Bernadette Vangool
Along with the camaraderie and belonging to an organization of like-minded, plant loving people, one of the benefits of membership in the Saskatchewan Perennial Society is being able to take part in the Spring and Fall Plant Exchange. Held in the Hall at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park, members bring perennials and other plant material that have outgrown their space and are in need of dividing. Plants are put on tables and participants are given a coloured piece of paper. When your colour is called, it is your turn to peruse what is on the tables and choose a plant to take home. There are usually enough plants for three rounds of plant picks. Following these organized plant picks, there is a free-for-all at the end, when enthusiasts rush to the table to attack whatever is left, usually daylilies, irises, ferns or other common plants of indeterminant colour.
In conjunction with the Spring Plant Exchange, is a plant sale to raise funds, so that the Saskatchewan Perennial Society is able to provide services to the public and its members, while keeping actual membership fees at the reasonable level of $10 per year. Plants are ordered in the fall from Vanstone Nursery, a wholesale supplier in Manitoba,
The sale will be held on Tuesday, May 26, at 6.30pm at the Hall at the Forestry Farm Park. Some of the plants are repeats from last year that were not delivered, like the maiden fern, or that sold out within minutes.
Trollius a bright addition in a shady area in July.
Trollius or globe flower is a clump forming perennial in the buttercup family. Ranunculaceae, the generic name, comes from the German word ‘Trollblume’, meaning a rounded flower. It is native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and in its natural habitat appears in meadows with heavy clay soil. We have ordered ‘New Moon’ (Trolius x cultorum) which has large, cream-coloured flowers on a compact plant, 50 cm in heigh with a spread of 40 cm. ‘New Moon’ blooms from late spring May into June. It was introduced by Jelitto Perennial seeds in 2011, which received seed from Coen Jansen in the Netherlands. It can be used as a cut flower and is said to resist deer and rabbits. But as Lyndon Penner loves to remind us ,‘The deer can’t read.’ Plant them in partial shade as they prefer moist soil conditions. ‘Golden Queen’ (Trollius chinensis) is an orange-yellow variety with bowl shaped flowers, from China through Russia. It prefers cool weather and is best planted it in the shade of taller perennials or partial shade. It blooms in mid-summer and resembles a double buttercup. We saw this variety in a member’s garden last July and it was quite the show stopper. Trollius is best divided in the fall. Although Trollius is quite poisonous, its acrid flavour discourages ingestion.
We are again bringing in a lavender. Last year we provided ‘Munstead’, which is a shorter variety. This year we are bringing in ‘Phenominal’, which will grow 75cm tall with a spread of 75cm. Lavender likes full sun and dry roots and will do best in sandy or well drained soils. It is highly fragrant and attracts bees and butterflies, is an excellent cut flower and is deer and rabbit resistant. There are over 450 varieties of lavender, of which only a handful are hardy to zone 3. Cover it with mulch in late fall to insulate the roots. Some gardeners treat them as annuals, grow them in pots, and bring them indoors for the winter.
One of my favourite flowers in the garden is the cornflower or Centaurea montana. The blue bachelor button spreads prolifically by seeds. ‘Amethyst in Snow’ is better behaved and slowly spreads from the base. (It has not self-seeded in my garden at all.) While the blue variety blooms profusely from spring, and will rebloom if deadheaded. ‘Amethyst in Snow’ tends to bloom only once in early summer. The flowers have a purple-blue centre with white fringed flower petals. The foliage is a soft grey colour. Plants are 40cm high with a spread of 30cm. It is a great pollinator plant.
This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (SPS; saskperennial@hotmail.com). Check our website (www.saskperennial.ca) or Facebook page (www.facebook.com/saskperennial) for a list of upcoming gardening events.
