Has The Cacophony Ended!?

It's not that I don't like fireworks. We went to the Janesville show last night and blew up some small stuff out in the yard. The cacophony is between 11 pm and 2 am when others in the neighborhood continue the celebration of pyromania (mainly males). Regardless, we have a nice day today and I popped by the gardens to find Larry and Janice with eight or so volunteers. We're keeping up with watering at this point and could use some hot days to get our annuals moving along. The image above is of the first double white coneflower (Echinacea purpurea 'Coconut Lime') that only gets 20" or so in height but has oodles of blooms. We're establishing a collection of over 100 varieties of coneflower (Echinacea) and are interested to see some of the new varieties and their potential (or lack thereof) in the landscape.

To the left is a good shot of one of the variegated feather reed grasses (Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Avalanche') that I've noticed tops out below 48" tall, making it a good foot shorter than 'Karl Foerster' (seen in a recent blog entry). What a nice, light, upright look. The flower heads age to amber but the rigidness of this grass will extend all the way thru winter. Calamagrostis' are one of the easiest grasses to divide as well.

Note the interesting foliage of this Rodger's flower (Rodgersia pinnata 'Chocolate Wings') on the right. In spring, the foliage emerges chocolate/maroon and ages to a green. They prefer adequate moisture and send up huge creamy flower plumes that later age to burgundy. We have many different Rodgersias at Rotary Gardens and love every one. For a tropical look in part shade, give them a whirl. This variety would combine well with golden foliaged plants, perhaps the golden sedge (Carex elata 'Bowles Golden').