Yesterday I placed my first 2016 garden order, this one from Bluestone Perennials, in time to use their winter coupons. You too can use them before January 20, 2016. (Note all photos below are links from the Bluestone website.)
Last summer my phlox were pretty, but scattered in my garden and need to be clumped together. This year I’m adding some favorites, Orange Perfection and Eva Cullom and a new variety, Baby Face.
Orange Perfection is a deep orange red with purple eye.
Orange Perfection Phlox from Bluestone Perennials
Eva Cullom is a big rose pink with deep rose eye. I’ve tried it before but never had it live.
Phlox Eva Cullum From Bluestone Perennials
Baby Face is phlox arendsii, a cross of two phlox species, divaricata and paniculata, thus a little shorter and full of flowers. The color is incredible, a lovely rich candy pink.
Phlox Baby Face from Bluestone Perennials
Last year I bought Moonshine, a tall, yellow, flat headed achillea or yarrow that was a paler yellow than I wanted. This year I’m adding an old favorite, Coronation Gold. Both varieties have tall, straight stems that are strong and don’t flop unlike many of the red to pink shaded varieties and they bloom from mid-July on to frost.
Achillea Coronation Gold from Bluestone Perennials
I have to rearrange my beds to put Coronation Gold close by Moonshine and with the other gold to yellow flowers that bloom the last half of summer. The other plant I couldn’t resist was Gaillardia Arizona Sun, a bit taller than Goblin with stems long enough to pick but hopefully not too floppy.
Gaillardia Arizona Sun from Bluestone Perennials
My garden includes several flowers that bloom in the fall, mums, blue eupatorium, and aster Frikarti and these look great together but needed a bit more to anchor them. Aster Purple Dome only gets about 18 inches tall per the Bluestone website so it won’t need staking and should look good with my other fall flowers.
Aster Purple Dome from Bluestone Perennials
The other aster we ordered was Crimson Brocade, a taller variety with reddish flowers. I love wild asters – they remind me of bike hikes when I was a kid – and they do well growing by the roads around here. Our garden may be a little too sunny, we’ll see. (The roadside plants are on the east side near trees and get 4-6 hours intense sun and dappled shade the rest of the day.)
Aster Crimson Brocade from Bluestone Perennials
My summer flowers are mostly gold to apricot to pink with delphiniums adding blue. Anchusa Dropmore is intense blue – sadly didn’t live long in the garden at our old house – and should harmonize with the delphiniums.
Anchusa Dropmore from Bluestone Perennials
I don’t have a lot of experience with Bluestone Perennials, having ordered just once before. The plants came in good condition, well potted, and all but one thrived. It’s less risky to buy plants in person but if you want certain varieties you will need to shop mail order.
If you try Bluestone yourself, use these coupons by January 20 to save a bit, just add to your order as if they were another flower. Coupon#1600 saves $2 on deer resistant variety; #1603 saves $1.50 on fragrant variety, #1607 saves $2 on a new variety and #1604 sends you a free plant on orders over $75.
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