Low-maintenance, bee-friendly beauty gets annual perennial honor
Although the 2019 Perennial Plant of the Year won’t pull your weeds or sharpen your pruners, it can do just about everything else that a gardener might want.
Part of the stachys family, Hummelo, which was chosen by the Perennial Plant Association for the annual honor, is deer-resistant, survives winters as cold as zone 4 (central Ohio lies in zone 6), and requires little maintenance.
And the flowers!
In early summer, dozens of wands of pinkish-purple blossoms can appear on a single mature plant.
Hummelo looks stunning when planted in a large group or eye-catching as a single specimen. The tough flower stems shine in cut arrangements and can stand up to the thunderstorms of June and July.
Bees and other pollinators also adore them.
Early summer is a hectic time of year in the garden, but it’s worth finding a few minutes to sit quietly next to a Hummelo in full bloom and watch — and listen to — the comings and goings of busy, buzzing pollinators.
In fact, the German grower who selected this variety in the late 1990s based the name on the German word for bumblebee, “hummel,” according to the Perennial Plant Association.
The leaves of Hummelo form a low mound ideal for the front of a perennial border or along a walk. The flower spikes can reach 2 feet tall.
As companion plants, the association suggests summer standbys such as ornamental grasses, coneflowers and butterfly weed.
The association, based in North Carolina, considers perennials that “are suitable for a wide range of growing climates, require low maintenance, have multipleseason interest, and are relatively pest/diseasefree,” its website says.
Hummelo more than qualifies, as all it needs are lots of sun and welldrained soil. It looks attractive even in winter, when the dried flower Planted in a group, Hummelo makes an eye-catching statement in early summer. Millenium allium is a past Perennial Plant of the Year that also attracts pollinators. spikes peek up through snow.
Several years ago, I found a couple plants on clearance in midsummer in a grocery-store parking lot. Who knows what indignities they had suffered before I brought them home and planted them? Butterfly weed is another past Perennial Plant of the Year that lures bees and other pollinators.
I pretty much ignore them, never fertilizing or watering. Some years, though, I do get around to mulching them — gosh, hope I’m not spoiling them.
And although deer, insects and fungal diseases wreak havoc on neighboring plants, Hummelo thrives and Past winners for pollinators happily covers itself with delightful purple flowers every June. Aglaonema Spring Snow, Chinese evergreen
Light: Shade to partial shade
Height: 18 to 28 inches Spread: 30 to 36 inches USDA Hardiness Zones: 10 to 12
Origin: species, Philippines; cultivar, Homestead, Florida
A lovely tropical plant that thrives in low-light conditions within a home or office is the Spring Snow Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema Spring Snow). This leafy plant is mounding in habit, with waxy, ovate, 8- to 10-inch-long dark-green leaves.
Each leaf has a different marking pattern, which resembles a thick dusting of white speckles. The midrib is white and the leaf margin is thin and dark green. The white leaf coloring helps brighten a dark corner.
The flowers are discreet, with a creamy white spadix and a green spathe, not putting on much of show.
This plant takes a small bit of care: Soil should be left to dry before watering again, and the occasional dead leaf will need to be removed every now and then. During the winter, it is important to keep this plant away from drafts and cold temperatures.
See the bright beauty of Aglaonema Spring Snow in the Dorothy M. Davis Showhouse as part of Conservatory Aglow at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.