Helleborus 'Cotton Candy' Photo: Terra Nova Nursery

I’m in love. The handsome specimen that’s caught my eye is perfect in every way. Long-lasting flowers that bloom in a rainbow of colours, evergreen foliage that looks good all year-round (it gets a bit tattered after our long winters, but what doesn’t?) and it’s perfectly happy growing in shade. Oh, you thought I was describing the love of my life?

Well, the current love of my garden is Helleborus x hybridus, commonly known as the Lenten rose, and it was chosen as the Perennial Plant of the Year in 2005, so obviously I’m not the only one smitten by its charms. The thousands of members of the Perennial Plant Association cast their ballots in favour of this gem which must meet the requirements of all perennial plants of the year, including: 1) suitable for a wide range of climates, 2) low maintenance requirements 3) easily propagated 4) comes true from seed or vegetative propagation, and 4) exhibits interest throughout the seasons.

If you were lucky enough to have visited this year’s Canada Blooms flower show, you would have seen Lenten roses growing in just about every feature garden. They are one of the first of the early spring perennials to bloom, and their flowers look good for up to two months! Well, I call them flowers, but to the horticultural cognoscenti, they’re sepals, but who’s splitting petals? Whatever they are, they’re beautiful – and they bloom in a wide range of colours from the purest of whites and the creamiest of creams to pale pinks, deep burgundies (nearly black ones too) and even a stunning green. Their nodding bell-shaped sepals form single, semi-double and fully doubles, and some are edged in a deeper colour known as picotee.

Because of the attractive, leathery foliage, Lenten roses look good right into the summer and fall months too. Over the winter, the leaves may get tatty, so cut these off to encourage new growth. And if deer are a problem in your garden (thankfully they haven’t become urban grazers – yet!), the leaves contain an alkaloid that keep marauding deer from munching them.

There’s more good news about these wonderful plants – they’re easy to grow. Lenten roses are happy in shade, part-shade or even in dappled sun as long as the soil remains cool and moist. They demand well-drained, humus-rich soil and once established, will tough it out during temporary periods of drought. Helleborus x hybridus is perfectly happy growing alongside other shade-loving plants, including ferns, flowering shrubs such as rhododendrons and hydrangeas and perennials like sweet woodruff, masterwort, bugbane and barrenwort.

Some new varieties of Helleborus x hybridus to look for in the nurseries this season include the Lady Series, a group of hybrids with cup-shaped, slightly upward-facing flowers that bloom in shades of pink, deep red, pink-rose and a deep, dark purple. The Royal Heritage strain of Lenten roses is also worth a second glance. These long-lived perennials produce large flowers and great foliage. Colours range from near black, purple and red to pink, green, yellow and white.

With such a rainbow of colours, handsome foliage and an easy going attitude, what’s not to love about Helleborus x hybridus?

Endless Summer hydrangea

Although I enjoy spending as much time  as I can in the garden, I know that many of you just don’t have the time to tend to finicky flowers or vigorous vines. But you still want a beautiful backyard, right? Modern-day flowering shrubs just may be the answer for you.

Shrubs have always been easier to care for than perennials and annuals, many of which make high demands on our time. However, shrubs are plants of another disposition entirely. Give shrubs the space they need, lots of water to get them started, relatively good soil and some sunlight and they can be pretty much self-sufficient.

To improve on a good thing, plant breeders have been working hard to develop easy-care shrubs with foliage that remains attractive all season long, bountiful blooms that last longer than ever (some even re-bloom) and good disease-resistance. The result is a no-fuss garden that looks like it’s groomed by a team of gardeners.

Here are some of the most reliable ones.

Tough and stunning ninebarks

Coppertina ninebark

Ninebarks (Physocarpus) are some of the toughest shrubs for the landscape. Tolerant of both heat and drought, they’re also deer resistant (an important point for those of you who garden near a ravine). I’ve grown one called Coppertina for the last three years and I love it for its coppery coloured leaves alone – not to mention it lovely pink flowers. A new one to look for is called Lemon Candy, a compact shrub that grows less than one metre tall and wide with bright chartreuse foliage and white flowers in spring. Little Devil is another new, compact variety that’s about a metre tall and wide. It features reddish purple leaves and creamy white flowers. (Avoid ‘Diablo’ ninebark, which is susceptible to powdery mildew.)

Heavenly hydrangeas

Blushing Bride hydrangea

With all the new hydrangeas that have been developed over the last few years, it’s hard to know which one to choose. The good news is: you can’t go too far wrong if you stick to the arborescens and paniculata types and avoid the macrophyllas, which can be a tad touchy in our climate. ‘Annabelle’ is an old favourite arborescence type that’s been supersized in the form of Incrediball (Invincibell Spirit is its pretty pink sister). The huge flowerheads are supported by sturdy stems, too, so this one won’t sag under the weight of its blooms. Quick Fire and Limelight are fairly new paniculata varieties. Little Lime is a new, more compact version of Limelight that’s good for small space city gardens. I’m also smitten by Tickled Pink, another paniculata type that’s a little over a metre tall and wide with white flowers that fade to rosy pink. For the most part, hydrangeas will take a little shade (the more sun, the more flowers, though) but they absolutely demand plenty of water, so consider installing some simple irrigation – even a soaker hose on a timer will do the trick.

New old favourites

With this list in hand, all you have to do is find the time to visit the nurseries and pick out your favourite, easy care flowering shrubs.

1. Visit a Greenhouse

For an instant injection of spring, there’s nothing like taking a walk through a greenhouse. One of the loveliest is right here in the heart of the city at Allan Gardens Conservatory. You know – it’s that glasshouse you glance at as you whiz along Jarvis Street on the way to somewhere else. This winter, make it your destination. You’ll be amazing at the variety of tropical plants and desert-dwellers.

2. The second-best way to get ready for springtime is to take a gardening course. The Toronto Botanical Garden’s Spring Program Guide offers so many courses, from pruning workshops to armchair travel, you’ll fill your calendar in no time!

3. Take Stock

Winter is the perfect time to organize photos of your garden and take stock of which plants performed well and which ones were under performers. During the growing season, it’s easy to be so awed by a colourful clump of perennials that you turn a blind eye to a sulky plant or a difficult corner of the garden. Looking at your garden through photographs gives you a truer picture of what needs to be done, so sort through those photos and starting making your spring to-do list!

4. Take a Walk

At some point, you’ll have to brave the wintry outdoors. The Toronto Field Naturalists make it easy for you to experience nature up-close. Throughout the winter, the volunteer organization hosts walks led by various members who share their expertise by identifying birds and trees along the trails. Upcoming walks include High Park, Humber Bay East and Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

5. Watch a movie

On a snowy evening, curl up in front of the flickering television and watch a gardening movie. From films with a gardening theme – my favourites include Saving Grace and A New Leaf – and armchair tours of some of the best gardens around the world (Audrey Hepburn’s classic series, Gardens of the World, comes to mind) to more serious fare such as the pesticides ban documentary A Chemical Reaction, there’s enough to declare one night a week gardening night in Canada.

6. Listen In

With access to so much online content, it’s easy to listen in to gardening shows from anywhere in the world. Some of the best are from the United Kingdom, where lucky gardeners watch daffodils bloom in February. BBC hosts several call-in shows (Gardener’s Question Time is often a hoot), which are available through podcasts at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer and you can even watch hunky Matthew Wilson, a.k.a. Landscape Man, on Channel 4.

7. Learn a Lesson

At one time, watching amateur how-to videos was at best comical and often misleading. But a quick Google search turns up some surprisingly instructive videos created by landscape experts. Some of the best include Patti Moreno’s Gardening Girl TV, PBS’s Garden Smart and Gardening Australia.

8. Read a Book or Magazine

During the gardening season, magazines and new books pile up on a table in my office, patiently waiting for winter when, I swear, they know I’ll finally have time to open and read them. At the top of the pile are the November issue of the Royal Horticulture Society’s The Garden and the spring issue of GardenMaking magazine. The View from Great Dixter and Growing tasty tropical plants heads the stack of books, as well as a pre-publication copy of Serving Up…No-Guff Vegetable Gardening by Donna Balzer and Steven Biggs.

9. Tend a Houseplant

Although I admit to being the worst indoor gardener ever, I know there are those among you who have a real knack for growing houseplants – and I envy your talents. Walk through the indoor plant department of any nursery this winter and take home whatever catches your eye – from traditional favourites like African violets to exotic tropicals such as clivias, you’re sure to find a charmer.

10. See Canada Blooms

An annual harbinger of spring, the Canada Blooms Flower and Garden Festival gives me hope that winter is coming to an end. Teamed with the National Home Show, this year Canada Blooms runs for 10 glorious days, from March 16 to 25 at the Direct Energy Building on the grounds of the CNE. It can’t come too soon.

Native bloodroot growing in my garden.

Belinda Gallagher tells it like it is. And backed by an impressive career as a nursery-owner and most recently, as Head of Horticulture at the Royal Botanical Gardens, her words reflect her experience and pragmatism. Although I missed her lecture on January 27, 2011 at the Toronto Botanical Garden, my good friend (and note-taker extraordinaire) Lorraine Hunter was there. Here are the points that she took away from the lecture:

Native plants are not always the answer for gardening problems ranging from drought conditions to flooding Belinda Gallagher told a full house at the Toronto Botanical Garden Edwards lecture on January 27.

“I’m a huge fan of native plants but they are not the be all and end all for every situation, she said.

First of all, there is no definitive definition of a native plant. While generally considered to be plants here at the time of the European settlers, that’s not always true.

Then there is the issue of natives versus the ‘nativars’, which are cultivars of native plants bred for specific things which may carry little or no pollen. “We don’t know if they perform the same services as the parent.”

She cited purple coneflower (Echinacea) which has some naturally occurring cultivars and some selective. “Orange purple coneflower sounds like an oxymoron to me.”

Plant identification, Gallagher said, is a big problem. While breeders and some growers know where their plants originated, big box stores generally do not.

“Is a plant produced in Ecuador or Holland really a North American native?

Ecological diversity is important, she said, “Lots of different things in the garden will protect our insects and birds.

She also noted that some species plants, such as Solomon’s Seal have cultivars bred in North America and Asia that look very similar and that both native and imported varieties of cimicifuga  are often grouped together in nurseries.

“It doesn’t matter in an isolated backyard if your native plant is from Ontario but if you back onto a native ravine, it does,” because imported versions could be extremely invasive.

The demand for native plants, driven by media and marketers, is huge, says Gallagher., “and far exceeds the capability of local growers. There is not enough supply for the market.”

Plants come onto the market too soon, she said. “I have an unease about the short supply. Not everyone knows where to plant or how to care for them. We’re putting natives on boulevards and they’re getting salt dumped on them. These plants came from oak savannahs not the 407.”

When not to plant natives, she said, is “when it’s not the right plant for the right place.”

Thanks Lorraine for a great overview of the lecture.

Now, what do you City Gardening readers think about using native plants? Do you agree with Belinda, or not?

Leave a comment and let the discussion begin!

There are many more of these wonderful fall bloomers, including ‘September Charm’, which comes a close second to ‘H. J.’  Which one would you choose to grow in your “desert island” garden?

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

You may prefer the creamy edges of Brunnera ‘Hadspen Cream’ or the gold-rimmed ‘King’s Ransom’ or even the silvery leaves of  ‘Looking Glass’, but my heart will always be true to ‘Jack Frost’. It’s not just the snowy foliage (it reminds me of Frosted Flakes cereal — maybe it’s a nostalgia thing…), or those gorgeous forget-me-not blue flowers, it’s that ’Jack Frost’ is so vigorous and healthy, he just seems to be in love with life. I’ve divided mine several times over the four or five years I’ve grown this wonderful shade plant, and I think I’ll have to do it again this year. By comparison, ‘King’s Ransom’ looks smaller and more delicate than when I planted it last year, and ‘Looking Glass’ has yet to make an appearance this season. So, my desert island choice for Brunnera is definitely ‘Jack Frost’. Any takers?

Photo: Blooms of Bressingham

Walking through my garden the other morning, it occured to me that I tend to hang onto plants whether they perform or not. In other areas of my life, I’m ruthless about getting rid of things I no longer use, wear, read, eat — well, you get the picture. So, in an effort to force myself to be just as cold-hearted in the garden, I’m compiling a list of desert island plants (or should I say, temperate island plants…).

So here’s the first in a series of “if I had to choose just one plant” posts.

I think it’s more than fitting that Geranium ‘Rozanne’ should be the first to kick off the series. This is a plant that belongs in every garden. Introduced at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2000, ‘Rozanne’ was nominated as the Perennial Plant of the Year in 2008 (what took them so long?!). In my garden, it blooms from June until November — I don’t know any other perennial that blooms as long! ‘Rozanne’ is such an easy-going plant, too. I moved it from the relatively rich soil of my perennial bed to the dusty dirt where a ‘New Dawn’ climbing rose thrives and ‘Rozanne’ didn’t so much as wilt. In fact, it clothes the naked canes of ‘New Dawn’ with lush foliage and those oh-so-lovely blue flowers.

So, are there any other nominations out there for the “If I had to choose just one hardy geranium” contest? Post a comment and let me know!

Well, firstly, he lives up to his nickname of Heathcliff of the Hedgerows (although the debate rages about whether he’s more Darcy-like. Personally, I think there’s a bit of (a young) John Cleese in him too…). Secondly, after unlikely stints at pizza-making and hotel-running, he has wielded his trowel in some of the world’s best-ranked gardens — namely, RHS Hyde Hall and Harlow Carr. So, he’s got real dirt under his fingernails. And thirdly, he can pronounce Zauscheneria as naturally as we might say: Make mine a double-double! So, ya get the picture. He’s gorgeous, funny and knows his stuff.

So listen up: here’s the scoop on which plants in the whole wide world (that we can grow here in Canada “the edge of where it’s good to garden”) rank among Heathcliff’s Wilson’s favourites for small gardens:

The solid performers

Geranium 'Rozanne'

1. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (is there anyone anywhere who doesn’t love this plant?)
2. Nigella damascena (what, an annual on a best plants list — yes!)
3. Sanguisorba ‘Tanna’ ( gorgeous, purple-rose colour)
4. Kniphofia rooperi
5. Echinacea ‘Sunset’ (as opposed to the “annual” ‘Art’s Pride’)
6. Rosa ‘Roserie de l’Hay’ (but you won’t ever hear him recommending a hybrid tea…)
7. Phlomis russeliana (in the words of Oudolf, a plant that “dies heroically”)
8. Eyphorbia schillingii in combination with Hosta ‘Frances Willams’ (ask him his guaranteed solution for slugs and snails on hostas…)
9. Polystichum setiferum ‘Herrenhausen’ (lovely twisted fronds)
10. Kirengeshoma palmata (oh yah, loves deep shade)

Shooting Stars

1. Pulsatilla vulgaris (must be the pickiest plant on the planet — needs limestone magnesia with acidic water running underneath — as if!)
   

   Camassia

2. Iris orchiodes (a Juno type)
3. Eremurus robustus  (oh sure, Matthew,  just try growing it on clay…)
4. Camassia cusickii (yup, I’m with you on this one)
5. Rhododendron yakushimanum (ditto)

These are just a few of Wilson’s top picks for small gardens. To hear about all of them, you’ll have to track him down at one of his next speaking engagements.

Helleborus Vancouver Medallion

What better way to welcome athletes and visitors to the Winter Olympics than with drifts of  this gorgeous Vancouver Medallion hellebore?  Thanks to the advance planning of the Garden Club of Vancouver and Heritage Perennials, 750 of these specially named hellebores (the cultivar name is ‘Candy Love’ — appropriate for upcoming Valentine’s Day, too) have been planted in Stanley Park and arranged in sweeping curves resembling the ski runs on the mountains where Olympic contenders will vie for gold medals. Hmm, I could go for a little hellebore gold in my un-Olympic-sized garden, too!