The Plants of Summer

Posted by: Alison O'Connor, Larimer County Extension

Co-workers and friends often joke about my landscape. By now you realize that I adore my lawn, but the landscape plants don't get much attention. My gardening philosophy is that you have to be tough to survive in my landscape. If you need a lot of attention, water or regular pruning, forget it. I've killed A LOT of plants in my tenure in Colorado, but those that have survived have my greatest respect.

And right now, it's tough to be a plant. It's hot, dry and everyone just feels sluggish--including the gardener. But a few are standing up to neglect and thriving. Let's review them:

False indigo (Baptisia australis)

False indigo: Awesome on every level! This has been planted for about six years and this is the first time I really noticed it bloom. Pale lavender flowers on pea-like foliage. The great thing about this plant is it's right where Maple the beagle stalks the squirrels who are trying to eat from the bird feeder, so it gets a lot of paw traffic and abuse. The flowers fade to hardened chocolate brown "pea pods." I cut it back to the ground in the spring.

Sedum

Sedums: I have many sedums in my garden, but I couldn't tell you any of their names, except for the lime green 'Angelina' (not pictured) and 'Autumn Joy' (not pictured). But ground cover sedums are tough as nails, love it hot and dry and fill in gaps. I call them "gentle creepers" and are not at all invasive. I don't really like the flowers, so sometimes I clip them off.

Above and Beyond rose

Roses: For those who don't grow roses because of the myth they are too much work, you should try them! Roses are one of the easiest garden plants, especially the shrub types--a spring pruning job and occasional clipping in the summer. There are several introductions that you can try. 'Above and Beyond' (pictured) is a climbing rose from the Bailey Nurseries First Editions series. It had incredible blooms just a few weeks ago and is ready for another flush. It also has clean foliage and sparse thorns. Other roses I love are 'Paint the Town' and 'Sunrise Sunset'. Some of the shrub roses have great fragrance, so be sure to stop and smell them!

Hopflower oregano (Origanum libanoticum)

Hopflower oregano: This is a wonderful ornamental that can serve as a ground cover or a trailing plant over a ledge. I love the unique flowers tipped in purple. It's in full bloom right now and the flowers will persist through most of the fall and winter, turning a straw color. The foliage is dainty, held on wiry stems.

Smoketree (Cotinus coggygria)

Smoketree: These large shrubs/small trees are very noticeable when in full bloom (pictured above). The flowers look like plumes of smoke. It's versatile, as it can be left as a multi-stem shrub, pruned to a single-stem tree or cut back to maintain the height you want. The first few seasons it died back almost to the ground in winter. I also love the obovate leaves, which are slightly waxy. The best purple color will occur in full sun. Mine is planted under a honeylocust.

Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia) and threadleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata)

Lavender and coreopsis: I have seen a lot of lavender in landscapes, which is great, since it's a wonderfully fragrant, bee-attracting perennial. It also does very well in dry, high pH soils. Whack it back to the ground in the spring and watch it re-grow. There's a new introduction called 'Wee One' that is pretty much the cutest lavender you've ever seen. As for the threadleaf coreopsis, also called tickseed, it's a reliable bloomer and I love the purple-yellow combination. Tickseed is a no-brainer. After it blooms, cut it back for a second flush.

A world record prickly lettuce plant?

Check out this record-setting prickly lettuce that was growing up through the lilacs! It was nearly five feet tall. It's amazing how I can wear blinders in the garden and not notice these things...

Maple the beagle is off to investigate other summer-blooming plants for the garden!

It's a Weedy Spring

Posted by Mary Small

Colorado Master Gardener State Coordinator

It’s spring and I have weeds. Rather, my landscape does. Both annuals and perennials are making their appearance – but I thought we’d look at a few annuals in this post. Remember that annual plants germinate from seed, grow, flower and go to seed in one years’ time.



Mouseear chickweed

This particular one (Mouseear chickweed – Cerastium vulgatum) is a newer resident on the property and seems to be adapting quite well to this gravel strip between the sidewalk and driveway.

Chickweed is a winter annual, meaning that it germinates in the fall and grows in early spring.  The stems and leaves are sticky from glandular secretions.  In addition, they’re weak and break easily, often leaving part of the plant behind. Meaning rummaging around in the gravel is needed (in this case) to get the whole thing out.

Incidentally, this is a good example of why gravel mulch laid over landscape fabric is not a great idea from a weed management perspective.  Wind blows soil around and eventually  it filters into the gravel on top of the landscape fabric. Wind- blown seed germinates and grows in the soil.  If the roots stay on top of the fabric, plants are usually not too difficult to pull. But if they move into the underlying soil, say through an opening in the fabric, they’re a lot harder and more time consuming to remove.

Prickly lettuce. Note prickles on centermost leaves.

The next weed is prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola). This is a summer annual – which means it germinates and emerges in the spring or early summer.  It’s easy to pull out when young. The root system is quite small and there’s often a central stem to grab onto. It’s harder to pull when mature, though, and often breaks off at the soil line. Gloves are a necessity at this point, too - it’s not named prickly lettuce for nothing! This weed  grows rapidly in a short period of time. Watch for the ones you missed early hiding in shrubs or perennials throughout the season. Can you find it in the photo of the pansies below?

Prickly lettuce hiding in pansies

Shepherd's purse with tubular seed capsules

Can I just say I really dislike shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)? That’s because this winter annual is often up and running on the south side of the house before I’m even thinking about weeds. Fortunately, they’re easy to pull due to a shallow root system. Shepherd’s purse has some interesting common names like Mother’s heart and  Witches’ pouches. Those names must be a reference to the interesting- looking, heart-shaped pods some of these plants possess.

Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) – another winter annual - at least has pretty purple-pink flowers going for it. Henbit is a member of the mint family with square stems. Unlike many other mint family members, though, the root system is mercifully shallow and easy to pull in the spring.

Henbit