Sombrero Hot Coral Coneflower

Sombrero Hot Coral Coneflower

Echinacea x purpurea 'Balsomcor'

(ek-in-AY-shee-a) (pur-PUR-ee-uh)

We planted this 2012 introduction last summer and it performed well. It is a quite stocky and compact variety with a brilliant flower color (only partially represented here). In fact the color completely overwhelmed the camera and the saturation and levels had to be adjusted in Photoshop.

I am not sure how much further out of control Coneflower breeding can get but surely we must be getting close to the pinnacle. It seems every year a couple more hybrids/cultivars make it to the market. Here is a link to a page with a lot of cultivars: Darwin Plants Coneflowers

Finishing up the discussion on the groundcover Lamium here is the Sunday bonus snapshot. This cultivar is a tidy garden citizen that shows off the silvery center of it leaves.

Spotted Dead Nettle

Lamium maculatum ‘Orchid Frost’

(LAY-mee-um) (mak-yuh-LAH-tum)

Bold Foliage

Hosta cv.
(HOSS-tuh)

This was a nice gold leaf Hosta I saw this summer. The leaves had kind of fresh look to them. With foresight I took a picture of the tag so it could be identified later but it came out blurry. Taking pictures of plant tags often requires the camera to back focus and that only happens when you don’t want it to. So this Hosta will remain nameless. It would probably help if I could remember where I took the picture.

Boldly colored foliage plants have always been a favorite of mine. It can be easy to go overboard but often a few well placed drifts can really light up the garden. This next groundcover often lights up the garden with grey green colored light, which under the right lighting conditions looks fantastic. ‘White Nancy’ is one of the best Lamium cultivars that can be readily available for use. If happy it makes a nice patch and is an awesome garden accent. The second Lamium is ‘Purple Dragon”. It seems to be getting some traction in the market and is getting more popular. The fine purple edge is very subtle but handsome. The flowers are a darker shade then most.

Spotted Dead Nettle

Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy'

(LAY-mee-um) (mak-yuh-LAH-tum)

Lamium maculatum 'Purple Dragon'