The Perennial Plant Association held their annual symposium in Lancaster, PA this past August. It was our first time back together since the beginning of the pandemic, and it was so wonderful seeing many of my horticultural brothers and sisters.
I’m processing through photos and notes from the symposium, and I’ll be doing photo essays on the different places to share what I learned with some great plants along the way. Our first tour day was visiting Stoneleigh, The Scott Arboretum, Terrain, and Longwood Gardens.
Those who follow my work are familiar with Stoneleigh, both from a post on my previous visit in June 2021 and my podcast interview with Ethan Kauffman, the director of Stoneleigh. I’ve realized that this botanic garden has hit a nerve with my audience, and I have gotten a number of positive comments about it from blog readers and podcast listeners. I think it’s partly because of the garden’s newness but perhaps more for their creative use of natives in the landscape.
Sometimes with unfamiliar native plants we need some guidance on how to use them in the landscape, and Stoneleigh provides that. So enjoy these photos from Stoneleigh and consider using a few of these natives in your garden.
Ethan Kauffman (right) gives a tour to Perennial Plant Association attendees. Each staff member showed a small group of 15 visitors around.
Right off the bus in the parking lot I’m inspired by a color echo I haven’t seen before—the purple peduncles of Sambucus nigra (elderberry) and the wine-colored foliage of Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Center Glow’ (ninebark). The peduncle color will hold for a few weeks, too.
On our tour Ethan shared with us a 120 year old Aesculus parviflora (bottlebrush buckeye) that had suckered itself into a large space. It’s a lovely shrub for an edge habitat.
I love Stoneleigh because I learn about natives I never knew existed. Take Silphium glutinosum. It is native to one county (the famed Bibb County) in Alabama, and that’s it. Overall, this aster family member’s habit is great and not too tall.
The spaced out rays add a daintyness to the flowers of Silphium glutinosum. It’s not too harsh of a yellow, either.
Also, check out the steely blue stems of Helianthus eggertii (Eggert’s sunflower)! Even if it didn’t flower, the stems are worth the color. This perennial sunflower was listed as an endangered species in 1997, but conservation efforts allowed it to be delisted in 2005.
One of my favorite parts of Stoneleigh is the bog gardens where Sarracenia and friends thrive. I also like the repetition of erectness with the cylinder pitchers and the hedge of fastigiate Pinus strobus ‘Fastigiata’ (eastern white pine) and Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’ EMERALD GREEN (American arborvitae) in the background.
Here’s a funky native Ethan shared with us in the bog plantings. Macbridea caroliniana (Carolina birds-in-a-nest) is a threatened species. It grows in blackwater swamps and acidic wet spots. The common name comes from the flowers looking as if baby birds are opening their mouths in a nest.
One of the poster childs of plant conservation, Franklinia alatamaha (Franklin tree) blooms its pearly white flowers with golden center stamens. While this native is extinct in the wild, it is safe from loss due to it being well represented in botanic gardens.
I’m an huge HQ fan, and the sharp, heavily dissected foliage of Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Hqopr010’ ICE CRYSTAL (oakleaf hydrangea) provides a great option for garden texture.
A new addition since my last visit in June 2021 was this water feature in Catalpa Court. Native aquatic plants grow in the center, and water spills over the side to create a nice ambience.
If Ethan hadn’t mentioned this one, I would have walked right past Taxodium distichum ‘Little Leaf’ (bald cypress) thinking it was a struggling tree. Ethan said that this miniature-leaf form was at least 6 years old and probably closer to 15 years old.
A close up of the little leaves on Taxodium distichum ‘Little Leaf’. File this selection under funky!
Parthenocissus inserta (thicket creeper) makes a great groundcover. It doesn’t have the adhesive disks that produce calcium carbonate like Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) does.
The pergola at Stoneleigh is planted with a native border that features a diversity of textures.
I admired this lovely fuchsia pink Hibiscus along the pergola. Ethan commented how this one—Hibiscus laevis ‘Lufkin Red’ (Halberd-leaf rose mallow)—came from near me in Texas. It was selected from a population of seedlings grown from leaf-spot resistant rose mallow collected from east Texas.
Phlox paniculata ‘Jeana’ (phlox) was everywhere during our trip. I have made regular trips to this area since my Scott Arboretum internship in 2008. I don’t remember seeing it very much, and I’m amazed at how its use has spread. It is beloved because the plethora of smaller flowers are a butterfly magnet. There were Tiger Swallowtails working this one, but of course, once I got close, they flew off.
Glandularia canadensis (rose vervain) finishes flowering for us in April in east Texas, but this selection of ‘Anna’s Pink’ from Indiana blooms longer through the season.
Senna marilandica (Maryland senna) is a handsome addition to the garden with its dissected foliage and yellow flowers, and it acts as a host plant for various sulphur butterflies.
Diospyros virginiana 'JN5' MAGIC FOUNTAIN (American persimmon) is a lovely weeping cultivar. It is a female and will produce fruit, but a few people commented the plant is brittle, and branches break easily.
This majestic frame of a dead Taxus baccata (English yew) was left for the architecture it provides.
In my last post on Stoneleigh, I shared their practice of espaliering Hamamelis up the side of the house, and Hamamelis virginiana ‘Lemon Lime’ (American witch hazel) has made it further up the wall since my last visit.
Lonicera reticulata 'P015S' KINTZLEY’S GHOST (grape honeysuckle) scrambles up a light pole. The silvery perfoliate bracts beam in the bright sun.
Liatris pycnostachya ‘Eureka’ (prairie blazing star) makes a nice pairing with Panicum amarum ‘Dewey Blue’ (bitter switchgrass) and Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Little Goldstar’ (black-eyed susan). This blazing star was a 1975 cultivar release from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
An interesting addition for a magnoliaphile’s collection is Magnolia acuminata ‘Ellen’, a selection of cucumber magnolia that has variegated leaves.
The columnar Juniperus virginiana ‘Taylor’ (eastern red cedar) give the plantings around the house a formality, much like Italian cypress.
Though not native, it was neat to see a Cercidiphyllum japonicum (katsura tree) had found purchase in the massive Plantanus in front of the house.
I’m always on the look out for new native bulbs, and seeing Allium stellatum (autumn onion) flowering in August makes me want to try this in Texas.
I tried Eriogonum allenii ‘Little Rascal’ (shale barren buckwheat) a few years ago, and killed it, but seeing these in full bloom make me want to try this selection again. It’s native to a narrow section of the West Virginia-Virginia mountains, and from photos I’ve seen, it grows great right out of the rocky sides of mountains.
Eragrostis elliottii ‘Wind Dancer’ (Elliott’s love grass) creates a faded haze as it enters full bloom. We’ve had success with this native grass in Texas and found it to be tolerant of dry conditions.
Acer rubrum ‘Snow Fire’ (red maple) looked spectacular the last time I saw it here at Stoneleigh with the red blushed tips of new foliage. However, later in the summer, the red is gone, but the variegation is still present on upper leaves.