Your guide to top plants

People don't care anymore when they buy a clematis if it dies at the end of summer. They just want to have good flower impact on their patio, balcony or deck for a few months. After, they don't care what happens to the vine. This according to Rob Wein, one of the owners of Clearview Horticultural, the biggest grower of clematis...

Do hostas look better with or without their flowers? Many people don't like the flowers and cut them off the moment they appear on their long stalks. Other love the flowers and would never think of cutting them when they are their peak. It really comes down to a matter of taste. But the conflict of whether to cut or not to...

Hadspen Blue Francee Patriot June Sum and Substance I love hostas. They look fantastic in the garden. But they also look terrific in containers. I grow too many of them. Scattered all over the garden. But I love seeing them displayed on their own as single specimens in a nice container. Blues are my favourite. I love Hadspen Blue and Halcyon, Krossa Regal and...

Want to do a special planting for Canada Day this year? Here are a couple of plants that are being marketed this spring specifically to appeal to those gardeners who want to show their patriotism when it comes to celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday on July 1. Dahlia 'Canadian Celebration' is a striking white dahlia with red stripes that is expected to...

I have been agonizing over what to do with a space in the garden that has become an eyesore since a large Clematis montana growing over a Viburnum Summer Snowflake collapsed and died over winter. The viburnum had grown into a small tree and the clematis had scrambled into it and smothered it, creating a beautiful canopy of flowers in...

My Reine des Violettes old-world rose has collapsed under the weight of abundant blooms and smothered the little wooden bench below. I never expected this rose to produce such an avalanche of flowers, particularly after the hard winter we had this year, but it has bounced back with renewed vigor. Reine des Violettes is a once-flowering, old-world Hybrid Perpetual with an...

First thing this morning, I found room for a bunch of new perennials in a sunny spot already home to some ornamental grasses and weigela and burgundy and lime green ninebark. I put in six Coreopsis Uptick, considered the “kings of summer” and have the added appeal of being hybrids of a native North America species. The names of the ones I planted...

One of the new plants I have added to my garden this year is Euonymus japonica ‘Paloma Blanca’ which sometime goes by the name White Candles. I have used it to create a short, formal hedge behind which I grow a variety of taller shrubs including purple nine bark, calycanthus and Korean lilac. The euonymus replaces a drift of Carex...

There’s a reason bride’s love to have peonies in their bouquets and at wedding celebrations. Next to roses, peonies are one of the most romantic flowers, unashamedly soft and delicate and extraordinarily pretty. Pink and white peonies with their dense explosion of petals are without doubt a sensational sight in a vase or bouquet. Now, the question is which kinds should you grow in...

  Will Barron Walter Pennel Serenata Ville de Lyon Sea Breeze Prince Philip Ernest Markham Pamiat Serdsta Candida Bees Jubilee Your guide to clematis Every garden should have a few clematis. I have at least five kinds in different parts of the garden. I used to have several more but over the years I have replaced them - pyracantha instead of clematis around an arch, for instance. People fall madly in love with...

There are dozens of excellent trees for the average sized home garden, but forced to choose just one tree, I would pick this one - the Japanese snowbell tree (Styrax japonicus). It's the perfect tree for any home garden. My snowbell tree is at its peak right now in front of my house and is literally covered with beautiful, delicate,...

Some friends brought us a huge bouquet of gladioli the other day - four bunches containing red, purple, orange and peach ones. They were barely in flower when they arrived, but they have since started to open up and we have placed them in two tall vases and they actually look very good. In fact, the more the flowers open,...

Germination is one of the great mysteries of life. Yes, we see it working. Yep, we have lots of science on the process. But the reality of a seed springing to life, forcing its way out of the ground, showing a steely determination to succeed, an energy and will to live and grow and become something more than it...

Buddleia davidii ‘Black Knight’ (butterfly bush) Walk into any garden and most of the plants you see come from other parts of the world. Buddleia, the butterfly bush, originates from the Sichuan and Hubei areas of China. It gets its name because it has the uncanny knack of attracting butterflies. ‘Black Knight’ is one of the most beautiful and reliable...