Blue fescue. Comes back every year, looks great next to Autumn Joy Sedum, and i see that all over the place. Looks nice in winter too.

Nikko Deutzia.
I don't see it anywhere but next to my front door.
It comes back faithfully every year and gradually gets wider but not taller. It's covered with white blooms in the spring, about the same time as the Minuet weigelia near it has red blooms. It NEVER has gotten insect damage, mildew, black spot or anything, and I've had it more than 10 years. When it's done blooming, it makes a nice ground cover and the leaves stay healthy-looking until after the first frost.
This is the most idiot-proof plant I have. I don't even cut it back.

Oxalis- I hear people saying they hate it all the time and I wonder if we are talking about the same plant. I was given startings, don't know what they are called but they are bulb-like and stick up above the ground. I've carried startings since then to 4 other homes. I just love it, it's a wonderful border plant and I've never found it to be invasive.

I did a lot of looking and finally found that mine is Oxalis crassipes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oxalis crassipes

Here's a photo from my yard of the oxalis.

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I agree with you on that filipendula nina..... I haven't grown it but have seen it in pictures and its definitely on my wants list..... I think its so pretty..... since its a native and also attracts? butterflies? (I think)...... I can't imagine why its not grown more often..... as I posted in the perennials forum I couldn't understand why nippon daisy wasn't planted more often.... I think it (the resounding answer) was because its not really hardy in all zones...... I also wonder why more people don't plant goldenrod and helenium..... people plant them but not a ton..... I think they're beautiful fall bloomers..... I'm sure part of the reason with both of them is that they're sometimes blamed for hayfever.... confusing their effects with ragweed but neither are known to cause allergies..... :)

I am with you flowrsandthing I love golden rod especially Fireworks it looks so great with the blue and white asters and the red persicaria that are blooming this time of the year. I do not understand why salvias have not caught on in a big way.

The list is endless.

I recently toured a friends newly landscaped yard. I'm guessing with the extensive drip system it was easily over ten thousand. (That's a lot here...)

Not one of any kind: crepe myrtle, hydrangea, viburnum, salvia, rose, clematis, lantana, spring flowering tree,
burning bushes, nandina, azalea, rhodendron and most perennials save a few mundane ones.

You are asking, well, what did she have?

Meatball shrubs (lots), tall hollies, two camellia sasanquas,
miscanthus, river birch, some gardenias, cottoneaster, abelia, stella d'ora daylilies, some nice large red maples, 1 little gem magnolia, echinacea, lorapetulums (lots), yew, ground cover junipers.

This is a large house and area that was landscaped.
I was appropriatly admiring of everything but it didn't fully sink in until later what was missing. She LOVES the way it looks!

burning bush has been found to self seed in our natural areas and take over a woodland - so its a good thing that your friends landscaper did not plant it - what used to be a standard plant for its color, burning bush is now listed on many states prohibited species list ...

I can't imagine that it's a problem here. I've never seen it
in the wild and I have 4 compactas that have never reseeded to actually create a new seedling in my yard or woods.
The plants I do have are beautiful although I wish I had planted virburnums in their place.

burning bush may not be a problem in SC - i do know its a problem here in the midwest though. i had read that blueberry bushes are often recommended as a replacement for the burning bush as they get the same fall color... i havent tried them yet though - so cannnot compare myself.

Mexican Hat - ratibida
Bachelor Buttons - black ball
Scabiosa - any and all
Impatiens Balsam.

What's wrong with my neighbors?

Previous owners planted blueberry bushes. I really, really wished they hadn't. They send up shoots from the roots and spread unless we keep after the shoots. Of course, the berries are nice, if the squirrels and birds don't get them first, which is usually 9 years out of 10. We dug out most of them about six years ago. We are still digging out the new growth from pieces of roots that we missed.

Don't plant blueberries unless you have plenty of room for them.

i think attracting birds and wildlife is why some people do plant blueberries ... i have heard they dont produce unless you have acidic soil and need male and female bushes? it sounds like you had hit the jackpot...

Streptocarpus Nodding Violet. It's the easiest plant I've ever grown. It grows equally well inside and outside (in Sydney). It blooms all year with the prettiest, most delicate-looking purply-blue flowers, and the recent hail that shredded the rest of my garden did it no lasting damage.

Answer on the violets:
Around here, people don't grow them because they seed into the rest of your garden and your grass .. and your neighbor's garden and grass.

delphiniums, larkspur, cosmos, poppies, hyssops, stocks, thrift, foxglove, ladybells...

everyone around here seems to grow the same 'ol things. daylilies, hosta, iris and the usual annuals like: petunias, marigolds, annual geraniums etc. Seems like that's the only types of flowers the garden centers sell too??? Don't get me wrong...I LOVE the daylilies, hosta and iris. It's just that there's not much variety in my neighbor's yards.

Amelanchier canadensis - that gorgeous flush/flash of flowers, the berries and the hordes of birds, the lovely autumn colour, and the open, airy winter framework of branches.

It's main drawback is its surface hogging root pad, but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a load of compost.

I greatly admire Acanthus, which is so rarely seen in U.S. gardens. I had a lot of difficulty finding it, and was so desperate that I finally ordered some Acanthus hungaricus seeds from Thompson & Morgan. I actually got a few to germinate, but they will be slow to reach flowering size. Soon after, however, I discovered the plant exchange forum, and got a nice specimen of Acanthus hungaricus (balcanicus) in an exchange. Next season I'll try to get a specimen of Acanthus mollis (commonly called Bear's Breeches), which is the species I was originally seeking. There are many other species, but these two are the only ones that I have actually seen so far.

These are such striking and beautiful plants, I think. They are not native to the U.S. (A. mollis is mediterranean in origin and A. hungaricus is from Eastern Europe). But they look very much at home in a natural garden or in a woodland garden situated where they can get at least a couple of hours of sunlight.

They are tallish plants, about three feet, and very effective as single specimens. A. mollis is also a few feet wide. They send up flower stalks that remind one of foxgloves, as does the flower form itself, though the flowers remind me even more of Chelone (Turtlehead). The colors are at once subtle and dramatic: dusky rose petals emerging from deep sienna calices.

The leaves form a basal rosette, and can become quite large. A. hungaricus and some of the other species are somewhat spiny (a little like Eryngium), but the leaves of A. mollis are smooth. I've read posts in which people have griped about the rangey foliage of Acanthus, but I don't agree. In fact, I don't understand this complaint. After all, many classical Greek and Roman columns, urns and other architectural elements are adorned with the sculpted likeness of A. mollis leaves. The plant truly fits the description of "architectural" that is so often misapplied to other plants.

Thanks for this thread. I'd really love to hear from other Acanthus fans, if there are any out there.

HI cranebill---I love Acanthus too!!! I grow A.spinosus which is a little hardier here in my summer heat, A.mollis seemed to languish a bit for me. I also love a new one I got from Plant Delights last year A.x Summer Beauty-a mollis/spinosus cross with really,really nicely cut leaves..Love the textures in my garden and those bracts add color forever.

I have to agree about Acanthus. It's a little iffy here, not always making it through the winter. But it's an incredible container plant, and I guess I don't mind hauling a container back and forth.
I'll be interested in hearing about the new acanthus cultivar from Plant Delights. Keep us posted.
Vetivert, you mentioned Amelanchier canadensis. It's a native here, and I think underrated. I'm amazed that it can take your climate.

ninamarie,

Good to know there's another acanthus enthusiast out there. I hadn't thought of growing it in a container, but I can imagine that it has a lot of design potential, especially for mixed containers. Good idea!

cranebill

tillable2000, ditto to you, too. I'll also be looking for the Plant Delights selection.

cranebill

I had been looking for Acanthus for the past 3 years, and I finally found a nursery around here with Acanthus spinosus. It just got dropped into the ground last weekend!

I second the Stock. I have two large planters filled with them next to my front door. In the evenings when the windows are open the wonderful smell wafts into the living room and it's the first thing you notice when you step out my front door. They are beautiful and showy but nothing beats that delicious smell!

They seem to be difficult to come by in the Maryland area. There are a few nurseries that stock (pun not intended) them but you rarely find them in market packs. Metzler's in Carroll County is the only nursery that has them early enough to plant them before the heat of our summers knocks them back.

Anyway, I always manage to get a container or two planted up in the early spring so I can enjoy them for as long as possible.

I think Lisianthes are the most gorgeous annuals! They are so elegant. I am surprised I don't see more.

I love scavola and dragon wing begonias, beautiful and dependable and the latter overwinters and blooms inside.
jan

Gaura- I love this stuff! It can get a bit unruly, but if you stake it early it stays out of the way. I actually never saw this before I grew it myself. Its one of my favorite flowers now =)

Nigella- The cutest little annual, but I never see it in anyone else's garden.

Geraniums, other than red- I see red geraniums in every other flowerbox and planter I pass, but that's about it. This year I picked up 'Solstice Chocolate,' gorgeous mmohagany flowers and beautiful ruffled foliage. I also got 'Speckles' in pink and white, adorable =)

Calendula- Am I the only one in the county who grows this? I think so =)

Tovara virginiana (painters palatte)- Lights up a shady spot, beautiful compliment to hostas, I am (again) the only one in the neighborhood that grows it.

Chocolate Joe pye weed- No one but me =)

Can you tell I'm a winter sower??? hehehe =)
GW

Magazinewriter: I think you're thinking of viola, our common violet. The streptocarpus is a South African native; the variety I've seen the most here is "Dancing Fairies."

If you and your neighbors have trouble with that on your lawn, I'm deeply jealous!
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