Planting Ajuga and Brunnera from Monrovia
The gardens here at my Bedford, New York farm are constantly evolving. I am always looking for pretty and interesting specimens to add to the developing beds. It's always very rewarding to see them develop and thrive.
This week, I received an assortment of plants from Monrovia, a wholesale plant nursery specializing in shrubs, perennials, annuals, ferns, grasses and conifers with several nursery locations across the country. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and I, decided to plant Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' on both sides of a footpath leading to my Summer House garden. We also added Ajuga 'Black Scallop' and Brunnera 'Alexandria' to a bed behind my gym. These plants are small now, but they will add more texture and color to the areas as they grow.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Our latest delivery from Monrovia includes these very interesting ground covering perennials. Ryan loads them on the back of our Polaris off-road vehicle, so they can be taken to their new locations.
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- The first spot is the entrance to my sunken Summer House garden. Ryan lines up Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ on both sides of the stone pavers. If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall we just made this stone path last spring.
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- Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ is a spreading, miniature chocolate foliage plant with lacy blue flowers in spring. As these mature, they will create a tight mat of rich, brown color with dark green undertones.
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- Brian starts by digging the hole at least twice the size of the plant’s root ball.
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- These plants were going into narrow areas and were already root bound in their pots, so Brian decided it was a good idea to split the plants in half. Here is the root ball of one of the Ajuga plants – all the roots formed a dense, tangled mass that allows little or no space for further growth.
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- To divide, Brian first looks for the center of the root ball – a good place to divide the plant in two.
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- This is a Hori Hori gardening knife. It is perfect for many tasks such as loosening soil, measuring soil depth, digging up weeds, and dividing plants.
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- Once Brian finds the center, he uses the Hori Hori to carefully cut down the middle of the root ball.
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- Here is one half – still quite full, but now with more circulation between the roots and more room to grow.
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- All the areas to be planted are given a good sprinkling of fertilizer. Here we used an all-purpose formula with a good balance of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
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- Brian uses his foot to measure the distance from the stone pavers to where the Ajuga will be planted.
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- And then he plants the Ajuga. Ajuga naturalizes easily, spreading by stolons, or horizontal stems that creep along the ground, so be sure to plant it appropriately.
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- What is so nice about adding Ajuga to the garden is they hold their leaf color and stay attractive almost all year-round.
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- One can see the nice row of Ajuga lining this side of the footpath. The other side is an exact match. Brian neatly rakes around the plants and then gives them all a good drink.
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- In the foreground is another variety of Ajuga – Ajuga ‘Black Scallop.’ In the back is Brunnera ‘Alexandria.’ Several of both kinds were placed in a garden bed behind my gym building.
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- Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ is a unique perennial in the mint family Lamiaceae, with most species native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and southeastern Australia. It has lush dark burgundy-black scalloped foliage that blankets the ground when mature.
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- Brunnera is one of the prettiest plants to include in any shady garden. Brunnera is an herbaceous perennial with leaves that are glossy green or in variegated hues of gray, silver, or white.
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- The root ball of this Brunnera is not as tightly formed as the Ajuga plants, but still needs to be scarified, so the roots are stimulated to grow. This root ball was also recently watered, so everything is darker in color.
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- Brian plants this in a hole that is also twice the size of the root ball – a good rule of thumb for any plant – and then backfills the surrounding fertilized soil.
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- Brunnera is a slowly spreading, rhizomatous perennial that is loved for its heart-shaped leaves. I think these will do well here in this garden.
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- Because the Ajuga has more room to grow in this space, Brian does not divide these Ajuga plants, but carefully opens the bottom of the root ball and spreads out the bottom roots.
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- Here is how it looks just before planting. Brian will place it into the hole with the roots flaring outward, so they grow in that direction.
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- Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ is also known as Black Scallop bugleweed, ground pine, carpet bugle, or just bugle. All these plants are available in the perennials section of the nursery.
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- These plants will soon develop into bigger ground covering masses. Don’t be afraid to experiment with color and form in the garden – it can always be changed. Do research on a plant’s care needs and always plant with a specimen’s mature size in mind. For anyone passionate about gardening, it’s always so rewarding to plant new specimens and watch them flourish.
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