Ranking perennials

Thanks for that very useful list, PeterS. It made me think how I would rank plants if I were sufficiently organised to do so. I would be looking at a combination of sheer gorgeousness combined with ease, reliability and long flowering. So a fantastic thing that lasted 5 minutes eg Amelanchier lamarckii, would have to be ranked lower. But long-flowering alone would not be enough to put it into the top category.

I love Bob's scores, they are so idiosyncratic. And he tells it like it is. A bit different from T&M and other seed catalogues' hype where everything is delightfully gardenworthy!

 

Since 5 o'clock this morning I've been browsing the files of a local bulbs and perennials trader and both Bob's Score and the RHS Plant Selector were an immense factor in bending my indecisive mind to the favour of... any particular helleborus, astilbe, geranium or delphinium cultivars.

I've just posted my order (and I'm awfully exhausted, having made such a thorough research...)

As the plants are bound to arrive in early March, they will take at least a season to establish, so the analysis of subsequent 'empirical data' will have to wait until after the 2015 flowering season.


Great thread, Peter!
But I miss the garden udates...