5 Plants I Love and 1 that I Regret Buying

The list of plants I love to grow has become smaller over the years, mostly because I' have made the decision to be more "selective" and to refocus on growing more of what grows/survives for me instead of having a large variety of plants. I have a huge problem with deer and this year (for the first time in 14 years in this home) I have a problem with rabbits as well. My filters are now....zones 4-8 minimum (I'm 6b), deer and rabbit resistent, insect damage resistent, and powdery mildew/disease resistent. What is working for me right now is boxwood, daffodil, iris, native wisteria, nasturtium, barberry, japanese holly, green giant arb, spartan juniper, wiegela, dwarf crape myrtle, cimicifuga, prairie winds 'lemon squeeze' and 'cheyenne sky' fountain grasses, blue star juniper, dwarf mugo pine, and hellebore. I recently added some baptisia and I'm waiting to see how that goes. So far, so good. I don't mind tending my garden, but I don't want to feel like I'm going to war with it each year.

I love my monarda, it's called 'Mahogany ' and has never gotten powdery mildew, has gorgeous deep fushia colored blooms and very strong stalks. Last year it grew to nearly 7 feet high(more rain), this year under 6, with drought. As I have horses, most of my garden has very rich soil and I rarely need to stake anything, even peonies with massive and abundant blooms. Your garden is really lovely. Happy gardening.

I love Agastache’Blue Fortune’. It seeds around and the seedlings can be variable in height and sometimes color. It also has had chartreuse seedlings like the cultivar ‘Golden Jubilee’. The golden form is not as tall in my garden.

For the beebalm, I would do a chelsea chop in mid spring for the floppiness and thin out half the stems at that time to create better airflow for the powdery mildew.

Powdery mildew is definitely a problem on almost all monardas. To me, they make up for it by blooming basically all summer long and feeding thousands of bees. As for the flopping I’ll say that many times a native plant will grow much taller in the first two or three years after planting than they typically grow for the rest of their lives or in the wild. Once they reach equilibrium with the other plants, they usually hold themselves up a little better. :) Good luck and thanks for the video!

Thx for sharing Texas greats are… Lantana, Cone Flowers, Day Lilies, Rock Rose, Salvias, Hummingbird Bush, Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus, and the list goes on and on and on… 😊

Love that Queeny Lemon Peach!

I am loving that penstemon midnight! I need her in my life! She will go well with the hibiscus and elderberry in our garden. I love that dark foliage contrast! Thanks for sharing such informative video. Will keep an eye out for the penstemon. Have an awesome day Sue!

I very much appreciated your commentarybee balm. I, as well, love it, and it frustrates me incredibly. I cannot control the powdery mildew either. You answered a very important question for me and my garden.

I certainly ditto your sentiments on the beebalm! Though mine doesnt usually flop, it is covered in powdery mildew despite the drought we've been going thru! Since it has such a short bloom time, I wont miss it when I boot it out of my garden! ha ha!

Thank you for sharing! Happy Gardening 🌻🌻🌻

Beautiful 💐 My days of gardening are over, I'm afraid, but I still dream when I see a beautiful garden like yours. I always had as much echinacea as possible, red beebalm, rudbeckia (can't get enough!). Always admired the softer tones, but I was drawn to the stronger coloured perennials. I still have them but more flowering shrubs...less management. Your garden is a delight.

I bought some shorter varieties of bee balm that I could put in with my roses without overwhelming the area and they have done an amazing job of still attracting tons of pollinators for me!

What ultimately worked for me is to lean on the studies from Mt Cuba — which evaluated the plants for vigor, mildew resistance and stem strength. That’s how I landed on Purple Rooster. That’s my color. But there are others that might be worth a try that performed even better. I use branded plants judiously but this is one of the cases where I would caution against unless regional field data is available particularly in regards to mildew resistance AND length of bloom which can be short in more compact varieties

The pollinators absolutely love all your flowers. I love watching them fly around throughout the day!

I love verbena. I started from seed a couple of years ago not knowing how wonderful it is. Ignorance is bliss😅

This is my first season with Heliopsis 'burning hearts' & I love it as much as you love yours. It looks great with little care & keeps blooming

I have the wild bergamot and live in the hot sunny 40 degrees Celsius🎉 Okanagan of British Columbia . It does not get much rain in the wild , please plant it where you don’t water it , it will thrive without mildew . I hope this helps. It is planted with my Showy Milkweed, Wild baby’s breath ,and Queen Ann’s Lace . All these do well without great soil and pampering them .

Lovely video. Thank you for the recommendations and the pdf. I've had trouble for a long time growing most flowers in my garden (it's always had terrible drainage). This year I'm trying something completely new - I planted everything in pots and I just put the pots in my garden. Lol, it's never looked better! Lots of beautiful blooms everywhere! :)

Wonderful video, Sue - so helpful to see your successes. I grow Penstemon 'Dark Towers' which is similar to your cultivar and I love it for all the same reasons! Also, its emerging dark foliage looks great with spring bulbs, plus it is a cultivar of our native Penstemon digitalis, hence the insects flocking to it.  If you decide to remove your Monarda fistulosa, consider the selected form 'Claire Grace'. It was recommended by the Mt. Cuba studies and I planted it 3 years ago. It was a naturally occurring selection chosen because it was a little shorter and less prone to flopping as well as with better mildew resistance. I grow mine in a partly sunny area and it has not flopped at all nor had any mildew. (Zone 6, SW PA) Also, the deer seem to leave it alone unlike Monarda didyma, which they nibble quite a bit. It also tends to not travel as much as the Monarda didyma. Another favorite in my garden is Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer' - I love flowers with multiple colors and this is a beauty - it stands straight up, the pollinators love it, and it has been persistent for me for the past 3 years. It would look great with your Heliopsis ''Burning Hearts'.  Finally, I am smitten with our native grass Deschampsia cespitosa, tufted hair grass. It is a cool season grass and greens up very early in the season. It blooms in mid-summer, very airy see-through 2' blooms that add a magical touch to the garden for months until late fall. I used it with great success in my wild garden and am now adding it to my more formal garden beds to reduce the maintenance work while adding a little ethereal magic.They also divide easily in early spring, not at all like dealing with miscanthus or other large grasses. I recently bought several more in plug form from The PollenNation nursery by mail - they are the least expensive source of native plants that I've found and have given me the most success. Thank you again for such an informative video!