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.