The Gardener's Reference
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CARTER BECKER and LILLY MORE THAN 2700 PROVEN SPECIES AND CULTIVARS US$49.95 PERENNIALS The Gardener’s Reference PERENNIALS play a central role in today’s gardens, SUSAN CARTER is a garden and landscape designer in contributing both colorful fl owers and, in many cases, Seattle, Washington. She has 25 years of experience in various areas of horticulture and an endless desire to know everything PERENNIALS handsome foliage. Choosing specifi c plants, however, can be there is to know about plants. daunting. Is this plant hardy in my area? How big does it get? When does it bloom? How much sun does it need? What kind CARRIE BECKER is a lifelong resident of Seattle, where she’s The Gardener’s Reference of soil does it prefer? What are its water requirements? What gardened for more than 40 years. A professional gardener, are the best varieties? Perennials: The Gardener’s Reference landscape designer, consultant, and educator, she was one of While browsing through these pages, you may find yourself rejoicing answers these questions and many others for more than 2700 the original designers of the Northwest Perennial Alliance out loud. Here at last are the answers to questions that very few species and cultivars in 250 genera, making it one of the most Borders at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. garden books address at all, let alone in depth. comprehensive guides available. Another of the original designers of the internationally Concise introductory chapters discuss the characteristics of acclaimed NPA Borders, BOB LILLY has been in the ANN LOVEJOY the most important perennial plant families; plants that lend horticultural trade since working at a classic old-time Seattle themselves to special kinds of gardens (seasonal and shade nursery during his summer breaks in college. He now works as borders, cottage gardens, meadows); and general perennial a plant broker, selling perennials to wholesale growers. maintenance. The heart of the book, however, is the A-to-Z encyclopedia. For each genus, the authors give the plant’s scientifi c and common names, origins, preferred growing conditions, and light requirements, and offer hard-earned advice on management techniques, propagation, pests and diseases, and recommended companion plants. Individual species and cultivars are listed in easy-to-use charts that include height and spread, hardiness zones, foliage and fl ower characteristics (including bloom time), and other helpful comments. The informative text is enlivened throughout by the authors’ wide-ranging experience with perennials and by Lynne Harrison’s sumptuous photographs. Susan Carter Whether you’re a beginning gardener, a seasoned expert, or a green-industry professional, Perennials: The Gardener’s Carrie Becker Reference will be the book you turn to again and again for essential information about these supremely beautiful and Bob Lilly useful plants. Jacket photographs by Lynne Harrison. ISBN-13: 978-0-88192-820-4 Authors’ photograph by Jack Bucher. EAN For details on other Timber Press books or to receive our catalog, foreword by please visit our Web site, www.timberpress.com. In the United States and Ann Lovejoy Canada you may also reach us at 1-800-327-5680, and in the United Kingdom photographs by at [email protected]. Lynne Harrison £35.00 Jacket_TP2.indd 1 1/11/07 6:06:47 PM PERENNIALS 06_12_F08 Perennials X_5 CTP Proof No_5 06_12_F08 Perennials X_5 CTP Proof No_5 PERENNIALS The Gardener’s Reference SUSAN CARTER CARRIE BECKER BOB LILLY Foreword by Ann Lovejoy Photographs by Lynne Harrison Timber Press 06_12_F08 Perennials X_5 CTP Proof No_5 Frontispiece: A summer border, Agapanthus ‘Prolifi c Blue’, with the New Zealand grass Anemanthele lesso- niana, Crocosmia ×crocosmiifl ora ‘Solfatare’, C. ‘Jenny Bloom’, Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, and Cornus sericea ‘Sunshine’; foreground, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ and Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’. To Mousemilk, Bullslops, and Treacleberries Text copyright © 2007 by Susan Carter, Carrie Becker, and Bob Lilly. Photographs © 2007 by Lynne Harrison. All rights reserved. Published in 2007 by Timber Press, Inc. The Haseltine Building 133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450 Portland, Oregon 97204-3527, U.S.A. www.timberpress.com For contact information regarding editorial, marketing, sales, and distribution in the United Kingdom, see www.timberpress.co.uk. Printed in China Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carter, Susan, 1944- Perennials : the gardener’s reference / Susan Carter, Carrie Becker, and Bob Lilly ; photographs by Lynne Harrison. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-88192-820-4 1. Perennials. I. Becker, Carrie. II. Lilly, Bob, 1947- III. Title. SB434.C37 2007 635.9´32--dc22 2006033224 A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library. 001_032_TP.indd 4 1/11/07 3:34:17 PM CONTENTS Foreword by Ann Lovejoy 7 Preface 9 Plant Families and Characteristics 11 Plants for Special Gardens 17 Maintenance Guidelines 21 Perennials A-to-Z 33 Glossary 503 Common Names 507 Nurseries and Sources 513 Recommended Reading 517 U.S. Department of Agriculture Hardiness Zone Map 519 Index 520 FOREWORD If you love fl owers in general and are perfectly content to The book in your hand is a genuine labor of love and make do with the seasonal offerings found at the grocery the fruit of several lifetimes of hands-on experience, or hardware store or at a big box garden center, you don’t bolstered by sound theory. Those who have contributed really need this book (though it will vastly improve your to this volume represent hundreds of years of direct, prac- gardening techniques and broaden your horticultural hori- tical, and daily practice of what is preached herein. Rather zons in an astonishing manner). If, however, you lust after than saying “achilleas run,” the authors spell out the habits the rare and covet the unusual, desire choice collector’s and proclivities of as many achilleas as they fi nd garden- plants, or simply want to know how to care for a full range worthy, explaining precisely how each varies from the of perennial plants, this book is the one you have been other and where the runners might best be used. longing for in vain, because it didn’t previously exist. Striking and culturally compatible combinations are Indeed, while browsing through these pages, you liberally offered with the plant profi les, helping you to may fi nd yourself rejoicing out loud. Here at last are the partner each plant pleasingly. You’ll also fi nd ideas for answers to questions that very few garden books address extending the season of interest for various vignettes, at all, let alone in depth. Where else will you fi nd out perhaps by prolonging a color story with appropriate how to site and plant or when and whether to pinch back companions, or by screening fading foliage with fresh. or deadhead lovely creatures like Armoracia rusticana I have watched with great interest as this book has ‘Variegata’, Meum athamanticum, or Telekia speciosa? gradually grown over the years. Most garden books Plant care is treated less generically here than is usual, offer the experience of one person, delivered in a single and the voice of experience sings through very clearly. voice. Here, the three main authors (all with distinctive The overview of appropriate gardening practices may lift voices) are joined by guest gardeners who offer pithy and a few eyebrows, since some of the authors’ recommen- detailed observations of their own. A true collaboration, dations contradict the simplistic and often soil damaging it is yet a coherent and tightly conceived guidebook that weed-and-feed approach taken by many generalists. The is easy to use and full of telling details. Welcome to one focus is on successful and sustainable techniques that of the most enchanting aspects of the natural world—the steadily improve soil tilth and quality, reducing the need magical kingdom of perennials. Perennials are indeed to feed and water your plants. As a walk in any natural the lifeblood of the border, and there is to date no better environment demonstrates, healthy soil can support introduction to that delightful company than this. healthy plants very well without human inputs. When a bit of help is needed for a particular plant, you’ll fi nd specifi c suggestions for such assistance, along with Ann Lovejoy timing tips. Bainbridge Island 7 Late spring in the shade, a north-facing bed under an old apple tree, with Clematis montana working its way up the trunk. In the foregound is Omphalodes cappadocica, Pulmonaria longifolia subsp. cevennensis, and the shiny foliage of Colchicum autumnale. Foliage repetition in the midground is courtesy of Podophyllum pleianthum and Macleaya cordata; the large central shrub in fl ower is Viburnum lantana ‘Variefolium’. 06_12_F08 Perennials X_5 CTP Proof No_5 PREFACE This book is a collection of information gathered in characteristics, to help with plant selection and siting. collaboration. We, the ones who wrote it, have nearly Also included are some subshrubs that are indispens- two hundred years of collective gardening experience. able to the mixed herbaceous border. These small, hardy Some of us garden on heavy clay, some on sandy soil; and shrubs usually have perennial relatives and are often a variety of experiences in growing plants have been had evergreen (Convolvulus cneorum, for example); if they die by all. Often we’ve had the pleasure of acquiring a plant back part way in cold-winter conditions, they will regrow new to us—and then the frustration of not being able to the following spring. locate cultural information on the plant. We have read a That covers what’s here. What’s not here is informa- great deal and have trialed (and errored) a lot of plants, tion on annuals, trees, most biennials, and most bulbs and fi guring out how to grow them well.