Burnets Are Tough and Beautiful Plants

These perennials are the ultimate choice for bridging the gap between summer and fall

I have no reminiscence of burnets — aboriginal or cultivated — before my back - to - back encounters with great burnet ( Sanguisorba officinalis ) in the South Korean countryside and on the grassy steppes of Siberia . The mint of its curious imperial - red flush malarky - saltation on tall wiry stems stayed with me , kindling thoughts about burnets in the garden and wondering why they were n’t more commonly grow — or even known — back home . It was an encounter with ‘ Tanna’—a seriously scaled - down version of great burnet — several years after that pique my interestingness in doing a trial . The straight , dwarf mounds made the specie seem almost unruly by comparison , and contrary to my usual disfavour for miniaturizing tall perennials , I regain ‘ Tanna ’ to be a charming exception .

Burnets at a glance

Sanguisorbaspp . and cvs .

Zones:4–9

Conditions : Full sun to fond shade ; moist , well - drained soil

aboriginal range : northerly regions of North America , Europe , and Asia

Pests : Deer , coney , and Japanese beetle

disease : leafage situation , powdery mold

extension : seminal fluid or division

But burnets still finger a bit vague to me , which is not a commentary on their trait or garden economic value but has more to do with their want of availability or visibility . My appreciation for burnets has grow steadily as more and more selections have add up to market , but burnets are still less common here than in England and continental Europe . In 2019 at the Chicago Botanic Garden , we accumulate a collection of burnets that was nearly four times great than the original trial we lead twenty years earlier . gardener ’ interest in burnets must be growing too , with new cultivars showing up in baby’s room catalogs every yr . It ’s easy to translate why their popularity is increasing , especially when these capricious industrial plant burst into bloom in early summertime , draw pollinators aplenty . For me , neat burnet ’s burgundy drumsticks are botanically intriguing , but Korean burnet ’s ( S. hakusanensis ) shaggy squirrel tails wriggling in the breeze are simply fabulous . you may decide which one you wish most ; of course of study , nothing says you must limit yourself to just one . There were stack of top performing artist in our trial .

‘Pink Tanna’ burnet

‘ pinkish Tanna ’ burnet ( S.‘Pink Tanna ’ ) is a fantastic plant , but that is where its chemical attraction to ‘ Tanna ’ end . moderately pink flower with long pale - pinko - to - whitish stamens have a soft , shagged feeling . The perpendicular or slightly curved bottlebrush — up to 1¼ inches when elongated — profusely spread over the plant from midsummer to early fall . The blossom were always loose in color than I require and aged to a blue pink for what seemed like just a second before turning brown . The minute , pleated green leaves held on cherry-red stalk were always healthy and lush . Nipponese beetle from time to time marred this burnet ’s skin colour but were never too troublesome . At 50 inches tall , ‘ pinkish Tanna ’ was one of the marvelous , tough burnets , praiseworthily holding itself upright all summer long .

‘Tanna’ burnet

The likeness to great burnet is clear , but ‘ Tanna ’ burnet ( S.‘Tanna ’ ) is more than just a dwarf rendering of the taller specie . ‘ Tanna’—sometimes listed as a cross , sometimes not — has a compact , polished use . It bear witness signs of its rhizomatous nature but never spread wide . The dark Burgundy wine , testis - shaped flower head appear more like fruits than flowers ; in fact , the rich colouration remains into midfall as seed is developing . In my mind , ‘ Tanna ’ has tiny flowers dead matched to its modest ferny leaves and gnome habit , but the reality is that its flowers were a turn big than those of great burnet . As much as I wish ‘ Tanna ’ , some might still favor the full - sizing heft of great burnet a little more .

‘Little Angel’ dwarf burnet

‘ Little Angel ’ dwarf burnet is precious . ( There , I enunciate it . ) Diminutive in all aspects , ‘ Little Angel ’ ( S. officinalisvar.microcephala‘Little Angel ’ ) is n’t even a fundament tall . The small leaf are trimmed in blank and densely apply in tight , compendious mounds . Variegation apart , this lilliputian burnet tight resembles ‘ Tanna ’ . The purple - red-faced bloom are little , though ( only half an column inch long ) , but they blanket the plant from mid to late summer . The color fades more quickly than that of ‘ Tanna ’ , but the deadheads are not really distracting . ‘ piffling Angel ’ was not nibble by deer like taller burnets ; I marvel if it was just too short for alert deer eating on the fly to notice .

‘Lilac Squirrel’ Korean burnet

‘ Lilac Squirrel ’ Korean burnet ( S. hakusanensis ‘ Lilac Squirrel ’ ) has the most striking flowers of them all . Playful purple - pink squirrel tails on bird - hued stalks nod elegantly from early summertime intimately to frost . An abundance of farsighted pinkish stamen give ‘ Lilac Squirrel ’ its signature shagginess . The pendulous blooms gradually stretch to an impressive 8 inches before the colour fades from light pink to drab white ; quick deadheading is time well spent . The respectable mounds of handsome gray - gullible leaves are 20 inches marvelous and 24 inches wide , and the flowered stem reach a slack 34 inches tall . At full size of it , the brawny flowers bow the stem , which lean sharply to most horizontal at time , making the plant expect borderline mussy or , at in force , intimate . Giving it close neighbor — something it does not have in a well - spaced test — is the backing it need to kiss the sky rather than the soil .

Canadian burnet

Canadian burnet ( S. canadensis ) is big , although at 34 inches tall , our plant life have only gained half their potential height . The green pinnate leaves and robust bushy plant look groovy from fountain to precipitate — no lax stems here . vertical white spikes , to 5 inches at full duration , play short stamen than ‘ Lilac Squirrel ’ and so are not as shaggy-coated . The flowers open along the spike from the bottom upward rather than the top down like many burnets . The long bloom season depart in midsummer , with fresh flower spikes continuing to open up into mid - autumn . Deadheading is primal , however , because the aging flowers are distracting when there are more browned spikes than fresh blossom visible .

‘Pink Elephant’ Oriental burnet

The peak of ‘ Pink Elephant ’ Oriental burnet ( S. tenuifolia‘Pink Elephant ’ ) open pink , then turn weak maroon with whitish stamen in 2 - in - long cut to chandelier plumes . While not as striking as ‘ Lilac Squirrel ’ , this burnet has an eye - catching profusion of slim spike atop grandiloquent stems from midsummer to other autumn . The narrow plant were erect throughout the summertime calendar month ; however , brown flower stems right down to the light-colored green leaves in other fall were a downhearted peak . The robust shaggy-haired mounds exhibit a unique trait among the burnets : The lowest tier of leave-taking repose on the ground , while the others were strictly erect . Unfortunately , the marvelous fore were buffet pinnacle for wander deer , so flowers were once in a while browse .

Trial parameters

The Chicago Botanic Garden is presently pass judgment 26 different burnets in comparative trial , which started in 2019 . Since 2000 , 35 burnets have been evaluated in two separate trial .

How long : Minimum four year

Zone:5b

condition : Full sun ; well - drained , alkaline , the Great Compromiser - loam grunge

Care : We provided minimal care , allowing the plants to thrive or fail under raw conditions . Besides observing their ornamental traits , we monitor the plants to see how well they grew and adapted to environmental and ground conditions while keeping a tightlipped eye on any disease or pest trouble and assessing plant hurt or red ink over wintertime .

These New Burnets Deserve Your Attention

Get to Know Burnets

Tropical Inspiration for Shade Containers

Persicarias Deserve Your Love—Trial Results

Join all right Gardening for a spare engaging live webinar feature Dr. Janna Beckerman , a noted industrial plant pathologist as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals technical manager …

When I spotted a particular Baroness Dudevant dollar cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in problem . With a delightful coloring pattern …

When we only prioritise plants we want over flora our landscape pauperization , each time of year is fill with a never - cease list of chores : pruning , pinching , watering , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Pink Tanna burnet

Photo: Visions/gapphotos.com

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you enrol the backyard of garden room decorator Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to trip up on something , but because you might be dive - flunk by a brace …