And now, without further procrastination, The Plants:
The autumn blooming Actaea 'Black Negligee' or 'James Compton'
interchangeable plants, with outstanding dark foliage all season until it turns orange in autumn, for its amazing, strong scent of Grape Neehi pop (soda for all you non-Midwesterners). The scent fills the whole garden.
Phlox paniculata 'Nicky'
Finally, I'd need something for spring bloom, but this tree does so much more, Magnolia stellata.
Not only are the flowers large and beautiful, but their tantalizing scent wafts on the breeze. The foliage is an attractive green all summer, late in summer the seed pods burst, revealing bright orange pods, and in autumn, the leaves turn golden. But the real value of this plant is in winter, when the beautiful, smooth gray bark and silky buds take center stage. Whenever it's warm enough to remove my mittens, I stroke the buds. They are almost better than the flowers. (Clearly, somebody has had too much of winter.) What three plants would you choose?
29 comments:
I'm definitely with you on the Magnolia stellata. It's on my wish list, as soon as I figure out a big enough spot . . . Those of us who get our turn at spring last really need the early bloomers (hurrah for hellebores!) to keep our sanity through the endless waiting for the frost-free season.
Regards, VW
Lovely choices - particularly the Magnolia - I also love the buds and the trunk. Not long now to wait until Spring (hopefully)
K
Excellent choices (we say pop in Nova Scotia too). I never noticed that my bugbane smells like grape pop. I'll have to check it next year; I remember fragrance, just not what it reminds me of. And yes, a magnolia...especially a fragrant stellata, is a bit of heaven on earth.
Ohh I love Magnolias!
Last autmn I bought a yellow one!
Linda
Wonderful! I saw that magnolia stellata in bloom last spring and was smitten at first sight. A very nice list!
Your Actaea's a new discovery for me - which is one of the great things about this kind of meme, all kinds of plants get paraded for our attention :)
I love M stellata too - the buds are fattening away, showing that Spring's not too far away.
And any plant which attracts hummingbirds gets my vote because I could spend hours watching them. Sadly we don't get them in the UK, though humming bird hawk moths do pop over from the continent from time to time.
Hi MMcD
I think you are the only one with Bugbane as a choice and that is nice to see ! I have 3 different kinds and yes, I love the black foliage against the white bottlebrush flowers : )
Phlox .. I don't have that one, if you can believe that .. so many garden do !
Ah ! that tree : ) ... way nice selection .. they are just plain pretty as all get out .. and as Jodi said .. we say "pop" here in Canada too !
Hi MMD, HA, somebody better be ready for a little more winter, methinks. Seriously, you have made some wise and profound choices. Scent is so important, and grape neehi pop fragrance is just a must have on my list too, glad you know a beautiful source for it. I need to be on the look out for Nicky too, I need a color changing phlox to join the magenta species given by my neighbors. That magnolia has it all, wonderful!
Frances
I have an Actea which I love - it is dormant at the moment so I forgot about it when I did my desert island post
Wonderful choices you made MMD! I almost considered my Phlox 'Robert Poore' for the same reasons you listed. And that Magnolia is a spring beauty indeed. Hope you winter is short so you won't have to stroke the buds & dream of spring too much longer. ;)
Hi again MMD:-)
Great choices there! My fav has to be the magnolia – that was in my shortlist against a cherry tree! What fun this has been :-D
Funnily enough I had no idea James had already run with this. Did you take part with him? The big question then is did you choose the same plants? I’m guessing if we all did this again (the day after) many people may well have different choices :-D
Hi MMD,
What no Eco Happy Traveler for you! You can pop over and visit mine, because I will be enjoying the Nehi grape scent from your bugbane. I am from St Louis and I say soda! That may be me and not St Louis! M stellata is a lovely tree. Keep warm.
Gail
I just love your choices MrMcD. I struggled with the choices too. Just when I felt good about my post I read others and thought 'I should have chosen that'. I have thought this same thing after reading yours. I just love phlox and the cigma. I am ready to see some of those beautiful blooms on that tree too.
Hi, VW - I nearly chose Hellebores, I just can't do without them. If I had listed 6 things, Hellebores would have been #4.
Karen - my husband recently reminded me that we're past the halfway point now. Of course last year there was still snow on the ground until the end of March.
Jodi - to me, the fall blooming Actaeas smell grapey. I supposed it might be like wine, where somepeople detect hints of apples or pear but I never do.
Linda Lunda - I've seen a yellow flowered Magnolia, they are very pretty.
Tina - the most subtle thing about the Magnolia is its fragrance. It's a big billowy show that makes me long for spring.
VP - the Actaea didn't bloom in time for one Bloom Day and was done before the next, so it didn't get noticed in the midst of all the fall foliage color. Don't feel bad about not having hummingbirds - I've never seen one around here, although people have told me they've seen them. I had to travel to Arizona to see hummers.
G4J - how can you not have any Phlox? I have a hard time stopping buying them. I guess saying "pop" instead of "soda" is a Northern thing. Weird.
Frances - I thought about it long & hard, maybe too long. At some point during the day, Phlox 'Nicky' is magenta, so you might want to consider its placement carefully. I put it near a 'Little Grapette' Daylily; the combination is truly dreadful.
I hope someone brings a grape vine! If I smell Nehi Grape all day long, I would need a grape by the end of the day! tee hee... Great choices and wonderful island it will be...
The bugbane is an interesting but good choice. The phlox is also a winner. It is so interesting to see what gardeners in different areas pick for their three plants.
Jan
Always Growing
Being from the subtropics I'd have a hard time on a temperate island. I'd recognize the magnolia and the phlox, but the actaea would be a gorgeous mystery. Good choices, all of them. And as for the other mystery...What the heck is Grape Neehi soda, er pop?
Hi MMD, glad you decided to join in the desert island fun! Your choice of the magnolia has seem to gone down a treat with many of our fellow bloggers! I have an Actaea growing in my new border too and was rather taken with it last autumn so excellent choice here too. And our wonderful friend the Phlox, what gardener would or could do without it?
This is a really fun meme. I'm getting introduced to so many new plants by reading them.
What would I choose? That's much harder. I want a jungle island! (But no snakes.)
Keep warm!
Robin Wedewer, Examiner
also at bumblebeeblog.com
I'm a magnolia lover, too, MMD; we had one at our old house, and I do miss it. Thanks for reminding me of the "Nicky" phlox--I remember seeing it here before and wanting to find one for my garden this year. I don't remember the Actaea, but a garden that smells like Grape Nehi sounds wonderful:)
Great choices, MMD! I like the idea of some fall color and the more fragrance, the better. The magnolia was a very inspired choice.
Thanks for your recent visit to my blog MMD and your comment. I have really enjoyed reading about your choices and the reasons behind them. I most smitten by your description of 'Nicky'. Is she scented ?
I like your choices!
MMD, I fell in love with the magnolia this spring. It was a wonderful year for them around here. I have the 'Nikki' and for a while she was beautiful drawinf lots of bees and butterflies, but for some reason she died. :{ This island is going to be full of glorious blooms!
Interesting choices. I really like the actaea, and garden phlox has such a long bloom. I thought about doing this meme but I honestly don't think I could limit myself to three plants. I mean, I just tried to figure out the planting plan for my new ornamental grass bed in the stroll garden and I am SHOCKED to discover that the bare minimum will cost me somewhere around $300 to acquire, and that includes the stuff I already have. Egads. Three plants??? Impossible.
PS we say 'pop' over here too!
Sorry it's taken so long to get back to comments, I've been very busy with Spring Fling matters.
Patientgardener - It's hard to remember what's out there in the garden, I wonder if I've forgotten anything good.
Perennialgardener - I've seen Robert Poore in a friend's garden, so I know it's a good one.
Shirl - I didn't participate in James' meme because I was unable to decide on just 6 plants. I don't know how I got it down to 3.
Gail - I guess St. Louis is more south and "pop" is more a northern thing.
Lisa - if you want to see the Magnolia in bloom, you'll have to come in April. I am practically counting the days.
Skeeter - LOL, it's a good thing I don't like grape pop.
Jan - I have enjoyed reading the posts in this meme. It's a good thing to do on a cold, snowy day.
Hi, Lostlandscape, thanks for visiting! Grape Neehi is (or was) a local brand of soda pop. I guess it's like Grape Crush, if you know what that is.
Yolanda Elizabet - apparently, GardenJoy can live without the Phlox. We'll have to try to change that!
Robin - if it's a jungle island, the choices are just too overwhelming!
Rose - we all need to write up a list of plants we've seen on blogs & then remember to take it with us in spring when we hit the nurseries.
Nancy Bond - thanks, now you can see why it took me so long to decide.
Anna - thanks for visiting! I think Phlox 'Nicky' has the same scent as other paniculatas, but I have no way to be sure until June.
Hi, Helen, thanks for visiting!
Beckie - how odd that your Phlox Nicky/Nikki died! Phlox is one plant that I can't seem to kill.
HMH - well, it only took me 5 months to narrow my list down to 3. ;^)
Lovely Magnolia, and I like the winter buds too. I have a tiny Magnolia stellata in a pot - I'm in the process of trying to move, so just hoping I get a new garden to put it in before it grows as big as yours!
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