Love in blooms

Horticulture experts share their picks of favorite plants

By Jennifer Miller, Special to the Rocky

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Photos by Ellen Jaskol / Rocky Mountain News

Sabine Baur sits among daylilies at Mountain View Gardens, a display garden of the Mile High Daylily Society.

Peggy Williams holds her favorite rose, the Rose de Rescht.

Detail of Sunset Hyssop

Panayoti Kelaidis and his favorite flower, the Sunset Hyssop.

Susan Stauber and her favorite plant - a Dragon Wing Begonia.

The "Shores of Time" Daylily is Sabine Baur's favorite flower.

Clematis "Venosa Violacea" is Merle M. Moore's favorite.

Merle M. Moore

KimberlyCarney / Special ToThe Rocky

The "Red Charm," peony is Harriet McMillan's favorite.

Harriet McMillan, horticulture specialist at Echter's Garden Center in Arvada.

When experts reveal favorite plants, gardeners listen.

But playing favorites isn't easy; some say it's like choosing a favorite child. Loving plants as they do, they have many cherished treasures.

That said, we've asked six Denver- area experts in horticulture to share a plant that gives an Oscar-worthy performance, then tell us why it's one of the very best they've planted.

It may not be their only favorite, but it holds their affection long after something new has sprung up in its place.

"Shores of Time" Daylily selected by Sabine Baur, daylily hybridizer, owner of Mountain View Gardens and president of Mile High Daylily Society from 1994 to '96.

While she has a daylily named after her - "Sabine Baur" daylily - Baur says the one that brings her to her knees is "Shores of Time," a fragrant rose-pink rebloomer edged in gold. "Shores of Time" has big petals (each about 31/2 inches wide on a 51/2 inch flower) with large heavy ruffles. It opens easily and early, and has great branching and bud count (35-40 buds on each flower stalk).

At about $50, it's not cheap, but as with other daylilies, it multiples easily if divided. Baur grows "Shores of Time" among 2,800 other daylily varieties at her 1-acre display and hybridizing garden, all of which look lovely with verbena bonariensis, Queen Anne's Lace, dill and bronze fennel.

"Rose de Rescht" Rose, selected by Peggy Williams, consulting rosarian for the Denver Rose Society and chairwoman of the society's 2008 Spring National Convention and Rose Show, which will be held June 26-30 in Denver.

Peggy Williams can't say enough about the deep fuschia-red "Rose de Rescht," an antique rose thought to date back to the Persians. The plant is an award- winner and its attributes are many. Though it doesn't bloom constantly like a hybrid tea, it does repeat its blooms after short periods of rest. The blooms are smaller than those of many roses, up to 3 inches across, but have a lovely pom-pom form similar to a camellia and an exceptional scent. Each is born in clusters and fades to magenta pink. "The stems are short so the blossoms are set closely against the dense, medium green foliage, framing each rose perfectly," Williams said.

The rose has a tidy, domed form and grows to about 4 feet tall, making it a great choice for cozy gardens and containers. On top of that, it's fuss-free. No chemical sprays are required and it will tolerate poorer soils better than many roses, as well as some shade.

Agastache "Sunset Hyssop," selected by Panayoti Kelaidis, internationally known plant explorer and director of outreach at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Kelaidis recalls how daring it was to name "Sunset Hyssop" the 1997 cover plant for Plant Select, a program administered by the Denver Botanic Gardens and Colorado State University to educate gardeners on the best semiarid plants. It was an unknown, collected only years earlier from the wild, yet the allure was undeniable: 3-foot-tall stalks of flowers that blend amber orange, champagne pink and bluish- purple all in one bloom.

Gardeners immediately took to its graceful wild form and dome of color, and nursery people were ecstatic to find that it bloomed the first year from seed and nonstop through late summer. It became an overnight sensation, he said. When pinched, the plant's willowy leaves release a smell hinting of root beer and peppermint.

Also known as Agastache rupestris, "Sunset Hyssop" only asks for sun and well-drained soil.

"It's an example that there are still glorious things out there that we don't know about," Kelaidis said.

Dragon Wing Begonia, selected by Susan Stauber, retail ready program manager on the wholesale side of Tagawa Greenhouse Enterprises in Brighton and former educator at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

It's been called "begonia on steroids" and "the amazing blazing begonia," and from the looks of Susan Stauber's hanging baskets, the nicknames are well-deserved.

"When people stop to ask you what that plant is in your hanging basket, you know it's a good plant," Stauber said. Also great in beds, Dragon Wing charms with its beautiful arching branches and nonstop flowers.

After its debut in spring, the begonia, which grows up to 15 inches tall and wide, keeps blooming to the first light frost, she said. The reason, according to breeders, is that the plant is sterile; unable to develop seeds, it keeps flowering in a fruitless attempt to multiply. (Luckily for gardeners, cuttings are easy to root.) A cross between angel wing and wax begonias, Dragon Wing produces pendulous blooms in coral-red or cotton-candy pink in filtered or full shade.

The flowers, which contrast nicely against the plant's dark green leaves, shed after they're spent, keeping the plant tidy.

"Venosa Violacea" Clematis, selected by Merle M. Moore, former director of horticulture and grounds maintenance at the Denver Zoo 1990-2005, and former director and assistant director at the Denver Botanic Gardens 1978-1989.

Though Merle Moore easily could name 50 different cultivars of clematis viticella that are lovely, he can't resist the two-toned heirloom "Venosa Violacea," which in Italian means "violet veins." You may have seen this purple clematis with a starlike white center growing up cables on the Denver Zoo parking garage.

"It's a very showy flower and the white in the petals gives it more of a sparkle in the late dusk," Moore said. The flowers are larger than most other viticella (also known as Italian clematis or Italian leather- flowers), reaching up to 4 inches across July through August, and the vine climbs 10-12 feet.

Moore said "Venosa Violacea," which prefers sunny areas, is a good alternative to large-flowered clematis, which can be difficult to grow. Hybridized in France in 1884, it is undemanding and very disease- resistant. "It blooms almost all summer long and in the spring you just cut it back and it blooms all over again," Moore added.

Peony "Red Charm," selected by Harriet McMillan, horticulture specialist at Echter's Garden Center in Arvada, past president of Garden Centers of Colorado and former horticulture information specialist for the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Huge, brilliant, scarlet red, the blooms of McMillan's peony are even more stunning now than when she planted the herbaceous plant a decade ago. Set tall on stiff stems, the softball-size flowers have a row of flat outer petals that encircle a dome of densely packed petals, creating a pom-pom shape known as the "bomb."

It's gotten rave reviews since it was introduced in 1944, McMillan says. "Red Charm" won the American Peony Society's Gold Medal in 1956 and set the standard for all red peonies; its color is so close to true red, while its crepe-paper-like petals add drama.

"Red Charm" blooms in early May on a 3-foot-tall bush of lance-shaped leaves. Like other peonies, it can live decades without being divided.