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Home » Gardening Information » Great Plants

Native Perennials—New Cultivars That Light Up the Summer Garden

Plants & Gardens News Volume 19, Number 2 | Summer 2004

by Stephanie Cohen

A few decades ago, when I first started writing about native plants, nursery sources were limited, plant choices were few, and interest in gardening with natives was marginal. Since then, things have changed considerably—North American gardeners, on the whole, have embraced their native plant heritage. The change has probably had less to do with the persuasiveness of my writing than with the fact that native plants have become such obvious, sensible choices for today's more ecologically focused garden. Combining beauty of form, texture, and color with traits like low maintenance, drought tolerance, and the ability to attract abundant wildlife, native plants are a win-win proposition.

In response to the surge of interest in growing native plants, nurseries and breeders are bringing more and more wild species into cultivation and developing showier selections of established garden species. In recent years, there's been a proliferation of new cultivars of native perennials, many of them bred for novel flower color. Following is a selection of my favorite summer bloomers. Try a few—or even a lot. With their easy-care ways and vibrant, persistent blossoms, these natives will make a lasting impression in your summer garden.

Echinacea (coneflower)

Personally, I don't think you can have a good summer display without some coneflowers strutting their stuff in your garden. Native to our dry prairies and open woodlands, coneflowers grow from two to four feet high and produce large daisylike summer flowers with raised, dark conical centers and reflexed, purple, red, or white petals. The flowers bloom into the fall and are replaced by attractive seed heads, which add late-season interest to the garden and provide food for birds. Coneflowers do well in full sun or partial shade and exhibit high tolerance of drought. They prefer medium, well-drained soil and are generally hardy from USDA Zones 3 to 8.

Recently, the perennial-plant world has been blitzed by many astounding new coneflower introductions. The majority of them are cultivars of Echinacea purpurea, the purple coneflower. 'Ruby Giant', for instance, has a huge seven-inch-wide flower with ruby-red petals and a flattened cone, and it grows 2H feet tall. The double-flowered 'Razzmatazz' is a real showstopper. With a frilly pom-pom of short pink petals covering the central cone, it looks more like a peony than a coneflower. 'Razzmatazz' can get a mild case of "heavy flower syndrome" as the season progresses, so plant it between two stiff grasses for support. 'Doppelganger' must be seen to be believed. It's a "hose in hose" Echinacea. In other words, each red flower produces a matching flower on top of its orange-black cone for a stunning two-tiered effect. Reminds me of those lovely old double-decker buses in London.

Two years ago, the Perennial Plant Association of America went on a field trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. In the Garden's trialing area, we were shown the most unusual coneflowers in varying sizes and colors—all products of the CBG's extensive ornamental breeding program. One of them, a three-foot-high coneflower with peachy-orange sherbet flowers, gave me a serious case of plant lust. It turned out to be Echinacea 'Art's Pride', a hybrid from the garden's Orange Meadowbrite series. As if stunning orange petals weren't enough, the flowers also emitted a lovely orange-spice fragrance. I predict that for the next year or two, this coneflower will be scarcer than hen's teeth.

Last, but not least, is 'Paranoia', a hybrid of Echinacea purpurea and E. paradoxa, due out this year. Named by the king of unusual plant names, Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery, this wonderful plant boasts lemon-custard petals and rich dark centers. It is also the shortest coneflower to date, measuring in at just one foot tall. Perfect for the front of the border and even containers, the plant is sterile, so you get lots of flowers and a protracted bloom time.

I can't imagine planting Echinacea without some friendly Panicum (switch grass) nearby. Try an ornamental cultivar like P. virgatum 'Heavy Metal' or 'Northwind' for a handsome combo. Switch grasses bloom from late July to August, and their autumn colors range from tawny gold to red.

Gaillardia (blanket flower)

I'm so glad that people are finally recognizing what workhorses blanket flowers are in the garden. These natives of the North American prairie start flowering in summer and don't quit until frost! Typically growing from two to three feet tall, blanket flowers produce lance-shaped leaves and striking daisylike red, orange, and yellow blossoms. They are adaptable, full-sun plants, hardy from Zones 3 to 8, and they thrive in almost any soil as long as it's well drained. Butterflies adore them.

Gaillardia aristata and G. pulchella are two common and very worthy garden species. New cultivars of their hybrid offspring, Gaillardia x grandiflora, have been getting a lot of attention lately. There's the compact 'Mandarin', for example, which produces reddish-orange petals with yellow, toothed edges. And I love the flowers of 'Summer Kiss': peachy-apricot, with undertones of yellow. The big breakthrough, however, is 'Fanfare'. I never thought I'd be around to see plantaholics of all ages flipping out on a blanket flower, but it happened last year at the 2003 annual meeting of the Perennial Plant Association when everyone saw 'Fanfare', developed by English plantsman Richard Read. We were wowed by the plant's two-inch-wide flower heads, which have velvety red centers and curling, deep pink trumpet-shaped petals that flare out yellow at the tips. 'Fanfare' grows up to 14 inches tall and produces copious flowers on erect stems. One was still blooming in my garden in late October.

Good companion plants for Gaillardia include short native grasses such as Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern sea oats), which blooms in midsummer and turns tawny and bronze in fall. For a different picture, combine blanket flowers with Stokesia laevis 'Silver Moon' (Stokes' aster), which has large, individual creamy-white flowers.

Gaura lindheimeri (white gaura)

Just when you thought this article was going to be all about daisies, along comes white gaura, with its long, wandlike stems and airy, orchid-shaped flowers. Native from Louisiana to Texas and hardy from Zones 6 to 9, white gaura prefers full sun and loamy, well-drained soil. The slender, drooping, reddish-tinged stems grow five feet tall, produce small, lance-shaped leaves, and are covered in copious white to pinkish-white blossoms from late spring to first frost. White gaura looks best planted between more straight-stemmed summer bloomers or cascading over a rock wall.

New selections of Gaura lindheimeri are shorter and more upright than the straight species and so offer more planting options. 'Sunny Butterfly' grows four feet tall and produces pink flowers against a wonderful backdrop of creamy-white-edged variegated leaves. The extremely showy 'Crimson Butterfly' grows just two feet tall. It features hot-pink flowers held above very dark crimson foliage on short red stems. Finally, if you're looking for a compact white gaura whose flowers stay relatively true to the plant's common name, there's 'White Heron', which grows two feet tall and has bright white flowers that gradually fade to pink.

I like to grow white gaura with any of the annual or perennial black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia). Gaura's dainty flowers look great draped over the bright yellow daisy flowers, and the large, rough-textured Rudbeckia leaves contrast well with finely cut foliage of the gaura. Both flower for a long period, so it's a combination that keeps on giving.

Heliopsis helianthoides (false sunflower)

Native to prairies and open woodland, the false sunflower is a brightly colored, long-flowering, easy-care perennial that's perfect for mixed borders and informal plantings. Hardy from Zones 3 to 9, it flourishes in full sun and average, well-drained soil. Growing three to six feet tall, the false sunflower produces small, toothed, lanced-shaped leaves and offers a profusion of three-inch-wide golden daisies from midsummer to mid-autumn. There's no need to fertilize—unless, that is, you like tall, gangly plants that require a lot of support.

'Venus' is a beautiful new compact semidouble gold-on-gold-colored cultivar that grows only three feet tall. 'Prairie Sunset', an introduction from Prairie Nursery, is very different. Growing four to five feet tall, it has rough-textured dark green foliage on purple-black stems. From late June to September, it produces multiple golden flowers with filigrees of red where the petals connect to their dark central cones.

Plant false sunflower alongside the drought-tolerant and sun-loving Sorghastrum nutans 'Sioux Blue' (blue Indian grass), whose blue upright foliage is topped in late summer with a bright brown and yellow plume.

Stokesia laevis (Stokes' aster)

Hardy from Zones 5 to 9, this southeastern native has beautiful, long, entire green leaves with prominent white midribs. Its handsome, many-petaled blossoms, which look like daisies crossed with cornflowers, add sparkle to the front of any border. They bloom from midsummer to early autumn and are wonderful for cutting. Planted in full sun to filtered light with good drainage, Stokes' aster won't disappoint even beginner gardeners.

The flowers are usually blue or white, or both, but recently there have been color breakthroughs. 'Mary Gregory' is a creamy yellow; 'Honeysong Purple' has large purple flowers. There is also 'Colorwheel', whose flowers open white and then turn shades of pink and lavender. 'Peachie's Pick' has big blue flowers like the straight species but blooms later and extends the normal flowering season into late fall. This cultivar's long stems make it particularly good for cutting.

For a spectacular foliage combination and floral contrast, plant Stokes' aster with any of the purple coral bells (Heuchera), such as Heuchera 'Amethyst Myst', which has dark burgundy leaves and dainty green flowers, or Heuchera 'Absi' Bressingham Bronze, which has purple foliage overlaid in bronze.

Nursery Sources:

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