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Canna

Canna begins as a summer bulb.

The many distinctive garden varieties of Canna typically begin as late or summer bulbs. They go into the garden as dormant rhizomes at the end of winter or beginning of spring. Then, they grow fast to bloom for summer. They continue to bloom until late autumn or, in mild climates, early winter. However, Canna foliage is as appealing as its colorful bloom.

The big and lush leaves may be green, bronze, striped or variegated. ‘Australia’ has very deep bronze foliage with fiery red bloom. ‘Tropicana’ has green, yellow, bronze and pink stripes with fiery orange bloom. ‘Stuttgart’ blooms merely with wispy pale orange flowers. However, it does so on high stems with foliage which is irregularly variegated with white.

Floral color can be pink, red, orange or yellow, either bright or pastel. Variegated, spotty or blotchy combinations of color are common and popular. Yellowish white is quite rare. Tall Canna can grow eight feet tall, but bloom with small and wispy flowers. Short Canna may stay less than two feet tall, but with big and bold bloom. All growth should be cut back as winter ends.

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Perennials Should Have Staying Power

Common daylily is a popular perennial.

The definition of perennial is vague. Technically, it refers to anything that persists for any significant time. This should include trees, shrubbery and vines. Horticulturally, though, it refers to persistent species that lack any woody parts. Even this definition is vague, as it includes ferns, palms, yuccas and succulents. Perennials certainly are a diverse group.

Annuals are not perennials, since they finish their respective life cycles within one year. However, most annuals have potential to perform as perennials. They merely do not get opportunities to do so as other annuals become more seasonal. Biennials complete their life cycles within two years, so also do not qualify. Persistent bulbs might qualify, though.

Canna, for example, grows from thick and fleshy rhizomes that qualify as summer bulbs. Once established they are resiliently persistent. They proliferate and can migrate as they do so. Calla and various ginger do the same. All are easy to propagate by division while more or less dormant. They defoliate where winters are colder, but regenerate for spring.

Lily of the Nile is among the most popular and common perennials. It is very resilient and persistent. It does not need much attention or water, and is very easy to propagate. Even without bloom, its evergreen foliage is appealing. African iris, or fortnight lily, is probably the second most common perennial. It requires a bit more grooming than lily of the Nile.

New Zealand flax is a bigger perennial, although some cultivars are relatively compact. It is more foliar than floral, since its thin floral stalks are not as striking as its bold foliage. Daylily is among the more floriferous perennials, with bright yellow, orange or red bloom. Beard tongue is another efflorescent perennial, but with white, pink, red or purple bloom.

These are merely a few examples of the most locally popular and practical of perennials. This list should also include hosta, coral bell, yarrow, Shasta daisy and various salvias. It is impossible to mention all of the perennials that perform well here. Although most are evergreen, some are deciduous. Most need irrigation while some can actually naturalize.

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Lion’s Tail

Lion’s tail has oddly aromatic foliage.

Too much bloom should be no problem. Although, for lion’s tail, Leonotis leonurus, it can be. It blooms for the middle of spring. Then, it continues blooming in increasingly prolific phases until late summer or autumn. There is little time for deadheading between bloom phases. Furthermore, deadheading too aggressively delays subsequent bloom phases.

It is best to prune deteriorating bloomed stems just below their lowest floral tufts. Pruned stems can then generate side shoots that should bloom for a subsequent phase. Growth unfortunately gets congested by the end of the season. Coppicing late in winter removes all of such congested growth. This promotes new growth and a new beginning for spring.

Mature specimens can grow taller than six feet by the end of summer, and slightly wider. Their narrow leaves are about three inches long. They bloom with dense tufts of tubular flowers in neat tiers on the upright stems. Floral color is almost exclusively bright orange. Cultivars with yellow or white bloom are rare and not as bright. Foliage is very aromatic. New plants are easy to propagate by division while plants are coppiced.

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Mexican Snowball

Mexican snowball is easy to propagate.

Some might know Mexican snowball, Echeveria elegans, as hen and chicks. However, a few species of Echeveria and related Sempervivum have the same name. Foliar rosettes produce smaller rosettes that resemble chicks around their mother hen. Smaller rosettes, or pups, are easy to separate and grow into new plants. Some might already have roots.

Individual rosettes seem to be nearly spherical, but are a bit wider than high. The biggest are only about four inches wide. The evergreen foliage is very pale bluish green. Leaves are plumply succulent. Their arrangement is neatly symmetrical like scales of pinecones. Rosettes form colonies, which resemble stashes of snowballs more than hen and chicks.

Mexican snowball prefers sunny exposures with regular irrigation. It can tolerate a slight bit of shade and lapses of irrigation, though. It is popular as a component of mixed small perennials in large pots or urns. For low stone retaining walls or berms, it can grow from crevices. Its small pink flowers with yellow tips usually bloom as winter becomes spring. Although small, the color contrasts nicely with such pale foliage.

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Western Sword Fern

Western sword fern is a native.

Of the native ferns, Western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, is the most common. Yet, it can be difficult to cultivate outside of its native range. Regional symbiotic soil microbes might be what limit its adaptability beyond its range. Locally in the wild, it prefers riparian situations. Within home gardens, established specimens are impressively undemanding.

As an understory species, Western sword fern should probably prefer partial shade. Yet, it can perform as well with full sun exposure. Although it appreciates organically rich soil, it can be satisfied with soil of inferior quality. New or relocated specimens need frequent irrigation as they disperse roots. Monthly irrigation can suffice for established specimens.

Western sword fern grows about two or three feet tall, but can get taller in partial shade. It might be twice as wide. The evergreen foliage is dark forest green. Individual leaves are pinnately compound and arching. New leaves mostly obscure old leaves that deteriorate after their first or second year. Shabby specimens regenerate well after getting cut back.

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Ferns Are Splendid Foliar Perennials

Ferns exhibit distinctive form and texture.

Ferns are an odd bunch within home gardens. They lack floral color and fragrance. They produce no fruit or vegetables. The few that are deciduous lack autumn foliar color here. With very few exceptions, they provide no shade. There is quite a bit that they do not do. Yet, they are notably popular for their lush foliage, intricate textures and distinctive forms.

Almost all ferns are a rich deep green. Some are vibrantly lighter green. A few are silvery gray or exhibit intricate silvery patterns. Most exhibit lacy textures. Several are finer than most. Several develop relatively coarse textures. Bird’s nest fern has large but undivided and glossy fronds. Holly fern exhibits coarse texture of fronds that resemble holly foliage.

Most ferns that are popular here are evergreen foliar perennials. They are therefore tidier with occasional grooming to remove deteriorating old foliage. Some extend new foliage above old foliage as the old foliage lies down. Some regenerate lushly after the removal of all their foliage prior to their growing seasons. Deciduous ferns are uncommon locally.

Ferns do not develop stems or trunks like some other vegetation does. They sprawl over the ground with fleshy rhizomes. Tree ferns grow upward only by extending roots into the deteriorating rhizomes below. Such roots are quite strong and wiry, and form what seem to be trunks. Fern roots are rather fibrous. Fern rhizomes grow in length but not diameter.

Because of their fibrous roots, ferns are complaisant to confinement within pots. Several are splendid houseplants. Boston fern is an old fashioned but familiar example. Rabbit’s foot fern, maidenhair fern and bird’s nest fern are also popular as houseplants. Staghorn ferns are weirdly epiphytic. They can grow outside on vertical boards rather than in pots.

Most popular ferns are understory species. That means that, within their natural habitats, they live in the shade of larger vegetation. It also means that, within home gardens, most tolerate partial shade. A few actually prefer it. Most ferns also prefer systematic irrigation. Although, native Western sword fern tolerates both partial shade and lapses of irrigation.

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Transvaal Daisy

Transvaal daisies are popular cut flowers.

Though a popular cut flower, Transvaal daisy, Gerbera hybrida, is rare in home gardens. When it does appear in home gardens, it is typically within pots or planters as an annual. As a perennial, it gets shabby during winter, and is very popular among slugs and snails. It performs best with partial shade, but can tolerate full sun exposure if it is not too warm.

Coarse basal foliage of Transvaal daisy can grow a foot high and a foot and a half wide. Its solitary floral stems stand a few inches higher. Bloom is two to four inches wide. Most garden varieties bloom with simple single blooms. Most florist varieties are semi-double. The floral color range includes cartoonish pastels of yellow, orange, red, pink and white.

Floral structure of Transvaal daisy is more variable than it seems to be. Several varieties produce blooms with brown or black centers. A few varieties with fuller double bloom are uncommon but increasingly popular. Fewer varieties that resemble spider mums are rare but could become more available. Transvaal daisy becomes available in nurseries now. They are seasonable in spring and autumn.

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Anemone

Anemone is also known as windflower.

This is not a typical warm season annual. Nor is it a typical cool season annual. Actually, there really is nothing typical about Anemone, Anemone coronaria. It is a spring bulb that is really a tuber that goes into the ground in autumn. Yet, it is more available blooming in four inch pots in spring. It functions as a spring annual because it blooms as winter ends.

Anemone are quite diminutive. Basal rosettes of only a few deeply lobed leaves are less than eight inches tall. Flowers of taller sorts stand above their foliage, but less than a foot high. They can bloom between March and May. Nursery stock blooms earlier than plants that grow from bulbs in a garden. Growth eventually slows as weather warms in summer.

Floral color ranges through red, white, blue, pink and purple. Flowers mostly have black centers. White flowers may have green centers. Some varieties bloom with semi-double or double flowers, or flowers with two colors. Most flowers are about three inches wide or slightly wider. Anemones are good cut flowers; but cutting deprives the garden of bloom.

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Calla

Calla bloom is simple but elegant.

With few exceptions, common calla, Zantedeschia aethiopica, blooms exclusively white. ‘Green Goddess’ blooms with green stripes on bigger and more open blooms. ‘Pink Mist’ blooms with a pale pink blush at the bases of its blooms. More colorful summer calla are Zantedeschia elliotiana, which is a different species. Cultivars of common calla are rare.

Calla is an herbaceous perennial that grows from thick rhizomes. It can be invasive, and difficult to eradicate once it gets established. Its basal leaves stand two or three feet high or a bit higher if shaded. More than the lower half of their height is petiole. The upper leaf portion is broad and arrow shaped. All growth is rather spongy and soft, and tears easily.

Callas bloom mostly sporadically for spring, summer and autumn. Mature colonies often bloom with more profuse phases. New rhizomes do not bloom for a few months, though. Individual blooms consist of a solitary flaring spathe surrounding a spike shaped spadix. Compressed flowers adhere tightly to the yellow spadix. Callas are splendid cut flowers.

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Summer Bulbs Can Start Now

Canna should bloom for next summer.

Spring bulbs go into their gardens through autumn because they enjoy the chill of winter. Summer bulbs do not. They instead prefer to wait until after the coolest of winter weather. If they start too early, some might decay in cool and damp soil before they begin to grow. Some may grow while the weather is warm only to incur damage from later cool weather.

However, they should not wait for too long. Summer bulbs dislike winter but enjoy spring. Those that start about now will be ready for it. By the time their new growth emerges from the soil, there will be no concern of frost. Although most generate only vegetative growth through spring, they bloom for summer. Many continue until frost or the following autumn.

Summer bulbs, like spring bulbs, are merely dormant perennials. Only a few are actually bulbs, though. Most are corms, rhizomes or tubers. They produce new foliage and bloom while the weather is warm. Then, they go dormant as the weather cools for the following autumn or winter. Once in the garden, several types can stay and perpetuate indefinitely.

For example, new canna rhizomes might rot if they go into the garden too early in winter. However, after their first summer, they can survive in the garden through their next winter. Dahlias might also survive winter dormancy in the garden. However, they are more likely to survive if dug and stored for winter. Their tubers might return to the garden about now.

Summer bulbs that are actually bulbs or corms, such as gladiolus, generally bloom once. Dahlias grow from tubers, so bloom for a more extensive season. Summer bulbs that are rhizomes, such as gingers, may bloom once or sporadically. Gingers and crocosmia can eventually become invasive. However, gladiolus is rarely as sustainable as it should be.

Summer bulbs become available from nurseries as it becomes time to plant them. Some are available now, and more will become available as their season progresses. Dahlias, cannas and callas should be available growing in pots after early spring. Summer bulbs that proliferate a bit too much are easy to share. Many propagate very easily by division. Most perform as well within large pots and planters as they do in the soil.