Which plants were truly outstanding in your garden in 2018?

2018 was a far from normal year. A rather harsh and prolonged winter was followed by an unusually dry and warm summer. As a result whilst some plants were less than happy others thrived. But some were truly outstanding.
Many of my Salvia did less well than was normal. 'Black and Blue' was very late to get going and never actually caught up whereas 'Amistad' was steady but not outstanding (possibly because one of its parents is actually a winter blooming species). Salvia sclarea was outstanding though...............




Next are two plants that always seem to do best after a cold winter;
Vestia foetida...........




Manfreda elongata...............




Echeveria cante has been stunning this summer and is still in bloom today in the greenhouse.............




Finally, Sprekelia formosissima chucked up several blooms.................

 

Sweet peas for me this year where truly amazing, and I had buckets and buckets of them from June till late September. They are normally reasonable to good, but this year where outstanding, with longer than normal stem length. Great cut flowers for us this year!

Steve...

 

A good year for my 2 small potted blueberrys
The treeferns thrived in the warmth with good morning sunshine and a fair amount of watering

 

Longk, my echiveria cante has been making lots of growth this summer and autumn.....I look forward to those flowers appearing on mine; delightful aren't they?
I know many have complained about salvias being disappointing this year but here they have performed well incl leucantha and Elegans this autumn. Perhaps the slightly cooler summer down here has benefitted them??

 

Yellow Wax bells. Hydrangeas, Hosta's hardy geraniums, Joe Pye weed, Wigelas, Rhodos, 120,000 bulbs in spring. Canada Lily. Virginia Blue bells.

 

My cucumbers! Grown outside unprotected and we were inundated with fruit. First year growing them and I think it's set up some fairly unrealistic expectations for the future...

 

My Aralia elata (Japanese Angelica Tree) has been stunning this Summer ; I'm sure the huge white flower panicles were bigger than usual !
Flowers August/September , the insects love it and the birds devour the numerous black berries ; good Autumn colouration too .

Wee Tam , your tree-ferns look excellent .

 

Nothing new, but somethings did much better than usual due to the extended heat and lack of rain.
Never flowered this well in twenty years, Caesalpinia

Albizia also, same reason.

Another, Chilopsis, the flowers often dont open properly, difficult to photograph as the flowers were high up.

And the old Strelitzia, never lets me down.

 

That and the warmer autumn that you get there. Both were in bud here when the unusually early frost bit them and that was that for the year.
S.gesneriiflora was stunning this spring but that may have been down to the fact that I worked out that it is best to try to hold it back until the spring if possible. Keeping it frost free took a bit of doing though..............

Just as you're feeling rather pleased with yourself along comes Pete with a well aimed kick in the goolies!!!
All stunning Pete

 

@longk , I've been a bit slow to plant out the two Vestia foetida plants I have, from your seed.
I was under the impression it was slightly tender, and then you say it does better after a cold winter?

 

Mature plants are proper hardy and evergreen here. I doubt that would be the case if it was full on Siberian cold but they certainly stick two fingers up to -12°c.

 

Siberian? -12C is enough for me.

 

All these exotic plants are very impressive
I've had a few plants which have been wonderful this year, my alliums always put on a good show along with other reliable plants. Next door rose has been nice which is more a less on my side..
I've been very happy with kniphofia Tawny king its the best its ever been, Echinaea magnus/double decker next to it were excellent flowered for months.

Ligularia Little Rocket but on a show this year, twice the size this year compared to last year.

One of the reliable plants and also one of my favourites Helenium Beauty of Moerhiem

The best tulip this year .

 

The buddleias really took off this year, the butterflies enjoyed them and so did the hummingbird moths. Also I've got a number of indoor succulents now and have had a go at propagating them from their leaves. Looking forward to buying some hardier types for the garden.

 

Heleniums, thalictrums, dahlias, salvias, sanguisorbas, persicarias, wild swan anemones all spring to mind as having performed brilliantly this summer.....have to add an annual too though, viz., tithonia.