Dufferin Garden Centre

The Horticulture society is donating a tree to the Honouring Fallen Soliders project along the highway.   Read more about it here

Donna Zarudny (left) with Bev Farmer featuring one of the new hostas.

Photo by Colette Whiting

At the May meeting Donna Zarudny from Dufferin Garden Centre introduced us to a fabulous variety of new and exciting perennials.  The trend is leaning to compact, more drought tolerant, able to stand on its own and flowering for longer.

Dufferin Garden Centre has started a line of labels that lets you know which plants are bee friendly.  Look for the yellow bee sticker.  They are also carrying a lot more heritage and native plants that pollinators look for first.  Please consider adding a cluster of these to your garden somewhere.  Pollinators like clusters of flowers.

Bees in particular like blue, yellow, purple and white flowers

Make sure you put different shaped flowers as different pollinators like different shapes/textures

Consider plants that are in bloom in different times so there are always flowers for them.

Bees houses – make sure they are in a protected area.

Read more about what they are doing here.

She suggests planting high colour contrast things together and in clusters of 3 to create a “WOW” factor in your garden.

For an interesting low maintenance container garden, plant different hens and chicks and sedums in small pots and group together.  Take into consideration cobweb style, texture, colour, height.  She shared a sample of one with us that was beautiful, they could be used for creating small fairy gardens.  See some of the creations that were made at one of their recent classes here 

The 2016 Perennial is Anemone Homrine Jobert – 3-4 feet

Other new plants this year

Holly Hocks Alcea Halo – red/yellow – 6 Feet Bi-Annual

Astrantia – Midnight Owl – 30” High

Zone 3 A beautiful purple flowers from May – September does need to be deadheaded

Full sun/part sun likes morning sun

I will be adding this one to my garden this year.

Campuanula – Iridescent Bells –

Zone 5 – May – September blooms

The bees love these

Cone Flowers – Echinacea Butterfly Rainbow – 18”

Blooms Spring – Frost

Needs 6 hours of sun

Other varieties to look at for contrast – Tomato soup and Mac and Cheese

Hemerocellas – San Luis Halloween – 6” blooms

Blooms spring – fall

Drought tolerant

Heuchera – Grape expectation

Zone 4 – gorgeous deep purple leaves

Drought tolerate – likes morning sun

Use this with a lime coloured hosta to create a “wow” contrast point in your garden

Hostas - House Mouse

Zone 3 – Shade, slug resistant

Blue/green wavy leaves, perfect for a rock garden

Hosta – Cool as a cucumber

Zone 2 – long tapered leaves with white centre and vivid green edge

Has lavender blooms

Hosta – Hulk

High contrast – pointy leaves

Lavendula Augustifolia – Dwarf Blue – 12”

Drought tolerant great for rock garden – don’t completely cut back only take ~5” off the top

(the munsted variety is a very good pollinator just make sure you mulch it really well for the first year)

Leucanthum Spellbook Lumos (daises)

Zone 5 Spring – Summer bloom

These must be dead headed

Penstemon x Mexicali – Carillo Rose – 10-12”

Zone 5 Late spring – fall bloom

Heat and drought tolerant good for container and rock gardens

Lychnis – Petite Jenny

Zone 3 – Spring – Early summer blooms

Weigela Tuxedo – Shrub – 2’x4’

Low maintenance – white flower

Viola – Frizzle Sizzle

Spring – Fall bloom

Needs to be dead headed

Join us June 21 at the Royal Canadian Legion at 7:30.  Our guest speaker Shannon Stephens of Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority will be speaking on “Water conservation and Buffer Plants”