Cold Climate Gardening

Not much is going on that isn’t the same for all gardeners: snow gone, ground drying up, warmer temps, shoveling the ground for the first time this season, planting, weeding, mulching. I’m doing it and don’t want to read about it, so how about some pictures and a bit of relevant text instead?

Here was my problem: fill a space along one side of my porch. Because of a change in grade, the plant needed to be 5 feet or taller but width wasn’t as crucial. The plant had to be herbaceous because winter snows are shoveled off the porch and onto or over this area; a shrub would soon be crushed by my shoveling, and become a pile of broken sticks. The ability to tolerate full sun, medium to dry soil, and wind were additional requirements. My solution was Rudbeckia ‘Herbstsonne’ (syn. ‘Autumn Sun’).

Popularity: 15% [?]

The fields surrounding my house are turning yellow and I know it must be August. I experience the passing of the seasons by what plants are coming into bloom and now it is the goldenrods’ turn. Familiarity can bring indifference and my neighbors often ignore the flowers but I cannot. I can find at least three species with little effort and probably more close by.

I have sometimes overheard gardeners state that yellow is not allowed in their garden and I can’t understand why. What will freshen their border after midsummer, I wonder? I look forward to the arrival of old friends such as Heleniums, Helianthus, and Rudbeckias and wish their visit could be longer. I see yellow as a warm up to the traditional russets, golds, and burgundies of autumn.

A current favorite are Silphiums. I grew up in an urban area with a tiny yard so it isn’t a surprise that I am enamored with large plants and the Silphiums are certainly that. Some can be giants and I often experience the odd feeling that the plants are looking down at me, reversing the usual inspection. My garden is treeless, relentlessly windy, and often dry. This matches the Great Plains home of these American natives and they have thrived in my garden as few others have. These are long-lived plants and I look forward to growing older together. I have heard their towering stalks of yellow daisies can reseed with abandon but I have yet to discover seedlings from my four-year-old plantings. I am indifferent to deadheading and leave garden clean up for spring so I don’t know if I am doing something right or wrong.

Popularity: 11% [?]