By August, one might think the show in the rock and gravel gardens is winding down. Not so beams the Epilobium canum ssp. garrettii Orange Carpet® (I purchased it long ago when it was listed as Zauchneria garrettii). It is just beginning to open its firecracker red blooms in the bottom of the very sunny gravel garden. Plants at the top of the garden and elsewhere that do not get quite as much sun are just ready to burst forth. This hardy plant (Zone 4 at least) can also be a workhorse in the rock garden should you have enough room and good drainage.
Known as the California fuschia, it’s native to the high mountain regions of the West, from Idaho and Wyoming south to Utah, Arizona, Nevada as well as California. Another common name for it is Hummingbird Trumpet. While it attracts hummingbirds, it has no appeal for deer. So if you have a rocky slope in sun, consider planting it.
When I first noticed the plant, I saw Plant Select introduced a cultivar in 2001 they named Orange Carpet®. My original plant came from High Country Gardens. It spreads by rhizomes so I easily multiplied my plants over the years. Now it lights up all the ends of the garden.
Oh yes, there are other stars in the August garden but none that love the sun as much. Not to be missed are a select dark leaved heuchera from Martha Oliver of the The Primrose Path. It does take a bit of shade very well.
And from the woods of Japan and Korea, let’s not forget the magnificent Kirengeshoma palmata. Another semi-shade lover, it unfurls it magnificent yellow bells, shading the Phlox stolonifera at its feet.
And there’s more yellow highlights – Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, the golden Japanese Forest Grass does well with the heuchera, though here it is planted in front of the tufa bed.
Last but certainly not least from Japan and China comes Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’. It loves moist shade. We certainly have plenty of that around here.
Berkshire Chapter NARGS 