Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt'

The "Gartenmeister" fuchsia is one of the great tender perennials of the gardening world! I picked this plant this week because of the weather outside. Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that I live in the north and one of the reasons I chose to live here is because of the snow. Doesn't mean that I don't want to garden though and this is one of those plants that could make non-gardeners want to garden!

Here's the basics:

Height 1-3', though can get taller in warmer climates with longer growing seasons (I'm in USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 5)

Flowering: orange-red elongated 'trombones', all summer long

Culture: good garden soil that doesn't dry out, in full sun to part shade. Great in containers, mixed gardens and for attracting hummingbirds.

What the basics don't tell you is that beyond the watering issue (don't let them dry out), this is a really easy plant to care for. I had several this past summer and they performed admirably no matter where I put them. I will admit that the ones in the sunnier areas were bigger and had a few more flowers (I did NOT count all the flowers), but they all did really well. The one in the container was a tad smaller, but still flowered all summer long. The hummingbirds are totally addicted to this plant; they cannot leave it alone. I have a feeder too, and they would rather visit this plant over the feeder!

If you do some web searching, there are supposedly some disease/insect issues with the plant but I found none of these in my own garden. Now that doesn't mean that you might not get problems, but if you keep the plant healthy, in good garden soils and don't let them get stressed, I would be you won't have too many issues either. They are simply tough plants.

They aren't very cold tolerant (USDA Zone 11), which basically eliminates leaving them outside for most of the country, but who cares? You can bring them inside if you want and treat them as a houseplant throughout the winter. It will take a willingness to give the plant some good care, let it dry out a bit more (not too much) and they will have a tendency to get leggy, but with some pruning that can be controlled too.

I did find the color to be a challenge at first. It's mostly orange with a tad of red tossed in, perhaps a burnt orange would be a good color, but after some thought I realized there were many yellows that worked well. Lemon yellow Coreopsis is a fine companion and the two plants are of similar size so the combination was effective. Bright reds are another possibility and next year I might try them near some Lobelia, though I suspect the similar foliage shapes and colors will not make as impressive a display as with the tickseed. Deep purple petunia might be another combination I might try. I will have to see what my mood is next season when it comes to annuals. However, regardless, this is one 'annual' I tend to replicate in my garden as it was such a great performer with minimal input from me.

Baptisia australis

From my Twitter...

Baptisia australis is the scientific name for wild blue indigo, false indigo or even poor man's lupine. That last name is so mean, I hesitate to even include it on the list, but it does begin to hint at the positives of this plant. Think about it; if you are poor, you can't afford to buy your plants over and over and over and hope they do well in your garden right? Lupines sure qualify as plants you need to buy over and over (especially if you live in Ohio, like I do). And while I will certainly admit to buying more than one plant more than one time (ok...more than 3 times), I bought this plant once 9 years ago when I moved and lo and behold, it's still alive! Not only is it alive, it thrives on neglect! I have fogotten it on more than one occasion and it doesn't seem to care! The entire garden around it has moved, died, changed, been divided, sub divided and split yet again and the Baptisia is still a staple.

They are BIG plants. Mine is easily 5' tall. Its sideways spread is restricted in my yard by the presence of a (stupid) sidewalk, but the one at work is easily 5-6' wide as well! So don't be fooled by the small ones you get in containers at your local garden center. They start slow, but will end up as big, bold and bodacious plants that are a great backdrop, corner hugger, ugly spot hider or even (gasp!) focal point.

After the blue flowers fade in summer, the plant makes these great seedpods. They start green with a wonderful covering of soft down (puppies are not this soft), and ripen to the blackest black. Either way, they are great on, or off the plant in arrangements. The seeds are hard and make nice ammo for pea-shooters!

If you have full sun, some dirt (Baptisia doesn't care if you call it SOIL or not) that's not too wet, then you have a spot for this year's Perennial Plant of the Year. I've never had a problem with mine in 9 years, not one critter, not one insect. I baby it with neglect and it performs regally, time and time again. What more could you ask from a plant?