Every gardener eventually gravitates to certain reliable plants in his or her garden. It's inevitable, whether it's their performance, color, size, fragrance, or some other trait there is something about these certain plants that resonates with the gardener. I have my must haves as well.  I'll save my five must have vegetables for my next post but today I'll share with you my favorite ornamentals. Ornamentals are more than plants with visual appeal they can offer food for pollinators and wildlife and nesting places for beneficial insects.

Here are the ornamentals I will always keep in my garden!

1. Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) - If you haven't tried Russian sage in your garden you should. Once it starts blooming it never seems to quit. It loves the heat of a Tennessee summer, attracts bees in droves, and has never once in my garden been nibbled on by a deer! You need a little space to let one stretch out nicely but there is a smaller cultivar called 'Little Spire' that should fit smaller spaces.
2. Coneflowers! I love the colorful varieties of coneflowers that have hit the market in recent years. I'm not a big fan of the crazy fluffy headed ones but all the rest are welcome in my garden.
3. Coleus.  While I haven't noticed many pollinators around my coleus (since I try to pinch them to prevent the flowering until the end) their colorful presence brightens up any shady area. I typically buy a few six packs and make a few more through cuttings. There are some really unique types of coleus out there, just take a look at 'Henna' sometime. I brought ours indoors in the fall and it has been fantastic as a house plant.
4. Heuchera. Another shade friendly plant that I love to collect. There are so many different varieties to choose from like 'Southern Comfort', 'Caramel', 'Dale's Strain', and my favorite 'Silver Scrolls' that you can't just pick one. Heucheras are very forgiving and are another plant that deer aren't necessarily fond of. They divide easily and over time you can amass quite a few heucheras to cover your shady areas.
5. And I've saved my favorite must have plant for last: Salvias! I always have room for one more salvia in the garden whether it's an annual or perennial. Salvias are the major workhorse in my garden - they fill in gaps, cover mass planting areas, and add color to every garden.  We planted Salvia nemorosa to line our front sidewalk and echoed their purple flower stalks in other areas of the front garden. I sprinkle Salvia coccinea seeds here and there to fill in gaps - the pollinators love them! 'Black and Blue' salvia is another permanent resident along with 'Blue Bedder', Salvia greggi  (Autumn sage), Salvia elegens (Pineapple sage), and Salvia splendens (on occasion when I find them on the discount racks). I even have the herb Salvia officianalis in several locations.

I'll bet you have more than one of these same plants in your garden. What plants do you have to have in your garden?

This weekend, while gardening outdoors and enjoying the wonderful 60-almost 70 degree weather, I was able to capitalize on one of my favorite plant characteristics: the ability to develop roots on branches. This is best known as layering! It's one of my favorite plant propagation techniques because the gardener doesn't have to do much work and it's very successful. The only drawback is that you can't make a whole bunch of plants at one time but settling for 3-4 easy to make new shrubs is still pretty nice.

Layering works on a variety of shrubs, vines, and trees from hydrangeas to viburnums to blackberries - all kinds of plants will easily layer. The technique is simple: bury a segment of a low hanging branch under the soil and wait for rooting to occur. You can speed this along by wounding the stem just below a node and applying rooting hormone to it but often this isn't necessary. Most people will recommend that layering be starting in the spring time when growth hormones are the most active but I tend to do it at another time called "whenever I think about it!" Often I'll bury a stem in the fall for it to root over the winter while not much else is happening then I end up with a new plant to place in another location or to trade away in a plant swap. Our soil doesn't seem to freeze much and with a layer of insulating mulch over top of the soon to be rooted stem the layering process seems to do fine. Once you scrape the soil away and find a decent amount of roots just separate the new plant from the mother plant with pruners and you are all set to either pot it up or plant it out.

Blackberries and raspberries root easily this way. You can just bend the cane to the soil and bury the tip. It will eventually develop roots for another awesome edible plant in your landscape. Some folks will do something called serpentine layering. This is where the cane is buried beneath the soil in several places and some leaf nodes are left exposed. The result is several new plants that just need to be separated from the main plant. Forsythias are another plant that can be tip layered just like blackberries.

This weekend I added two snowball viburnums and an arrowwood viburnum (see picture for summertime appearance) to my garden from plants I already had. I also began the process on an oak leaf hydrangea and repeated layering the viburnums (I can never have too many viburnums).

It's nice to get free plants! Don't you think?

When I'm starting seeds every container is fair game. Any container can become a pot perfect for housing those tender seedlings until transplanting in to the garden. In particular I'm referring to plastic containers from the kitchen that otherwise would have gone in the recycling bin. It's simple to make one of these containers for planting. Just poke a few hole sin the bottom, fill with soil, and viola! One seed planting pot ready to go.

Among one of my most used items for turning into a pot is the simple yogurt cup. My daughters love yogurt which comes in small 4 oz. sizes with 6 yogurts per package - you might know exactly what I mean. (If not just pretend that you do  ) After a few holes are poked into the bottom of the yogurt container I have a simple seed starting pot perfect for an individual plant. I do the same with margarine tubs, sour cream, nearly anything that is plastic can make a good pot. This reuse of an otherwise disposable material is good for the environment too. Many of these plastic containers have a number 5 on the bottom which not all recycling centers can accept. By reusing the container for planting seeds I can get another positive use out of it. The yogurt containers are great for kids to learn about seed starting. Kids love to have a few containers of their own to plant marigolds or zinnias in and when the weather warms up they can help plant their flowers that they planted outdoors.

Have you ever used a foam carryout container as a seed starting tray? I tried this once with some heucheras I grew from seed and it worked great. I cut a hole in the lid then covered it with plastic until the seeds sprouted and my baby 'Palace Purples' were ready to transplant. ('Palace Purple' started from seed will breed true but other heucheras will result in variations - it's still fun to do!)

Many people love to use milk jugs, juice containers, and plastic soda bottles for winter sowing which is another awesome use! Just cut the container about 5-6 inches from the bottom all the way around except for 3 inches or so. By leaving that little section you will have a hinge for easy opening. Poke enough drainage holes in the bottom of the container, add soil, and sow your seeds. Seeds that require stratification(cold time) like echinacea are great for winter sowing but all kinds of plants can be done this way. Once you have planted your seeds water the container and tape the lid back on and you've winter sowed seeds!

What was the most unusual container you have used for seed starting?