Erica Browne Grivas
A certain type of gardener is fatally attracted to rare, novel, or new plants. The weirder, less-heard-of, the better. I confess to being this gardener much of the time. When a plant typically comes in green foliage, give me black. Whether my garden needs it or not is debatable, but I do.
Today the tried-and-true plants, the stalwarts of roadsides and gas station-plantings, are looking bright and shinier to me, for several reasons.
This novelty seeking can come at a cost (literally and figuratively). First, the rarity of a new variety drives higher prices at introduction. Second, these plants may need greater coddling than proven ones. Even if they don’t, you’ll be more stressed about losing them because of the high price you paid. If you do lose it, you’ll face the cost of replacement.
With plant and garden supply prices steadily scaling higher, you may want to think twice about adding a rare plant. It’s not uncommon to see one-quart perennials at nurseries priced from $15-$22 depending on the rarity of the plant and the nursery.
Increasing weather extremes are another reason to reconsider tough plants. It so happens I lost a special daphne, Daphne odora var. ‘alba’ to the last winter’s prolonged freezes. As a group daphnes are flighty in the best of times, famous for shrugging off their mortal coil without warning after years of steady growth. I fell in love at first scent at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival three years ago and brought one home. For two springs it bloomed profusely with white flowers and yellow centers, scenting the air with a divine lemon fragrance. My guess is that being in a ceramic container wasn’t enough insulation for its roots last year.
So, after recent droughts, heat domes and erratic freezes, look around and appreciate the plants, from annuals and perennials to shrubs and trees, that are still standing tall, the ones you’ve taken for granted. Take note of the plants in your yard that ask for little, that shrug off extreme weather when others wilt or melt.
Public-facing plantings often showcase these “old reliables” because they face rough conditions like urban heat islands, compacted soil, and lack of gardeners and irrigation. Check out schools, malls, hotels and restaurant plantings.
In the big picture, when every town plants a new popular plant, it creates a monoculture and invites disease, pests, and other issues, like the Callery pear. Planted in streets across America, we realized too late that it was a) a weak street tree prone to breakage and b) it managed to breed and escape into wild areas despite being sterile. Looking at plants that have withstood the test of time is a safer bet. Plants that are almost clichés have earned that status for a reason – they have endurance, like the Breton shirt and little black dress in our capsule wardrobes.
Keep in mind that no plant is completely bulletproof. For instance, I recently said goodbye to an indoor Sansevieria cylindrica, which can go a month or more without watering, after it got too much water.
Some tough outdoor customers include marigolds, annual (Pelargonium) and perennial (Geranium spp.) geraniums, succulents and yucca, salal, sword ferns, mahonia, junipers, ‘Mugo’ pines, Ilex opaca, berberis, viburnum ‘davidii’, shrubby dogwood, and carex. Research each to match the conditions in your garden bed, of course.
You want to look for plants that aren’t too fussy about their conditions, managing heat, cold, dry and wet with some resilience and vigor.
Note the word some here – you don’t want too much vigor. You want to avoid potentially invasive or fast-spreading plants that outgrow their welcome. Tough plants that I’d avoid for their aggressive proliferation include ivy, vinca, wisteria, Euphorbia characias (Mediterranean spurge which seeds around like crazy), non-sterile buddleia, and running bamboo.
Some alternatives are Euphorbia cultivars you’ll find in garden centers like ‘Ascot Rainbow’ or ‘Tasmania Tiger’ and sterile cultivars of buddleia which are less likely to self-sow, and clumping bamboo, while not a breeze to remove, spreads slowly and predictably.
I would never tell someone not to grow zone-pushing or finicky plants they love. There’s always a place for a well-tended plant, whether rose, banana, or hebe. Just know you may have to offer more TLC to keep it happy, and you may need to replace them someday. However, if you also include some of the plants mentioned above in your borders and pots, you’ll be planting some insurance for beauty that lasts.