This is a really sturdy, long-flowering and versatile Bellflower. It shines in a rock garden setting and will cascade over a low wall or from a window box or tub. We love it used as an edging along a walkway, because the flower stems are featured so well when spilling out over the pavement. Early summer is when the plants first erupt into bloom, with long sprays of starry violet-blue bells. Remove the spent stems at their base and chances are good you’ll enjoy more flowers later in the season, particularly in regions where summer nights are cool.

This selection was bred by Blooms of Bressingham in England and selected in 1996. They soon afterwards launched the plant here in North America and it has performed exceptionally well in most regions. Choose a site in full to half day direct sun for best blooming. One really great use is as a massed groundcover planting around shrub roses, since the flowering times in early summer coincide perfectly, and the mauve tones of the Bellflower are a nice compliment to many different shades of roses. This truly is one of the best dwarf types of Bellflower for general garden use.

Evergreen where hardy, this ruggedly tough grass-like plant looks especially good when mass planted as a groundcover, even putting up with the dry conditions under evergreen trees once the plants are established. The foliage is leathery, green with a wide central stripe of creamy yellow and handsome year round. The mopheaded form of the plant lends this very well to edging a woodland walkway or using as a foliage accent around the edge of a mixed container or tub. Flowers are insignificant.

This is a shade-loving Sedge, asking only for protection from hot afternoon sun and a moist but reasonably well-drained soil. Although hardier than first expected, in regions with truly cold winters (zones 6 and lower) the leaves may get some windburn during the winter. Simply trim off any burned tips with scissors in mid spring. Where not hardy, this is a plant that will easily winter indoors in a bright window, and it makes a nice specimen in a small container all by itself. Growth is moderate, strongly clumping or mounding with no tendency whatsoever to spread and become a problem.

Though everybody knows and loves the tall, old-fashioned Bleedingheart (Dicentra spectabilis), its brief flowering period and tendency to go dormant in summer make it somewhat tricky to place in the garden. Fern-leaf Bleedinghearts as a rule bloom for much longer and maintain their leaves all season. Of all the selections we have tried over the years, ‘King of Hearts’ has stood out from the crowd with excellent vigour and flowers of a rich rose shade that almost approaches red. The foliage is low and mounding and glowing in a powdery shade of aqua blue. Blooms appear in early summer.

Morning sun is the best exposure to choose, with protection from hot afternoon sun. ‘King of Hearts’ blends in beautifully with Hostas of any size, colour or shape, and we love it growing next to the Japanese Painted Fern. At 8 to 10 inches, this is suitable for the edge of a border or growing in front of shrubs. Dry shade should be avoided, so choose a site with rich soil and even moisture. Deadheading faded flower stems will encourage continued flowering well into the summer, particularly where the nights are cool.

We’re not afraid to say that ‘Rozanne’ is an absolutely fabulous plant, and stellar performer. Gardeners from coast to coast have been telling us so. The introduction of ‘Rozanne’ just a few years ago truly raised the bar for Cranesbill Geraniums because it just keeps flowering non-stop from early summer through late fall. The habit is low and bushy, with none of that collapsing stuff that happens with so many of the older selections.

’Rozanne’ is also a multi-purpose perennial, mingling well with others in a border setting or shining when mass planted as a groundcover. It has the flower-power to shine in both container plantings and parking lot medians or similar commercial settings. This is almost the ‘Stella de Oro’ of Cranesbills and, come to think of it, the lovely violet-purple cup shaped blooms are a nice contrast to that most famous of Daylilies. Sun to half-day sun is the idea setting, and ‘Rozanne’ seems to perform well in a wide range of soil conditions. Hardiness in zones 2 and 3 is likely to be good, and we expect to lower the zoning in the near future with a bit more feedback. This is truly a no-fuss but high-performance plant!

If you’ve been gardening for awhile, no doubt you know that a whole legion of new Coral Bells selections was thrust upon the world over the past dozen years. Too many, in reality, and as growers we have had the task of weeding out the ones that are hair-splittingly different from others. This was not a difficult task when it came to considering ‘Obsidian’, because it stands out from the crowd as being truly the best of the dark black-purple leaved types. Large hand-sized are smooth and shiny as black as you could want. We even like the contrast from the beet-red flower stems and creamy little bell-shaped blooms in summer.

Coral Bells vary considerably in their sun tolerance, and this one has proven to be rather good at handling direct sun without fading. It’s almost a grow-anywhere plant, in fact, or anywhere you want the touch of broodingly dark foliage. Black leaves can get easily lost in a garden actually, so try to combine this with a bright companion with contrasting leaves, perhaps a gold Hosta or anything with variegated tones. In fact, just looking at potential companions from this year’s Top 10 list, it’s clear that black goes with pretty much anything!

’Patriot’ was discovered at a nursery in Virginia and introduced in the early 1990s. It now tops the list as the most popular white-margined Hosta selection, surpassing earlier selections such as ‘Francee’. This is a medium-sized selection that is suitable as a specimen or for massed plantings of any size. The base colour is a dark forest green, the wide and streaky edges begin creamy-yellow and fade to a crispy clean white during the summer. Plants are topped by a display of soft-mauve blooms in high summer.

What ‘Patriot’ brings to the shade garden is a touch of class, and that’s why we love it. Every garden needs a plant that just hums along and looks good the whole season with minimal attention. The leaves are described as having “better than average” substance, which means that slugs or snails may be a problem in a wet year but generally not like with the older thin-leaved types.

We just could not imagine having a “best of” Top 10 list without including a daisy, one of the most eternally popular shapes of flowers. ‘Snowcap’ is a good, compact selection, and because of this trait the plants are sturdy and weatherproof, so no need to be out there staking at just the right moment. Unlike seed-grown Shastas, this vegetative clone is even in habit and plants should all perform the same. ‘Snowcap’ was originally bred in England by Blooms of Bressingham.

All Shasta Daisies perform best with a sunny exposure. The classic yellow-eyed white daisies begin to open in early summer and with regular deadheading may continue for many weeks. At 12 inches in height this works well near the border edge but also consider trying it in mixed containers and tubs. White daisies are an ideal companion for a whole host of summer flowering perennials, but we particularly like this combined with the magenta spikes of Liatris spicata and bright yellow umbels of Achillea ‘Moonshine’.

Peonies are another eternally popular perennial that we can’t imagine not including on a “best of the best” list. What makes ‘Bowl of Beauty’ stand out is the interesting and unusual shape, so different from the big old double “bomb” type peonies that always flop over in the first June rain storm. This is classified as a Japanese style of flower, with an outer row of rose-pink petals, and a ruff of creamy-yellow in the centre that almost looks like a carnation. The lighter weight of these blooms makes the plants less prone to flopping.

All peonies are, of course, delightful for cutting and enjoying indoors. ‘Bowl of Beauty’ is listed as a fragrant selection, and fragrance of lack of it varies enormously with peonies when comparing varieties. The tall (36”) and bushy habit makes this suitable for sunny borders, growing as a specimen or among shrubs.

’Goldsturm’ was selected and introduced in Germany in the 1930s by famed nurseryman Karl Foerster. In honour of him, we enjoy seeing this coneflower growing with Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ and Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), since all three are a total knockout from mid summer onward. Another classic easily added to this planting is Autumn Joy Stonecrop. If you just need something different for a change, use one of the fall-flowering Monkshoods (Aconitum) instead.

Perennial Sages are one of the few plants that readily tolerate practically any soil conditions from moist to dry. There are dozens of them around, many of them varying only a little in tone from the others. That’s where ‘Caradonna’ is distinctive. The dark violet-blue flowers are held on jet-black stems that really stand out against a backdrop. This is also a taller selection (20 to 30 inches) allowing you to pull some of that rich colour back into the middle of the border.

Perennials Sages all prefer a sunny location. Deadheading is highly recommended, and to do this simply cut below the spent flower spikes or as much as halfway down the stems and new sideshoots should emerge in a few weeks to provide some mid to late summer colour. They pair really well with Shasta Daisies and Daylilies of all shades. ‘Caradonna’ is proud to bear the award of “Outstanding New Perennial” given in 2000 by the International Hardy Plant Union.