New & Noteworthy Plants

Bloomerang Lilac

Proven Winners Bloomerang Lilac’s are the hottest new thing. Everyone loves a lilac. Everyone loves that time of year when they’ll clip a few lilac blooms off a neighbouring shrub and bring them home to enjoy 🙂 Now, Proven Winners has created a new lilac, in purple, dark purple and pink that will bloom spring, summer and right up until frost.  These lilacs are the strongest rebloomers on the market. Bloomerang lilacs have a compact habit and small foliage, making them ideal for smaller gardens and container designs. Fragrant, mildew and deer resistant. Growing an average of 5’x5′, remove spent blooms promptly to promote new flowers, and fertilize with a controlled release fertilizer in early spring. Zone 3-7.

Denim ‘n Lace Russian Sage

Russian Sage is always loved for its airy texture and the ability to blend with pretty much any flower color. However, the cultivars available tended to be too large to fit in your garden or the stems wouldn’t be strong enough and they would flop over. Another Proven Winners beauty is Denim ‘n Lace, which doesn’t get too tall, has stronger stems and a more upright habit than most older varieties. Lacy-like, bright sky blue flowers are held on amethyst calyxes. Its calyxes are spaced very close together to give the flowers a very full look. The colorful calyxes make it look like it is still in bloom even when it is past peak. You’ll have great color nearly all season long. Be sure to plant in full sun, and since Denim ‘n Lace is drought tolerant, it thrives on neglect. Grows 28-32″ by 34-38″ wide, hardiness zone 4-9. Deer resistant and attracts hummingbirds.

Honorine Jobert Anenome

The Perennial Plant Association has name the Anenome ‘Honorine Jobert’ the 2016 Perennial Plant of the Year. ‘Honorine Jobert’ is a tall, elegant, woody-based Japanese anemone that has dazzling white flowers. Produces a multitude of pure white flowers on graceful branching upright stems for 5 weeks or more, above a solid clump of dark green, deeply cut leaves. Lovely massed in a woodland setting or spotted into wild rock gardens and an excellent cut flower. A slow-growing to 2′ tall, and 5′ tall with blooms, spreading to 2′ wide. Blooms in late summer, hardiness zone 4-8.

 

 

Botanical Photography by Emma Mitchell

There is a radio show here in Toronto, where the infamous Kim Mitchell (well infamous here in Canada…everybody knows “Patio Lanterns”….) has a spot that he dubs “Damn I wish I wrote that” where he highlights various famous songs that he wishes he wrote. He plays a little diddle on his guitar, fumbles a few notes trying to play some extremely tricky Zeppelin riff, and natters on about how amazing the song is and how he wishes he wrote it. I always chuckle to myself as I know he wishes he was a better musician, and that he could come up with something better than “Go for a Soda”, but I love that he can put all his admiration on the line, and be humbled by it.

Every time I highlight one of these artists on Photosynthesis, I feel like Kim Mitchell. Because I wish I wrote that.

Emma Mitchell is one of those artists. To do something as simple and beautiful as her Botanical Photography, it immediately turns into an art form. She has found the beauty in each individual stem or leaflet that she discovers, and groups them together in a neat little row, and labels them for all of the other plant nerds out there to admire.

She lives in a little village somewhere across the pond, and highlights her creativeness on her blog silverpebble. Every post is a fascinating read, and I am in the process of picking all the chicken off the bone and devouring her posts one at a time. I have just signed up for her handwritten letter exchange, which some 700 people have signed up to exchange creative handwritten letters to random pen pals all over the world. I am in love.

Flowers by Claus Dalby

I stumbled upon Claus Dalby on Instagram a few months back, and he is absolutely one of my favourite people that I follow. A man of a few different hats, he is a plantsman, publisher, author, broadcaster and photographer. If you want to get all squirmy and antsy for spring, then jump on board and follow Claus. His photos are s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g. I love to play in the garden as much as the next, but when I look at his photos, and peruse his blog, he makes me want to grow these fascinating specimens myself, as he does. There is truly a science behind the growth of a plant; watching these beauties take shape, and admiring the vibrance of colour from one to the next. When I look through his blog, and absorb every bit of information he puts forth, he reminds me more and more of a male Martha Stewart. Their beautiful estates are similar, their disposition, their love for the plant, and their plethora of knowledge that I will never tire of. I dream, one day, to be as fortunate as both of them, to be able to grow and enjoy ALL of these beauties throughout the year.