Gardening
Winning Perennials for Your Garden
Blue Heaven was discovered and introduced for its taller, more upright habit that does not tend to flop like many others.
Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com
After a busy summer of vacations, BBQ's, and garden care, it is fun to turn our attention to planting. Fall is a great time to plant perennials and many garden centers are busy refreshing their supply of perennial plants. Consider including one or more of these winners when making your perennial plant selections this fall.
Hostas are an excellent choice for those shady spots in the landscape but with so many cultivars to choose from the selection process can be overwhelming. The America Hosta Growers Association (AHGA) decided to help growers and gardeners with the selection process by introducing the AHGA Hosta of the Year. Each year since 1996, members of the AHGA select and feature a Hosta of the Year. The winning hosta must grow well in all regions of the country, be widely available, and have a retail price of about $15 the year it was selected.
Island Breeze is this year's winner. Hardy in zones three to nine, its strong growth rate, thicker leaves and wide green leaf margins with bright yellow centers made it a winner. The leaf centers emerge a brilliant yellow then turn chartreuse in the summer when grown in heavy shade and a lighter yellow in more sun. The leaf stems, petioles, have red speckles that bleed into the base of the leaves, adding to their ornamental appeal. Dark lavender flowers appear on red stems in mid-summer, attracting hummingbirds to the garden.
You may also want to consider this year's Perennial Plant of the Year little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and its cultivars for those sunny spots in the landscape. Each year, Perennial Plant Association (PPA) members select a winner based on the plant's suitability to thrive in a wide range of growing conditions, its ability to provide multiple seasons of interest, have good insect and disease resistance, and be low maintenance. This year's selection of the native little bluestem and its cultivars allowed perennial experts the opportunity to promote the species or the cultivars that will do the best in their region.
The native little bluestem is hardy in zones three to ten and grows two- to four-feet tall. The blue-green leaves turn reddish bronze in fall and are complemented by fluffy white seeds that persist into winter. This grass prefers full sun with loam or sandy soil and tends to flop or decline in heavy clay soil and damp sites.
PPA Board members helped gardeners across the country and in Canada by sharing the top performing little bluestem cultivars in their regions.
A relatively new introduction, Jazz, was a favorite in both the Central and Mid Atlantic regions. This shorter cultivar is 24 to 30 inches tall and 18 inches wide, with sturdy stems and silvery blue leaves.
Carousel is another dwarf cultivar, growing 30 inches tall and wide and was recommended by the Great Lakes PPA Board member. Its bowl-shaped growth habit, upright flower stems and kaleidoscope of copper, pink, tan, and dark orange-red fall color make it a nice addition to the garden.
Standing Ovation is a favorite of the Canadian, Western and Mid-Atlantic PPA Regional Board members. The spiky bluish-green stems in a tight upright growth habit provide a vertical accent in perennial borders. The brilliant orange, red and yellow fall color ends the season with a blaze of color.
Western and Mid-Atlantic PPA Board members both added The Blues to their list of preferred little bluestem cultivars. It has deep blue leaves that transform to a rich purple and burgundy in the fall. This cultivar is usually a foot taller than Jazz, growing up to four feet tall and two feet wide.
These are just a few of the many beautiful perennials suitable for home gardens. Check out past winners and of course leave room for a few new plants you just cannot resist.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener's Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
Antiques
Sports Cards Still Winning at Auction
A Mickey Mantle card that was discovered in a Quincy, MA attic in the 1980s recently set a record for sports cards and sports memorabilia at auction. Major League Baseball detailed the card's journey before reaching the auction block. Ted Lodge is the one who found the card in the Quincy attic. Ted's father was a delivery driver for Topps Trading Cards and had apparently forgotten about a set of cards he stashed away. Ted contacted a dealer who found "Christy Mathewson cards, Bill Dickey cards and nearly 40 Mantle '52s." The dealer sold the nearly perfect 1952 Mickey Mantle card for $6,000 but bought it back for $40,000 almost immediately thinking it could be worth more. Ralph Giordano was just a boy when he went to a card show with his father Anthony. Ralph spotted the Mantle card marked for $57,500 on a dealer's table and told his father. Anthony sent his son back to the dealer and asked Ralph to offer $50,000. Anthony, Ralph, and the dealer agreed to $50,000. When his purchase made the news, some people thought it was ridiculous to pay $50,000 for a baseball card. Giordano told MLB "I think it may have been Howard Stern," Giordano remembered. "He called me a moron." As it turns out, Giordano made a great investment. The card sold for $12.6 million at auction last month. The price surpassed the record set earlier this month when a Honus Wagner card sold for $7.25 million. The Mantle card also set a record for sports memorabilia, topping the $9.3 million paid in May for a jersey Maradona wore when he scored his "Hand of God" goal.
Central Mass Auctions made national news when Sports Collectors Digest reported on our upcoming November sports card and memorabilia auction. Local sports card dealer Jeff Weisenberg was interviewed about a collection of baseball tobacco cards he purchased and also shared details about our upcoming auction. T206 tobacco cards were produced between 1909 and 1911. The aforementioned Honus Wagner card is one of the rarest. Sweet Caporal and Piedmont were two of the largest manufacturers. We will be offering several T206 Carolina Brights cards, made by Wells Whitehead Tobacco Company. Carolina Brights cards are considered very rare and can be worth over ten times the amount of a card made by a more common manufacturer. A Ty Cobb card that we sold for $3,250 in one of our auctions could bring $25,000 to $50,000 with the Carolina Brights back.
N172 Old Judge tobacco cards were produced in the 1880s and 1890s. Players are pictured in uniform, in suits and in “action shots.” In the action shots, a ball would be hung down to make it look like a player was hitting or catching it. The cameras from that era couldn't capture pictures of the ball actually being caught or hit in real time. We will also be offering a group of these Old Judge cards. Even with the damage, some Hall of Famers could bring four figure sums. For over two years now, baseball cards have been a home run with collectors.
We are still accepting cards and other consignments for our November multi-estates auction. I'll be teaching My "Evaluating your Antiques" class at Bay Path High School on September 13th. I'll be at appraisal events at the Townsend Historical Society on October 15th, the Worcester Senior Center from on October 18th, and the Leicester Senior Center on November 5th. Please visit our website www.centralmassauctions.com for links to upcoming events.
Contact us at: www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111) info@centralmassauctions.com for antiques and collectibles auction services.