Show #18/2005. New Plant Ideas

Choosing Plants For A Rain Garden

For the plants, THEY HAVE USED NATIVES AND SOME NOT-SO-NATIVES. One area has natives, because that's the rage right now. But they wanted to show people different varieties of plants that could be used. In particular, the Echinacea purpurea Pixy Meadow Bright Coneflower is a beautiful plant. The Silphium perfoliatum Cup Plant is a 6 foot towering plant with lots of flowers, interestingly the inside of the leaves hold water like a cup. They also have plants like the Baptisia 'Purple smoke' which is an outstanding garden plant. It blooms in April and May and is one of the most drought tolerant plants in this garden. Some non-natives are used, plants like Leucanthemum x superbum Shasta Daisy which is an excellent variety. Pervoskia atriplicifolia Russian Sage is another. Not all the areas in the rain garden will be wet. So for the higher areas/sides choosing a plant like Russian Sage or Day Lilies is perfectly acceptable. Steve is certainly using native plants but at the same time choosing plants that are "the right plant for the right place." That is a smart move. The key is - as long as it's not overly aggressive and not invasive, it's fair game.