Aconitum and all of the rest...

**"* D* I* <g*@enter.net>**

To the group:

    I'm usually very silent on this list--and I take a great deal of pride
in that.  You are all so much more informed and informative, I believe that
silence has truly been golden for me.  However, the Aconitum thread has
opened a topic of discussion that I feel very strongly about.

    We struggle in this Garden Design, Inc. office to identify the latest
and greatest plants.  Then we struggle even more to propose them to clients
who don't have a clue and care less about issues of maintenance and
long-term health.  They just want a perfect garden with NO maintenance.

    I cringe whenever I hear the phrase, "I want to have a garden so that I
don't have to mow lawn any more."  There's no helping them.  And there's
certainly no explaning how much it costs to give them what they want.  I'm
forever thinking about the phrase, "Slam, Bam, Thank you, Mam!"   Let's just
plant it and walk away.  Unfortunately, that's neither our style or our
corporate ethic.

    I maintain the inventory in this office.  I visit our holding yard on a
regular basis.  We process a lot of plants every year.  Most of them fall
into that category of plant material that we all want to try and "need to
have."  I've attended all of the lectures that Stephanie Cohen gives on
PERENNIALS.  And I absolutely love all of the new introductions that we get
from Spring Meadow, Hines, Bailey's, and Conard Pyle.  I also maintain all
of the lists of replacement plantings that our 1 year guarantee replaces
free-of-charge.  So, I ultimately get to see what thrives instead of what
merely survives.  It amazes me how many entire groups of new releases and
introductions don't survive at all.  Does anyone need to be reminded of
Coreopsis 'Lime Rock Ruby?"

    This industry constantly chases the newer and better at the expense of
the older and wiser.  The designers in our office continue to ask me what
performs the best out of the 1300 different plants that we have on our
list-to-use.  So, I'm thinking that this is a great list of people who know
what to plant and how to plant it.  Would you mind if I ask you all what's
successful in your gardens.  I recognize that there's a zonal issue in all
of this, but realizing that, there's a list of great plants that we all
use--or abuse--that make the clients happy.

    The unique, zone 6-B, cast-iron perennials that I always recommend to
our designers include the following:  Acanthus spinosisimus, Boltonia,
Belamcamda (or Pardancanda...) Crocosimia, Geranium 'Rozanne,' Hibiscus
'Kopper King,' or "Lord Baltimore,' Kirengeshoma palmata, Persicaria
polymorpha, Stokesia laevis, Thalictrum rochebrunianum, and Tricyrtis
'Miyazaki.'  I won't include the more common tried-and-true like Coreopsis,
Nepeta, Hosta, Hemerocallis, Iris, Oenothera (weed!) Heuchera, or Geraniums.

    What has this list found to be hale and hardy to their individual zones?
Your information will be valued and used.  Hopefully, if this thread
continues we can take it over to the gardener's list.

Kirk R. Brown

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellen Zachos" <ez@acmeplant.com>
To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum"
<gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: [GWL] Aconitum

> Well, I grow Aconitum in PA with great success.  It is one of my
> absolute favorites not only because of the intense color at a time of
> year when veryt little else is purple, but also because in the middle
> of the woods (i.e. deer country) it is one of the few perennials that
> doesn't get touched.  Poisonous is sometimes good.  Despite our
> torrential rains this summer my Aconitum didn't require staking (at
> over 5' tall) and has been in bloom for the last 4 weeks.   No
> irrigation, 3-4 hours of sun, poor soil, and the clump has doubled in
> size in the three years I've had it.  What's not to like.  If it
> weren't so hard to find, I plant it for more of my clients.  As it is,
> I tout it heavily whenever I recommend perennials.
>
> Ellen Zachos
>
> _______________________________________________
> gardenwriters mailing list
> gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters
>
> GWL has searchable archives at:
> http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters
>
> Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
> at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos
>
> Post gardening questions/threads to
> &quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;
>
> For GWL website and Wiki, go to
> http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters
>

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
&quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters