1.Chardonnay Pearls® Slender Deutzia
Name:Deutzia gracilis‘Duncan’
USDA Hardiness Zones:5 to 8
Size:2 to 3 feet improbable and encompassing
condition : Full sun to partialshade ; well - drain soil
Deutzia has become one of my favorite underutilized , pocket-size spring - flowering shrub , and the cultivar Chardonnay Pearls ® is even more telling because of its dramatic lemon - caustic lime leaf . Delicate little livid flowers cover the branch of this compact variety . It works well in a mixed mete for contrast form or color , for cornerstone planting , or as a replacement for that leggy , contend spirea ( Spiraeaspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) .
2.Snow Hill Wood Sage
Name:Salvia×sylvestris‘Schneehügel’
Zones:4 to 8
Size:18 to 24 inches tall and 12 to 18 inches full
Conditions : Full Dominicus ; well - drain grime
This hybrid sage is an fantabulous performer in gravelly , sandy dirt at Wellfield Botanic Gardens . Though it prefers damp , well - drained dirt , it will tolerate drier condition , too . Snow Hill place up spikes of pure lily-white flowers in midspring , making an interesting counterpoint form to other , more rounded planting . Wood sage tends to flop under the free weight of expire flower spindle , send up new basal emergence through the taller florescence stems , so it ’s a skillful idea to abridge this plant back to new basal emergence for sporadic lengthened bloom .
3.‘Norah Leigh’ Garden Phlox
Name:Phlox paniculata‘Norah Leigh’
Size:2 feet tall and 2 to 4 foot wide
Conditions : Full sun ; moist , well - drained soil
‘ Norah Leigh ’ is a “ two - for - the - toll - of - one ” perennial that provides wonderfully variegated leaves and showy , light pinkish flowers in late summertime and other fall . The many colors in this one cultivar allows it to coalesce well with a diversity of other plant life . disregard it back by one-half in late leaping or when the plants are 12 to 18 inches improbable to create short plants with delayed efflorescence .
4.Snow Queen™ Oakleaf Hydrangea
Name:Hydrangea quercifolia‘Flemygea’
Zones:5 to 9
Size:4 to 6 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide
Oakleaf hydrangea is quite simply one of the best four - season plants in the midwestern garden : exfoliate bark in winter ; oak - shaped spring leaf ; summer flower spikes ; and unbelievable carmine fall color . Snow Queen ™ is a more erect , showier cultivar than the straight species . It immix well with blue rug juniper ( Juniperus horizontalis‘Wiltonii ’ , Zones 3–9 ) , bush roses , and motley Japanese silver grass ( Miscanthus sinensis * ‘ Variegatus ’ , Zones 4–9 ) . Position Snow Queen ™ so that its many interesting features are not lost in a crowded perimeter .
Josh Steffen is the horticulture director for Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart , Indiana .
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