This has been on my list for a long time!

Agree with GG - it's a wonderful plant, but it seems like overkill in this space. Piet Oudolf uses 'Hummelo' to great effect in the mass drifts he's known for in the various public gardens that have commissioned him, but that style doesn't work so well when the plants are forced into a more precise arrangement in a formal home setting.

Interesting, K&D. Thanks for posting.

Use 'Hummelo' myself in mixed herbaceous perennial beds, but not bedded or the like.

Sah67 notes (also interestingly) Piet Oudolf's use of this cultivar in his style of garden. Over the years, I've installed and maintained a small number of quite large perennial gardens. I do feel sure that my customers would be (would have been) very unhappy if I'd have produced a garden which looked like the Oudolf's garden.

You do read about Hummelo's strength's as ground cover. One thing that comes to my mind is how will such a perennial planting, as yours, look after 3 or 4 years.

https://www.thenewperennialist.com/closing-time-goodbye-to-hummelo/

@sunnyborders. Normally, I'm an advocate for a classic softscape with a substantial amount of ground cover and a fairly traditional plant list. In this case I had an existing client who was willing to do "whatever" and that's how the (almost) mono-culture of Hummelo came to be in 2015. There are four dollops of Sesleria autumanlis, one of which shows in this view.

The photograph was from 2019 at 4 years of development.

For full disclosure and transparency, the Mr. is quite smitten with the intensity of the display, the Mrs. not so much. In the end it was a different approach, outside of whatever boundaries I usually set for myself.

Since @gardengal48 and I are so frequently on the same page, I'm working through some emotional design distress at her critique. :) :) :)

At least we can all celebrate that it's not Spiraea 'Gold Flame' with white marble chips! :)

Happy planting!

I don't think that plant is a stachys. That looks like a persicaria to me. Persicaria bistorta I believe.

Interested to hear the additional background, K&D.

@perennialfan275, You are correct. I deleted the pic/comment so that the thread does not go sideways. Thanks!

How long is its bloom period?

How long is its bloom period?

Not long enough in my experience to justify a mass planting.

Whaaat... I like Goldflame!

I love the foliage of S. officinalis but the color of "Hummelo" makes me want to scratch my eyes out -- it's a really hard color to work with, it just clashes with pretty much everything IMO. I used to just cut the flowers off and grew the plant for the foliage at my other house. I did find a white/soft pink cultivar that was a Hallson's introduction called "White Zin" --> beautiful, long-blooming blush-pink flowers. Unfortunately, I don't have a pic...need to make a mental note to snap one this season.

I like 'Hummelo' with Veronica 'Purpleicious', but tend, to some extent, to work on the principle of throwing lots of colours at the canvas and letting the colours sort themselves out.

@sunnyborders what’s the red plant in the background of your second pic ?

I think it is a new-ish type of the Alchemilla millefolium-Hybrids

they seem to be short lived (if the soil is heavy/rich) but somewhat better behaved

Even with the green hedging in between, the Hummelo color looks really dreadful with the red/pink brick.

I know linarea_gw meant to say Achillea millefolium-Hybrids.