Difference between revisions of "Plants for the alley gardens"

Latest revision as of 19:25, 7 January 2009

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Shrubs

• serviceberry (amelanchier laevis)
  • 25 ft tall; 5-10-ft wide
  • white flowers, fruit
  • full sun - wet site
• flowering dogwood (stolonifera - red osier)
  • 10-12 ft
  • white flowers in spring - white fruit in summer
  • dark green leaves
  • tolerates wet soil
  • sun or partial shade
• ninebark (physocarpus opulifolius)
  • Diabolo has purple foliage
  • 6-9 ft tall and wide
  • pinkish flowers
  • full sun or partial shade
• potentilla fruticosa
  • 1-4 ft tall and wide
  • yellow flowers to frost
  • full sun to light shade

Grasses

• big bluestem (andropogon gerardii)
  • 3-10 feet
  • stem base turns to blue-purple
  • helps form a strong sod
  • prefers sandy soil
  • clump-forming
• little bluestem (schizachyium scoparium)
  • 2-3ft
  • full sun or partial shade
  • blue-green foliage to orange-red in autumn
• prairie dropseed (sporobolus heterolepis)
  • 2-3 ft
  • pale pink flowers above foliage
  • full sun
  • will tolerate dry conditions
  • good for erosion control

Flowers

• black-eyed susans (rudibeckia hirta)
  • 2-3 ft
  • June-August
• bee balm (monarda)
  • 1-3 ft
  • red, pink, purple
  • sun
  • susceptible to powdery mildew
• coneflowers (echinacea purpurea)
  • sun or light shade
  • 3-4 ft
  • mid-summer to fall
  • drought resistant
• butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa L.)
  • 1 1/2-2 ft tall
  • orange flowers June-Sept
  • summer bloom
  • pods in the fall
• asters (aster novae-angliae - New England Aster)
  • smooth blue (laevis): 2-3 ft, floppy stems
  • want to keep white asters that are currently growing next to the building
• Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum)
  • 3-6 ft
  • pinkish-purple flower
  • mid-summer to early autumn
  • seed heads good in winter
• cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
  • 24-48 in
  • moist to wet soil
  • red flower
  • July to September
• goldenrod (solidago flexicaulis)
  • 2-4 ft
• goldenrod (solidago rugosa)
  • Fireworks cultivar- clump-forming
  • shorter
• gray goldenrod (solidago nemoralis)
  • 1-2 ft clumps
• Ohio spiderwort (Trandescantia ohioensis)
  • 2-4 ft
  • purple flower
  • June-July bloom
• Virginia spiderwort (Trandescantia virginiana)
  • a little shorter
  • blue-purple
• pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea)
  • 1-3 ft
  • daisylike flowers from mid-summer to autumn
  • drought-tolerant
  • attractive to butterflies
• liatris (spicata)
  • 2-4 ft tall
  • purple
  • mid-summer blooms
  • cut back in spring
• rue anemone (Anemonella [Thalictrum] thalictroides)
  • 4-8 in
  • white, pink or lavendar flowers
  • mid to late April to June
  • disappears by mid-summer

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