Sometimes, you just need a large, sunny statement plant in a flower bed. If that’s the case in your garden, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ might just be the one you’re looking for.

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ is one of my very favorite large perennials. This plant has so many wonderful qualities, it’s surprising that it isn’t better known. ‘Lemon Queen’ is easy to grow, pollinator friendly, deer resistant, clay tolerant, works well as a cut flower, and generally just makes you happy every time you see it.

‘Lemon Queen’ gets 6-7’ tall and about 3’ wide, making it a perfect choice for the back of a garden bed. It thrives in full sun with average water, and provides a glorious explosion of 2” wide sunny, lemon-yellow flowers from mid-summer on up to frost.

Pollinators like bees and butterflies aren’t the only ones who love this plant; overwintering songbirds will thank you for leaving the plant standing through the cold weather so they can snack on the seeds. The old top growth can then be cut to about 2” tall in early spring, once the new shoots start to emerge from the warming soil.

‘Lemon Queen’ is a cultivar of a native prairie sunflower, and it looks great when combined with other prairie natives like ‘Autumn Sapphire’ Salvia or grasses like Andropogon (Big Bluestem), Schizachyrium (Little Bluestem), and Panicum (Switch Grass).

See if you can find some room to bring this ‘Queen’ home to your garden!

Salvia 'Autumn Sapphire' is another wonderful perennial introduction by one of our favorite garden writers - Lauren Springer Odgen - and the Denver Botanic Garden. This cultivar of a West Texas native Salvia comes into bloom in late summer, when a lot of other flowering perennials are starting to slow down, and continues blooming right up until frost. That trait makes it exceptionally valuable to late-season pollinators (native bees, hummingbirds, honey bees, butterflies, etc.) and other beneficial insects.

As it name suggests, Autumn Sapphire’s flowers are a rich cobalt blue; complemented by narrow, finely-textured green leaves. Plants grow to 18" to 20" tall and wide, and are hardy down to zone 5. Like most other Salvias, they are also deer resistant and do best when planted in well-drained soils that are low in fertility (too much fertilizer and water will make them floppy). For best results, leave the stems up over the winter to make sure it survives the winter wet, and then prune back in spring when new leaves begin to emerge.

'Autumn Sapphire' performs best in well-drained soil in full, hot sun. Looking for some good companion plants? Consider pairing it with Solidago “Fireworks’, Rudbeckia, Helianthus 'Lemon Queen', Echinacea, or Gaura - or create a mixed planting of 'Autumn Sapphire' and native prairie grasses like Bouteloua, Andropogon, and Schizachyrium.

How can you not love Goldenrods? They provide glorious splashes of sunny yellow in the fall garden that make me smile every time I see them.

There are around 150 species of Goldenrod worldwide – most of them native to North America. These sturdy members of the Asteraceae have a lot to offer in the garden.

They’re easy to grow; are popular with a wide variety of pollinators - especially butterflies and tiny native bees; are deer resistant; and combine beautifully with native grasses like Andropogon and Schizachyrium and other fall-blooming perennials to provide a blaze of color in the fall garden. We generally carry three varieties here at Shooting Star Nursery.

Solidago ‘Fireworks’ (right): A truly striking variety, with dense plume-like flowerheads of bright golden flowers that really do look like exploding fireworks! Solidago ‘Fireworks’ gets about 3-4’ tall by 2-3’ wide, prefers average water, and also tolerates clay soils.

Solidago ‘Little Lemon’ (left): ‘Little Lemon’ is a great choice for gardeners who love the look of Goldenrods, but don’t have the room for a full-sized plant. Plants get about 12” tall by 12-18” wide, and the stalks of lemon-yellow flowers make a lovely choice as a cut flower.

Solidaster ‘Lemore’ (right): As the name suggests, Solidaster is a cross between a Solidago and an Aster. ‘Lemore’ has all the great attributes of Solidagos, but has slightly larger pale yellow flowers and is also relatively drought tolerant. Plants get to be about 2-2.5’ tall and wide.

By September, many of the summer-blooming perennials that have brightened our gardens for the past few months are beginning to look a little tired and worn, so it’s really nice to find a something that looks bright and fresh, and is just getting started up as summer winds down.

It’s especially nice if the plant in question is covered with vivid blue flowers that contrast beautifully against the dark green foliage, like our Plant of the Week – Dwarf Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides). Even better, those lovely dark green leaves turn a dark, burgundy-red in fall; providing brilliant show of fall color.

Dwarf Plumbago is just a delight in the garden. It’s an herbaceous groundcover (meaning it dies to the ground in the winter and comes back up again the following spring) that grows well in a variety of situations from full sun to part shade, is extremely easy to care for, is relatively drought tolerant, attracts butterflies and other pollinators, and is even deer resistant! Plants grow to about 6 to 8” tall by 18” wide, and spread slowly via undergrounds stems. It begins flowering around mid-summer, and here in the Rogue Valley it will generally remain in bloom up until the first frost of fall.

Dwarf Plumbago combines beautifully with plants like Coreopsis, Echinacea, Anemone, and Croscosmia. It’s also a great companion plant for spring-flowering bulbs. The bulbs appear and flower before the Dwarf Plumbago leafs out, but by the time your bulbs have finished blooming, the Dwarf Plumbago is filling in your bed with its lovely deep green leaves; giving your flower bed a smooth transition into late spring/early summer.

An easy to grow, soft textured fountain grass, Pennisetum 'Karley Rose' will give you months of light pink blooms that are great for floral arrangements and beautiful accents in the garden, but aren't attractive to deer.

This Pennisetum is more cold hardy than the straight species (Pennisetum orientale) and blooms earlier than other varieties like 'Hamelyn'. The rose-pink blooms appear in early summer and continue on until frost. Once the blades and blooms dry out to an autumnal tan, the silhouette remains pretty in the frost of winter. Cut this grass back in early spring, as new growth begins to emerge. Aside from that, there is no special care for this drought tolerant, deer resistant grass.

When in bloom, 'Karley Rose' tops out at about 3' tall and 24-30" wide. ‘Karley Rose’ is easy to divide, to create a graceful, massed effect in your garden. It looks great backlit by early morning or late afternoon sun and pairs nicely with Sedums, Echinaceas and other large-flowered perennials. Full sun or light shade and well-draining soil is best – the one thing ‘Karley Rose’ doesn't like is wet, boggy soil.