For Height, Drama, and Eye-Catching Interest

By Ava Green

Every well-designed garden needs an anchor, something tall and confident at the back that gives the whole planting a sense of structure and depth. While shrubs and trees often fill that role, perennials can also do the job beautifully. The back row perennials below are sturdy, reliable performers that thrive right here in Norfolk County. Plant them at the back of a border or the centre of an island bed as the backdrop that makes everything around them look better.

False Indigo, Baptisia australis

Baptisia is one of those perennials that gardeners discover and immediately wonder why they waited so long to plant it. In late spring, masses of stems are loaded with sweet pea-shaped flowers in shades of indigo blue, soft yellow, white or purple, and butterflies and bees absolutely love them. Once the blooms fade, the plant takes on a handsome, shrub-like form with blue-green foliage that holds its shape nicely for the rest of the season. While it’s slow to establish, it is extraordinarily long-lived, making it a plant you put in once and enjoy for decades.

Grows 3 ft tall and 3 ft wide | Full sun to partial shade | Blooms late spring to early summer

Hollyhocks, Alcea

Few perennials carry the nostalgic, romantic charm of a Hollyhock in full bloom. Their tall, stately spires are covered in large, papery flowers and are available in an irresistible range of colours from soft pastels to rich burgundies and deep purples, to classic white. They have a way of making a garden feel established in their first season, making them a desirable back-row choice.  

Grows 2-8 ft tall and 1-2 ft wide | Prefers full sun but will tolerate part shade | Blooms in summer 

Joe Pye Weed, Eutrochium or Eupatorium

A native plant that is as ecologically valuable as it is beautiful. Its large, showy clusters of rosy-purple flowers are a magnet for butterflies and pollinators from mid-summer well into fall, long after many other perennials have finished their show. If you want a back-row plant that works hard for wildlife while adding bold colour to the garden, this is an excellent choice. 

Grows 4-6 ft tall and 2-4 ft wide | Prefers part sun and moist soil | Blooms mid-summer to late fall

Russian Sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia or Salvia yangii 

When the garden fills up with yellow and orange blooms in late summer, Russian Sage arrives with a billowy, airy cloud of lavender-blue flower spikes rising above silvery-grey foliage. It catches the light beautifully and adds a softness that few other plants can match. Drought-tolerant once established and virtually pest-free, it is one of the lowest-maintenance perennials you can grow. Compact varieties are also available if space is limited. 

Grows 3-4 ft tall and 3-4 ft wide | Full sun | Blooms mid-summer to fall

Bear’s Breeches, Acanthus Mollis

If you’re looking for a plant that makes a genuine architectural statement, Bear’s Breeches is in a category of its own. Its large, deeply lobed, glossy foliage forms an impressive mound, while dramatic flower spikes shoot three to five feet upward, bearing creamy white snapdragon-like blooms accented with striking reddish-purple bracts. It is bold, sculptural, and unlike almost anything else in the garden. 

Grows 3-5 ft tall and 2-3 ft wide | Full sun to part shade | Blooms June to July

Foxglove, Digitalis 

There is something undeniably enchanting and regal about Foxglove with its tall spires of tubular flowers freckled and spotted on the inside, nodding gently in the breeze. The colour range is also wonderful, from soft creamy whites and pale pinks to rich purples and deep rose. Many varieties self-seed freely, naturalizing happily in the garden over time. One important note: every part of the Foxglove plant is toxic to people and pets, so it is best planted away from areas where children or animals play. In the right spot, however, it is one of the most beautiful back-of-the-border plants available. 

Grows 2-5 ft tall and 2 ft wide | Sun to part shade | Blooms in summer

Goat’s Beard, Aruncus diocus

Despite its stature, this is one of the most graceful and softening plants you can add to a shady border. Large, feathery plumes of creamy white flowers rise above finely divided, elegant foliage, bringing lightness to even the darkest corners of the garden. It is especially effective at softening hard edges, filling bare spots under trees, and providing a lush, natural backdrop for smaller shade-loving plants. Dwarf varieties are available for smaller spaces.

Grows 6 inches (dwarf) to 6 ft  tall and 2-4 ft wide | Partial to full shade | Blooms early to mid-summer

Gardener’s Tip: 

Removing spent blooms before they go to seed, also known as deadheading, encourages many perennials to produce a second flush of flowers later in the season. It takes only a few minutes and can extend your bloom display by weeks. 

Ready to Build Your Back Row?

The team at Eising Garden Centre is here to help you choose the right tall perennials for your space, your soil, and your sun conditions. Stop by and let us help you create a border that looks stunning from front to back, season after season.

Expert Picks You Can Plant Right Now

By Ava Green

Looking for a flowering shrub that delivers season after season? We asked our experts at Eising Garden Centre to share their top picks, the ones that customers and staff love most, and they delivered. Whether you’re looking for spring blooms, fall colour, wildlife and pollinator value, or a shrub to suit your space, there’s something on this list for every garden.

Fuji Cherry ‘Little Twist’, Prunus incisa ‘CarltonLT’

As an accent in a small garden, or planted in a grouping in a larger garden, this multi-stemmed shrub is a gem! 

In early spring, crimson buds emerge before the leaves appear. Little Twist then produces clusters of lightly scented white, bell-shaped flowers with soft pink centres that grow along its stems, a stunning early-season display. It is a deciduous shrub, and leaves begin as green before shifting to coppery-bronze, then deepen to a rich burgundy in fall. Smooth, dark red bark adds interest in the winter once the leaves are gone.

This slow-growing, multi-stemmed shrub makes a striking feature in your garden.

Best for: Small gardens, accent planting, four-season interest. | Sun: Full sun | Mature size: 6 ft. tall × 6 ft. wide

Downy Serviceberry, Amelanchier canadensis

One of the most rewarding native shrubs you can plant, Downy Serviceberry earns its place in the garden from spring right through to fall. Showy clusters of fragrant white flowers in early spring, followed by small, sweet, edible purple-blue berries in early summer that are wonderful for making jam and an absolute favourite for birds. Come fall, the foliage puts on a spectacular show in shades of yellow, red, and orange.

As a bonus, choosing a native plant like Serviceberry supports local pollinators and wildlife, making it as ecologically valuable as it is beautiful. It works well as a specimen plant on it’s own, in a grouping or hedge, or naturalized in a larger landscape.

Best for: Wildlife gardens, naturalized areas, multi-season interest | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 20 ft. tall × 10 ft. wide

Amur Privet, Ligustrum Amurense

Amur Privet

When fast growth and privacy matter, Amur Privet is one of the best choices available. This dense, dark green shrub produces white flower panicles in late spring and small black berries in fall. It responds exceptionally well to pruning after it blooms, making it an ideal candidate for a formal or informal hedge. If you need to fill a space quickly and create structure in your garden, this is a reliable, low-maintenance option. 

Best for: Hedging, screening, fast coverage | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 12–15 ft. tall × 8–15 ft. wide

Viburnum ‘Fragrant Snowball’, Viburnum Opulus ‘Roseum’

Few shrubs stop people in their tracks quite like Fragrant Snowball Viburnum in full bloom. Large, rounded clusters of sweetly scented white flowers cover the plant in spring, creating a display that’s hard to match. While it doesn’t produce fruit, it earns its place again in the fall when the foliage transitions to rich shades of purple. 

Pruning after it blooms will help to keep it a manageable size and encourage healthy new growth. It’s also available as a standard, or tree form, which matures to a more compact 6 to 8 feet tall.

Sun or part shade are best for this deciduous shrub, a beautiful, solitary accent plant for the garden growing 12 feet high and 10 feet wide. As a standard, it is smaller, maturing at 6 to 8 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide.  

Best for: Specimen planting, cottage gardens, fragrance | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 12 ft. tall × 10 ft. wide (shrub); 6–8 ft. tall (standard)

Snowbelle Mockorange, Philadelphus ‘Snowbelle’

Don’t let its compact size fool you; when Snowbelle Mockorange blooms in early summer, it puts on a big show. This dense, mounded shrub is blanketed in sweetly fragrant double white blooms that are absolutely irresistible to bees and butterflies. Once the flowers fade, its rich, dark-green deciduous foliage makes it a lovely backdrop for other blooming plants in the border.

Growing just four feet tall and wide, it’s one of the best choices for smaller beds, borders and foundation plantings. It prefers full sun but handles part shade as well.

Best for: Small borders, foundation planting, fragrance | Sun: Full sun to part shade | Mature size: 4 ft. tall × 4 ft. wide

More Flowering Shrubs Worth Exploring

This is just the beginning! At Eising Garden Centre, we also carry a wonderful selection of Azalea, Eastern Redbud, Kwanzan Flowering Cherry, Hydrangea, Dogwood, Butterfly Bush, Beauty Bush, Lilac, Rose of Sharon, Forsythia, and Potentilla, to name a few. 

The best way to find the right flowering shrub for your garden is to come in and see them in person, and right now is the perfect time to plant. Stop by and chat with Zach or Donna, who are always happy to help you find exactly what you’re looking for, based on your space, soil, and vision. We’re here to help you make the most of every corner of your garden!

By: Ava Green

One of the best things about living in southern Ontario is the beautiful show our deciduous trees and shrubs put on each fall. 

Autumn is also the perfect time to plant trees, shrubs, and perennials. The sun is less intense, temperatures are slightly cooler, and with regular, deep watering, the plants are less prone to transplant shock, ensuring a successful planting. 

As the leaves begin to change, they mark the arrival of autumn, a season full of colour and celebration. If fall is a special time of year for you, our staff have handpicked their favourite deciduous trees and shrubs with the most stunning seasonal displays. Here are their top recommendations.

Autumn Blaze Maple

Botanical Name: Acer x freemanii 'Jeffersred'

This tree is a cross between the fast-growing Silver Maple and the showy Red Maple - two very popular trees! 

Autumn Blaze will provide a display of colour throughout autumn by starting earlier and lasting longer than most other trees. It’s large, with 5-inch leaves that begin by turning red at the top, then eventually shades of red and orange cascade down the length of the tree. 

Even in the winter, this is a beautiful specimen because its shape is so symmetrical.

Seven-Son Flower

Botanical Name: Heptacodium miconioides

Considered a small tree or large shrub, Seven-Son Flower is popular for its year-round beauty! 

Growing to a maximum of 6.1 metres (20 feet) tall and 3 metres (9.8 feet) wide, the leaves of this plant change from spring to summer, making it an interesting specimen plant in the garden. 

The biggest attraction is the fragrant white blooms it produces late in summer, which are highly attractive to hummingbirds and other pollinators. As the blooms fall, they leave behind pink sepals, so it looks like it’s in bloom all over again!

Its unusual bark makes this tree beautiful year-round, but especially in the winter.

Washington Hawthorn

Botanical Name: Crataegus phaenopyrum

Leaves that turn vibrant shades of orange, purple or scarlet red in the fall are just part of the beauty of this small tree.

This is another specimen with year-round interest. In early spring, reddish-purple leaves emerge, which eventually turn dark green, followed by graceful white flowers. After its fall show, it produces bright red berries that last for most of the winter.

Maturing at 8 to 9 metres (25-30 feet) tall, Washington Hawthorn is also an important nectar plant for pollinators and provides food for birds in the winter.

Barberries

Botanical Name: Berberis thunbergii

Depending on the type of Barberry these deciduous shrubs can grow ½ to 3 metres (1-10 feet) tall and have varied shapes and features as well. For example:

• Barberry, Concorde (Berberis thunbergii 'Concorde')forms a nice globe when it's mature. Leaves start out red and gradually turn a deep, dark purple as they mature.
• Barberry, Ruby Carousel (Berberis thunbergii 'Bailone') is a compact variety with vibrant, ruby-red foliage.
• Barberry, Rose Glow (Berberis thunbergii 'Rose Glow') which matures to 1 to 1 ½ metres (3-5 feet) tall, starts out with a combination of green, white, and deep rose-red foliage in the spring. In the fall, it produces bright red berries that persist into winter.

Beautyberry, Pearl Glam

Botanical Name: Callicarpa 'NCCX2'

While many Beautyberry are showy in the fall, Pearl Glam is an upright, small shrub that has all-season interest. Its dark purple foliage emerges in the spring that lasts until frost. 

In late summer it’s adorned with white flowers which attract butterflies and bees. After blooming it produces hundreds of beautiful violet-purple berries which last long after the leaves have fallen.

Crepe Myrtle, Cherry Mocha

Botanical Name: Lagerstroemia 'Cherry Mocha'

Another small ornamental deciduous shrub with an upright growing habit, Cherry Mocha Crepe Myrtle has decorative appeal in every season.

Burgundy coloured stems with semi-glossy burgundy leaves makes this plant stand out. To add to that, new growth at the tips starts out glossy, deep red. If that’s not enough, in late summer and early fall, the blooms on this cultivar are large, cherry-red flowers which stand out from the burgundy foliage. Its flowers late in the season provide important food for bees. After flowering, green seed pods provide extra interest.

Note: Have you ever wondered why leaves on trees and shrubs change each fall? Here’s a simple explanation. During the long, sunny days of summer, trees and shrubs produce plenty of chlorophyll - the food needed to keep the leaves green. In autumn, as the days grow shorter and temperatures are cooler, there is less chlorophyll produced and the plant breaks down residual chemicals on the surface of the leaves which produces shades of red, orange and yellow.

You’ll find more information in our handy Eisings online Plant Finder!

The flavour of homegrown tomatoes is like nothing else, and tomatoes are pretty easy to grow in Southern Ontario. With all that classic, juicy flavour, it's so satisfying to serve your family beautiful and tasty tomatoes that you grew yourself. Some of the more unique varieties are surprisingly beautiful plants as well—especially when they're loaded with brightly-coloured fruit! 

Here are some of our favourite tomato varieties for 2020!

Little Sicily is the perfect patio tomato, delivering lots of tomatoes with excellent flavour on a plant that stays under 2 feet tall!

Candyland Red is a currant tomato—slightly smaller than the cherry size. The sweet flavour of these dark red fruits can be enjoyed all season long.

Glamour is an early producing tomato, with large crack-resistant fruits. These are a delicious all-around tomato, great for sandwiches, salads, slicing, and canning.

Great White is a large, yellow-white tomato with a delicate tropical flavour and low acidity. These are the best when eaten immediately after harvesting! Great White is pleasant and mild, and perfect for folks who are sensitive to acidic foods.

Green Zebra is a green and yellow striped tomato with a tart and rich flavour. It's a little smaller than your average grocery store tomato. Let them ripen fully on the vine before picking to enjoy their full, balanced flavour.

Pineapple is a sizeable bright-yellow tomato known for its refreshing citrusy flavour. These are super sweet with lower acid levels than other yellow tomatoes. Pineapple tomatoes can weigh up to 1 pound each and are perfect for sandwiches!

Better Boy is the perfect classic red tomato. Its the perfect balance of tart and sweet, and it produces an amazing amount of fruit in one season. This excellent slicing tomato grows well almost anywhere.

Bush Beefsteak is the perfect beefsteak variety for patios. It delivers large and flavourful fruit early in the season, maturing in just 62 days. The plant stays much more compact than other beefsteak varieties. 

Whatever variety of tomatoes you choose to grow, you can be sure they'll taste amazing. You'll be able to show off your delicious homegrown fruit in all sorts of meals—from salads to kebabs, soups to sauces, and burgers to sandwiches. All of these varieties are disease resistant and will grow well in Simcoe!

Tomatoes are pretty simple to care for, but there are a few basics to keep in mind. These garden favourites are heavy feeders, and they're also very thirsty. Because they grow so fast, they use up nutrients in the soil fast. Fertilize your tomatoes once a week to ensure they have the nutrients they need to produce the best possible flavour. During the summer, you may need to water your tomatoes daily, especially if they are in pots. Growing as fast and as large as they do, tomatoes use up water very quickly. Make sure they're watered consistently, without getting too dry in between, to prevent blossom end rot. 

Ready to start growing tomatoes for your summer BBQs, picnics, and block parties? Stop by our Garden Centre; we've got many more delicious and beautiful varieties to choose from!