Anchorage Daily News

Award-winning horticulturist and teacher.

Author of five books and co-author of a sixth, as well as more than 350 magazine articles and research papers.

Named by Greenhouse Grower magazine as one of the 10 most influential people or organizations -- ever -- in the floriculture industry for "encouraging growers to expand their markets with new annuals, cut flowers and perennials."

Rarely mentioned in what have become laundry lists of accolades for Allan Armitage: He's killed a lot of plants, and he's happy to tell you about it.

"The only drawback to this plant, other than cost and availability," he writes of his favorite jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema sikokianum, "is that it emerges very early in the spring and has been clubbed to death by late frosts on more than one occasion in the Armitage garden. I use peat moss and baskets to cover the plants in the spring if a frost is forecast, but I have lost my share."

Losing his share is part of the adventure for Armitage, who will come to Alaska next week to meet local gardeners who are no strangers to the challenge that weather can pose. His public lecture at the Anchorage Museum on July 28 is whimsically titled "Perennials: Any Plant, Had It Lived, Will Bloom Year After Year."

It's his first trip to Alaska and should keep him in smiles.

"Oh, to live in primula country!" he writes in "Armitage's Garden Perennials." "When I visit my gardening friends on the West Coast or overseas, I revel in the magic of spring primroses."

Thanks to lingering cool weather, he should catch some primulas and another of his favorites, columbines.

The Georgia professor, whose laid-back nature belies his huge body of work, has made a career of expanding the palette of plants available to gardeners and reminding consumers in a world of instant gratification that perennials are one of a garden's true joys.

"Choosing plants that are adapted to the site and climate makes more sense than constantly trying to grow plants which are doomed to failure," he writes in his most academic book, "Herbaceous Perennial Plants."

"This is not to say that we shouldn't experiment," he said last week. "Half the fun of gardening is to try plants 'that are not supposed to grow here.' And testing the limits is the only way to find out what plants really can adapt to a specific soil and climate."

We caught up with Armitage by phone on his return from meeting plant breeders in Europe, and he shared thoughts on the state of gardening and his imminent trip to Alaska.

Q. It's been said that beginning gardeners grow annuals and experienced gardeners grow perennials. Would you say that's true?

A. Reasonably true. In the nursery trade, there's always going to be a lot more interest in annuals than perennials. They look good in a nursery container. They provide a quick effect. People buy what they see. For the mass market, the box-store customer, a 4-inch red geranium that's in flower, that's a winner. For real plant enthusiasts it's different -- we'll buy a green plant in a nursery or order from a catalog based on a picture. We relish the process and live on the expectation of what's to come.

Q. You're one of several experts who have made a strong case for perennials in the marketplace. Are you winning?

A. Oh, yeah! I won't say perennials have come from nowhere, but the change in the perennials palette has been an explosion in the last 20 years. Difficulty now is there are almost too many -- it's hard to figure out what's what.

Q. In one of your past talks that you said: "There are elderly gardeners and tired gardeners, but I've seldom met old gardeners."

A. People like gardening and find it energizing at any age. I hope my talk and book makes them like it a little more.

Q. In terms of plant selection, can gardeners usually be classed as "safe" or "adventurous"?

A. Most gardeners in the world are seekers of the tried and true -- and they say things like "I've got to go 'work' in the garden." But committed gardeners who enjoy it want to know the new stuff and try new material.

Q. What's appealing to you about gardening in Alaska?

A. Long days and cool nights are great for plants -- that's a big bonus. The winter, that's another story, but I think it's more predictable than some of the problems we have in the South. But I'm really most interested in the gardeners there -- people who are challenged by a place they live and ready to push the envelope. And doing walkabouts (in Anchorage and in Homer) with people on garden sites is always fun -- that's when you get the enthusiasm, the arguments, great feedback.

Q. In your books, when you say "the Armitage garden," we're talking about Georgia, right?

A. I've lived in Montreal and other places, and I've been fortunate to travel a lot and see gardens and gardeners all over. But "the Armitage garden" is in Georgia.

Q. And gardening in the South is harder, you think?

A. I do. Lack of snow is a major detriment to overwintering perennials in the South; snow provides insulation from the cold. Inadequate drainage ... summer temperatures and humidity are also detriments to perenniality.

Q. In the perennials book, you write about pictures being worth a thousand words and how much you enjoyed including photos of some of your favorite perennials. What are your personal favorites?

A. Don't even ask! It's the one I'm looking at now. When the balloon flowers come in or the heliopsis, that a fave. Baptisia (false indigo) ... I'm a full-service favorite guy.

Allan Armitage in Alaska

• July 25, 6:30 p.m. Alaska Botanical Garden hosts dinner with Armitage at a private Anchorage residence. $100 (to benefit ABG)

• July 26, noon and 2:15 p.m. Walkabouts at Fritz Creek Gardens, 8.5 miles from downtown Homer on East End Road. $25

• July 26, 7 p.m. Armitage will speak in the Islands and Oceans Visitor Center in Homer on "Crazy Plants for Crazy Gardeners." $15

• July 28, 12:15 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. ABG Walkabouts (Anchorage), $40

• July 28, 7 p.m. Public lecture, "Perennials: Any Plant, Had It Lived, Will Bloom Year After Year," Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center. $10

Registration materials for Anchorage events is available online at www.alaskabg.org or by calling 770-3692.

Tickets for all Homer events are still available at the Homer Book Store 1-907-235-7496 and the Homer Chamber of Commerce 1-907-235-7740. Information on the Fritz Creek Walkabouts is available at 1-907-235-4969.

Books By Allan Armitage

• Specialty Cut Flowers, $39.95 (paperback)

• Armitage's Garden Perennials, $49.95 (hardcover)

• Armitage's Garden Annuals, $49.95 (hardcover)

• Armitage's Manual of Annuals, Biennials and Half-Hardy Perennials, $39.95 (hardcover)

• Armitage's Native Plants for North American Gardens, $49.95 (hardcover)

• Legends in the Garden (about the people behind plant names), co-authored with Linda Copeland, $24.95 (hardcover)

All titles from Timber Press.

ADVERTISEMENT