I bought Agastache “Blue Boa ” this spring at Goffstown Hardware, and it is proving to be one of my smarter choices. I am excited about this plant because it is a purple that will contrast beautifully with my myriad goldenrods and the Showy Evening Primrose in mid to late summer. As fine as the late Aromatic asters “Raydon’s Favorite” and “October Skies” are, they bloom blue very late.
“Blue Fortune” is my other hardy Agastache. I divided up last year’s plants, divisions from my sister’s plants, and am pleased with it because it does not need much watering and blooms till frost. It is a less showy plant than “Blue Boa”, but sometimes dusty blue is just right.
A nice non hardy sunset colored agastache is “Poquillo”. Since it is a dwarf I worried it might be too bitty, but it is nice planted with salvia “Roman Red” and the lantanas “Confetti” and “Miss Huff”.
More new bloomers for mid-July include “Big Blue” salvia, reportedly a better form than “Indigo Spires”, a great salvia for the south, but too late to get going for Southern New Hampshire.
My two cannas, “Intrigue” and “Pacific Beauty” are also starting to bloom. I never thought cannas would do well here, but I was wrong. If people dig up prima donnas like dahlias and keep them inside , they might consider cannas, which need much the same winter care. Dahlias may be more tasteful to some, and their flowers less gaudy, but their nondescript leaves contribute nothing to the garden. Can one say the same for the purple leaved cannas?
Both these cannas came from Plant Delights Nursery in North Carolina.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here is a 7 foot tall Thalictrum rochebrianum growing in rich soil that has only morning sun. What an elegant, ethereal plant-
And here is a wonder! A seedling of this Meadow Rue that I found in my sister’s garden, and there are more-
The woodchuck trap. I included the photo only because I need to note that every plant shown in this post has not been chewed up.
Gardening On Granite 