Perennial favourites

Calgary Horticultural Society board members describe their favorite plants:

Hepatica nobilis, or Liverwort. Its vivid blue flowers are one of the first harbingers of spring in my yard, and it has amazing patterned foliage the rest of the year.

- Scott Gedak, president Autumn Joy Sedum (Sedum spectabile). This plant is drought-tolerant, rabbit-resistant and has a presence in my garden throughout the year, reaching full maturity in the fall with showy dark pink rounded heads on sturdy stems.

- Gerda Harrity, board member The peony, for completely nostalgic reasons. My Baba used to grow them on our family farm in Saskatchewan. As a small child, they were the one flower in her garden that I was allowed to pick. I made huge bouquets of them and placed them around the house in quart sealer vases. No one seemed to mind when the ants (from the plants) would take over the house for a couple of days because the fragrance was so lovely. My Baba passed away a number of years ago, but every time the peonies are in bloom, I feel and see her presence in their fat, pink blossoms.

- Kenna Burima, vice-president The hosta is my favourite plant. It’s all about the leaves, with the colour variation from light green through to blue.

- Bonita Luciow, treasurer Bee balm and pasque flower. Bee balm because of the colour. A native Prairie plant, it is fragrant, attracts bees and butterflies, and can be part of a cutting garden. Pasque flower, because of the colour, and the fact it is a native Prairie plant, and Calgary’s official flower.

- Sharon Trottier, board member Clematis occidentalis, a native clematis that blooms early and seems to flower for much of the summer. - Merlin Brinkerhoff, board member Clematis. Why do I love them? The size and intense colours of the flowers, and the variety of colours. I have them growing in the sun, but also climbing up a tree in the shade.

- Denyce Lundeen, board member