Six Plants I Can't Live Without

Southern Living magazine's Steven Bender, also known as the Grumpy Gardener, recently issued a challenge to 10 garden bloggers south of the border on this topic.

An interesting exercise, I thought, so here are my half-dozen must-have plants:

1. I simply can't have a garden without peonies. Period.

2. I know people who don't like them, but personally I can't live without ornamental grasses. (I know that's a very broad category, and I have many favorites within it.)

3. I adore white-flowering crab apple trees, especially if they also have persistent fruit.

4. Also can't live without hostas, and this 'Sagae' is my favorite.

5. It's a close call among many favorite native meadow plants, but Eupatorium won out over Echinacea and Ratibida. (All of these are good butterfly plants.)

6. When it comes to big shade trees, oaks have a special place in my heart. We're lucky to have space, and so we have planted many young oak trees. I hope that their majesty will be appreciated when we're gone. We are enjoying their youth. One young burr oak, now about 15 feet tall and growing at the south side of our house must have been planted by a squirrel 7 or 8 years ago. Don't let anyone tell you that oaks grow slowly. This one is speeding right along.

What about you? What plants can you not live without?

My blogging friend, Salix, took up the challenge. Read about her six picks here.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener