Board member and garden designer Kelly Marshall loves Verbena lilacina the most. According to Kelly...
Although it is short-lived, lasting only about 3 years, it is so fabulous right out of the gate that I have no problem replacing it when I need to. It can literally grow from a tiny 4" potted plant to full size within a summer.
It forms an incredible 3' x 3' mound of purple flowers that smell like jasmine. In the sun, with just a few in my yard, my whole garden smells amazing. Butterflies visit for nectar, and the show it puts on from mid-Spring 'til frost is breathtaking.
It literally blooms itself to death within a few years, but really, who cares? When I first started using it, the nursery had trouble locating it, but it's now readily available in the trade, thank goodness!"
Kelly Marshall
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Kelly Marshall, MRAS Board member
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And, speaking of Kelly...
This will be a very busy month for Ms. Marshall, since she once again has several gardens being shown on the fabulous Bringing Back the Natives tour, this coming weekend. Both gardens this year are in Concord, and are well worth a visit. When asked for some background, Kelly says:
" I relocated here from Indiana 13 years ago. I was an avid gardener there, and I literally cried each Fall when my garden went dormant and was buried under snow for several months.
I used to travel to the Bay Area for business, as a software product manager. I would imagine myself living here each time I visited. My husband finally said, "let's do it" and we sold our house, shipped our cars, and got ready to leave our Midwest families. Two weeks before we left, we found out we were pregnant!
After my first daughter was born, I began to think about what would make it worth going back to work. Designing gardens seemed like a dream job (and it is) and I went back to school through UC Berkeley Extension's now defunct garden design program.
Just a year or so into my business, I volunteered for the Bringing Back the Natives tour, and fell in love with the diversity and beauty that native plants offer to California gardeners. Now, I use them in almost every design I do--even if I have to sneak them in."
Be sure to stop by the Markham this weekend.
A fine selection of native plants will be available for sale (click
here for a list of some of the available plants), and Ms. Marshall will be giving two garden talks "Top 10 Plants for a native plant garden" at 11:00 and 2:00 on Saturday, May 4, 2013.
Despite all the emphasis this week on our lovely California natives, we do also have many other fine plants available, including a stellar selection of Smoke trees (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple') and Prickly Heath (Pernettya mucronata 'Rubra') .
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| Pernettya mucronata Rubra |
