Five-Plant Gardens

I recently came across a book in the library called Five-Plant Gardens by Nancy  J. Ondra, which features 52 ways to grow a perennial garden with just five plants. I was intrigued by the topic – it reminded me of the “5-Ingredient Recipes” cookbook that my sister-in-law swears by. The book was beautifully designed and illustrated, so I just had to bring it home for a closer look.

Nancy Ondra wrote this guide to simple gardening primarily for novice gardeners. As she states in her introduction, “..when you’re new to the process, starting with a manageable-sized space, a clear shopping list, and a simple-to-follow planting plan can make the difference between inspiring success and frustrating disappointment.” I think her five-plant strategy is great for gardeners of any experience level, and may even be very beneficial for those seasoned gardeners who are looking to scale back and simplify their complex, time consuming gardens.

The “Five-Plant Gardens” concept is a great organizing and editing tool. (And by “gardens”, I mean a garden bed, or a small plot, not the entire property.) After gardening on my own property for 22 years, studying landscape design and visiting hundreds of gardens, I can attest to “less is more.” Less variety and more of each type of plant, that is. Not the collector’s approach of “one of this and one of that”, but large masses of the same plant, which create a stronger statement in the landscape. It can be very hard to do, and requires steely self-control, (not to mention a special “collector’s bed” where you can house your impulse purchases), but the result can be very satisfying. And with a small variety of plants, the maintenance is much easier.

I have a “five-plant garden” that I installed 20 years ago, and it still pleases me after all these years. It is a shaded circular bed in the loop of my driveway, with a gazing globe as its focal point. The five perennials are hellebores, astilbes, cinnamon ferns, hostas, and fringed bleeding hearts – low maintenance shade plants that provide four-season interest.

Every month has its own highlight:

Hellebore foliage in winter gives way to flowers in March

Emerging fiddleheads in April

Hosta foliage unfurls in May

Cinnamon fronds and bleeding hearts steal the show in June

Astilbe blossoms explode in July

Hosta blooms stand out in August, and the changing colors of fall foliage provide interest from September through November.

I’m going to break the five-plant rule by adding snowdrops for February appeal. Since they are early bulbs that completely disappear, perhaps they won’t count?

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Dazzling Hellebores for 2013

Hellebores have fascinated me ever since I saw huge swaths of them blooming in a Washington, DC botanic garden 12 years ago. I started with a few plants in one garden bed, and as they faithfully returned year after year, I added more varieties, began dividing my own plants, and growing on seedlings in nursery beds. At this time of year, though, I realize that I just don't have enough of these amazing winter bloomers.

As I scouted the websites for new plants, I thought that I would share with you some of the dazzling varieties available to gardeners in 2013.

From Bluestone Perennials: Harlequin Gem and Amber Gem

From Pine Knot Farms: Pine Knot Pink, Double White with Pink Edging, Yellow Picottee

From Burpee: Onyx Odyssey, Phoebe and Stained Glass

From Arrowhead Alpines:  Potter's Wheel  From Plant Delights:  Golden Lotus, Red Sapphire

From White Flower Farm: Winter Thriller 'Ice Follies', Nite Coaster, Pink Frost

Hellebore Foetidus: A True Winter Charmer

When I first became interested in hellebores, Hellebore foetidus was not at the top of my acquisition list. After all, who would want to brush by a “stinking hellebore’ in their garden? Luckily, I couldn’t resist a beautiful healthy specimen at the local big box store one day, and the Stinking Hellebore has become one of my favorite perennials to grow and share.

Although fairly common and easy to find in nurseries, Hellebore foetidus is not widespread in home gardens. It is one of the most interesting hellebores to cultivate, however, especially if you live in the Northeast. Few hellebores are as showy during the late fall and winter, when most perennials are chilling underground. Hellebore foetidus stands proud and tall, looking like a miniature rhododendron. The plant is 2’ tall with spidery evergreen foliage that remains a lush dark green throughout winter. Certain varieties also have distinctive red markings on the stems and along the deeply divided leaves. The bear-claw shape of its leaves has produced a second common name – ‘Bear’s Foot’. The distinctive foliage texture makes this hellebore an interesting companion to almost any plant in the garden.

The icing on the cake are the Stinking Hellebore’s chartreuse bell-shaped buds and flowers that perch proudly atop its beautiful foliage. How many plants boast more than 6 months of bloom, starting in November? Just as the rest of the garden hunkers down for the winter, the Stinking Hellebore forms lush pale green buds that open into clusters of l” flowers with chartreuse bracts. In the early spring, these blossoms are covered with early pollinators that help to disperse the seeds.

After a couple of years in the garden, I was very excited to find baby hellebores growing in the shade of the mother plants, and transplanted a few to my nursery bed to see how they would grow. Like other caulescent hellebores, the Stinking Hellebore is fairly quick (by hellebore standards) from seed to bloom, often blooming in its second year. Mine grew into stout little plants that first season, and I transplanted them into a new area of the garden. Since that time, I have been careful not to mulch around the hellebore plants, and have impressive colonies of both  Helleborus foetidus and niger in my shade bed. Stinking Hellebore plants can be short-lived, so it’s good to let them set seed to provide a constant supply of new plants.

Helleborus foetidus prefers woodland conditions with deep, fertile, moist, humus rich, well-drained soil, and dappled shade. The species is, however, drought tolerant once established. Plants should be shielded from winter winds. Stinking Hellebore has no serious insect or disease problems and all parts of the plant are poisonous, so it is not bothered by deer or voles. And what of the smell? I have found the plants to have a mildly unpleasant odor when bruised, but the scent of the flowers does not deter me from cutting them for a vase. I just don’t keep them on my bedside table.

Hellebore foetidus has many uses in the landscape. With its intriguing, finely cut, dark green foliage, it makes an interesting and nearly evergreen groundcover for average to dry shade. It is also impressive as a single specimen when given plenty of sun. I grow mine in two partly shaded entry gardens with other hellebores, variagated liriope, leucothoe ‘rainbow’ and hostas, where its distinctive form, texture and bloom welcome visitors all through the year.

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Hellebore 'Snow Bunting' is Sure to Please

Hellebore 'Snow Bunting' is one of my favorites - an early bloomer in my Zone 5 garden. Its buds begin poking out of the ground in early December, and depending on the severity of the winter, will open in February or March.

This hellebore is an unusual plant from the esteemed Yokoyama Nursery in Japan, a difficult to produce hybrid between H. niger and H. x hybridus.

Each plant produces a beautiful bouquet of pure white, outward-facing flowers that last for months, turning a soft light green as they age. A lovely sight!

Hellebores - Stars of the Winter Gar

The longer I garden in Metrowest Boston, the more I appreciate the importance of winter interest in the garden. While evergreen trees and shrubs provide structure in the garden, it’s wonderful to see the emergence of a perennial flower bud from the groundshortly after Christmas – the hellebore! Sometimes referred to as 'ChristmasRose' or 'Lenten Rose', hellebores are the stars of the late winter/early spring garden. Plants generally bloom between December and March in cultivation, though some begin earlier, and others continue into April and May, particularly in gardens with colder spring climates. Nearly every garden has a spot for hellebores, and the plants will thrive in many different environments.Still, they remain unknown to many gardeners despite their toughness, beauty, hardiness, and wonderful habit of blooming in winter when most other plants remain dormant.

The majority of hellebores are deep-rooted, stout plants, with thick, shiny, green foliage. The large leaves may persist through winter, but not all plants are wintergreen in all climates. The plants grow 12-18” in height, and gradually increase indiameter to form large clumps with masses of nodding flowers. Once established,most hellebores make drought-tolerant, particularly if given some dappled shade in locales of long, hot and/or dry summers. Although hellebores are almost invariably sold as shade plants, in most garden conditions they will perform their best if given some sun. They prefer rich soil with plenty of humus and a mulch of shredded leaves or bark, and are deer resistant.

Hellebore flowers have five petals, and some species resemble wild roses, which is why theircommon names include “Christmas rose” and “Lenten rose”. They do not belong tothe rose family however, but to the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family. In the past decade, as hellebores have increased in popularity, hybridizing has vastly improved the color range of the flowers from near-blacks, deep purples, andslate grays through rich reds, cherry-blossom pinks, yellows, pure whites and soft, creamy lime greens. Many have dots or blotches of a contrasting color around their centers. New hybrids also include those with double flowers (Helleborus “Royal Heritage Mix”;). In my garden, the flowers remain on the plant for almost three months, turning from their original hue to a soft shade of green over time. and those with their flowers turned up (Helleborus “Ivory Prince”;).

In a lightly shaded garden, hellebores look beautiful combined with pulmonarias, ferns, and lamiums. In my own garden, I like to place hellebores where I will easily see them in winter and early spring – near the driveway and walkways to the house.A grouping of nine hellebores plays center stage in a circular bed next to the driveway, surrounding a silver gazing globe on an ornate pedestal. From November to April, the hellebore foliage and flowers are the only visibleplants in that bed. As spring unfolds, the foliage of coral bells, astilbes, cinnamon ferns and variegated hostas gradually fill in, and by the time that the hellebore flowers have faded, the other perennials are in their prime.

Some of the most common species of hellebores are Helleborus niger, the “Christmas Rose”, which blooms in winter; Helloborus orientalis, the “Lenten Rose”, which blooms in early spring; Helleborus occidentalis, Helleborus argutifolius, and Helleborus foetidus. The new color forms are hybrids of Helleborus orientalis and areusually labeled as Helleborus x. hybridus.

Hellebores may be purchased in local nurseries, and are also available from mail order sources such as Pine Knot Farms (www.pineknotfarms.com), and Heronswood Nursery (www.heronswood.com).