July Walking Tour - Darlene Radichel Plant Select® Garden

After the gift of a wetter‑than‑usual spring, the garden has settled into its familiar summertime rhythm of bright sun and low humidity. The shift is palpable the moment you step onto the path: cushions of KANNAH CREEK® buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum ‘Psdowns’) hug the edges in soft drifts of yellow that slowly blush to russet, echoing the warming season. Threading through those mounds, purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) lifts magenta goblets toward the sky. A gentle pinch here and there keeps its wine‑colored tide rolling while preserving its tidy dome.

Follow the fragrance and you will arrive at a patch of chocolate flower (Berlandiera lyrata). Its buttery daisies look innocent enough, but at dawn a warm cocoa aroma rises with the first light—an olfactory surprise that lingers even as the blooms give way to whimsical seed heads. Just beyond, silver foliage flashes like moonlight in daylight: SILVER BLADE® evening primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa ssp. incana) anchors clear, lemon‑yellow trumpets that open in succession for weeks. Nearby, compact clouds of Wee One lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Wee One’) carry their own soft perfume; the bees approve, and so will you well into autumn.

As the path bends, the palette shifts from color to texture. SARADA’S™ Greek mountain tea (Sideritis syriaca ‘P023S’) piles chartreuse spikes against downy silver leaves—a subtle statement that still catches the eye. Far louder is the sudden flare of ORANGE CARPET® hummingbird trumpet (Epilobium canum ssp. garrettii ‘PWWG01S’): low, evergreen mats set ablaze by scarlet flowers that pull hummingbirds like magnets.

Where spring’s fireworks have quieted, foliage steps up to keep the show alive. Twining up an arbor, KINTZLEY’S GHOST® honeysuckle (Lonicera reticulata ‘P015S’) hangs pewter discs that glow like eucalyptus in moonlight, turning every visitor’s head. In a bright‑green counterpoint, the variegated leaves of Carol Mackie daphne (Daphne × burkwoodii ‘Carol Mackie’) are still neat and luminous long after their pink perfume faded. At ground level, glossy mats of mountain lover (Paxistima canbyi) slip under shrubs and rocks, stitching the shady corners together with deep evergreen richness.

The tour finishes in motion: first a playful ripple of FREEDA® caterpillar grass (Harpochloa falx ‘Compact Black’), its curling seed heads pretending to crawl along each blade; then a final shimmer from UNDAUNTED® alpine plume grass (Achnatherum calamagrostis ‘PUND02S’), whose upright plumes catch every angle of the afternoon sun.

By the time you loop back to the start, the garden has offered scent, color, texture, and the soft percussion of grasses in the breeze—proof that even in high summer, resilience can be as sumptuous as it is sustainable.