MVP STATUS: AUGUST 23-29

Every great garden needs stars. Some show off with flowers. Others let their foliage do the heavy lifting. This week’s Picks of the Week bring both to the party, and they’re all 25% OFF.

🌿 Matteuccia struthiopteris

You know that dark, damp corner of the garden where normal plants go to file for divorce? SEND IN THE OSTRICH FERNS. Matteuccia struthiopteris throws up huge, fresh-green fronds in beautiful upright fountains and actually gets happier in the cool, moist shade everybody else complains about. Give it rich soil and consistent moisture and this thing can spread by underground rhizomes into a spectacular colony, which is either magnificent or mildly alarming depending on how much room you gave it. Big, prehistoric-looking and completely uninterested in your hot, dry perennial border. Sometimes the solution to a shitty spot is finding a plant that thinks the shitty spot is fantastic.

💛 Caltha palustris

Finally, a plant that sees wet soil and doesn't immediately start drafting its last will and testament. Caltha palustris produces brilliant yellow, buttercup-like flowers in spring above glossy green foliage and naturally feels right at home around marshes, streams and other genuinely wet places. Pond edges, rain gardens and boggy areas are where this thing earns its paycheque. This is not “my sprinkler hits this spot twice a week” moisture. Caltha likes the kind of wet ground where you step into the bed and immediately regret your footwear. Got that? Congratulations. YOU HAVE PRIME REAL ESTATE.

💜 Perovskia ‘Denim ’n Lace’

This plant wants sun, drainage and for you to kindly get the hell out of its way. ‘Denim ’n Lace’ builds an upright mound topped with masses of bright sky-blue flowers held in amethyst calyxes, creating that gorgeous smoky haze Russian sage does so damn well. The difference is this one was bred with stronger stems and a more compact, tidy habit, so you get the drama without quite as much sprawling nonsense. It thrives in full sun, handles dry conditions once established and absolutely does not want to sit around with wet feet. Hot, sunny, well-drained spot where other plants start complaining? DENIM. LACE. DONE.

💛 Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’

Yes, you've seen Stella before. Everybody has seen Stella before. THERE IS A REASON STELLA KEEPS GETTING HIRED. This compact daylily pumps out loads of golden-yellow flowers and is famous for an unusually long bloom period, with repeat flowering that keeps the show going far longer than your average daylily. It handles full sun to part shade, grows in ordinary well-drained garden soil and asks for remarkably little considering how much work it does. Is it rare? No. Is it mysterious? Absolutely not. Does it show up every year, do its damn job and make you wonder why half your expensive plants can't demonstrate the same work ethic? WELCOME BACK, STELLA.

💜 Verbena bonariensis

Apparently nobody told Verbena bonariensis that flowers are supposed to stay down near the rest of the plant. This thing sends tall, ridiculously skinny stems into the air and balances clusters of violet-purple flowers on top like some kind of botanical magic trick. The genius is that you get serious height without creating a giant wall of foliage, so you can actually see straight through it to everything behind. Butterflies and other pollinators love the flowers, it blooms for months, and it looks phenomenal drifting through grasses and sunny borders. One important Canadian reality check: this South American perennial isn't reliably hardy through our winters, so treat it like an annual and enjoy any self-seeded volunteers as a bonus. Basically, it may die, leave children and continue the family business.

🤍 Geranium ‘Biokovo’

‘Biokovo’ doesn't need to scream because it already knows it's useful as hell. This low-growing hardy geranium forms a spreading carpet of aromatic, lobed green foliage topped with masses of delicate white flowers softly flushed with pink. It works beautifully along pathways, under shrubs and at the front of borders, spreading gradually without behaving like it has plans to annex the neighbour's property. Give it sun to part shade and well-drained soil and it'll reward you again in fall when the foliage starts picking up gorgeous reddish tones. Tough, fragrant, tidy and ridiculously versatile. Quietly competent. Suspiciously easy. We should probably put it in charge.

🌾 Carex ‘Evergold’

Somebody finally made a shade plant that doesn't look like it has been living in a basement since 1987. ‘Evergold’ forms graceful arching clumps of narrow foliage striped with creamy yellow down the centre and deep green along the edges, lighting up darker corners without requiring a single flower to get the job done. Technically it's a sedge, not a grass, and it makes a fantastic edging plant, groundcover or bright little punctuation mark among hostas and other shade perennials. Give it part shade and reasonably moist, well-drained soil and let the foliage do the talking. It's basically a tiny illuminated fountain made out of leaves. AND YES, WE KNOW IT'S A SEDGE. DON'T EMAIL US.

💙 Hosta ‘Halcyon’

There are approximately nine billion hostas on Earth and somehow ‘Halcyon’ still walks into the room like, “Yeah, but look at ME.” Thick, beautifully textured blue-grey leaves form a dense, handsome mound, and ‘Halcyon’ is particularly good at holding that blue colour well into the season. Give it part shade to shade, moist well-drained soil and a little patience because this isn't some lunatic trying to reach full size by Thursday. Those substantial leaves also make it less appealing to slugs than thinner-leaved hostas, although apparently nobody has explained personal boundaries to slugs. Cool, blue, dependable and ridiculously handsome. THE GEORGE CLOONEY OF HOSTAS.

🔥 Hosta ‘Fire Island’

Some hostas are blue. Some are green. ‘Fire Island’ apparently woke up and chose HIGH-VISIBILITY SAFETY EQUIPMENT. Brilliant yellow leaves emerge in spring on striking red petioles, creating a ridiculous colour combination that practically glows in the shade garden. As summer moves along, the foliage mellows toward chartreuse while those red stems keep bringing the drama underneath. Give it part shade and moist, well-drained soil, then put it beside something dark green or blue and watch what happens. Pair it with ‘Halcyon’ and suddenly you haven't planted two hostas. YOU'VE MADE A DESIGN DECISION.

🌸 Bergenia cordifolia

Bergenia has spent decades being ignored while everybody chased whatever perennial had the sexiest photograph on Instagram. Meanwhile, this absolute tank has been sitting there with huge, thick, glossy leaves, clusters of deep pink spring flowers and almost no interest in creating problems for anybody. It thrives in part shade to shade, spreads slowly by rhizomes and develops into a substantial groundcover, with foliage that can turn beautiful purplish-bronze as temperatures drop. It isn't flashy for five minutes and useless for the other eleven months. It's built for the long haul. Trendy? Maybe not. Dependable? THIS THING COULD PROBABLY SURVIVE A DIVORCE, A RECESSION AND THREE LANDSCAPE DESIGNERS.

❤️ Imperata ‘Red Baron’

Okay, everybody remain calm because THE GRASS IS ON FIRE. ‘Red Baron’ produces upright blades that start green and develop increasingly dramatic blood-red colour, giving you a vertical blast of foliage that looks absolutely ridiculous beside dark greens, silvers and softer ornamental grasses. Full sun brings out the strongest colour, and the compact upright habit makes it easy to work into a perennial border without requiring enough space for a grass the size of a Volkswagen. One important housekeeping note: if you ever see completely green shoots appearing, remove them rather than letting them take over the clump. Otherwise, plant it where that red foliage can catch the light and prepare for questions. One clump is interesting. Three look intentional. Seven and YOUR NEIGHBOURS ARE GOING TO START ASKING WHO YOU HIRED.