Few gardeners are immune to the cute factor of miniature plants. But looking from a distance, they lack the presence to really catch your eye. A garden filled with plants that reached no more than two feet tall would be boring. And every garden deserves vertical presence.

Foxtail Lilies

I got my first taste of the towering type with the foxtail lilies. They were absolute stunners the first year, reaching to the sky like golden rockets from a planting area already three feet off the ground. And Eremurus provides instant vertical gratification—provided they’re in the right spot.

Although they require little care once they’re ensconced in the perfect place, species in this bulbous genus are poster children for the rule “location, location, location.”

The second year they provided a show that was less populated; the third year, they didn’t bloom at all. I dug them up and moved them to a spot I didn’t think they’d like because it was less sunny. They’ve been dazzling ever since. What I learned about Eremurus is they don’t like to have their roots disrupted. The bed I had them originally planted in was like a Chicago highway—constantly under construction—throughout the growing season. The original bed happened to be my test area where I planted and removed annuals, perennials and bulbs.

According to Kathie Hayden (Manager of Plant Information Service at Chicago Botanic Garden) Eremurus should be planted in September. Although they might bloom the following spring, it could take up to two years before they settle in. “You can plant Eremurus among all types of perennials,” she said. “However, you should keep them to the back of the border because of their tall heights.”

Tall Plants that Birds and Butterflies Will Love

I decided to try more tall plants, and thought if they also happened to attract hummingbirds, that was even better. I tried many, but the most outstanding Salvia has been a variety called ‘Amistad’. By luck or design, I’d planted one near the sunroom window so I could sit back and watch the show. This hybrid, discovered in Argentina in 2005, grows to just over five feet tall and nearly as wide, but its deep blue flowers are larger than any other I’ve seen in this category.

Mary Samios-Russell has owned Contrary Mary’s Plants in Minooka, IL for 16 years. For big and bold, she likes perennial Hibiscus. “Pinch when they get to be about a foot or so high to make them bushier so they don’t flop,” she said. “They come in many awesome varieties that even have red foliage like ‘Starry Starry Night’, ‘Mocha Moon’, ‘Midnight Marvel’ and ‘Mars Madness’.”

Earlier in the summer – usually from mid-May to mid-June, there are Baptisias, or false indigo. Samios-Russell likes the newer cultivars like ‘Brownie Points’, ‘Blue Towers’, ‘Indigo Spires’ and ‘Grape Taffy’, all of which add a whole new color palette to traditional blue Baptisias.

Tall native plants that will attract hordes of butterflies include Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium), green headed coneflower (Rudbeckia lacianata), and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), which doesn’t mind a heavy clay soil and is a must for the larval stage of monarchs as well as adult butterflies.

Easy From Seed or Overwintered Indoors

Barbara Weirich, founder and designer of Lake Cliff Gardens in Benton Harbor, MI, uses lots of substantial plants, either started from seed or overwintered indoors. “Every year we grow at least 100 Hibiscus ‘Mahogany Splendor’—easy from seed and can be maintained at about any height,” she said. “When it attains 4 feet in height it must be staked.”

Weirich stores Cannas, Dahlias, bananas and Phormium, or New Zealand flax indoors for the following year. “One of the easiest plants to overwinter is Phormium. I am absolutely in love with them,” says Weirich.

Christa Steenwyk, Creative Director at Walters Gardens in Zeeland, MI listed six of the wholesale perennial grower’s best.

1. Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’: a late-summer bloomer, this three to four feet tall perennial has white flowers with yellow centers.
2. Aruncus dioicus: big and fluffy are two terms that can describe this goat’s beard. It reaches nearly five feet tall once established in a partly sunny location.
3. Actaea (Cimicifuga) ‘Hillside Black Beauty’: Bugbane isn’t the prettiest name for this five – eight-footer, which looks good even before it blooms, with lacy, dark foliage topped in late summer/early-fall with white, fragrant flowers.
4. Andropogon ‘Indian Warrior’: This stately grass reaches five feet and turns deep purple in the fall.
5. Panicum ‘Apache Rose’: This four foot tall switchgrass was hybridized for its sturdy comportment and delicate, rose-colored flower panicles.
6. Hibiscus ‘Berry Awesome’: Hardy to Zone 4, and with lavender-pink flowers 7”-8” wide, this four-footer will stop your neighbors in their tracks when it blooms in mid- to late summer.