Spring time for favorites, old and new

It’s springtime and I am experiencing my usual plant lust, both for old favorites and new varieties I haven’t tried yet. Like all plant lovers, I admit to some impulse shopping. This means that I’m not always sure where some of these treasures will end up in my garden. I just know that I must have them.

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DAVID McMULLIN/Special

Iris pallida x tectorum grows to 1 foot tall and produces masses of lavender blue flowers.

ERICA'S PICK
Blue Daze Euphorbia
Botanical name: Euphorbia 'Blue Daze'
About the plant: This evergreen forms a mound of fine-needled blue foliage growing 12-to-18 inches tall and up to 2 feeet wide. Sulphur yellow flowers appear for months starting in March.
Use in the garden: Combine it with other perennials. Use it as an edger at the front of the border.
Planting and care: Plant in an average well-drained soil in full sun.
Source: Very Good Plants, 7011 South Goddard Rd., Lithonia, GA 30338 Open Saturdays through June, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. www.verygoodplants.com

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Erica Glasener is a horticulturist and host of "A Gardener's Diary" which airs at 7 a.m. Thursdays on HGTV. For questions visit www.ericaglasener.com

My excitement is not limited to new varieties. I have favorites that I look forward to enjoying year after year.

In my mixed border the hardy Geranium ‘Rozanne’ never disappoints. Violet-blue flowers appear for weeks beginning in spring and continue well into fall. I like the way it mixes and mingles with other perennials, like the Japanese Roof Iris, Iris tectorum ‘Album’ and creeping lemon thyme.

In the woodland I’m always happy to see the return of the graceful and easy to grow Variegated Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum.’ Its elegant, soft green leaves edged in white brighten the shade throughout the summer.

For me, another “good doer” is Sedum tectractinum, also known as Bronze Sedum, which has rounded leaves that range in size from a penny to a nickel. Its green leaves are tipped in bronze. In autumn, the whole plant takes on shades of bronze. This sedum grows in full sun or partial shade and makes a great groundcover under larger perennials.

These are just a few of my favorites.

In in an effort to be more encompassing about great perennials for your garden, I talked with Tiffany Jones of McMahan’s Nursery in Clermont and David McMullin of Very Good Plants, a mail-order nursery in Lithonia, about their top 10 favorites as of April.

Jones said it was impossible for her and Scott McMahan to limit their list and included 11 for Southern gardeners to try. The list she came up with is based on their experience at McMahan’s. For more information about these plants be sure to visit their nursery, www.mcmahansnursery.com Plants are listed in alphabetical order according to Genus and not in order of preference.

• Amsonia hubrichtii
• Baptisia minor
• Bergenia ciliata
• Dryopteris sieboldii
• Epimedium acuminatum
• Euphorbia martinii
• Farfugium ‘Gianteum’
• Phlox maculata ‘Natascha’
• Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’
• Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’
• Tricyrtis macropoda

Mullin’s favorites for sun include some of mine, too, like the drought-friendly Calamintha nepeta nepeta. The mass of airy lavender and white flowers on 18-inch stems blooms for months. A Great Plains native, Tradescantia ohiensis ‘Mrs. Loewer’ is also drought-friendly. Clumping and upright with slate blue grassy foliage, ‘Mrs. Loewer’ produces masses of pale blue to lavender flowers on upright stems during June and July.

I will have to find a spot in my garden for two of his recommendations, Iris pallida x tectorum, which grows to 1-foot tall and produces masses of lavender blue flowers, and Euphorbia ‘Blue Daze,’ a hybrid that blooms for months.

Mullin is also excited about his selection of the hardy prickly pear cactus Opuntia ‘Morning Star.’ A spineless type, it is fast growing and floriferous with clear butter yellow flowers that have a melon-orange star in the center. Forming clumps that are 2 feet tall and 4-to-5 feet wide, he says it can easily be incorporated into the perennial border. For fall blooms, Mullin raves about the daylily Hemerocallis ‘Autumn Miniaret.’ I added it to my garden last year and was pleased with the 6 foot tall stems topped with blooms that are yellow with a burnt orange center.