What’s In Bloom?

6, Aug, 2010 Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy

by Matthew Lobdell

Lady Stonecrop (Sedum ‘Matrona’)

A hybrid of two popular sedums of garden origin, Lady Stonecrop combines the long-blooming pink flowers and dark colored foliage characteristic of its parents. It flowers from late summer to early fall, and can currently be seen alongside a brighter-flowered selection, ‘Neon’, in the Fort Point Channel Parks.

sedum 'matrona'

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

A New England Native, Cardinal Flower is currently blooming in the Wharf District Parks. It is planted for its flowers, colored a brilliant crimson-red. Like its relative, Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), currently blooming in Dewey Square Park, Cardinal Flower prefers wet conditions, mimicking the stream beds and damp meadows it is indigenous to.

lobelia cardinalis

Herbstsonne Shiny Coneflower (Rudbeckia nitida ‘Herbstsonne’)

Shiny Coneflower, a relative of Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida), is native to the Southern United States, where it is a perennial growing approximately two to four feet tall. However, the cultivar ‘Herbstsonne’ grows two to three times that size, reaching a height of seven feet! A new addition planted this spring, It can currently be seen blooming in the Fort Point Channel Parks.

Rudbeckia nitida 'Herbstsonne'

Also in Bloom:

  • North End Parks: Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Gateway Hollow-stemmed Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum ‘Gateway’)
  • Wharf District Parks: Pink Tickseed (Coreopsis rosea), Black Baneberry (Actaea racemosa), Hummingbird Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’)
  • Urban Arboretum: Pink Velour, Red Rocket, and Burgundy Cotton Crapemyrtles (Lagerstroemia indica ‘Whit III’, ‘Whit IV’, and Whit ‘VI’),
  • Fort Point Channel Parks: Lavender Chiffon Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus ‘Notwoodone’), Big Sky™ Summer Sky Coneflower (Echinacea ‘Katie Saul’), Pamina Anemone (Anemone ‘Pamina’)
  • Dewey Square Park: Goldsturm Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’), Purple Hollow-stemmed Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum ‘Atropurpureum’), Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)