GardenDesignOnline

Perennial Plant of the Year - 2013

photo: PPA

Well, it's a plant we all know and love, so not a particular surprise that the Perennial Plant Association (PPA) has named Variegated Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum') as this year's winning perennial plant.

The plant is characterized by arching stems with small, bell-shaped white flowers in spring, and the green leaves with white margins light up shady areas throughout the growing season. 

PPA says the plant's name comes from poly (many) and gonu (knee joints) and is a reference to the many-jointed rhizome from which the leaves emerge.   The plant will colonize shady areas, the flowers have a pleasant fragrance, and the leaves turn yellow in the fall.  There are no serious insect or disease problems, and plants can be divided in spring or fall.

An easy and welcome addition to almost any garden with shady areas.

 

 

Gardner Nasturtiums

 

photo: Gardner Museum courtesy Siena Scarff

Sometime, you have to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston ... in April ... just to see the hanging nasturtiums.  The flowers dominate an entire wall in the central courtyard, filled in early spring with daffodils, hyacinths, orchids, azaleas, and  orange and lemon colored Clivia minata. Quite a sight.

 

The lemon clivia came from the collection of the late Allen Haskell, whose son now runs the Haskell Nursery in New Bedford, MA, famous for its rare and unusual plants.

Museum director Anne Hawley says the annual hanging nasturtiums "herald the start of spring in the city."  During her lifetime, Isabella herself often hung the flowers to mark the opening of the museum the week just before Easter.