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Heritage Perennials 2006 Top Ten Perennials

March 12, 2008  By Canadian Garden Centre & Nursery


New Millennium comes in a range of shades from white through to blue
and pink, but the sumptuous tones of ‘Pagan Purple’ are the most
astounding of all.  Shades of dark blue, deep purple through to mauve
are represented, with either single or double flower petals, always
held high on sturdy, stately spires.

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1. Delphinium ‘New Millennium Pagan Purples’
New Millennium comes in a range of shades from white through to blue and pink, but the sumptuous tones of ‘Pagan Purple’ are the most astounding of all.  Shades of dark blue, deep purple through to mauve are represented, with either single or double flower petals, always held high on sturdy, stately spires.

2. Dianthus Firewitch  ‘Feuerhexe’
A low-growing alpine perennial,
Firewitch Pinks feature evergreen leaves of blue-grey with a grassy texture, with upright stems up to eight inches that bear single magenta-pink blooms about an inch across.  Flowers are very fragrant, smelling sweetly of cloves, and appearing in mid to late spring.

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3 Echinacea Big Sky™ 'Sunset’
Sunset is one of the first hybrids to bring orange-red tones into this sturdy group of summer bloomers.  Plants are strong and bushy, up to 30 inches tall, with large rose-scented blooms composed of electric-orange petals around the reddish-brown central cone.

4. Echinacea purpurea ‘Razzmatazz’
Instead of the typical brown cone, each bloom of ‘Razzmatazz’ has a centre made up of layer upon layer of small-fringed magenta-pink petals forming a raised pompom, surrounded by a circle of matching daisy petals.  Blooms are decently large and, likely because they are sterile, they seem to last longer on the plant.

5. Heuchera ‘Marmalade’
Part of Terra Nova’s new Rainbow Series, ‘Marmalade’ is a huge improvement, with even better tones of amber to peachy-bronze, than other Coral Bells. Flowers are brownish and not particularly special, though the deep maroon flower stems make a nice contrast to the foliage.

6. Hosta ‘Sagae’
‘Sagae’ makes an upright, somewhat case-shaped mound of thick point powdery-green leaves, the margins streaked well with creamy yellow in spring, which later turns to ivory of white.  The thick and waxy texture of the leaves makes this hosta fairly resistant to damage from slugs and snails.

7. Ligularia dentate ‘Britt-Marie Crawford’
‘Britt-Marie Crawford’ has large, rounded leaves in a rich maroon-purple shade with a glossy finish.  It mounds up to form a substantial clump, then bears even taller stems of golden-yellow daisies in mid-summer.

8.  Lupinus Woodfield  Hybrids
This strain produces flowers in nearly all colours of the rainbow (except blue and green) with some lovely bicolours among them.

9.  Lychnis viscaria ‘Splendens Plena’
‘Splendens Plena’ forms a low tuft of grassy-looking leaves, bearing upright stems of fluffy double magenta-pink flowers in early summer.  The wiry stems are excellent for cutting.

10. Molinia caerulea ‘Variegata’
This medium-sized grass is truly outstanding and colourful.  It is a well-behaved clumping plant that forms a low mound of narrow leaves, stripped lengthwise in green and creamy-yellow to white.


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