Guides: Coastal Garden
Hardiness
Reliable Hardy Fuchsias For Your Garden
Fuchsias are not so fragile beauties. Some are quite hardy and can withstand temperatures down to -10ºF (-23ºC) and grow in USDA Hardiness Zones 6. They are useful in permanent plantings, adding vibrant pockets of summer color and showing up particularly well against dark evergreen shrubs. They are perfect to light up a dull, shady border.
Echeverias
Native to Mexico and Central America, Echeverias are regarded by many as one of the most beautiful succulents. Evergreen, they form attractive rosettes of fleshy leaves and often resemble plum-petaled roses, waterlilies or ruffled lettuce. There are dozens of species, and hundreds of cultivars offering a wide array of colors, sizes or leaf shapes.
Ceanothus (California Lilac)
Ceanothus, commonly known as California Lilac, offers almost everything a gardener could wish for in a shrub: free-flowering, lovely foliage, ease of cultivation, drought and salt tolerance. Fast growing, these desirable shrubs draw attention with their stunning blue, white or pink flowers. When a California Lilac bursts into bloom, it is a breathtaking sight to behold.
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Eryngium (Sea Holly)
Attractive, Sea Holly plants (Eryngium) are striking ornamental perennials grown for their arresting, thistle-like, silvery or blue tinted flower heads adorned with a ruff of showy bracts. Blooming in summer and sometimes into fall, they are useful in rock gardens, coastal gardens and in borders where their steel blue flowers and foliage complement the vibrantly colored summer flowers.
Scilla Varieties
Treasured for their flowers, most Scillas bloom in spring but a few species produce their pretty blooms in late summer or fall. Which one is for you?
Ipheion (Spring Starflower)
Robust and hardy, Ipheion (Spring Starflower) are small bulbous perennials with lovely star-shaped, sweet violet scented flowers borne on long slender scapes in mid to late spring. Blooming for up to 8 weeks, the dainty blossoms rise atop a cushion of narrow, pale, delicate and grass-like leaves. Regarded to be one of the easiest bulbs to grow
Fuchsias
Among the most spectacular summer flowers, Fuchsias are outstanding garden plants with their continuous display of ravishing, dancing blossoms, dangling in clusters like prize jewels. Often blooming from late spring until the first frosts, they are available in a wide range of colors, from luscious pinks and purples to whites and even peach.
Crocosmia (Montbretia)
Extremely showy and exotic-looking, Crocosmia produce decorative clumps of erect sword-shaped leaves and brilliant wands of fiery scarlet, red, orange, and yellow tubular flowers which bloom for 5-8 weeks from mid summer through mid fall.
Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root)
Extremely showy, Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root) introduces elegant vertical lines to the borders with its long spikes of densely-clustered, tiny flowers from summer to fall. With a candelabra look, these attractive inflorescences, in shades of white, blue, pink and purple, are nicely complemented by lanceolate, dark-green leaves that are arranged in whorls around the stem.
Agaves
Native to the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean and northern South America, Agaves are evergreen succulents with handsome rosettes of usually thick, rigid, fleshy leaves with marginal teeth and often a sharp terminal spine. They exist in a wide range of sizes, colors and offer an amazing array of leaf shapes.
Aeoniums
Mostly native to the Canary Islands off the west coast of North Africa, Aeoniums are fascinating evergreen succulents with irresistible rosettes of fleshy, pinwheel leaves. Attractive when not blooming, they are particularly striking with their bright racemes of small, star-shaped flowers.
Miscanthus sinensis (Japanese Silver Grass)
Adding drama and powerful structure to the landscape, Miscanthus sinensis (Japanese Silver Grass) are fabulous ornamental grasses that should have a spot in any garden. Traditionally used in Japan in decorative art and gardens, Miscanthus made a royal entrance into occidental gardens about a century ago, thanks to the spectacular feathery plumes towering above their graceful arching foliage and their year-long interest in the garden.
Japanese Anemones
Fall-blooming anemones have earned their place in the fall garden with their charming flowers floating above the border as summer plants are starting to fade
Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker)
Kniphofias, commonly known as Torch Lilies or Red Hot Pokers, always make a bold statement in the garden with their brilliant show of bright-colored, dense, erect spikes resembling glowing pokers or torches. Blooming from late spring to early fall, depending on the varieties, their stately flowers are noted for their long-lasting display of reds, oranges, yellows or creams, adding eye-catching splashes of color to any border.
Fabulous Reblooming Bearded Irises
Acclaimed for their glamorous flowers gracing the garden in spring or early summer, some bearded iris varieties rebloom again in late summer or fall, offering us the pleasure of, once more, enjoying more of their colorful ruffles and mind-blowing flowers. As an added bonus, many reblooming irises bear sweetly fragrant flowers.
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