perennial of the week
A classic late summer staple of the Asteraceae family, perennial Black-Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida (rud-BEK-ee-uh FUL-jih-duh) is an iconic late summer bloomer. Blooming from mid-July through mid-fall...
Trees and shrubs offer a variety of textures and shapes that anchor your garden, frame your design, or even serve as the focal point of your space. Unlike herbaceous perennials, deciduous trees...
Native perennial shrubs are an excellent way to add carefree structure and beauty to help anchor and frame a perennial garden. Shrubs also provide showstopping color and serve as the focal point of your space. ...
A longstanding and familiar favorite, Hosta (HOSS-tuh), plantain lily or funkia, of the family Asaparagaceae and are native to China, Japan, Korea, and Russia. With over 6,000 named varieties in cultivation, Hosta are excellent low-maintenance, reliable growers, thriving in partial to full-shade gardens..
Perennial grasses provide a wonderful array of textures and colors that when planted in mass provide and excellent backdrop in the garden either to showcase specimen plants or provide a place for your eyes to rest. Grasses can also stand alone as focal point...
One of the most challenging pursuits of perennial garden is ensuring that there is always something of interest in the garden throughout the year. Despite our brutal Minnesota winters with frigid temperatures and feet of snow, interest is still possible...
As the intense heat of summer continues, mid and late summer bloomers are flourishing, offering a whole new assortment of bright colors and intoxicating aromas in the garden. Among them, Monarda didyma, (Mo-NARR-duh DID-ee-muh) commonly known as Bee Balm, of the mint family, Lamiaceae, is an animal resistant choice that provides not only bright, beautiful color..
Warm temperatures, bustling pollinators, and emerging summer blooms signal that the hot months of summer are here and with them, an expansive new array of summer color in the garden...
With their showstopping blooms and timeless shape, hydrangeas are an garden staple. Native to China, Korea, and Japan, hydrangea (hy-DRAIN-juh) are commonly available as cultivars of three species...
When planning your garden, it is important to not only keep bloom times in mind, but also know and implore the value of foliage interest in the garden. Ligularia (lig-you-l-AIR-ee-ah), commonly known as leopard plant or ragwort is a member of the Aster family...
There’s nothing quite like the commanding presence of summer perennial blooms, especially the familiar, striking blooms of the coneflower, or Echinacea (eck-in-A-sha), an important perennial native to North America...
There are endless possibilities with herbaceous perennials in the garden, but don’t forget the important role shrubs play in livening up any cultivated space. Shrubs are an excellent way to draw attention to certain areas, create a backdrop for plantings, help anchor your garden design, or even steal the show. Weigela are great choice for any garden, providing color, texture, abundant flowers, and a range of size options...
Perennial gardening in the heat of summer is a breeze for the brightest of prairie gardens and the driest of rock gardens, the hot summer sun providing an ideal environment for some of the best and brightest perennial flowers nature has to offer. As many gardeners know all too well, especially here in the woods of Minnetonka, it can be challenging to keep shadier gardens looking bright and colorful, but it is far from impossible...
There is a style of gardening for everyone, from vegetable gardening to pollinator gardening, some prioritizing delicious fruits and veggies and others aiming to display as many lovely flowers as possible…but why choose?
Spring is in the air, with perennial gardens beginning to burst with color. One of our favorite garden staples is the Iris (eye-riss). Irises, with their striking and unusual flattened, sword-like fan of leaves, are in the family Iridaceae, an incredibly diverse family offering a wide variety of appearances for any garden site. Irises can grow either from bulbs or from rhizomes (rye-zomes), however all varieties offered at Tonkadale are rhizomatous...
As Spring continues to rouse slumbering perennials from their winter dormancy, breathing new signs of life into dormant garden beds and giving way to exciting shades of green, one of our favorite spring bloomers to watch for is the peony (pee-uh-nee). There are many species of cultivated peony, all of which are in the family Paeoniaceae.....
When you are looking for a sweet and delicate plants for your spring perennial garden, we recommend the Lamprocapnos spectabilis, formerly named Dicentra spectabilis. More commonly called Bleeding-Heart, this plant is a member of the Papaveraceae family - the Poppy family...