Perry's Perennial Pages, Perennial Arcade Quiz

Perennials for Containers

Increasingly perennials are being used in containers with annual flowers, often for their foliage.  If overwintering in cold climates, containers must be insulated, or in severe cold rolled into protected locations such as an unheated garage. Can you match the perennial cultivar to its genus and description?  combination ideas are given too.  Answers are below.
 
1. 'Dolce Creme Brulee' a. Coralbells (Heuchera) with burnt orange leaves, try with annuals Nepeta Blue Ice and Polar Pink Bellis
2.  'Amethyst Mist' b.  Foamflower (Tiarella) with black markings on leaves, try with bleeding heart and dead nettle (Lamium) for shade
3.  'Blue Mouse Ears' c. Coralbells (Heuchera) with purplish leaves, try with 'Ice Dance' variegated sedge and a blue columbine for shade
4.  'Iron Butterfly' d.  Miniature hosta, try with 'Chocolate Chip' bugleweed and 'Looking Glass' bugloss for shade
5. 'Summer Sky' e. Coneflower (Echinacea), one of the many new colors you could try with a dark-leaved coralbells such as 'Black Beauty'
6. 'Bowles Golden' f.  One of the several red upright sedum you might try for a dry garden with hens and chicks (such as 'Red Beauty') and 'Big Blue' lilyturf (not hardy in cold)
7.  'Moorchen' g. Popular black-eyed susan, try combining with deep purple 'Marine' heliotrope (annual) and orange avens (Geum)
8. 'Goldsturm' h. Fountain grass (Pennisetum), try with coleus such as 'Alabama Sunset' and a trailing orange to red calibrachoa (all frost sensitive)
9. 'Rubrum' i. Coralbells with dark leaves, try with a red primrose and Ogon golden variegated sweet flag
10. 'Dolce Mocha Mint' j. A sedge (Carex) for a bog garden (line the container with heavy plastic or pond liner), try with a primrose and corkscrew rush and Katie Ruellia

 

Answers:

1. a

2. c

3. d

4. b

5. e

6. j

7. f

8. g

9. h

10. i


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