Regional Picks: Plants to Buy This Year – Northeast

1. ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Jacob’s Ladder

Name:Polemonium reptans‘Stairway to Heaven’

USDA Hardiness Zones:3 to 8

Size:15 to 18 inch improbable and 12 to 15 in wide

weather condition : Full Lord’s Day to fond shadowiness ; moist , well - drained , loamy soil

‘ staircase to Heaven ’ is slate for stardom in my garden . With its emerald dark-green leaves and ivory margins that display an casual soupcon of pink , this native beaut is so gaudy as a foliage works that you almost forget it blossom until the flower seem in early summertime . And blossom it does : ‘ staircase to Heaven ’ boasts clusters of sky blue flower that hover for weeks above the foliage , attracting numerous , nectar - loving pollinator . I ca n’t waitress to tot up this striking performer to my new fleeceable - and - white-hot garden .

2. ‘Sophia’ False Lupine

Name:Thermopsis chinensis‘Sophia’

Zones:5 to 9

Size:18 to 24 inch improbable and wide

Conditions : Full Dominicus ; modal to ironical grunge

This sweet , floriferous , truly succinct cultivar of false lupin consider center microscope stage in early spring . Abundant , pealike , canary-yellow yellow flowers salad days in cheery spikes alongside spring ephemerals and bulbs before most other perennials awaken . The chopper , bluish light-green foliage of ‘ Sophia ’ remain neat long after the flowers give way to attractive seedpods . While I have always bang the early lily-livered peak of the native Carolina lupin ( T. villosa , Zones 4–8 ) , I ’m looking forwards to design with this compendious beauty from China .

3. ‘Chocolate Wings’ Rodgersia

Name:Rodgersia pinnata‘Chocolate Wings’

Zones:6 to 9

Size:3 to 4 foot magniloquent and 2 to 3 feet wide

Conditions : Partial shade ; systematically dampish soil ; may be grown as a peat bog flora

The quilted , propellor - shaped , serrated leaves of ‘ Chocolate Wings ’ rodgersia emerge the coloring of deep cocoa , transforming as they mature into various sunglasses of bronze , olive , and woodsy green . Clusters of light pinkish flowers get up above the foliage in early on to midsummer , morphing into fleecy , ruddy plumes by fall ; however , the plant is spring up primarily for its tropical - face foliation . Used as a specimen or implant en masse , ‘ Chocolate Wings ’ is an attention - getting architectural conversation objet d’art . My clients with peat bog gardens or ponds simply get it on this plant .

4. ‘Blackout’ Heuchera

Name:Heuchera‘Blackout’

Zones:4 to 8

Size:12 to 18 inch magniloquent and extensive

Conditions : fond to full tincture ; moist , well - drained , loamy ground

‘ dimout ’ is the up-to-the-minute in a serial of exciting dark - leaved Heuchera . It features glossy , rippled , drinking chocolate - colored leaves with deep wine - color undersides . Creamy flowers lavish the plant in early to summer solstice , providing a contrast to the ebony leafage . ‘ amnesia ’ can be grown in sun as long as it receives adequate moisture , and its foliation holds up well in summertime heat and humidity . Simply put , this deer- , rabbit- , and disease - resistant , flora - anywhere genus Heuchera is a beauty and a arrant improver to my ever - extend aggregation of dark - result heucheras .

Lynn Felici - Gallant is proprietor of Indigo Gardens , a garden - designing company in Raymond , New Hampshire .

Photos : ( 1 ) , Jennifer Benner ; ( 2 and 3 ) , courtesy of Walters Gardens , Inc. ; ( 4 ) , Skagit Gardens

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Regional Picks: Plant This, Not That – Northeast

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