Saturday, June 22, 2013

Two Shade Perennials

A little weekend post here.  Not much is happening in the garden right now.  The solitary lilac shrub has been blooming its heart out for the last two weeks and the scent is pretty powerful.  The swallowtail butterflies and hummingbird moths have had their fill.  It was not uncommon to see six to eight butterflies on the bush at one time. 

In the shadier areas, these two perennials are blooming for late June: Jacob's ladder and yellow archangel.  They both get a little morning sun, but otherwise live in shade.  Both have average soil moisture requirements and honestly, I rarely water the yellow archangel.  It survives pretty much on rain alone.  The white spotted leaves are quite attractive.  It apparently can be invasive, but it certainly is not invasive in our climate.  The Jacob's ladder can quickly make many new plants by dropping seeds, but this can be avoided if you cut the flowers off when they are done.   

Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum)

Yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon)
 Jacob's ladder also comes in other varieties.  I have a white one.  Others varieties are more compact or have variegated leaves.  I like the ferny foliage.  It is a nice green filler later in the season after the flowers are done. 

2 comments:

Sensible Gardening said...

Your lamiastrum looks like 'Herman's Pride' It behaves well for me too and seldom gets watered.

Gardenista said...

Yes, it does look like Herman's pride -- I'm sure it probably is too. The label was rather sparse on info.