Solution Gardening 2: More Plants to Solve Yard Problems

June 8th, 2021

   Dr. Allan Armitage’s plant-buying theory is that most people don’t show up at the garden center looking for certain plants.

Arborvitae are the classic choice for solving privacy issues, but it’s far from the only option.

   They’re there looking to carry out a gardening project or to solve a yard problem.

   My post last week looked at this idea and Armitage’s intriguing suggestion that maybe plant-sellers should start displaying plants that way instead of the traditional way of lining up plants alphabetically by their type.

   He dubs the idea “solution gardening.”

   Last week’s post included seven of my Pennsylvania-geared solution-gardening lists of perennials, shrubs, and evergreens. Below is a list of seven more with seven others coming in next week’s post.

   If you’ve never noticed it, my website also has a “George’s Handy Lists” section in which I post a few dozen other gardening lists – all free for the viewing.

   And I’ve put together an 18-page “Survivor Plants of Pennsylvania” booklet that zeroes in on hundreds of the best plant varieties with sizes, bloom times, and other important attributes that help gardeners get the right plant in the right place. It’s available as a $5.95 download on my Buy Helpful Info page.

Plants for Blocking Unwanted Views

Small Trees: American fringe tree, Carolina silverbell, cherry ‘Okame,’ columnar hornbeam, crabapple, dogwood, dwarf magnolia, flowering cherry, hawthorn, hop hornbeam, Japanese tree lilac, paperbark maple, Persian parrotia, redbud, serviceberry, smoketree, stewartia, sweetbay magnolia, three-flower maple, trident maple, witch hazel

Tall Shrubs: beautybush, chokeberry, crape myrtle, elderberry, lilac, oakleaf and panicle hydrangeas, ninebark, red-twig dogwood, sterile varieties of butterfly bush and rose of Sharon, sumac, sweetshrub, viburnum, winterberry holly

Evergreens: arborvitae, Bosnian or Swiss stone pines, boxwood ‘Dee Runk,’ cryptomeria, greenthread/goldthread falsecypress, fir (except disease-prone Douglas fir), Hinoki cypress, holly, juniper, Manhattan euonymus, rhododendron, spruce, upright yew

Plants for Sunny, Open Slopes and Hillsides

Junipers and spireas are two tough plants that survive brutal conditions on a hot, sunny bank.

Perennials: agastache, allium, amsonia, aster, baptisia, beebalm, betony, black-eyed susan, butterfly weed, catmint, coreopsis, daylily, dianthus, euphorbia, gaillardia, gaura, goldenrod, hardy geranium, heliopsis, iris, lavender, liatris, mountain mint, mums, ornamental grasses, penstemon, perennial sunflower, purple coneflower, Russian sage, salvia, sedum, Shasta daisy, tall garden phlox, yarrow, yucca

Shrubs: abelia, beautyberry, bush honeysuckle, caryopteris, deutzia, forsythia, lilac, ninebark, panicle hydrangea, shrub roses, spirea, St. Johnswort, stephanandra, sterile butterfly bush, sumac, sweetshrub, viburnum, Virginia sweetspire, weigela, winterberry holly, witch hazel

Evergreens: arborvitae, dwarf cryptomeria, fir (except disease-prone Douglas fir), greenthread/goldthread falsecypress, Hinoki cypress, holly, juniper, nandina, spruce, yew

Trees that Aren’t Big or “Messy”

American fringe tree is a small native tree that isn’t “messy.”

Leaf-Dropping Trees: American fringe tree, Carolina silverbell, columnar hornbeam, cutleaf Japanese maple, smoketree, crape myrtle, Japanese tree lilac, redbud, Rutgers hybrid dogwoods, Persian parrotia, witch hazel

Evergreens: dwarf arborvitae, dwarf cryptomeria, Hinoki cypress, holly ‘Dragon Lady’ and Red Beauty, dwarf blue spruce, greenthread/goldthread falsecypress, juniper, Korean fir, upright yew

Plants for Pollinators

Annuals: ageratum, alyssum, blue salvia, cleome, cosmos, dahlia, daisies, gomphrena, heliotrope, lantana, marigold, nicotiana, pentas, petunia, sunflower, verbena, zinnia

Perennials: agastache, amsonia, aster, baptisia, beebalm, betony, black-eyed susan, butterfly weed, cardinal flower, catmint, columbine, coralbells, coreopsis, culver’s root, gaillardia, golden ragwort, goldenrod, heliopsis, ironweed, Joe Pye weed, lavender, liatris, meadow rue, mountain mint, mums (some), penstemon, purple coneflower, rattlesnake master, salvia, sedum, silphium, sneezeweed, swamp milkweed, stokesia, tall garden phlox, turtlehead, veronica, wild bergamot, yarrow

Shrubs: abelia, bayberry, blueberry, buttonbush, chokeberry, deutzia, elderberry, fothergilla, ninebark, New Jersey tea, oakleaf hydrangea, red-osier dogwood, summersweet, snowberry, spicebush, sumac, viburnum, winterberry holly, witch hazel

Trees: black gum, dogwood, catalpa, crabapple, flowering cherry, hawthorn, linden, redbud, red maple, serviceberry, seven son flower, tulip tree, willow

Plants that Seldom Get Eaten by Bugs or Animals

Helleborus or “Lenten rose” is a perennial that hardly ever runs into bug, animal, or disease trouble.

Perennials: agastache, allium, amsonia, aster, astilbe, baptisia, barrenwort, beebalm, betony, bleeding heart, brunnera, catmint, coralbells, creeping phlox, euphorbia, ferns, foamybells, gaura, goats beard, goldenrod, hardy geranium, heliopsis, hens and chicks, iris, Japanese anemone, Joe Pye weed, lamb’s ear, lamium, lavender, leadwort, Lenten rose, liatris, mums, ornamental grasses, penstemon, peony, Russian sage, salvia, sedum, Solomon’s seal, turtlehead, yarrow, yucca

Shrubs: abelia, bayberry, beautyberry, beautybush, bush honeysuckle, caryopteris, chokeberry, deutzia, elderberry, forsythia, fothergilla, hydrangea, lilac, ninebark, spirea, St. Johnswort, sterile butterfly bush, sumac, summersweet, sweetshrub, viburnum, Virginia sweetspire, weigela, winterberry holly

Evergreens: birds nest spruce, blue atlas cedar, dwarf cryptomeria, fir, greenthread/goldthread falsecypress, Hinoki cypress, juniper, Oriental spruce, nandina, Russian cypress, sweetbox, weeping Alaska cedar

Groundcovers for Sun

Creeping sedum ‘Angelina’ is an excellent groundcover for full sun.

Short Perennials: campanula, candytuft, catmint, coreopsis, creeping phlox, creeping sedum, creeping veronica, dianthus, hardy geranium, hardy ice plant, hens and chicks, lamb’s ear, leadwort, liriope, mazus, oregano, thyme  

Low Shrubs: deutzia, dwarf abelia, dwarf and sterile butterfly bush, groundcover roses, lowbush blueberry, St. Johnswort, stephanandra, sumac ‘Gro Low’

Low Evergreens: dwarf nandina, globe arborvitae, spreading juniper, spreading yew

Groundcovers for Shade

Variegated brunnera makes a nice shady groundcover.

Short Perennials: barrenwort, bergenia, brunnera, bunchberry, Chinese astilbe, coralbells, false or variegated Solomon’s seal, ferns, foamflower, foamybells, goats beard, goldenstar, hardy begonia, hardy ginger, hosta, Japanese forest grass, lamium, leadwort, Lenten rose, liriope, pachysandra, sedge (Carex), sweetflag, sweet woodruff, wood aster, woodland stonecrop

Low Shrubs: dwarf summersweet, St. Johnswort

Low Evergreens: boxwood, cotoneaster, Japanese plum yew, Russian cypress, spreading yew, sweetbox