Remember These Plants

Remember These Names

By Abby Lapides

At the end of the growing season I like to reflect on my favorite plants from the year. Some come from my garden, some from friends’ and some from trial gardens throughout the country. Learn about the plants whose names I, and you, need to remember. I’ve grown ‘Twinkle Toes’ lungwort, Pulmonaria, in my garden for about 3 years and am still in love with its perfect foliage. April brings baby blue and pink bell-shaped flowers about 8” tall over the green and silver speckled foliage. The foliage always looks great, even after my neglectful summer water schedule and, magically somehow, once the flowers are spent the old stalks just go away, no brown stems loitering. The short nature and clean foliage make it a perfect front of the garden plant. This perennial requires part to full shade and well-drained soils. Usually when comparing similar plants, it’s easy to tell which is superior, but not this time! Two new introductions to the Cascade series of butterfly bush ‘Violet Cascade’ and ‘Lilac

Cascade’ are neck-and-neck in the great contest for my favorite butterfly bush. Both weeping butterfly bushes feature mindboggling-sized panicles that can grow over 1’ long. ‘Lilac Cascade’s flowers are a little longer, sometimes up to 1.5’! ‘Violet Cascade’ is more petite, growing about 4’ tall and wide, ‘Lilac Cascade’ grows about 1’ Walters Gardens Inc. larger. Their great habits, color and flower power wowed me when I viewed them in a test garden in Michigan, so much so that I couldn’t pick which one was the best. Neither sets seed and both will continually bloom all summer. These excel in the back of sunny gardens or as showy accents. Shade loving perennials tend be more subtle that their sunloving cousins. An excellent cont’d. on page 6

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Pulmonaria ‘Twinkle Toes’

Abby Lapides is owner and a speaker at Sugar Creek Gardens Nursery. She has degrees from the University of Missouri, and is a member of the Landscape and Nursery Association of Greater St. Louis. You can reach her at (314) 965-3070.

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june hutson::THE PERENNIAL 1942-2021

June began her journey

into horticulture with an “I will not take no for an answer” and moved through the once male-dominated vocation to become a beacon of home gardening, a mentor, a teacher, and an anchor for the perennial plant community. When June first applied to be a volunteer at the Missouri Botanical Garden, she was told they didn’t have an opening, yet she showed up anyway. And she kept showing up. For over 40 years, she designed and directed plantings, answered countless questions about peonies, lettuce, and other gardening inquiries. “She shared her voluminous knowledge with the friendly ease of sharing lunch. She would coach you in good gardening practice, gently and firmly drilling your Latin pronunciation as she handed you a trowel,” explains Jean Ponzi of The Earthways Center. “She always had time for everyone,” says Doug Wolter, continuing, “She shared her knowledge, putting it in terms that everyone could understand.”

There’s much to remember about June. Some remember her playfulness. Upon Dr. Raven’s retirement from the Garden, “June did her entire interview about [him] wearing a tiara and holding a staff,” remembers Jennifer Smock, Manager of the Kemper Center Programs and Landscapes. “June once instructed ‘Don’t forget the whimsy’ and then pruned a Stephanandra in the rock garden to look like a turkey, never said anything about it, and waited for someone to notice,” Deborah Lalumondier shares. Many others remember her tried and true tips: plant in groups of 3s, or 5s, or 7s; put something white where you want to draw the eye; pay attention to textures.

In 2017, she retired from Missouri Botanical Garden and thought she would spend time caring for her inherited Edgar Denison gardens. Instead, she was asked to help teach the perennials class at St. Louis Community College’s Horticulture program. Victoria Hatfield, adjunct faculty, was looking for a partner for the day section of the course. Hatfield tells it like this: “I was almost too nervous to even reach out to her because, my goodness, she had just retired from MoBot and was such a legend. I figured it was a 50/50 shot, but in true June fashion she accepted the challenge. She embraced the technology, navigated Blackboard and the teaching journey with finesse, and of course…managed it all with laughter, intelligence, and gentleness. In my professional life, she is a giant.” Jerry Pence, Director of the Horticulture program, also adds, “As an Advisory Committee member, June provided the Program with forward thinking and helped us shape our curriculum and student experience.”

For so many women in horticulture,

June Hutson was a paragon: a wellspring of knowledge and cultivator of character. “For me, she was my teacher when I was an intern, but she was also my mentor when I took over after her retirement,” offers Smock, adding, “She passed along so much history of how the landscapes were shaped and what her vision has been to keep moving them forward. While the weight of following behind someone so influential in my career was great, she always encouraged me to make it my own. To have that much trust from your mentor shows just how great of a woman she truly was. She was a rare gem and I truly miss her.”

June, a mighty presence, left a mark at every stop. We are all standing in the shadow of this giant, may she rest in peace knowing her legacy.

Walters Gardens Inc. Heucherella ‘Eye Spy’

Cleome ‘Sparkler Rose’

exception is ‘Eye Spy’ foamy bells, Heucherella. Its neon yellow foliage and bubblegum pink flowers create a flashy display that looks like it came out a 1980’s fever dream. Handshaped yellow leaves with burgundy highlights on its own make ‘Eye Spy’ garden-worthy, but the fizzy pink flower spikes with the same burgundy stems take it to an 11. As temperatures heat up the yellow leaves turn greener, mellowing out after the overwhelming spring show. While not new, ‘Madeline Hill’ rosemary is a definite mustplant. Usually we purchase, plant and baby our rosemary only to have to say goodbye come winter. ‘Madeline Hill’ won’t abandon us like other rosemaries do. Hardy to zone 6, ‘Madeline Hill’ will reliably come back when planted in a well-drained location with some winter wind block. Enjoy an endless bounty of rosemary leaves, use its woody stems as skewers for kabobs. An interesting note for those in deer country: Deer are said to hate rosemary so much that they will even avoid areas where rosemary is planted. This rosemary also goes by the name ‘Hill Hardy.’ An old classic annual getting a modern makeover is the spider plant, Cleome. Introduced to the US in the 1800s, the spider plant became popular during the cottage garden craze in the Victorian era. Newer varieties bring this plant into the modern era with thornless stems, brighter colors, and shorter stature. ‘Sparkler Rose’ features

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Walters Gardens Inc. Heliopsis ‘Bleeding Hearts’

hot pink flowers that look like the best type of firework you see on Independence Day. Tough, long blooming, and deer and rabbit resistant. In the last few years false sunflower, Heliopsis, has had a resurgence of interest for the sunny garden. With new varieties displaying interesting foliage, showy flowers and extremely long bloom times it’s no mystery as to why. ‘Bleeding Hearts’ not only has showy red-orange flowers that appear July to frost, but deep, almost black, foliage that contrasts beautifully against the typical greens of most sun-loving plants. This statuesque beauty is perfect for the middle of the garden where its showy foliage can best be observed, and its beautiful blooms can easily be reached for bouquets. While I love just about every plant, except my nemesis, nutsedge, adding superior plants help make every square inch of the garden gorgeous and special.

Buddleia ‘Lilac Cascade’

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