317Grow Blog
Read . Grow . Thrive
Ferns don’t typically make me think of Christmas, but this semi-evergreen fern keeps going strong into December. Its foliage remains green into mid to late winter. It is not the most delicate and dainty fern, but its tough, large leaflets are a good addition to shade gardens when evergreen massing is called for.
For most of the year, it can be easy to overlook shade trees as exciting plants. But once fall arrives, we can't look away from the colors. Sweetgum trees are some of the most stunning you'll find. With pale yellow, rich gold, vibrant orange, scarlet, and deep maroon - sometimes all at once on the same tree - they deserve at least as much attention as everyone's favorite maple.
Welcome to September! Schools are back in session, football is getting started, and a certain coffee chain will soon start selling a certain squash-themed coffee-based beverage. One of my favorite early signs of the approach of fall is the way perennial grasses start to gradually shift to their rich winter browns and golds. Switchgrass is a sturdy, stately perennial grass that looks its best in the late summer. It's low-maintenance, which is always a plus, and it's native to Indiana, which gets any plant extra points in my book.
Here at the office, we like to joke that it's not a 317Grow garden unless it has liriope! We certainly do use this grassy plant a lot, and with good reason. With clean, tidy foliage and a pleasant surprise of purple flowers in late summer, it thrives in many conditions and matures to be a dense, low-maintenance groundcover suitable for a wide variety of soil conditions.
After enjoying all the fireworks on the 4th of July, we'd like to share one of nature's fireworks: bee balm. Bee balm (sometimes called bergamot or its scientific name, Mondarda) is one of our favorite perennials. It has a long bloom season and unique flowers, and pollinators love it, which makes it a perfect pick in advance of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful's second annual pollinator count.
With our company under the ownership of two Ohio State grads, it was only a matter of time before I ended up featuring a plant from the buckeye family. While I'm a Purdue grad myself, I have to admit that this is one amazing shrub. If you're looking for something that can take a little shade, fill space pretty quickly, screen unsightly views, and show some nice flowers, bottlebrush buckeye is one of your best options.
May's plant of the month is one of my favorites: columbine. Columbine thrives on woodland edges between full sun and part shade. The delicate, intriguing flowers nod gently on slender stalks from mid to late spring. The foliage is light and airy, and helps create a calm atmosphere even after the flowers are gone. Later in the season, the seedpods ripen and produce a gentle rattling sound when the wind blows.
April's plant of the month is dwarf fothergilla, one of my all-time favorite shrubs. Its fragrant puff-ball flowers emerge in April before the leaves unfold, and the blossoms remain until May. I could have chosen dwarf fothergilla for many different months. The leaves have a unique scalloped shape and retain a lovely green with a pale underside through the summer. In the fall, the shrub practically bursts into flame with a range of yellows, oranges, and reds that changes with sun exposure.
This month's featured plant is one of my favorite perennials. Epimedium is a adaptable, four season, shade loving, drought tolerant spreading perennial that makes a great bed edge or groundcover. Did I mention that it has almost no pest and disease problems, and that deer and rabbits leave it alone? And it has unique spring flowers. It deserves a spot in any landscape with shade, and it's truly a shame it isn't more widely known in Indiana.
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