Having already posted about the underachievers of the past season, I turn now to those plants that have performed above and beyond the call of duty.
5. Campanula 'Sarastro'
This plant just kept reblooming this year. It even formed a bud, albeit a frozen one, in time for November Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. This plant is named for a German nursery, which I suspect is named, in turn, for the Magician/Sorcerer character in Mozart's Opera "The Magic Flute" (Die Zauberflote). This is my favorite opera, which is one reason I chose to put C. 'Sarastro' in my garden rather than the similar C. 'Kent Belle.' Maybe I should do a whole "Magic Flute" themed area and get Anemone 'Pamina' to plant with 'Sarastro' (although a plant named 'Tamino' would be more appropriate), interplanted with some 'Queen of the Night' tulips. But I digress.
4. Clematis 'Silver Moon'
This Clematis has matured to yield over 20 blooms on a relatively short plant in partial shade. I couldn't ask for a better show. I think I'll reward it by getting it a real trellis on which to grow.
3. Corydalis 'Blackberry Wine'
Although I lost one of the three plants this year, the remaining two performed very well this year. Blackberry Wine bloomed non-stop from the middle of April through the middle of August, and did not go dormant after that. What a fabulous little plant, and fragrant to boot! Of course you have to practically drop to all fours to get whiff, but once in a while it's worth it. I wonder if the new chartreuse-foliaged form 'Berry Exciting' would be too over the top?
And now, drumroll please, in a tie for top honors, two similar looking flowers on very different plants: Anemone 'Andrea Atkinson' and Anemonella thalictroides.
I've already gushed about this plant ad nauseum. It just outdid itself this year in height and floriferousness. At the opposite end of the size spectrum
the diminutive Anemonella had its best year ever in the garden. I can't tell what concatenation of weather events caused it not to go dormant this year, a thing that has never happened in my garden. It started blooming at the beginning of April, survived the freeze, and kept on blooming until the end of June. In addition to this pink-flowered form, I have the standard white and a blush-colored double. Anemonella is my favorite plant; I'm so glad that it likes my garden.
*Apologies to John Cusack