Viewing comments posted by plantrob

The Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst', the great-granddaddy of all my current specimens, was a fine specimen, holding court atop our rock garden with a rounded habit and large yellow flowers. Its offspring, which I don't consider to be 'Sunburst', are still nice plants, but their habit is a bit rangier, the flowers a little smaller. Very hardy: They've lived without complaint in our driveway bed, which gets sun-baked in summer and snow-piled in winter, with some snowmelt salt as a chaser.

It's amazing to me how different the flowers on this page look - all with the same purple-pink and yellow center color scheme, but such variety in hue and subtle patterning! When I first grew this, I described the color as "metallic purple", and some days, that still seems accurate, but it all depends on the quality of light.

Quite vigorous plant, which I prize for its fuzzy buds almost as much as for its white flowers with subtle purple accents. Ours has grown right alongside our front walk for many years, where it reaches over four feet tall when in bloom. Although my dear wife has many times said it should really be (re)moved because it impedes pedestrian traffic, and I've even made some half-hearted attempts to do so, some bits always survive, and the plant lives on.

Quite the spreader - it seems like every seed it sets grows into a plant, and some pop up in unusual places, including spots in full sun, where they do fine despite their reputation as a shade plant. They quickly grow a small bulb, which grows into a large flattened bulb over the course of a few years. While I like them, they've gotten out of hand in a few garden areas, so I treat them with caution these days.

I'd grow this allium even if it never bloomed. The bluish-green foliage on a mature plant is marvelous: broad, just a little curvaceous, with a smooth rounded tip. They take a few years (from seed) to reach this stage, but it's worth it. I grow them in the rock garden.

I planted this as a small tree in 1999, in our zone 6 Pennsylvania garden. It's been a marvellous asset to our front-yard garden ever since, even tolerating annual decoration with Christmas lights. After it matured, the bark became at least as much of an attraction as the flowers: The underside of the tree stays bare of leaves and twigs, really showcasing the structure and the exfoliating bark. Sadly, our specimen appears to be on its last legs, only leafing out on a third of its main uprights. Perhaps two true zone-6 winters in a row was too much for this Southern lady...

The information above lists this plant as a biennial, but in my experience, it's one step worse than a biennial: a triennial (if that exists), blooming in its third year and then dying. Still, it's such a striking plant when it does bloom that it's worth it. Just have to remember to keep starting new plants every year, so that there's always a crop in bloom somewhere around the garden :-)

Abundant blooms on a vigorous plant. One of my favorite lenten roses, for its unusual color and neat stature.

Of all the magnolias we grow, this is the only one that reblooms, not as abundantly as in early spring, but new flowers appear throughout the summer.