Most gardeners would agree that the best pastime for cold winter days is looking through seed and plant catalogs imagining the growing season to come. With that in mind, consider these four strong summer blooming perennials for the midwest when you are ordering plants in the coming weeks.
Name: Clematis hexapetala ‘Mongolian Snowflakes’ (seen above)
Zones: 5-8
Size: 3 feet tall and wide
Conditions: Full sun; average to dry, well-drained soil
The habit of this free-flowering, summer-blooming clematis reminds me of a coreopsis (Coreopsis spp. and cvs., Zones 4-9): rounded in shape, as tall as it is wide, but with white blooms instead of yellow. Like many drought-tolerant species of clematis, this one doesn’t vine. Its architecture is loose and herbaceous, though certainly not floppy. You don’t have to worry about special pruning techniques either. Chop it down each spring to just above the soil line to enjoy its flowers and fuzzy seed heads again. It is durable and easy, a well-appointed thriller for any hellstrip or sidewalk border.
Name: Coreopsis ‘Gilded Lace’
Zones: 5-9
Size: 4 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide
Conditions: Full sun; moist to average, well-drained soil
This newer selection from Mt. Cuba Center earned its stripes for bountiful floral displays and standout resistance to powdery mildew, which so regularly afflicts even the classic varieties. At a little more than 4 feet tall, ‘Gilded Lace’ has feathery foliage that offers a textural counterpoint throughout the growing season—a soft veil or backdrop to herbaceous associates. In late summer, it erupts in simple yellow flowers with chocolate centers, a display that can go on for weeks. Its perennial vigor isn’t unruly—even in good soils the plant slowly
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