Best Northwest plants, part 2

Time to continue and discuss more of the Northwest plants!

Siberian cypress has graceful form, attractive foliage and has height of just 1-2 feel. Siberian cypress is evergreen, wide-spreading plant, which makes it perfect groundcover. It looks great in combination with boulders or retaining walls, as part of your landscape. Siberian cypress prefers full sun or partial shade, even though its name can be misleading, making you think that it likes shade and cold.


Variegated Japanese forestgrass is an awesome plant to have in your garden. The slender green-and-white blades moves with the slightest breeze and airy seed heads float above the 2-foot-tall foliage midsummer. The foliage is long lasting and is a great addition to flower arrangements. Variegated Japanese forestgrass likes partial shade but can also grow in full sun if it gets enough moisture.


Moerheim Beauty – is a late summer flower with beautiful rusty red petals, and butterflies fall in love with them. Moerheim Beauty can grow up to 3 feet tall, but if you want them to be more compact, you can pinch or cut back the stems partway in June. It encourages the plant to branch more, and also makes it produce more flowers. This is a perennial flower, which grows well in full sun with average to moist soil.


Minuet’ mountain laurel – is a very compact and beautiful shrub. It does not require pruning since it grows only about 3 feet tall. Nevertheless, this little mountain laurel will explode with bright flowers in June. Blossoms are white with wide, crimson ring inside. The small size makes it good for planting into the decorative pots. Minuet prefer moist, but well-drained soil, under the full sun or in partial shade. It does not thrive in very hot areas.


One more plant to discuss is Sourwood. It is a big tree, that can grow up to 25 foot-tall. It has a rich green foliage with white flowers blooming in August. The blossoms give way to cream-colored berries, which backed by stunning fall foliage in shades of gold and scarlet. Sourwood prefers sun and acidic soil. It does not like to complete for water, so it is the best not to plant anything under the sourwood tree.


‘Gulf Stream’ heavenly bamboo – is an evergreen shrub with a compact, mounded form. It reaches 2-3 feel in height and about same in width. The new foliage is not light green, as most of us used to see, but scarlet red! But as summer comes, it slowly it becomes bluish green. As colder fall days take summer’s place, leaves turn into bright-red color again, but do not drop. Shrub develops steams of small white flowers. Thanks to the small size it is great for foundation plantings or narrow spots. Gulf Stream heavenly bamboo is easy to grow in full sun or partial shade.


Giant needlegrass – one of the most magnificent ornamental grasses. Narrow, arching foliage is very long and exotic looking. From a base of this foliage grows gigantic 6-8 foot-tall flower steam. In June the silvery-purple flower opens, turning golden when ripe. This grass is excellent for dried flower arrangements. It also can be used for erosion control. Giant needlegrass loves full sun and well-drained soil, as it is very drought-tolerant. However, it does not tolerate wet soil.


And the last, but not least is ‘Green Vase’ Japanese zelkova. It is a fast-growing tree with stunning habit and beautiful winter silhouette. It reaches 60-70 feet tall and 40-50 feet wide. In autumn dark green foliage turns to soft yellow and orange. Grown up trees have interesting bark, which is a bonus to any season beauty. Zelkova is prized for being tolerable to high winds, drought and compacted soil.

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