Morningsun Herb Farm

 

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Last year we added Coreopsis ‘Big Bang Red Shift’ to our collection, but it sold out so quickly not many of our customers got to see it!  So this year we will have plenty available.  Coreopsis can be such an everyday plant, but ‘Red Shift’ is absolutely intense in color.  Large daisies start out butter yellow with a red center in June and July and shift to ruby red as weather cools. A 2 – 3  ft mounding habit keeps the plant very tidy looking, and it will continue to bloom beautifully for 3 months or more under full sun conditions.  Coreopsis rosea 'Heaven's Gate' is a wonderful new introduction to the pink Coreopsis family. The green fern like leaves make a great contrast with the daisy shaped flowers. Heaven's Gate is a long blooming plant that has beautiful pink flowers fading to a purplish eye which surround a tiny yellow center. Coreopsis Heaven's Gate looks great with any type of grass, in borders or mass plantings or in containers, since it is shorter growing, to only 18 inches.  In our climate it also performs well in partial shade.  Both will be available by early April.  

 

Every year new Echinaceas are available and on the market, often with quite outrageous price tags.  Some of these put up with our wet, soggy clay soils (I am wondering about the vigor of a few of mine right now, on day 5 of rain in January), so I often like to stick with varieties that have shown a bit more sturdiness.  Grown from seed, Echinacea purpurea ‘Primadonna White’ is a gloriously pure white daisy with a dark green eye, very vigorous, fragrant and showy.  Its sister, ‘Primadonna Dark Rose’ seems to be likewise as sturdy, with giant 5 inch deep rose blooms on a  thick, compact plant.  These are both terrific choices for medicinal use, cut flowers or in a butterfly habitat garden.  Closely related are the Rudbeckia, and our newest is Rudbeckia hirta ‘Cherry Brandy’.  Growing to 2 feet tall, the blooms are a striking maroon red, with a deeper eye, truly lovely in a mixed bed.  They are short lived perennials (2-3 years) but will re-sow themselves.

 

We have grown many varieties of lavender in our greenhouses and gardens, but not until this last fall when I attended a lavender conference in Cambridge England did I realize what a workhorse Lavandula angustifolia ‘Maillette’ is the to essential oil industry.  We know it is a great drought tolerant plant, since we had a row of it growing in our lavender field that accidently had the water system turned off for 6 weeks last summer, and the plants survived quite well.  In February we will plant an entire acre of it down at Soul Food Farm as a beginning for our own essential oil production.

 

Monarda, or bee balm, is a staple in US gardens in the East and Mid-West, but not as commonly found on the West coast.  Two never varieties, both patented, performed so much better in our garden last year we were stunned.  Monarda didyma ‘Grand Parade’, growing to only 18 inches with lavender flowers, and Monarda didyma ‘Coral Reef’ with brilliant pink blooms growing to 24 inches, are lovely specimens for our gardens.  Grown for fragrant leaves for tea, edible flowers and to attract hummingbirds, try these in a sunny garden bed with average garden water.

 

So many great new plants, with many more to come this spring and summer.  Be sure to check out our catalog online as we update our availability weekly!