The undisputed winner here this year was the Chinese wisteria 'tree'! (That's a young friend, not me..., in the picture :-)
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The runner-up was the New Dawn rose swag. We just installed the swag posts and chains last year so weren't expecting much of a show but it surprised us! It's a learn-by-doing project as there's not much detailed information out there on training and pruning one. I even contacted the member services dept. of the RHS - since we had first seen them in England, I figured they'd have good info on what to do. They recommened getting their book on pruning, which I did, but it still leaves us with lots of uncertainties. So we're just going to do what seems to make sense... If anyone has a rose swag, I'd love to see pictures of it...

July 3 2009:
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In this picture from June 28 just after it started to bloom, you can see that it comes off the south gate arbour and has, so far, only reached half the length of the chains we're training it onto.
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Wintergreen is one of those things I'd love to grow but have killed three times and have given up! When i was a kid, it grew on the rocks by the lake at my grandfather's place. Chewing on the leaves and eating the berries while fishing with my grandfather is part of warm childhood memories...

Of course it is hard to choose just one!
I love Lonicera Sempervirens'Alabama Crimson' and Geranium 'Biokovo', but for the 2009 season, I'll have to say Agastache 'Blue Fortune' really rang my bell. Loved the Redbor Kale I planted behind it.

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Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers' tall but sturdy stems, started blooming in late July/early August and was still going in October when a hard early frost cut it short. Soft yellow quilled flowers.

2nd place helianthus 'Prairie Sunset' First year in my garden, but so far looking good. I also planted 'Summer Nights' but 'Prairie Sunset' had a much longer bloom period. Attractive burgundy stems with burgundy tinged leaves, yellow flowers with burgundy eyezone.

Those are lovely combinations, chrisrinmk & franeli. I like the varying textures, colors and heights. Do you have any trouble with your New Dawn, woodyoak? Mine bloomed terrifically the first couple years, then looks awful the following years.

It's not easy to choose favorites because I like to mix and match. However, these are my recent additions:
Carex grayii:

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Briza media:
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Epimedium rubrum:
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Love Prairie Smoke too. They are growing bigger and received much praise from passersby:
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pitimpinai - the main problem we have had with New Dawn is it is so vigorous! DH calls it the Killer Rose because of the long, very thorny canes that were attacking anyone passing through the gate - that was the primary motivation for the swag (a way to control/corral the growth...) Since it blooms best on horizontal growth, the swag really, really promoted blooming shoots! We planted the New Dawns (one on either side of the arbour) in 2003. They've been pretty trouble-free and good bloomers but nowhere near as good as they were this year. Is there a way to train some of the canes on yours to the horizontal? Based on our experience this year, that should promote LOTS of blooms!

Three of my favourites, all grown from seed.

Bluets ( Houstonia caerulea)

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Clematis Integrifolia,Michelle X Fascination

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Geranium nanum.

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Oh what wonderful pics! Guess I have a few more plants to add to my 'Plants to get for 2010' list. ;-]

-woodyoak, beautiful! Love the idea of a rose swag. I am sure the good people on the Rose Forum could help with any questions you have. They helped me with a fungus problem last year (I mean fungus on the roses, not me lol!)

-maggiepie, I need one of those Bluets! Adorable little flowers.
CMK

maggiepie - Bluets are another of those plants with warm childhood memorier for me. They clothed the tops of rocky hilltops on my grandfather's farm where I grew up in NB. I see from your 'my page' info that you are also in NB...? Where? I grew up in a rural area east of Saint John - but you can never go home again.... Last time I was in the neighbourhood 13 years ago, it was almost unrecognizable.

christinmk, you do need some, they always make me smile and they seem to always have flowers, especially after rain.

franeli, I love your Agastache 'Blue Fortune', love blues and yellows together.

woodyoak, I live in a tiny rural village just over an hour from Moncton and 45 mins from Miramichi.
Where are you?
I originally got some seeds from a paddock near the road just outside of Fredericton about 7 years ago.
First winter I brought one little plant inside and grew it on the windowsill in the kitchen. Am so glad I did as something ate the roots off the ones in the garden.
I love them so much, they always cheer me up.

OMG, beautiful pics! Love the purple in the wisteria and the young woman's clothes and Franeli's Agastache. My Blue Fortune kicked the bucket this past summer - too bad it was beautiful for about 4 years. I am definitely going to winter-sow the Geum triflorum seeds I received last year in a trade, but never got around to sowing. And I want to grow Bluets too! Gorgeous!

Here are some of my favorites from 2009 (sorry can't just pick one - hehe).

Filipendula rubra - got a couple divisions from a swap in 2008 - this year they were 7 feet tall! Queen of the Prairie indeed -
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Another swap plant - got a batch of unknown Iris rhizomes in fall 2007. Most of them bloomed in 2009. One random batch ended up being almost all a gorgeous dark purple - the buds look black. Love it!
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Monarda bradburiana - Eastern bee balm - winter-sowed this one in 2008 and it bloomed the 2nd year. Easy to start from seed, it has a lovely light pink/lavender flower, and with a glossy foliage that has great mildew resistance and turns purply in the fall.
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maggiepie - I'm no longer a Maritimer - southern Ontario has been home for the past almost 30 years. There are 3 kinds of Maritimers - ones who never want to leave (e.g. my sister); those who leave and always want to go back (e.g. a friend who met and married another Maritimer while living in Toronto and happily moved back about 15 years ago); and those who leave and never want to return (e.g. me! I have great memories of childhood there but know the reality of the place wouldn't suit me now, plus my 'home' is long gone/unrecognizeable now.) It sounds like you're in Acadian country...? Is your DH from the area? It's an attractive but remote area I think - what does one do up there?! :-)

terrene - do those purple irises have any scent? Fabulous color. I had to give up on the big irises here - iris borer just decimates them so now I only have Siberians which they mostly leave alone.

woodyoak,there's actually a fourth kind of Maritimer.
I am an Aussie, ( well am a Caussie now)have lived here for 8 and half years.
New Brunswick is definitely different to Australia.
Instead of 7 months of Summer I now get 7 months of Winter!!
Making a garden is a lot different for sure but I can now grow things like peonies and delphiniums that was impossible where I lived. Of course there are things I can't grow now that I miss.
My DH is Acadian, we live in a tiny Acadian village, we moved here after he retired.
Good thing people around here are bilingual as I can't speak French.
I love living here although I wouldn't have considered it without broadband.
In Winter, I keep busy playing with seeds and seedlings.

Beautiful pics!

It's hard to narrow down to just one favorite, but I'm going to go with the new laceleaf Japanese I purchased over the summer and the new tree peonies I bought last year:

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and Diphylleia cymosa:

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Gorgeous pics! I have to admit I am surprised by the prairie smoke. I have only seen close-ups of it before, and wasnt too excited by it. But the garden shot of it above looks so nice. I like close-ups, but shots of how flowers appear in the bed really help you see how they look growing.
Tammy

Hands-down, Green Jewel Echinacea was my number one. These bloomed forever, well into fall. I absolutely love the color!

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This was my favorite iris, Boss Tweed, new last year. The coppery color goes perfectly with copper accents on our mailbox:

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Best New Bed of the Year honors goes to the new bed of Miscanthus, featuring Cosmopolitan, Morning Light, Malepartus and Adagio.

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Favorite shrub - Physocarpus opulifolius 'Copperina':
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It was planted a couple of years ago, but this was the first year it bloomed. This photo was taken after it bloomed.

Favorite perennial is probably Gaillardia. This photo is 'Oranges & Lemons' with Asclepias tuberosa 'Gay Butterflies', but I also love the 'Burgundy' and 'Goblin' too, because they bloom non-stop the entire summer, the grasshoppers don't eat them, and they don't need much water.
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My favorite new perennial was probably Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy', but I didn't get a decent photo of it.

Favorite annual - Here are a couple that were new to me this year, that I just loved!

Salpiglossis 'Royale Chocolate'
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Nicotiana 'Domino Lime Green'
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Zinnia 'Highlight' (I've grown zinnias before, but not this one. It was a nice clear yellow.)
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Right now, when there is nothing but snow outside, I think they are ALL my favorites, LOL!

Bonnie

Don't have it yet, but I plan to get this next spring. If you ever get a chance, do a google image search for "feather hyacinth". I guarantee you, you will LOVE this plant!!

Favorite Annual:
Salvia "Dancing Flame"

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Favorite Late Blooming Perennial:
Rudbeckia "Henry Eilers"

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Favorite Nonstop Bloomer (from early March till Frost!)
Gaillardia "Goblin"

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Favorite Early Blooming Perennial:
Kniphofia "Toffee Nosed"

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Another favorite was Sedum "Mr. Goodbud".

I had to think a while about this!!! But then i realized its my limelight hydrangea and peegee hydangea. I only have a pic of the limelight, and its already been moved. I love how soft the blooms are, i think theyd make excellent pillows! lol I love the height it adds and softness.

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I also lovethe gaura,and agastache, and my annabelle hydrangea, and my becky towe phlox..... :)

Some great pics folks -- well done!

One of my favourites this year was Allium thunbergii 'Ozawa', likely because it seemed to "mature" nicely this year in terms of size and visual impact:

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Another beauty was Echinacea 'Tiki Torch':

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Finally, just because it is such a cool plant, Arisaema kishidai 'Jack Frost':

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Agastache 'Acapulco Salmon & Pink'. Bloomed all summer long, in fact one is still blooming (and yes, I've had several freezes). Bees love it, hummingbirds love it, and I love it.

Not sure if it will ultimately survive our wet winters, but I'll grow it as an annual if necessary!

Love both your wisteria and New Dawn rose Woody! I'm considering putting in a new climber in the spring and New Dawn is on my list, due to your swag. [g]

Franeli, I wonder if your Redbor Kale turned very dark in the fall?

Pitimpinai, I just love Prairie Smoke too. I wonder how you have used it in your garden? A very pretty stand of it!

mxk3, your garden always looks so neat. I love that patch of heliotrope.

That Copperina is very pretty, highalttransplant. I have seen that locally at the nursery and think I enjoy the dark flowers with that foliage better than my pale flowers on my Summer Wine.

I don't know what my favorites were this year. I think I was very distracted all summer. Even looking over my photos, I didn't take nearly as many as I usually do. I guess I would have to say that Casa Blanca Lily was my delight this year because first of all I thought I had dug it all out and threw it out because of the darn Red Lily Leaf Beetle and they miraculously returned more gorgeous than ever and had very little damage from the RLLBeetle to boot. So I guess I am supposed to keep them. [g]

prairiemoon2,

yes, redbor kale turns very dark purple after frost.
i pulled it out about a month after this photo.

this picture is dated 9/24.

midsummer,i had it planted with purple nicotianas,celery and leeks,but the kale got too large and had to be moved.

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So many great plants to choose from! For shrubs, I'd have to say I LOVE the new Buddleia 'Blue Clips' from the Lo and Behold series. Granted it was a first year shrub for me but it absolutely maintained the 2' height claimed by the purveyors. Next year will be the real test I suppose but so far, so gorgeous. I see BIG potential for this shrub.

Perennial-wise, I'll second the Helenium 'Mardi Gras'. It performed way above and beyond expectations. VERY long bloom season even without deadheading.

I also loved Euphorbia 'First Blush'. Lovely compact form and amazing foliage. I didn't care for the flowers (the yellow was too jarring with the white/green/pink foliage) but the spring and fall color were epecially fab with lots of pink in the leaves.

Sadly, I lost most of my summer photos in a hard drive crash.

prairiemoon, I planted Prairie Smoke at the edge of my flower beds because I ran out of room anywhere else. :-) Right next to Purple Love Grass, annual forget me nots and whatever...lol. Its soft color goes with anything.

Pitimpinai, I was going to tease you about posting four minutes after midnight on New Year's Eve - I was going to say you sound like as much of a party animal as I am, lol, being on GW at the stroke of midnight instead of some wild party (although I suppose it's entirely possible to do both, lol!)

But then I realized Chicago might be an hour or so behind us, and maybe it wasn't so early in the new year as I first thought?

Lots of great plants here, and lots of ideas going through my head. But I still haven't been able to pick my favorite of 2009 yet! Gee, that's kinda like someone asking who your favorite kid is, lol!

Happy New Year everyone!
:)
Dee

The one year old Crambe Cordifolia which grew taller than me and the Honeysuckle which wouldn't stop blooming all summer.

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Self sown Foxies... After cutting back the spent blooms they flowered all over again.

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The winter sown Red Lupines...
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Oh there are so many more, but I'll just add one more, a winter sown Apricot Jacob's Ladder. The photo doesn't do it justice since the plant was so lush and full with leaves and blooms for a quite a long time. :O)

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franeli....very pretty photo of your redbor. I saw a display in the fall at a local
nursery and they paired it with a pumpkin color mum for Halloween. A very nice
combo that I may try to duplicate next fall.

bindersbee...Sorry to hear about your loss of photos. Next summer you will have to take tons to make up for it and mail many copies to all your friends as insurance. :-)

pitimpinai....the idea to add Prairie Smoke to the garden will remain until I figure a way to add it. I am trying to sort out some confusion in my full sun bed. Thanks for showing me what it looks like in a patch like that.

tiffy....what an electric color on those lupine!

mxk3, your first shot is gorgeous. It looks like your out in a secluded woody area, then the last shot looks like you live in town. Would love to see more.
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My first red peony. All the others I have are pink or a creamy white color.
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And my absolute favorite shrub is my Variegated Weigelia. Blooms like crazy, and roots extremely easy.
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