What’s Blooming
After making it through winter, with relatively few plants vigorously growing or flowering, one of my favorite ways to start the day is with a short walk through the garden to see what is coming into bloom. Here are a few of the highlights from the last few days: Small’s Beardtongue (Penstemon shortii), Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica), Carolina Lupine (Thermopsis villosa) and Red Bee Balm (Monarda didyma).
Small’s Beardtongue (Penstemon smallii)
Small’s Beardtongue is an easy to grow, 12-24” tall, spring blooming perennial. It prefers partial shade and average to slightly dry moisture conditions. Deer and rabbits seem to leave it alone. In terms of attracting wildlife, it’s tubular flowers are favored by hummingbirds…but I have yet to see any feeding on them. It is a short lived perennial. So it’s best to let it go to seed once it’s done flowering and either let it reseed itself or propagate it yourself over the winter. In my garden, the light pink blooms come out whiter the more shade it has. Great plant, I wish more nurseries sold it.
Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica)
Similar to Small’s Beardtongue, Indian Pink prefers partial shade and average to slightly dry moisture conditions. Deer and rabbit seem to leave it alone. The only issue I have had growing it has been vole damage, which I remedied by adding permatil for subsequent plantings. It always seems a bit late (early to mid April) to start pushing out of the ground in the spring, but once it does, it grows relatively quickly before putting out tubular shaped red and yellow blooms about 3-4 weeks later. The flowers are attractive to hummingbirds.
Carolina Lupine (Thermopsis villosa)
A member of the fabaceae (legume) family (not related to true lupines), Carolina Lupine does well in poor soils as it has the legume’s ability to fix nitrogen into the soil. It prefers full sun to partial shade and average moisture conditions. Unlike true lupines, warm southern heat doesn’t phase it. It is however slow growing as a lot of its early growth goes into establishing it’s deep root system. The plant pictured above is 3 year’s old.
Red Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)
What’s not to like about bee balm? It is a member of the mint family…so it does spread a bit. But it is not ultra aggressive like some mints. If your clump gets too big, you can always divide it and either use elsewhere in your garden or give it away to neighbors. Once it starts blooming, it tends to bloom throughout the summer. In my garden, I have it in a number of spots with slightly different sun exposures, so it’s always in bloom somewhere May through September. The flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies (clouded sulphur in first picture) and hummingbirds.
