Garden Moxie Book Club
​Succession Planting for Year-round Pleasure

Hi Reader,

I'd like to start off by thanking everyone for their kind words of condolences for my Mom. I appreciate your kindness.

I'm ready to get back into the swing of things and finish up our last two books for the book club. There is still much we can learn to help with this year's garden season.

This week I wanted to share the latest discussion from the Garden Moxie book club.

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Succession Planting for
Year-round Pleasure

Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006) loved gardening from the time he was a child. He spent his entire life developing the garden at his home in East Sussex, England called Great Dixter.

Great Dixter House and Gardens is a world-famous destination. A place I hope to visit. The gardens are known for their flamboyant design. Christopher Lloyd was not afraid of color.

Christopher Lloyd's Head Gardener, Fergus Garrett, continued caring for the garden after Christopher Lloyd's death and is now the Head Gardener and Chief Executive at Great Dixter.

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What's This Book About?

Succession Planting for Year-round Pleasure was first published in 2005. The book is filled with tips on how to create a garden that looks great all season long.

The front book cover describes what we can expect from this book.

The book suggests ways for gardeners to achieve year-round interest in their gardens. Using a mix of hard-working anchor plants, perennials, bulbs, self-sowers, and climbers.

Sounds easy enough, but getting the combination of plants to work well together requires a detailed knowledge of how plants grow.

Like all artistic endeavors, there is no substitute for hands-on experience.

As Lloyd himself says:

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Anchor Plants Are the Core Necessity

The books starts by sharing a list of recommended plants referred to as "anchor plants".

Lloyd describes the framework of a border using anchor plants. These non-flowering plants are essential to a strong design.

Anchor Plants for
Our Midwest Gardens

Many of the plants mentioned in the book at not readily available at our local garden centers.

Rather than be discouraged by this, I decided to find similar plants that can be sourced in the Midwest. I hope you enjoy this list of recommended anchor plants.

Cornus alternifolia 'Argentea'
Variegated pagoda dogwood

Plant type: Tree​
Light: Part Shade to Shade
​Growing zone: 3 to 8
​Bloom time: Grown for the variegated foliage
​Size: 10 to 12 feet tall, 10 to 12 feet wide
​Features: Colorful foliage, horizontal branching habit
​​Notes: This looks like a difficult tree to purchase. Most of the nurseries I found that sell this tree do not have it currently in stock. I will list the sources below for reference.
​Available to purchase:
​Proven Winners variety: Golden Shadows^® Pagoda Dogwood
​Mr. Maple.com​

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acer palmatum 'sango-kaku'
coral bark japanese maple

Plant type: Tree​
Light: Filtered sun, Full sun, Partial sun
​Growing zone: 5 to 9
​Size: 15 to 25 feet tall, 10 to 12 feet wide
​Features: Attractive Bark, Dramatic Foliage Color, Fall Color
​Note: Prefers slightly acidic soil. A friend just purchased this tree from Home Depot online and it is a beauty.
​Available to purchase: The Tree Center or Home Depot​

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ILEX x altaclerensis ‘Golden King’

Plant type: Evergreen​
Light: Full Sun
​Growing zone: 6 to 9
​Bloom time: Berries in autumn
​Size: 20 feet tall, 15 feet wide
​Features: Colorful foliage, deer & rabbit resistant
​Note: I could not find a source for the variety mentioned in the book, but I did find a similar yellow variegated holly at Home Depot.
​Available to purchase: Home Depot​

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Spirea x bumalda 'Goldflame'

Plant type: Small deciduous shrub​
Light: Full Sun to Light Partial Shade
​Bloom Time: Pink/purple flowers in spring
​Growing zone: 3 to 8
​Size: 3 to 4 feet tall , 3 to 4 feet wide
​Features: Low maintenance, cold-tolerant
​Available to purchase: The Tree Center​

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Closing Thoughts

In order to create beautiful gardens we need learn about plants. I think the best way to do that is to visit gardens, read books, and share what we learn with one another.

Thanks so much for being here. I hope you are as excited for this garden season as I am.

Happy Gardening,
Sue

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