If Haagen-Dazs can create a whole new ice-cream line with just five ingredients, why not a beautiful perennial garden with just five great plants?
That’s the premise behind Nanci J. Ondra’s book (Storey, 2014). Although it’s subtitled “52 Ways to Grow a Perennial Garden with Just Five Plants” the ones for full sun to partial shade will be the most useful for Colorado gardeners.
Those who want to go monochromatic will find plans and plant lists for pink, red, yellow, blue, white and gray-green gardens, and alternatives of the same height and color for each of the five plants in each garden. Did “Heavy Metal” switchgrass fail in your garden? Substitute Siberian iris, globe thistle or a blue mist spirea. Can’t find Spike Blazing Star? Go with a purple coneflower or “Bluebird” aster.
You’ll also get a discussion of how to care for your new perennial bed and what colors and shapes it will provide to your landscape — plus answers to that all-important question of water requirements.
