There are so many wonderful things about Sunroses - where to start?

Sunroses are drought tolerant, evergreen, low maintenance, cold hardy, spring blooming groundcovers that work well in the Rogue Valley. We use them all the time to cascade over rock walls, as an edging in a drought tolerant garden, or an evergreen groundcover at the base of taller plants.

While there are quite a few varieties of Sunroses, one of the best – in terms of growth habit and form – is ‘Henfield Brilliant’. In fact, this charming little plant even received an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.

‘Henfield Brilliant’ has bright, coppery flowers that really stand out against its soft gray-green foliage. Each individual flower is about 1” across, and plants bloom profusely from about May through July. Even when it’s not blooming, ‘Henfield Brilliant’ is a just a lovely plant with a soft mounding shape – about 6” tall and 18-24” wide at maturity. It does best in full sun and well-drained soil (plant them on a mound or atop a rock wall if you are gardening in clay soil), and should be sheared back hard once it is done blooming, to help maintain a good shape and stimulate next year’s bloom.

Pineleaf Penstemon makes me happy every time I see it. So many benefits in such a compact package! 

 Penstemon, as a group, have a reputation of being fussy about watering, and not being very long lived. But this western native perennial is evergreen, and one of the very best Penstemons for long term success in the garden. It makes a great rock garden plant or edger at the front of a border, in fact, we have a bank of it planted in our display garden. The delicate tubular flowers should be appreciated up close - that is if the hummingbirds will let you get close enough!  

Pineleaf Penstemon requires well drained soil, especially on a slope, and will be drought tolerant once established. The needle-like foliage is evergreen and looks best when you can shear the spent flowers back in the same style as you would shear an Erica or Calluna after blooming. In most areas, we have found them to be deer resistant.

 These Penstemons typically begin blooming in late spring - May and June here in southern Oregon - and are great compliments to the other sun lovers like spring and summer blooming sages, sedums, lavenders, or even dwarf conifers. They will stretch to about 2' wide and 12-18" tall and look comfortable among rocks and boulders.

 The varieties we usually carry are 'Mersea Yellow'- a nice soft yellow (shown top left), Penstemon pinifolius - the straight species - which is a reddish-orange (above right), 'Steppe Suns Sunset Glow' - an apricot orange veriety.

Marrubium rotundifolium – aka ‘Silver Heels’ Horehound - is a great plant for the really hard places in your yard. It absolutely thrives in full, hot sun and poor soils, and is extremely drought tolerant once established; a deep soaking every four to six weeks will keep it looking great all summer long.

There’s lots more to love about ‘Silver Heels’ too. For starters, it’s evergreen, deer resistant, and pollinator friendly. ‘Silver Heels’ gets about 10” tall and about 3-4’ wide; making it a great choice for a groundcover or a low-growing perennial.

But the thing that makes this plant a real stand-out in the garden is the texture of its leaves. We tend to choose most of the perennials for our gardens based on the color of their flowers, and there’s nothing particularly memorable about the small, white, flowers of ‘Silver Heels’. But oh, those leaves!

‘Silver Heels’ has rounded, soft green leaves with a wonderfully pebbly texture, and the undersides of the leaves are coated with dense, white hairs – making them look like they’ve been felted. Plant them with dark green or bronze-leafed perennials or grasses, as a soft “carpet” under a taller plant, or out along the edge of a walkway or wall – where you can pet them as you walk by.

Like many fuzzy-leafed plants, ‘Silver Heels’ doesn’t do well with overhead water from sprinklers, and prefers drip or hand watering when necessary (which isn’t often!). And they actually grow better in lean, poor soils than heavily amended soils. But give ‘Silver Heels’ a hot, dry, sunny spot where all your other plants struggle, and they’ll be absolutely content.

This modest little groundcover happens to be one of our most popular perennials! Veronica ‘Georgia Blue’ adds a generous splash of rich cobalt blue to the edge of any garden or container planting.  

Dainty deep blue flowers with white eyes begin blooming as early as February and are heaviest in April. If you deadhead plants once the first flush of bloom is finished, you can easily extend their flowering season into early summer. The flowers are also attractive to a variety of pollinators including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.

Besides the blooms, the best part about 'Georgia Blue' is that it remains evergreen; with leaves turning lovely shades of burgundy in the colder weather. 'Georgia Blue' is a great companion to early spring bulbs - especially daffodils and species tulips - and can mask the untidy foliage bulbs leave behind as they fade.

This Veronica is a great choice for spilling over the edges of walls or out of containers, or as a densely massed groundcover. Plants will get about 6" tall and spread between 12-24" wide. 'Georgia Blue' will tolerate full sun to part shade and can even take a little drought; but looks best with moderate water and good mulch.

'Georgia Blue' has proven deer resistant in some gardens (Jacksonville, Applegate Valley) in the Rogue Valley but not others (Griffin Creek area of Medford), so try it out first. It looks great planted next to purple toned Euphorbia, Black Mondo Grass, Mahonias, and other broader leaved shrubs and perennials, or as a fill between stepping stones – as you can see in Shooting Star’s Demonstration garden.

Shooting Star also regularly carries these other Veronicas:

Veronica ‘Waterperry’ and Veronica ‘Whitewater’ both have similar growth habits to ‘Georgia Blue’. ‘Waterperry’ is a softer, lighter blue than ‘Georgia Blue’ and ‘Whitewater’, as the name suggests, is a lovely clear white.

Veronica pectinata: Also known as Woolly Veronica, this Veronica is more drought-tolerant than the others and is also lower growing (to about 2”).

One look at Callirhoe involucrata in bloom and you’ll instantly understand how it got its common name: Wine Cup Poppy Mallow. Callirhoe’s large (up to 2” across), brilliant magenta flowers are held upright – like brilliant cups of wine – over its rich, dark green foliage.

Callirhoe is native to the central United States, with a range that runs from North Dakota south to Arkansas, Texas, and Arizona. Its native habitat is dry meadows and prairies and it combines well with other prairie natives including Liatris, Echinacea, Schizachyrium, Amsonia, and Solidago.

These fast-growing plants form a low growing mat about 6-12” tall, and between 3-4’ wide. Place them at the front of a perennial bed, or even let them spill over a garden wall where they’ll provide a vibrant show of color all summer long. Callirhoe does best in full sun and well-drained soils. Once established, they’re drought tolerant, deer resistant, and wonderful pollinator plants, as you can see from the photo to the left. They will grow in clay soils as long as they are well-drained (e.g.: on a slope or berm), but will not tolerate heavy wet soils.

Note: Callirhoe involucrata will self-seed. If you’d prefer to control its spread, just pinch off the dead flowers before they set seed!