Great Plant Picks for the Pacific Northwest

One of the most amazing Hydrangea's as each flower petal is slightly cupped producing a much different effect as the large, long lasting flower clusters of deep blue or pink emerge in late spring. A must for any Hydrangea lover and a beautiful cut flower! Ayesha is truly one of our favorites! According to Dr. Michael Dirr it may also be sold under the names Silver Slipper and Uzu Ajisai. item # 9379.

The tubular, lavender flowers emerge from contrasting deep purple buds on large flower spikes beginning in late spring or early summer and continuing into fall. The nectar rich flowers are seemingly mobbed by bees of all shapes and sizes and are also utilized by butterflies, both large and small, and hummingbirds. Black Adder Agastache or Giant Hyssop, a sterile hybrid of, Agastache rugosum x A. foeniculum, is a branching, clump-forming, herbaceous perennial growing to about 24-36" high and wide by the end of the growing season. Utilize it in containers to bring the pollinators in close as well as in sunny garden and landscapes. Its licorice or anise scented foliage help provide deer and rabbit resistance. This is a vigorous and free flowering perennial that will do best in soils with good to excellent drainage and in full to mostly sunny sites. Item# 10807

Dense, deep dark green foliage adorns the naturally upright and pyramidal form of this easy to grow evergreen. Black Dragon Japanese Cedar, a dwarf selection of Cryptomeria japonica, is a fine textured, small to medium-sized, evergreen shrub with a densely branching, conical, upright habit. This cultivar tends to have a moderate rate of growth to about 4-6' high and then growth slows as plants mature. Use this small evergreen as a specimen plant, accent, low maintenance hedge, as a container plant, or as a bonsai specimen. Cryptomeria or Japanese Cedars are adaptable provided they have an average to well-drained, fertile, acidic soil with average moisture in a full sun to partially shaded site. The dark colored foliage makes an excellent foil for lighter colored flowers and foliage. Black Dragon Cryptomeria has been selected as a Great Plant Pick of the Pacific Northwest. Item# 9111

Masses of dense blue spikes of fragrant, tubular flowers are held above the licorice scented, rich green foliage in summer on this highly sought after Agastache. The nectar rich flowers of Blue Fortune Agastache attract hordes of native pollinators and other beneficials to the garden. The beautiful form, fragrance, and flower power, and proven performance of this Agastache have made it a hit in gardens across the US. Use Blue Fortune in mass at the back of the border or in small specimen groupings to make a splash of long lasting color. Item# 10882.

Clusters of light pink, nicely fragrant, somewhat funnel-shaped to tubular flowers are held against a foil of coppery pink, long-lasting bracts and bright golden yellow foliage beginning in late spring to early summer and continuing into fall. Canyon Creek Glossy Abelia, an open pollinated seedling of Abelia chinense that was selected through Dr. Michael Dirr's breeding program at UGA, is a vigorous growing cultivar with some of the best yellow foliage of any shrub on the market today. The glossy, medium to fine-textured foliage starts out a contrasting coppery red and matures to bright sunny to golden yellow and finally to green in summer providing interest throughout the year and will have the best color where it receives at least a half a day or more of direct sunlight in a moderately fertile to rich soil. Utilize this tough and easy, evergreen to semi-evergreen medium to large shrub in the garden or landscape as a specimen plant or formal to informal hedge. The fragrance of the flowers in a bouquet can be enough to fill a room. Highly recommended. Item# 3073

Dense whorls of nectar rich, purple to dark blue-purple, tubular flowers seemingly cover up the upper most portions of the plant for weeks beginning in mid to late summer and continuing into fall. Dark Knight Bluebeard, a.k.a. Black Knight, is a vigorous and easy sunloving free-flowering clump forming shrub-like perennial that quickly develops into a dense mound of fragrant and deer resistant gray-green foliage. In zones 5-6 it tends to act more like a clump forming die-back perennial and becomes more shrub-like where winters are milder although it benefits from hard late winter or early spring pruning since it flowers on new growth. Somewhat drought resistant once well-established and prefers a sunny site in a well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 12117

A Camellia Hall of Fame Award winner! The 3-4" wide, semi-double, rich pink flowers, often with a hint of purple, of Donation are born over an extended period in late winter and spring and show off a boss of yellow stamens. This is a large and vigorous, free flowering, upright growing Camellia hybrid with rich dark green, Sasanqua-like foliage. Item# 10632.

One of the earliest to begin flowering and an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner! Clusters of lilac-pink tubular flowers are produced in abundance beginning in midspring and continuing into fall and are held against a contrasting foil of long-lasting showy deep bronze-red bracts and exceptionally dark green glossy foliage that takes on purple and bronze tones in winter. The flowers of Abelias attract a variety of pollinators including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Edward Goucher Glossy Abelia, considered to be a hybrid of Abelia x grandiflora x A. shumanii, has a naturally dense, rounded to vase-shaped habit on this medium-sized, evergreen to semi-evergreen shrub. Abelias are known for their toughness and adaptability to a variety of soil types provided they have average or better drainage. Deer resistant, somewhat salt tolerant, and mature, well-established plants are moderately drought resistant. Provide a full sun to part shade site with moderately fertile, average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Long one of our personal favorites! Item# 3041

2022 Missouri Botanic Garden Plants of Merit selection! 18" long arching spikes composed of numerous dark golden yellow flowers burst onto the scene in late summer and fall creating a much needed feast of nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies including migratory Monarchs, and other garden beneficials. Fireworks is an award winning selection of the native Roughleaf Goldenrod, Solidago rugosa, and it won top marks in the Goldenrod trials at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. This is a hardy, clump-forming slowly spreading (a.k.a. short rhizomatous) herbaceous perennial that is both adaptable and manageable. Fireworks Goldenrod prefers a full to mostly sunny site in an average moist to moist fertile soil although it is tolerant of part shade, part sun conditions. Use this easy to grow native perennial in naturalistic settings and in mixed perennial gardens and landscapes. Item# 12313

The bright yellow and green variegated foliage of this dwarf variegated Glossy Abelia is a standout in the garden, landscape, and even as a container plant where its sunny foliage contrasts nicely with surrounding perennials and shrubs. The new growth of Francis Mason Abelia emerges an orange to coppery color and matures to a sunny yellow to gold and green. Francis Mason is a naturally dwarf to semi-dwarf, semi-evergreen to deciduous, naturally rounded shrub selected for its boldly variegated foliage and its clusters of large white tinged pink, lightly fragrant, funnel shaped flowers that begin appearing in late spring or early summer and continue into fall on new growth. The nectar rich flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Provide a full to mostly sunny site for optimum vigor and the brightest foliage color. Tough, pest and disease resistant, easy and reliable. Item# 12052

Green, gold, and cream colored variegated foliage adds pink and orange tones with new spring growth that adorns the reddish to bronze young stems. Mature plants can produce clusters of small, fragrant, white, tea-olive like flowers on the previous year's growth in fall attracting a variety of pollinators on warmer days. The Goshiki Holly Leaf Tea Olive, a selection of Osmanthus heterophyllus, is a densely branching, slow growing, evergreen shrub growing to about 4-5' high and 3-4' wide in about 5 years and potentially to 10' high and 8' feet in 10 or more years, but can be kept smaller with pruning. The colorful, glossy, medium-textured, holly-like foliage will have the most intense colors and plants will be most apt to flower in sunnier conditions, although, the plants are fairly shade tolerant. The Goshiki Holly Leaf Tea Olive has been selected as a Great Plant Pick for the Northwest thanks to its toughness and reliability in the garden and landscape. Item# 13564

Large, deep to medium green, tropical-looking, palmately lobed foliage adorns this reliable evergreen shrub. Fatsia makes an excellent choice for shaded locations and slowly develops into a fairly large shrub with time. Makes a wonderful specimen, informal hedge, or container plant for indoors or out. Item# 10311.

Large rounded clusters in shades of deep pink to near red (alkaline or no Aluminum), dark purple (neutral to acid), to near indigo(very acid) depending on soil acidity and the availability of Aluminum. Merrit's Supreme Bigleaf Hydrangea begins flowering early and the long lasting flower clusters mature into purple, red, and green shades. This is a compact growing Hydrangea with strong sturdy stems originally developed as a florist's Hydrangea but it has proven to be a reliably hardy, small to medium-sized deciduous shrub for the garden and landscape. Merrit's Supreme also makes an easy and low-maintenance container specimen and can be overwintered indoors outside of its hardiness range. The large glossy deep green foliage is disease resistant. Provide a moist, well-drained, fertile soil in an area that receives morning sun and shade during the hottest portion of the day for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 12347

3-5" green-yellow fruit with banana custard-like flavor, some say they are best after being frozen. Produces fragrant purple flowers in spring. A small native, normally understory tree, and is the caterpillar host plant of the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly. Seedling grown.            Plant two different varieties or seedlings for pollination.             Item# 786.

Large, 4-5" wide, fragrant, semi-double flowers of the purist white with wavy petals and a contrasting boss of golden yellow stamens shine like spotlights against the foil of deep green glossy foliage. Flowering begins early in the season in October continuing into December, with a few flowers into early January. Setsugekka Sasanqua Camellia has a vigorous moderately upright habit that rounds out with at maturity. This dense foliage of this large evergreen shrub lend it to use as a specimen, screen, hedge, or even a small evergreen tree form. The Sasanqua Camellias are tolerant of full sun to part sun conditions. Provide an average moist, average to well drained, moderately fertile, acidic soil rich in organic matter and an organic mulch for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 10183

Sinonome Toadlily is an heirloom hybrid long adored for its clean disease resistant foliage on upright to gently arching stems, clump forming habit, and in late summer and fall it produces clusters of white orchid-like flowers with nicely contrasting deep purple spots and flecks. One of the toprated Toadlilies in the Chicago Botanic Gardens extensive trials of the genus, receiving 4 out of 5 stars, for its anthracnose free foliage that remains beautiful throughout the growing season and its overall vigor. These are easy to grow clump forming shade loving perennials that prefer an average moist but well-drained soil. Easy and longlived with few pests or diseases as well as good cut foliage and flowers. The flowers attract Bumblebees and potentially other pollinators. Item# 11944