WHITEHOUSE NURSERY NEWSLETTER
Mid July 2013
Dear Gardening Friends

It has been such a delight opening Emails with photos of our garden for the photo competition. It is always interesting to see the garden through other people's eyes or camera lens.

I've especially enjoyed some of the amazing close ups of flowers and insects.

I've also seen pictures of flowers I didn't even know were in bloom in the garden. With all the daylilies coming into flower the next few weeks should be a photographer's dream. Daylilies love water and there has been no shortage of that. I can't even estimate how many flower buds there out there ready to burst open but it must be in the hundreds of thousands. I am posting updates on what's blooming as well as photos from the photo competition on our Face book page. Please remember your camera when you come to visit and keep sending me those pictures.

Bruce and Suzanne and the Whitehouse Team
photo Brian Eastop

NOT YOUR "GRANNIES BLOOMERS"

Throughout my gardening life just about every sunny perennial border I have looked at has contained at least one Sedum, sometimes called Stonecrop or Live Forever. As a Sedum Chocolate Drop child I called them Broccoli plants. Black Eyed Susan or Rudbeckia is the other perennial that is frequently present. Both plants are exceptionally easy to grow and very long lived but "Grannies's Bloomers" do have some faults. Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and many of the other older varieties flop open and look like the cat used them as a bed. The older varieties of Sedums have flowers that are more maroon than pink and don't contribute much colour to the fall garden. Sedums also dislike wet soils and rot quite easily. Thanks to the work of some dedicated plant hybridizers we now have some great new varieties. Terranova Nurseries have been leaders in the work on Sedums and have some outstanding introductions. 'Chocolate Drop' is a small sedum with very dark foliage that looks beautiful with small conifers and blue toned grasses. 'Birthday Party' and 'Class Act' are Sedum Class Act both short multi-branched plants loaded with bright pink flowers in late summer. 'Maestro' and 'Pure Joy' are Proven Winners contributions to the Sedum lineup. For edging your garden try 'Dazzleberry' or 'Thundercloud'. Breeders have also taken on the old fashioned Black Eyed Susan and amped up the flower power while making the plant more compact. 'Little Goldstar' is only 40 cm height and width, making it a great plant for smaller gardens. Starting in mid summer, it produces loads of 5 cm flowers with long, slender golden petals around prominent dark brown cones. 'City Garden' is just slightly taller and is also produces masses of flowers. All Rudbeckia and Sedums prefer full sun and attract butterflies and then songbirds in the autumn.

Photos 'Chocolate Drop' and 'Class Act' courtesy of Terra Nova Nursery

UPDATE ON THE ECHINACEA TRIAL GARDEN

Solar Flare We've had lots of interest in the Echinacea trial garden. Now that the 40 plus varieties are all coming into bloom you can really see the differences in performance. Some are flowering beautifully but lean on their neighbours too much. Some just don't have the flower power to make them worth the garden space. Others are not growing well or are especially liked by chewing insects. 'Solar Flare' is just coming into bloom and it is definitely emerging as one of the best performers. 'Pow Wow Wildberry' and 'Pow Wow White' are both living up to their reputation as flowering machines. 'Hot Papaya' is also proving to be a contender for the best colour in a coneflower. Echinaceas are the work horses of the summer garden. Now that some of the new varieties are proving that they can perform like the old fashioned pink coneflowers we have a lot of colour options to add some "flower bling" to our gardens.

Photo 'Solar Flare' in our test garden