Peonies: Queens of the Garden
With inspiring flowers, rich colors and captivating fragrances, peonies have long been a springtime staple in perennial gardens and landscape designs. But these ‘Queens of the Garden’ aren’t just pretty faces. Once established, peonies are hardy, long-lived and surprisingly low maintenance. Peonies belong to the plant genus Paeonia and are members of the Paeoniaceae family.…
Hardy Varieties Lend Color & Style
Whether flowering perennials or shrubs, hardy varieties lend color, fragrance and style to landscapes and gardens – especially following a long, cold winter. We’re kicking off the growing season by highlighting a few of our favorite repeat bloomers at Loma Vista Nursery. National Beauty Azalea (Rhododendron x ‘National Beauty’) National Beauty Azalea Attracts: Butterflies, hummingbirds…
Foliage Favorites Illuminate Shade
Shady spots need not be ho-hum when there’s heuchera to brighten the space. With tall spikes of tiny coral bells and distinctive mounded foliage, heuchera illuminates low-light areas with splashes of vibrant color and unique texture. With an average height of 6 inches to 1½ feet and spread of 1- to 2½ feet, heuchera produce…
Look What We Have Growing On
A fresh growing season always begs the question, “so what’s new?” Every year, breeders launch hundreds of new plants, including in the perennial and shrub categories that we grow. While some, but not all, of the following plants may have seen a season or two already, all of these are new for the growing season…
Hardy Plants Make Their Seasonal Comeback
Hardy plants are “tough” choices for landscape designs because they stand up to a variety of environmental stresses and bounce back year after year with reliable color and form. From extreme temperatures and poor soils to drought, flooding, high winds and tricky light conditions, hardy plants are garden workhorses. Their ability to withstand environmental anxieties…
Upright Junipers and Columnar Arborvitae
Upright evergreen trees are prized in the landscape for their reliability and stand-up coolness. Taylor Juniper (Juniperus virginiana ‘Taylor’) Like squirrels stock up on nuts for winter sustenance, upright juniper and arborvitae store water and nutrients in their roots. This enables them to slow their growth when the ground is frozen but not go dormant.…
Supporting Thriving Populations
It is beginning. Populations of monarch butterflies, traveling from as far north as southern Canada, are beginning their 3,000-mile-plus winged journey southward to roost in the fir forests of central Mexico. They’ll stay there through our Midwest winter until spring, when they begin their flight back to us. And, hopefully, they will do so in…