Lamb's Ear, Stachys lanate, Rattlesnake Master, and Ferns Are FavoritePlants for a Sensory Garden

Lamb's Ear has a downy softness of the leaves. The plant can grow to two feet with a bloom as seen in the photo above. The flower is lavender and the leaves are silver to light green. It has been called wound wort because the leaves have been used to staunch wounds. It has also been used as a wash cloth. The plant likes full sun and likes to spread. In sensory gardens Lamb's Ear is often planted because of its downy softness illustrating touch.

One year my garden was on a city-wide garden walk. A blind woman was on the walk. When I saw her I immediately took her to the Lamb's Ear and asked her to touch it. She was surprised to feel the softness of the leaves. When I told her the name, Lamb's Ear, she thought it was aptly named.

At the opposite end of downy soft is the bristly or spiny margins of the Rattlesnake Master, Eryngium yuccifolium. This perennial is native to tall grass prairie. The leaves resemble yucca plants. The Native Americans used the root as an antidote for rattlesnake venom.

In between the downy softness of the Lamb's Ear and the bristly flower of the Rattlesnake Master is the fern. Ferns have fonds that are lace like soft to the touch. Maiden Hair fern is a favorite plant to have for the fine soft touch.

Blue Delphinium, A Flower For June and July Weddings

The Delphinium is a perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, with flowers varing in color from purple and blue to red, yellow or white. The flower has five petal-like sepals which grow together to form a hollow pocket with a spur at the end, which gives the plant its name. The scientific name comes from the Latin for dolphin, alluding to the shape of the opening flower. Other names are larkspur, lark's claw, knight's spur and lark's heel from Shakespeare's writings.

Blue is my favorite flower. When I was choosing my bridal bouquet, I asked the florist for blue flowers. Since I was married in early July, I chose blue delphiniums that were blooming at that time.

Queen-of-the-Prairie, Flipendula rubra

Queen of the Prairie is a native perennial plant that prefers wet to moist conditions and full sun or partial shade. I have the plant in two gardens, Illinois native plants garden and Rain Garden. The plan is 3-6 feet tall and towers above the other plants. The flowers are light pink. In Illinois the plant is on the endangered species list.

View of Queen of the Prairie towering above the other plants in the rain garden.

Strange Name for a Perennial, Beardtongue Penstemon

Penstemon or the common name, Beardtongue has a name that I could not understand the relationship to the flower. In my research I found that the "staminode, an infertile stamen takes a variety of forms in the different species; while typically a long straight filament extending to the mouth of the corolla, some are longer and extremely hairy, giving the general appearance of an open mouth with a fuzzy tongue protruding and inspiring the common name of beardtongue."

Next time you are in your garden or at a garden retail shop, take a close look at the beardtongue, can you see it?

Penstemon plants usually bloom during the first few weeks of June. Most of them have completed blooming in my yard as of now, June 22, except for the ones in the semi-shade.

Design Elements for Entrance to House

One of the purposes or function of design for the front entrance is to draw the eye for a pleasing welcome to the home. For the past four years I have placed a white picket fence bench on the front porch. Various forms of plant filled containers are placed on the bench primarily using red colored blossoms. Symetrical and asymetrical are design elements that either balance the view or provide a more natural unbalanced look. The symetrical straight lines of the sidewalk and evergreen plants lead to the front door. But the number of containers are asymetrical, 3 on the right side and 5 on the left side. This arrangement provides interest and variety. Another design element is color. Red is a bright color that can be seen from the street. I like to use annuals such as begonias, impatients, and geraniums.

 Also, I used the red geraniums in the flower bed next to the road that will invite the visitor to the front door.

Along the drive way or sidewalk leading to the front walk I have planted a variety of lilies of red, yellow and orange. The blue blossoms of Nepeta or catmint adds a cooler color in the bed.

Last year I used two plant filled containers, one on the bench and the other one in front of it.

Along side the walk to the front door I put a colorful flower arrangement in a decorative metal wheel barrow to add a bit of whimsy to the garden.

Feverfew, Lavender, and St. John's Wort-- Medicinal Herbs

Feverfew is a traditional medicinal herb found in many old or traditional gardens. The plant grows into a small bush up to around 18 inches high. The flowers reminds me of small daisies. The leaves of the plant are citrus scented. This plant will spread so be careful where you plant it. The plant will pop up in different parts of the garden whether you like it or not. In the past feverfew was used in reducing fever, treating headaches, arthritis and digestive problems. I have planted Feverfiew because of its colorful flowers,  it blooms in June, and is low on maintenance.

Lavender is a favorite herb of mine as with many people. I like the aroma, in fact, I use soaps and shampoos made with Lavender oil. Or, I use Lavender Essential Oils to treat burns. The Lavender plant is in the mint family and the color of the flowers of some forms has come to be called Lavender. The native range extends across the Canary Islands, North and East Africa, Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Arabia and India. The most famous Lavender fields are in Provence, France. I have planted Lavender in my Shakespeare Herb Garden and Colonial Kitchen Garden. Some of the plants do not survive during an Illinois harsh winter. Those that survive, I cherish them as sacred plants.

St. John's Wort, also known as tipton's Weed, Chase-devil or Klamath weed, is the plant species Hypericum perforatum. The plant has yellow flowers and is known as a herbal treatment for depression. The plant spreads so find an area of ground where it can flourish.

Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia

                                         Summer flowers along Colonial fenced garden

                                           Black-eyed Susan in Rain Garden

Most gardens have Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia as well as purple coneflowers. Besides the common name of Black-eyed Susan, there is Brown Betty, Blackiehead, Golden Jerusalem, Poorland Daisy and Yellow Daisy. The flowers have a dark purplish brown center. The plant is native to most of North America. The plants reseed themselves after the first season. They flower from June to August.

Several years ago I read the origin of the name, Rudbeckia. The name honors Olaus Rudbeck, who was a professor of botany at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and was one of Carl Linnaeus' teachers. Linnaeus was also a tutor to Rudbeck's children when he was a student. Carl Linnaeus is known as the father of modern taxonomy of plants who laid the foundations for the scheme of binomial nomenclature. He was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist. He is considered one of the fathers of modern ecology.

Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberoso and Buddleja Butterfly Bush

If you like to see butterflies in your garden, two of my two favorite butterfly plants are featured in this column. The first photo is this beautiful colorful red orange plant. Its common name is the butterfly weed. It is a species of milkweed and native to eastern North America. It is a perennial plant growing from 1-3 feet. The plant requiries full sun and prefers a dry, sand or gravel soil. I purchased two plants from a native plant retail store. I planted one in the butterfly/humming bird garden and the other plant in the native plant garden. In my experiences this plant is the most frequent plant that butterflies visit.

The second most favored plant is the butterfly bush, Buddleja. This shrub can grow up to 15 or more feet. The two photos shown above are taken at Weldon Spring Park, near Clinton, IL. The shrub in my garden grows to about 6 feet tall. The flowers are rich in nectar and often strongly scented. This plant as shown below grows in my garden on the shelf of the rain garden.

Tickseed Coreopsis lanceolata

The bright yellow Tickseed or Coreopsis lanceolata brings sunshine to the garden. The flowers are a brilliant bright yellow that grow on tall slender single stems. Each plant has many blooms that start early June and last well into August. The plant can tolerate prolonged periods of moisture and drought. They grow well in sun to partial shade and in various soil types. I have Tickseed growing in several beds. The photo above is growing on the shoulder of the Rain Garden.

'Moonbean' Coreopsis has smaller flowers, lace like or fern like leaves, and grows in a clump. It is featured in a garden bed among vinca at the front of the house.

Beautiful Blooming Peonies on May 30

Peonies are associated with Memorial Day. When I was a child our high school band would play at the local cemetry on Memorial Day. Peonies were growing at many grave sites. In my present garden there are 12 pink and white heirloom peonies. The original peonies, date back to the 1800s, were growing in a historial Bloomington garden. I received plants from the present restored garden when the peonies needed to be thinned.
     There is an old tale that for peonies to blossom, ants need to be seen on the plant. Ants should not be killed with a pesticide if the person wants to have blossoms. That old tale is false because it is the sugar in the blossoms that attract ants. Not the reverse.

Purple Coneflower Echinacea

                                                  2010 photo of Echinacea and Rudbeckia

                                         Coneflower and red Monarda by a statue of a cherub

A few of the purple coneflower plants in my garden are now blooming. The coneflower is one of the hardy perennials that tolerates heat during the hot summer months. One reason that it is called a coneflower is the dome shape center of the flower. Because of hybridization we see other colors of the coneflower beside purple. White is becoming more popular as a contrast with the bright purple common color. Other colors are pinks, yellows and orange. There are a couple new double-flowered forms such as Coral Reef and Marmalade.

To attract butterflies to your garden plant the purple coneflower Echinacea as well as butterfly bush Buddleja
and butterfly plant Asclepias.