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July 30, 2023 9:00 am
I love discovering an extraordinary plant that just stops me in my tracks [insert head-exploding emoji]. Here’s a round-up of some of the best I’ve found that reach complete otherworldliness in mid-summer. Unfortunately, not all of them are easy to find, at least not in Canada, but they’re well worth the search. I’ve added website links to those plants that can be purchased by Canadians.
For extraordinary colour, try Salpiglossis sinuata, also known as Painted Tongue. This relative of the petunia “is an illuminated manuscript of a flower, intricate and unique in the floral kingdom” according to American website Select Seeds. ‘Kew Blue’, shown above, is a perfect example. When the blooms are backlit by the sun they glow in rich, papal hues of purple and burgundy. Deep creases in the petals create dark shadows like the black solder in stained glass windows.
NOTES
For Canadians, packets of seeds are available through Ottawa-based Gaia Organic Seeds and Revival Seeds in Nova Scotia.
Photographed at Chanticleer Gardens in Pennsylvania, July 2023.
Like the Jack In The Pulpit, a native of Ontario, Yellow Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia flava) are carnivorous. Their distinctive trumpet-like stem and dramatic hood are accented by red/purple veining at the neck. If you want a striking plant that adds bright vertical strokes of drama in the garden, these are a great bet. They’re native to southeastern parts of the U.S. but they can be grown in Canada. They do best in a bog garden in consistently wet soil but if you don’t have that kind of real estate, they can do brilliantly in a large container. If you want to give some of these babies a go, get inspired by Carl Mazur’s experiences at growing many types of carnivores, including Yellow Pitchers, at his home in the Niagara Peninsula (Canadian garden zone 6B). He makes his own bogs by sinking kiddy pools into the ground and using large quantities of pine needles as mulch. Easy peasy. His page is part of the International Carnivorous Plant Society website.
NOTES
The Carnivorous Plant Store in beautiful Salt Spring Island, B.C., will ship seeds and live plants across Canada. Brads Greenhouse Carnivorous Plants Nursery, on Vancouver Island, also ships live plants across Canada.
Photographed at Chanticleer Gardens in Pennsylvania, July, 2023
The Butterbur (Petasites japonicus) offers cute white flowers in early spring but it’s the plant’s humungus leaves that are the big attraction here. They’re at their largest by mid-summer and can grow up to 4 feet wide. If you have the room in your garden, this easy-to-grow perennial makes a terrific backdrop to a bright border of flowers or frothy ferns in a woodland setting. Interestingly, this plant grows wild in parts of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec although, as it’s full name suggests, it isn’t native but was introduced.
NOTES
Ontario-based Ferri Seeds and Plants ships butterbur seeds across the country.
Photographed at Keppel Croft Gardens in Big Bay, Ontario, July 2018
Spigelia marilandica (Indian Pink, Woodland Pinkroot) is a native to parts of southeastern United States. Starting in June, this herbaceous perennial sends up arching flower spikes of ruby red blooms which eventually flare into yellow starbursts. With a clump-forming habit growing upwards of two feet, this beauty would be an eye-catching star in a woodland garden. If you are lucky enough to have a pond or a stream running through your garden, consider adding this plant along an edge just as it naturally occurs in the wild.
NOTES
Not an easy plant to find in Canada (as far as I could tell) but you may have luck scoring seeds early next spring (2024) at Canning Perennials in Paris, Ontario.
Photographed at Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania in July, 2023.
You might’ve noticed this plant appearing in one of my recent posts on Chanticleer. I couldn’t help including it again here to give this beauty the full attention it deserves. Lonicera reticulata ‘Kintzley’s Ghost’, a rare heirloom honeysuckle, is covered in bright yellow flowers in spring but I think it really comes into its own later in summer when the large silvery eucalyptus-like bracts shine like tiny full moons. In fall they’ll cup bright red berries. O. M. G.
NOTES
The website for Michigan-based Great Garden Plants offers plants selections, including Kintzley’s Ghost, in Canadian dollars and will ship to Canada.
Posted by Ministry Of The Fence
Categories: Summer ideas, Woodland gardens
Tags: bog garden, carnivorous plants, container garden ideas, Garden ideas, outstanding flowers, summer garden ideas
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[…] Butterbur (Petasites japonicus) […]
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By Jazz up a woodland garden | Ministry of the fence on May 25, 2025 at 9:01 am
Beautiful plants. I’ve added Butterbur to my wish list for next year 🙂
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By Greenman76 on September 21, 2023 at 9:45 am
Butterbur is amazing! I think it looks very Jurassic-like. Hope you have great success with it next spring.
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By Ministry Of The Fence on September 21, 2023 at 11:46 am