A winter trip to Chicago Botanic Garden

On Jan 19th, we were scheduled to attend the MidAm trade show. Being that I didn't want to get up at 4am to make it to the show site by 8:30, we decided to go on Tuesday the 18th and stay overnight. So what to do during the day? Go to Chicago Botanic Garden of course!  Although the temperature wasn't too bad, the wind was cold and made it hard to stay outside for very long.  I did brave the cold for some shots of the dwarf conifer garden, but mostly these are greenhouse pictures.  Enjoy the photo tour!

First stop: Dwarf Conifers!  I have a great love of dwarf conifers, but I haven't concentrated on gardening with them very much.  Mainly because I know my "disease" will make me spend way more than I should on them!  Here are some that I thought were nice and may add to my gardens some day.  Some of them aren't dwarf at all, but they are nice specimens.

Larix decidua 'Cherry Valley' and Abies concolor 'Compacta'

The tag was buried for the weeping larch, not sure which one it is.  Also didn't see a tag for this cute little spruce.

 Picea engelmannii 'Bush's Lace' is a great spruce with pendulus branch tips.  Very elegant and worthy of garden space.  Xanthocyparis (Chamaecyparis) nootkatensis 'Pendula' does great in the midwest.  I don't know why gardeners are afraid of this plant. 

I didn't get a tag for this one either, but it appears to be Picea orientalis.

The garden has 3 greenhouse biomes that are beautifully planted.  The first one we visited was the arid house.  I didn't take notes on what the varieties were, mostly for my benefit so I don't seek them out!  I don't have room in my house for more plants!

    

 
 
 

 

 
 













Next up is the tropical house.  Again no notes taken, in fact there were a few things that I would have like to find more info on but I couldn't find tags.

No there isn't anything wrong with this Colocasia, that's how it grows!

 

 
 
 
Last stop, the semi-tropical hosue.  Still no notes, but readers may recognize more plant material here.  Some plants here are even quite hardy, to zones 6 or 7.  This house features some nice topiaries, including a massive dinosaur covered with Piper nigrum, Black Pepper.  Very cool.  Also featured was a bog-garden with some nice carnivorous plants.

 

Burgundy, Red, and Purple Heuchera

The Heucheras that everyone is familiar with would be the various burgundy varieties.  They can lend fantastic color contrast or color echoes to the garden.  Many of them have some amount of sun tolerance.  This is where the bulk of hybridizing work has been done.  The variety of sizes, shapes, foliage color, flower color is unmatched in the genus.  You can find one for nearly any garden site except maybe hot, dry, baking sun. 

'Palace Purple' put coral bells on the map as a great garden plant.  It is tolerant of sun and shade.  While it prefers consistently moist well-drained soils and some afternoon shade like other Heuchera, I've seen it growing in dry clay in the sun.  It wasn't thriving, but it didn't seem to be suffering either.  An overall great performer and still worthy of garden space.  This variety was produced from seed for a long time, leading to color and performance inconsistency.  It was recently reselected and clonaly propagated as 'Palace Purple Select'.  also 'Absi' and 'Molly Bush' are clonal selections that are superior to seed forms as well.  This is often sold as a form of H. micrantha, however it is definitely a selection of H. villosa purpurea. 

'Swirling Fantasy' is a nice burgundy selection with some silver overlay.  It's been a great performer in my gardens reaching nearly 24" wide.  This variety features rosy pink flowers in profusion in June which are loved by hummingbirds.  Sanguinea and americana are definitely in the background. 

'Obsidian' is the reigning champion of darkness.  This is the "blackest" of the Heuchera varieties and is a good performer as well.  Some sun tolerance, I have not trialed it in the heat of the day though.  White flowers.  Micrantha, villosa, and americana are in the background.

'Blackout' is another good dark variety.  This one is more sensitive to sun, keep it in morning sun only.  I believe villosa is in the background, not sure what else is.

'Hollywood' is a great burgundy selection with some silver overlay to the foliage.  Great profusion of rose flowers.  It seems a little slower and smaller than 'Swirling Fantasy' so far.  It's also darker and has more silver on the foliage.Flower production from a small plant has been very good though.  Micrantha, cylindrica, americana according to Terra Nova.  Must have sanguinea somewhere as well for the flower color.

'Beaujolais' is one of my favorite burgundy villosa hybrids.  It has some silver overlay to the foliage indicating americana heritage and pinkish flowers indicating sanguinea in the background as well.  It's been a good performer, grows somewhat larger and looks great in mass plantings.  Sun and heat tolerant as well, but looks its best with morning sun and afternoon shade.  May fade, picture is from July on a plant with some afternoon sun.

'Mahogony' has been a great performer for me so far.  Fast growth and a dense mound does well in full sun.  White flowers are fairly nice. 

'Plum Royale' is a fantastic purple selection.  Purple is a fairly recent color breakthrough in Heuchera breeding, as most were some shade of burgundy before.  It has a good amount of silver overlay.  White flowers are fairly nice and in proportion to the mound size.  This one has the best color with some sun, but scorches with too much.  Morning sun until 11 or 12 seems to do best here.  Americana, micrantha, and sanguinea in the background.  One of my favorites.

'Shanghai' is another purple selection.  the foliage is more deeply cut than 'Plum Royale' and less glossy, but it has a similar color and silver overlay.  White flowers are more profuse than 'Plum Royale'.  Micrantha, americana, and sanguinea are in the background.  Turns more burgundy for fall and winter.  Another new favorite. 

'Fire Chief' has expanded the selection closer to red than before.  This variety has fairly nice pink and white flowers produced in proportion to the mound.  Somewhat compact and slow growing for me.  Micrantha, sanguinea, and villosa are in the background.  Darker burgundy for fall and winter.

'Autumn Leaves' is even more red than 'Fire Chief' and has an almost velvet-looking quality to the foliage.  The flowers are less attractive on this variety, I removed them.  Villosa and americana background, this is likely to be a great performer.  It has grown well for me so far.

There are many other great varieties that I don't have room to talk about.  Check out 'Milan', 'Rave On', 'Dark Secret', 'Chocolate Ruffles', 'Black Beauty', 'Root Beer', 'Cherry Cola', 'Purple Petticoats', 'Brownies', and  'Mocha'.

December's Mystery Plant

Who am I?

  Hopefully someday I have prizes for the winners, but until then you just get to show off your superior plant geek knowledge!

Green Heuchera

Heuchera 'Sashay'

Who wants a green Heuchera?  Well, I do for one.  While Heucheras are great for adding color to gardens, they also add foliage texture and contrast.  They also make great filler around accent plants where you might be looking for green space so you don't detract from a specimen plant.  Or in some cases, they might be the specimen plant, or they might echo color of the specimen plant. 



H. 'Bressingham Hybrids'

Heuchera 'Bressingham Hybrids' is a seed strain from the 'Brizoides' group with lots of variability.  In theory.  Usually the ones I see are green with pink or red flowers.  Mine is green with bright pink flowers, and identical to all of its siblings in the group I bought it from.  It's been a great performer, maxing out at 10" tall x 30" wide. 

H. villosa 'Autumn Bride' is a great variety for foliage texture.  It has huge fuzzy light green leaves, and is a fairly large plant.  Mine hit 18" tall x 30" wide, white flowers were easily to 24" but I usually break them off.  They're a little unruly for me.  This one has also self seeded for me in the past, but isn't a pest. 



Heuchera 'Sashay'

H. 'Sashay' is a great variety for texture.  It's a dense mound of ruffled foliage that stays fairly compact.  Mine is about 8" tall x 10" wide right now.  I expect eventually it will be 10" x 15".  Foliage is green on the top and burgundy beneath.  The undersides show at the margins where the leaf curls up.  This one is pretty distinct.  H. villosa and H. micrantha are in the background.

H. 'Malachite' is a new variety for 2011 that has a nice mid-green color and ruffled foliage.  I saw this at a trade show this summer, and I think it's quite nice.  Lots of potential for use as a container plant!

H. 'Apple Crisp' is another new one that's hitting the scene in 2011.  This one is even more dissected and ruffled than 'Sashay' or 'Malachite'.  This one is a nice grass-green with silver overlay.  Not sure of the background of this one, I would guess H. micrantha and H. americana.

Heuchera 'Green Spice'

H. 'Mint Frost' is a nice minty green variety with silver overlay.  This one picks up nice plum tones for the winter as well.  White flowers on 15" stalks.  This one has been a little slow growing, but is worth the wait for its nice foliage color.  H. americana is in the background.



H. 'Green Spice' is one of my favorites.  This fantastic beauty has green leaves with a silver overlay and red veins.  Great fall and winter color as well, generally red to burgundy for me, but may have orange as well.  Dense mound to 10" x 18" over time.  White flowers.  This one is a selection of H. americana.

 

Another selection of H. americana, 'Marvelous Marble' is a seed strain that is similar to 'Green Spice' but has far more red and less silver. 

This is a new one for 2011.



Heuchera 'Green Spice'

There are a number of other fantastic selections with green foliage, many with beautiful flowers: 'Dale's Strain', 'Paris', 'Chatterbox', 'Strawberry Candy', 'Lipstick', 'Mint Julep', 'Paris', 'Peppermint Spice' and more.  Many of these can't be beat for flower effect. 

Next time you see some green Heuchera for sale, take a closer look.  I'm sure there's a spot in the garden for at least one of these!

Hypericum androsaemum 'Albury Purple'

'Albury Purple' is a nice form of St. Johnswort that is generally grown for its purple-tinged summer foliage and yellow flowers.  It is much more purple on the new growth, turning more green as the summer progresses.  Seed pods start out a beautiful shiny black and change to gray.  One thing I hadn't read about before planting was the fantastic dark purple fall color.  It holds its color well into the fall, and still looks great in my garden.

While Hypericum androsaemum 'Albury Purple'

is a woody shrub in zones 6 and above, it is root hardy to at least zone 5.  For me it dies back mostly to the ground in the winter, and returns in the spring.  It has been a little bit slower to establish than most of the other plants in my garden, but is growing fairly well now.  I have it growing in full sun for the best color, but H. androsaemum is reportedly quite shade tolerant.  Hypericum species in general appreciate well drained soils, but I haven't had any problems with growing a number of them in clay-loam.  As long as the soil isn't too wet in the winter, 'Albury Purple' seems fairly adaptable.