Who said only trees and shrubs get to turn color in the fall? Some perennials get into the act, too, with colorful fall foliage. These plants really earn their keep in the garden—they also have blooms earlier in the year! The undisputed queen of perennials that turn color in fall is Arkansas bluestar (Amsonia hubrictii). Its pale, steely blue flowers… Read more →
I love before-and-after shots, don’t you? Here’s a short time lapse of my new perennial bed. Photo #1 was taken on Sept. 18th, just after the plants were set into their new homes. It was Portland’s second hottest summer on record, though for the record the grass is usually that blond here every summer. Photo #2 was taken today, Oct…. Read more →
I’m back! I decided to retire What Blooms When, retool, rebrand, and relaunch. Still writing about gardens, gardening, new plants, old plants, phenology, photography. A friend told me the new blog title would “indicate [my] incredible humility to [my] billions of readers.” I was thrilled that www.amycampion.com was still available. You wouldn’t think Amy Campion would be an unusual name,… Read more →
For some, it was too much gorgeousness to take in. Visitors seemed dazed, and could be heard muttering, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” If you took their reactions out of context, you might have thought they’d been in a car wreck and were in a state of shock. But I forged on, exploring Old Germantown Gardens—the incredible, almost two-acre garden that… Read more →
If the gardening bug has bitten, sooner or later you’re going to want to start some plants from seed. Vegetable starts, bedding plants, perennials, and even some trees and shrubs (for the patient) can be grown from seed. When you’re ready to graduate from the sunny windowsill to a real propagation station, here’s a seed-starting rack you can make at home for… Read more →
Spring may begin in March, around the time the daffodils bloom in the Lower Midwest, but that doesn’t mean the color calendar isn’t already underway before then. Did you know that even before the daffodils bloom, quite a few plants have already stepped into the spotlight? Here are ten of them: 1. More often than not, Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) opens its… Read more →
Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia spp.) sells by virtue of its frilly summer blooms alone, and where it’s hardy enough to grow sizable trunks, the exfoliating bark is a bonus, but how little ink is devoted to praising its fall color! Some plants take on deep purpley tones that redden over time. Many selections, like ‘Hopi’ and ‘Catawba,’ are set ablaze with an… Read more →
It’s nice to know that not all late summer- and fall-blooming perennials are DYC’s (Damn Yellow Composites). Their brassy gold faces are cheering at first, but become monotonous. In shady gardens at that time of year, the lily family is offering up some splendidly eccentric blooms in the form of toad lilies. ‘Miyazaki’ toad lily (Tricyrtis hirta ‘Miyazaki’) opens its fantastically speckled… Read more →
I am a sucker for peach-colored flowers, and I think those of ‘Sheffield Pink’ mum (Chrysanthemum ‘Sheffield Pink’), bursting forth from October 11 to November 7, are the most spellbinding blooms of the entire fall season. Not only are the blooms pretty, but the plant itself is durable and will return year after year. This is not your typical disposable… Read more →
Trees and shrubs are not the only plants infused with fiery foliage in fall. Perennials like stonecrops undergo some color shifts as the weather turns nippy, too. October daphne’s (Hylotelephium sieboldii) glaucous, aqua-blue foliage becomes imbued with pink, as does that of Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’, and Sedum ruprestre ‘Angelina’s fluorescent yellow foliage becomes tipped in fluorescent orange. The stonecrop I… Read more →
