Darin Engh from Engh Gardens has some top picks for late-blooming perennials which can take center stage and keep color in your yard.
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Russian Sage Perovskia atriplicifolia– deer resistant, drought tolerant, prefers average to sandy or gravelly well-drained soil, tends to lean towards the sun, light staking may be needed, usually pest-free
• Plants should be cut back several inches from the ground in early spring to encourage dense growth and flowering
• Loose, hairy flowers, and its fine foliage give this shrublike plant a smokey blue appearance that contrasts well with large, yellow or daisy-like flowers
• Mint family remember releases a sagelike pungence when crushed
• Excellent for silvery effect combined with grasses and other large-scale perennials in New American-style gardens and other naturalistic sites
Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia maxima– deer resistant, native plant, habitat for small wildlife, long lasting cut flower
• Remove dead flowers to encourage a second blooming later in summer.
• Savor summer’s splendor – impose the hazy texture of another wonderful veil through which to view pleasing vignette
Torch lily Kniphofia – Old fashioned redhot pokers, named for their glowing red tips and smoldering yellow shafts, have been upstaged by a rainbow of torch lily hybrids that has set the garden afire.
• Although the main bloom period for torch lilies is late spring and early summer, most varieties bloom again if the spent flower stalks are regularly removed from the clump
• Avoid excessive watering to prevent crown rot
Phlox Phlox paniculata – today’s garden phlox or summer phlox
• hybridizers have developed spectacular flower heads in vivid colors
• blooming usually for a month in July, August, or September, garden phlox often reblooms if immediately cut back
• honey-scented flowers
• divide every 4 years in spring or fall
Stonecrop Sedum – drought tolerant, prefers average to sandy well-drained soil, usually pest free
• on warm days they are covered with butterflies and bees
• leave the dead flowerheads at the end of the season – they help protect the crowns over winter
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For more information, visit Engh Gardens in Sandy or one of their other locations. And Saturday, August 18 will feature salsa tastings all day.
Sandy, UT 84070
(801)748-0102
www.enghgardens.com
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