Overview and growing conditions

Tara Dropseed is a native, warm-season ornamental grass. It’s a dwarf version, being smaller and more upright than the everyday Prairie Dropseed. Tara Dropseed does best in full sun and requires very little water.

When is Tara Dropseed’s season of interest?

Tara Dropseed is a tidy looking ornamental grass all summer and fall, but it’s most dazzling season is the late summer and early fall. It develops seed heads that are a bronze color, and these last throughout the fall.

How easy is it to care for Tara Dropseed?

Overall score = 10 (extremely easy). Tara Dropseed requires almost nothing from a gardener. If planted in fall sun and dry soil, it will look great all season long. It will die back in the winter and regrow in the spring. I have found that I don’t even need to cut it back as it will die back all on its own after a frost or two. For a neater garden, you may want to cut yours back in the fall or in the spring if it lasts that long.

Many ornamental grasses need to be divided every few years as they die back in the middle, but Tara Dropseed doesn’t behave this way. So far after several years I still haven’t seen any die back in the center, but I will report back if it ever reaches that point.

One note is that it is slow-growing, so if you want to fill in an area you may need several planted close together. Or you could grow annuals or other plants in between until the dropseed fills in.

Problems with Tara Dropseed

None.

Overview and growing conditions

Veitch’s Blue Thistle is a flowering perennial. It does best full sun and thrives in dry conditions.

When does Veitch’s Blue Thistle flower?

Veitch’s Blue Thistle flowers in mid summer. It’s flowers last for about 3 weeks. At that point the color will begin to fade and the flower ball will turn a grayish color. If you rub off the faded flowers from the ball, it will actually look a little brighter and neater for a few more weeks.

How easy is it to care for Veitch’s Blue Thistle?

Overall score: 10 (extremely easy). I have Veitch’s Blue planted in full sun, and I’ve previously had it planted in part shade. It was fine in either place. I don’t provide any extra water (beyond what it gets from rain), and it never wilts or has any issues with that. It’s somewhat slow growing in my own garden, but the benefit of this is that it doesn’t require frequent pruning or dividing.

Last year I had it planted in an area where verbena had self seeded and great a ton of new verbena plants. My Veitch’s Blue thistle was completely crowded; at one point I couldn’t even tell where the thistle was because the area was totally taken over by verbena. I worried the thistle would die back because of this, but when I cleared out the verbena, it was there growing just fine. It has proven to be indestructible in my own yard so far.

I have read that it doesn’t do well in overly wet soil or in areas of standing water. It hasn’t been exposed to too much water in my own garden so I can’t verify this, but seeing it do so well in very dry soil makes me assume that overly wet soil would be problematic for it.

Another note is that I purchased a Veitch’s Blue Thistle in root stock form years ago, planted it, and it never grew. I bought it later as a small plant and that successfully took off in my yard. It’s hard to say what the issue was with that initial purchase, but to be safe I’d recommend buying this in plant form.

Problems with Veitch’s Blue Thistle

None.

Overview and growing conditions

Apple Blossom Yarrow is a flowering perennial that is semi-evergreen in my zone 7 garden. It does best in full sun and dry soil. It does not do well with too much watering.

When does Apple Blossom Yarrow flower?

Apple Blossom Yarrow blooms in early summer. The best show of flowers lasts for about two weeks. After that the flowers will fade to lighter and lighter colors, eventually turning white and then brown. If they get cut down they’ll normally send up some more flowers, but they won’t be as impressive as the first round.

How easy is it to grow Apple Blossom Yarrow?

Overall score: 7 (easy). Apple Blossom Yarrow is fairly easy to grow, especially since it can handle full sun and drought. However, it’s not my best looking plant throughout the whole summer without a little extra help. It can get floppy, so I have to stay on top of cutting off blooms if they get too old or lanky. It also dies off in the center of the plant after about two years, so it does need to be divided frequently. I’ve appreciated this so far because I want more of this plant, but over time I imagine this will get annoying.

It also does not do well if it gets too much water. I had a few Apple Blossom Yarrow plants near the edge of my yard where they would get hit with my neighbor’s sprinklers every few mornings. They started looking wilted and brown, and I ended up needing to move them from that spot to one that was reliably drier.

Problems with Apple Blossom Yarrow

Powdery mildew is a possibility, but in the right growing conditions (full sun, not too much water, enough air flow between plants), this is unlikely to be much of an issue.

Overview and growing conditions

Millenium allium is a flowering perennial that is incredibly easy to grow. It does best in full sunlight and has proven to be able to handle limited water and drought in my own garden.

Does ‘Millenium’ allium flower? When does it flower?

Millenium develops purple flowers, in the shape of small globes, in the middle of summer. The flowers last for about a month.

How easy is it to care for ‘Millenium’ allium?

Overall score: 10 (extremely easy). Millenium allium is one of the easiest plants I currently have in my garden. When I first bought it at a local garden store, I immediately divided it into four smaller plants. It handled that division just fine, and each little division has now grown into a full-size plant in about two years.

I have all of my Millenium alliums planted near a large silver maple, so there is a lot of competition for nutrients and water. I don’t provide any water to the plants, so they only get watered when it rains.

Problems with ‘Millenium’ allium

None.

Overview and growing conditions

Mountain Mint is a native, flowering perennial. While anything named “mint” may sound like it’s going to be invasive, Mountain Mint is not. It will spread and fill in a space, so it needs to be given room, but it won’t take over an entire garden. It’s also fairly easy to pull up parts of the plant that have spread farther than you’d like.

It can handle full sun to part shade, and it does best in moist conditions. I have mine planted in a fairly dry area of the garden and don’t give it extra water, and it does okay. It’s not the fullest it probably could be with more water, but it doesn’t look too bad during most of the summer, even through periods of droughts. It’s a fairly tough plant.

Does it flower?

It does flower, but the flowers are so tiny that they’re barely noticeable. What is more noticeable are small silver leaves (technically called bracts) that develop in early summer. They look like silver flowers, and the plant keeps this look through most of the summer.

How easy is it to care for Mountain Mint?

Overall score: 9 (very easy). There is very little that needs to be done with Mountain Mint beyond cutting it back in the fall or spring. I always leave mine standing over the winter, and then cutting it back in the spring is very quick and easy.

To get it to grow the fastest you may need to provide a little water if it’s growing in a dry area, but this isn’t necessary.

Problems with Mountain Mint

None.

Mexican Feather Grass is an ornamental grass. It may behave like a perennial and die back each winter in colder climates. In my zone 7 garden it’s more like a semi-evergreen, retaining some color over the winter and keeping enough green or tan grass stalks to still provide interest all winter.

It does best in full sun in an area with good drainage. It can take some shade, can handle drought, and does not do well with excessive watering.

What’s its season of interest?

Mexican Feather Grass develops a feathery plume of seeds in the summer.

How easy is it to care for Mexican Feather Grass?

Overall score: 7 (easy). It’s not especially hard to grow Mexican Feather Grass since it actually does worse if you overly water or fertilize it. Give it dry, well-draining soil and it will do okay left on its own.

It can be challenging to get Mexican Feather Grass to really thrive though. It is not a long-lived grass and doesn’t respond well to being divided or moved. You will likely get smaller feather grass plants popping up in your garden from the seeds it sends out each year, but so far these haven’t been hard to manage in my own garden. In fact, these little seedlings have been needed to replace the older plants as they start dying out over the years.

Problems with Mexican Feather Grass

It can die if it gets too much water or is exposed to standing water.

Overview and growing conditions

Northern Sea Oats is a perennial ornamental grass that grows best in part sun and with a medium amount of water. I have found that they it can be fairly drought tolerant, but the leaves will roll up a bit and it won’t look quite as nice.

What is its season of interest?

Northern Sea Oats develop showy seed heads in the summer that turn tan in the later summer and into fall.

How easy is it to care for Northern Sea Oats?

Overall score: 8 (very easy). Northern Sea Oats aren’t very demanding beyond needing occasional watering if they’ve gone too long without rain.

Most of the work involved with growing Northern Sea Oats is in managing the seeds, which can result in many, many baby sea oats throughout your garden. They are very easy to pull up in their first growing season, but any that make it through to the second year will have developed roots that will likely need to be dug up.

Problems with Northern Sea Oats

None.

Overview and growing conditions

European wild ginger is a slow-growing, shade loving perennial. It is semi-evergreen, meaning that it may stay intact over the winter but may die back depending how cold it gets. It needs mostly shade and do best with moist soil.

Does it flower?

European wild ginger does get small flowers that stay close to the ground and aren’t very showy. It’s not normally grown for its flowers.

How easy is it to care for European Wild Ginger?

Overall score: 8 (very easy). If planted in shade, European wild ginger is a very easy plant to grow. In my zone 7 garden it started turning brown during the height of summer with just a little bit of sun that it got during the day. I moved it to a more deeply shaded area and increased the amount of water it gets, and it’s doing much better now. So I’ve reduced its score by 2 points since it’s a bit more exacting with its location requirements than other plants I’ve grown.

Problems with European Wild Ginger

None.

Overview and growing conditions

Bugleweed is a low-growing perennial that works as an effective groundcover in a variety of conditions. It is semi-evergreen, meaning that it will stay green and fairly nice looking depending on how cold your winter gets. It can handle shade to mostly full sun and is drought tolerant once established.

When does it flower? How long does it flower?

Bugleweed sends up purple flowers in mid-spring that last for about 3 weeks.

How easy is it to care for Bugleweed?

Overall score: 9 (very easy). Bugleweed can be grown in shade, but it also handles full sun in my own yard just fine. I never water it, and it does occasionally have to deal with standing water after a heavy rain. It just continues growing and looking pretty good year round.

I did take a point off because it can be aggressive. It fills in an area quickly, which is nice, but it may need to be thinned out over time. I also have to pull it up around the edges of its home in my garden once or twice a year. Otherwise, it would take over the neighboring plants.

Problems with Bugleweed

None.