I picked up a gentian on whim last fall, planted in part shade and forgot about it. Was walking around that part of the garden this summer and had my socks knocked off by those rich, true blue flowers! Needless to say, I picked up a few more :0) I don't consider this a front of the border plant, the foliage isn't anything to write home about it (not bad, but not showcase material), but wow that blue! I have "True Blue" BTW.

mxk, it is a groundcover height but you don't put it at the front of a border, like a groundcover campanula? where then, plse? I needs inspiration :-)
mindy

I put it behind some endless summer hydrangea, between some lady ferns and a swath of sedge. This bed can be viewed from the front and the back, but from my main view from the patio, they are in the back of the bed - so I see them when I walk along that side. Like I said, the foliage is okay but nothing notable.

I have a nandina growing on the southeast corner of my house. It must be at least 40 years old, a seedling given to me from a neighbor.

Hi
First post for me. I believe your Gentian is septemfida. Probably septemfida var. lagodechiana. The flower would be fairly large and have a fringe at the opening and the leaves would be opposite but each leaf pair is opposite to the pair above and below it. I also grow cruciata. Both are easy to grow in partial shade, moisture retentive soil.

Sorry-duplicate

This post was edited by Peren.all on Sun, Oct 19, 14 at 18:21

I had a compact Nandina growing by a wall of the house for about 5 years until it finally succumbed to a cold winter.

Since it was not a particularly hardy variety, I suspect that another choice sited in a protected location would last even longer.

Have a number of different gentians.

Have had a number of plants of Gentiana dahurica (mostly 'Nikita') and one G. septemfida var. lagodechiana for close to ten years now. This matches the reputation of these particular gentians as easy-to-grow.

All of the gentians are located at front of sunny borders where they get watered regularly, but where there's also good drainage.

I don't grow plants from seed, but apparently, gentians (when planted out) are initially quite slow growing.