One of the highlights of my fall was getting to travel to the Geneva Lake area along the border of Wisconsin and Illinois to attend and speak at Intrinsic Perennials Ornamental Grasses Day. Brent Horvath (header image, center right) and Lisa Hilgenberg were wonderful hosts for all of the approximately 100 people who came. And then we were treated to a tour of the nursery, including Brent’s exotic perennial garden, which was inspired by a blog post I wrote after visiting Great Dixter years ago.
If you don’t know about Intrinsic Perennials, Brent is one of the best breeders of ornamental perennials in horticulture. Brent’s work focuses on selecting plants that can thrive in modern plantings and modern places. Two of his releases have won Perennial Plant of the Year, the disease-resistant Rudbeckia ‘American Gold Rush’ (black-eyed susan) in 2023 and the crimson-colored Andropogon gerardii ‘Blackhawks’ (big bluestem) in 2026.
I think Ornamental Grasses Day is a wonderful model for a nursery or really any group of plant-loving people. In the off season, host an educational day for your customers or community. Magic happens when we bring plant people together.
Brent’s incredible breeding work was on display in the nursery. Even late in the season, many perennials offer flowers for pollinators and fading foliage for autumn color.
I love seeing the minutiae of someone’s craft. Take Brent’s approach to storing collected seeds. This method is way better than all the envelopes I have stashed away!
It was a treat seeing Monarch butterflies on Liatris ligulistylis (meadow blazing star) before they migrate south. See you in a few weeks when you come through Texas!
Even the edges of the nursery supported life. Here we see a healthy crop of Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed) seed.
This trial garden area showcased some of Brent’s selections. This beast of an aster was Symphyotrichum × ‘Thunderdome’ (hybrid aster). As an asterphile, I can’t wait to try this one.
Another aster selection of Brent’s that I really liked was Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ‘Chiacgo’ (aromatic aster). It was a little shorter than ‘Thunderdome’.
I haven’t seen a good blooming sedum in years, but at the nursery I enjoyed this good patch of Hylotelephium 'Beka' AUTUMN DELIGHT.
Many Amsonia (bluestars) have hints of yellow in their foliage, but I was intrigued by the plum-colored foliage Amsonia × ‘Big League’.
As plugs these Andropogon gerardii ‘Blackhawks’ (big bluestem) glowed in the late light and were in their fall glory. They are ready for their 2026 Perennial Plant of the Year debut.
THE EXOTIC GARDEN
Years ago after we got back from England, I shared pictures of Great Dixter and the exotic garden on this blog. I wrote, “We found ourselves immersed in the foliage of a secret garden hidden by a hedge. It was not a claustrophobic feeling but instead an embrace by the plants around us. It felt like a jungle.”
Brent read that and saw the pictures, and he wrote me saying that he wanted to create his own exotic garden with a prairie flair. He framed his garden not with a hedge but instead the old frame of a Quonset hut, and the space was packed with plants. Inside you felt lost in a prairie even though a whole nursery surrounded you.
I was excited to see it in person at the zenith of its growth, and Lisa and Brent were kind enough to mention at Ornamental Grasses Day that my post about Great Dixter was the inspiration. I don’t really pause and consider the impact that the blog has on others, but it was touching to see that something I shared had inspired a planting. It is a reminder for all of us to share what we see and experience with others because we never know how we can inspire others.
Brent achieved the feeling of being immersed in vegetation with tall Helianthus salicifolius (willow-leaf sunflower) at the entrance to the exotic garden.
Further back, tall Agastache nepetoides (yellow giant hyssop) made you feel enclosed. I’m hoping I can find some seed from a southern provenance of this species. I think this visit was the first time I’ve seen Aconitum carmichaelii (Chinese monkshood) bloom. They were about eye level with me.
The seedheads on Agastache nepetoides can persist through winter and offer a stark contrast with their height.
With this side shot, you can see just how tall the sunflowers could get.
The view from the back of the exotic garden offered a real textural treat.
As I walked through the space, I brushed past plants like Sanguisorba canadensis ‘Candlelight’ (American burnet).
I love squatting down around tall perennials and looking up. It makes you feel like a kid again with such tall vegetation around you.
One last shot from visiting Intrinsic Perennials. I loved how nature had reclaimed some of the Quonset huts at the back of the property. Sure, they could be mowed, but these asters and various other wildflowers help to support life at the nursery.