Perennials

Enhance the beauty and structure of your garden with peonies. These woody perennial plants are low-maintenance and their beauty just can't be beat. Check out the three main types of peonies...

Herbaceous Peonies
These are the most well known type of peony and produce beautiful cut flowers. These perennial peonies die back to the ground every winter and will reemerge each spring. They grow in full sun but can benefit from some afternoon shade here in Hampton Roads. Most prefer neutral to slightly alkaline soil and good drainage is essential. The flower stems may not be strong enough to keep the often heavy flamboyant flowers upright and staking is recommended. These low maintenance shrubs are deer proof.

Choose from these varieties: Hawaiian Coral, Pink Parfait, Primevere, Sea Shell, Shirley Temple, Paul Wild, Miss America, Do Tell, Bowl of Beauty Karl Rosenfield, and Velvet Splendor.

Tree Peonies
Are not exactly trees, in fact they are long-lived, hardy deciduous shrubs. The best spot to plant these are in a sunny place. They can tolerate some light shade but the plants may begin to grow towards the light. Their woody structure allows them to support beautiful dinner sized plate blooms. The colorful and exotic flowers are available in orange, red and yellow blooms. After blooming, they provide structure in the garden with deep green leaves in summer and bronze-purple foliage in fall. These peonies grow between 3-7 feet tall.

Choose from orange, red and yellow varieties.

Itoh Peonies
Are a cross of the green foliage and exotic blooms of the tree peony and the seasonal growing habit of herbaceous peonies. Itoh peonies are grown for their huge, beautiful blooms and lush green foliage. Historically, Itohs were challenging to grow and thus hard to find and rather expensive. But that’s all changed. A mature plant may produce 50 or more dinner plate size flowers on strong, short stems that do not requiring staking. With Dinner plate sized flowers, a nicely shaped plant, deer resistant and easy to grow. What’s not to love about these beauties? These peonies are more compact in size and grow 2.5 feet tall - 3 feet wide.

Choose from these varieties: Bartzella, Kopper Kettle, Dandy Keiko and Takara.

(selection varies per location)

Now is the time to start spring cleaning in the garden and tidy up those plants to be in tip top shape for the spring and summer. Mid February to mid March is the time to start working on those ornamental grasses.

Here’s some tips from the pro’s on how to get started...

First thing, put on some gloves, especially if dealing with larger grasses as they can be sharp as razor blades. All ornamental grasses should be cut between 2’’ and 12’’ from the ground depending on the size of the plant. A good rule of thumb is to cut the grass 1’’ high for every foot of growth it grows in a season. Therefore if it grows 4 feet every year, cut it 4 inches from the ground. Pampas grass gets 8-12’ tall, therefore you will cut it at 8-12 inches from the base of plant or ground level, however liriope only gets 12-18’’ from the ground so you will cut this very low, about 1-2’’ from the ground. This is a rough estimate, but it gets you close.

The most important piece to pruning ornamental grasses is timing. We recommend pruning ornamental grasses in this area around mid February to mid march. The worst scenario, is after you prune we get a heavy snow or freezing rain that can rot the crown out, if it weren’t pruned the crown would not be exposed and the grass would protect itself. Most winters you won’t have that worry. Another great tip is after you prune, pull out some of the loose grass from the middle of the plant to allow more new foliage to break through the surface. Many times a grass will get so thick after many prunings that it can begin to not produce foliage in the center of the plant, giving it an odd look. If this happens, you can always dig up the entire root ball and split into multiple plants, best time to do that is the beginning of April.

If you have further questions, please feel free to visit any of our garden supply shops at our three year round locations and we can help you get started.

There are few shade perennials that can compete with the seasonal interest of Hellebores. Often called Christmas or Lenten Rose, these staples of the winter garden are tough as nails and take center stage in the winter landscape.

Hellebore Jacob is characterized by its smooth, dark green foliage with striking, crisp 2-3 inch white flowers. This early bloomer flowers from mid-November to January, just in time for the holidays! The flowers mature to a pink and rose color in cool temperatures. In warmer temperatures, they mature to light green. Hellebores can be used in the garden in many ways, in containers, in flower beds or simply tucked under a tree. Once planted and established, the Hellebore will bring joy to the garden for many years to come. Hellebore Jacob is the perfect cure for long winters and cabin fever. Oh, and just one more thing…they’re deer resistant too.

Toad Lily is a Real Beauty! In fact, it's one of our favorite fall-blooming perennials.

This deciduous perennial keeps shady gardens from getting dull at the end of the summer season making it a perfect addition to the fall garden. Taipei Silk is an easy-care perennial that features intricate, orchid-like flowers with a dark purple base marked with lighter purple, white, and tiny red freckles! Blooms from late summer to mid-fall. And best of all, flowers appear continuously instead of in waves, so plants will always have at least a few blooms at any given time in fall. Pair alongside other shade-loving foliage plants, like hostas, heucheras, ferns or annuals, like impatiens and coleus. Also works well in shady borders or by itself in a more natural setting where it can seen up close. Grows best in moist but well-drained, rich soil in deep to partial shade.

So, don’t be fooled by the name, this exotic beauty will delight you for years to come!