this beauty. 

This is how it looked a few weeks ago as the flower buds were forming. 
 

The little sputnik flower buds, protruding from their bright pink petioles are utterly charming.

Eventually, the pink fades to white, and the little buds open to flossy flowers, attractive to bees.

 And then after a week or so, the petals fade and fall off. 

This picture was taken in 2018

One other nice thing about this plant is that there is lots of new growth at the base. This means that rather than having to deadhead to keep it looking tidy all season, a gardener can cut back the woody stems to the ground. This opens up the plant so the new growth can stretch and grow.

Then, until fall, we are bedazzled with green and cream--with a touch of pink--variegated leaves. Like most, if not all in the genus Spiraea, this one is deciduous so it appears as nothing but sticks in winter. Unlike most Spiraea, however, this one doesn't get that disappointing foliar mildew. (Maybe I'm the only one with this troubling annoyance?)

I've found 'Pink Ice' super easy to grow.  Mine is in dappled shade in the morning and a few hours of sun in the afternoon.

It is about 2 feet and 3 feet tall and wide right now.

Pink Ice Spiraea is winter-hardy in Zones 3-9. See more photos and prose here: Plant Lust

Below is a really crappy photo of 'Pink Ice' in August. 

(PS. I'm not receiving any compensation for these Plant of the Week posts, [unless you want to pay me]. Just having fun, sharing what I love.) 

Thank you for visiting. Go ahead and tell me what you think.