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If you subscribe to the Wayside Gardens Newsletter you may have already gotten this week's "Plant of the Week" newsletter featuring Heuchera 'Midnight Rose.' (Actually you may have gotten it twice – it was sent out without pictures the first time. Oops!)

This is a really beautiful perennial that will add foliage interest and depth of color to your shade garden. 'Midnight Rose' is very tolerant of heat and humidity, and it thrives in part shade. It may tolerate full sun in the cooler zones. This exotic Heuchera starts out black, speckled with bright pink, and slowly transitions to a deep purple as the season progresses. The foliage stays bright and colorful from spring until fall. This plant is a great shade-garden companion to the brighter foliage of Hostas, Hydrangeas, and other Heucheras.

Black Bamboo, Phyllostachys nigra, is very popular in China and Japan and has become a huge favorite in western gardens.

This elegant plant is a customer favorite year after year – it is proving to be a mainstay of the Wayside Gardens selection. The bamboo shoots darken to a deep, glossy black as they mature, creating a classy contrasting accent against the deep green foliage. This is a perfect plant for creative gardeners.

You can combine Black Bamboo with a few arborvitae and a few of our most popular Japanese Maples to create a serene Japanese-themed garden. Acer palmatum 'Oridono Nashiki' is currently the most popular Japanese Maple, and Acer 'Shaina' has been a customer favorite for years.

What would Valentine's Day be without roses? Wayside has plenty of the most popular roses in the country, including the beautiful Mr. Lincoln (Above). Everybody knows that certain rose mean different things, and you don't want to send the wrong message. I will try to sum it up really quickly:

Red – Red roses mean simply "I love you!"
Pink – Pink Roses connote Happiness and Admiration.
Yellow – Yellow roses mean "You're a Great Friend!"
Orange – Orange roses connote desire *wink*.
White -  White rose symbolize purity, and are often used for weddings.
Black – Black roses symbolize death and mourning – Only appropriate for funerals and your weirder friends.

That should give you at least some idea which roses go to which loved ones. Check out our Roses By Color if you'd like to grow them yourself in time for next year, or maybe give a live rose gift!

The evergreen foliage of Helleborus will add interesting texture to your shade garden, the perfect contrast to those spring and summer blooming perennials. Hellebores bloom in the heart of winter, providing year-round interest, filling in those drab flower beds in the down months.

Caring for them is simple, Helleborus/Lenten Roses are very hardy plants:

• They prefer part sun or even full shade, but will tolerate full sun in cool areas.
• Plant them in rich, well-drained soil
• Give them fresh layer of compost each year to provided needed nutrients.
• Lenten Roses are fairly drought-tolerant, but they will need a thorough watering in drier summers.
• Trim back old-growth leaves in late winter. The plants will start to bloom and send out new leaves – trimming old growth will help your plants look neater.

[NOTICE] You may experience mild skin irritation when handling Hellebores, some people do – just wear gloves when you cut back the old leaves to be sure.

Poppies are very popular this year, and Wayside Gardens is carrying a few of the most beautiful, sought-after poppies on the market this year. My personal favorites, Papaver 'Manhattan' and Papaver 'Patty's Plum' are as interesting and beautiful as poppies should be, and they have both been very popular this year.

Poppies are considered wildflowers, which makes them very easy to care for. Here are a few quick and easy tips for growing great poppies:

• Give your plant full sunlight
• Plant in soil that drains well – poppies don't like to be wet.
• Plant multiple varieties and maybe a few annuals with different bloom times to extend the beauty of your flower bed.
• Dead-head to prevent seeding if you like – but if you don't your poppies will spread and naturalize nicely.
• It's okay to trim the stems to the ground after the plant starts to fade – they will pop right back up next spring.

If you'd like to find out more information: Growing and Caring for Poppies

A new article from Wayside Gardens' Plant Care Library

Camellias are blooming right now! Everything is gray, cold, and (if you
live on the east cost) very damp. It is very dreary outside, but
camellias are bright and cheery. If you have this little evergreen
workhorse shrub planted in your garden you will have bright blooms
through the holiday season.

They live for a very long time, hundreds of years, and they are very cold-hardy, blooming and thriving in the winter months to temperatures of
0ºC. Camellias can be a dependable source of year-round beauty in your
garden or landscape design.

These woody perennial shrubs have been bred into thousands of
colorfully blooming cultivars. It should be very easy to find the
camellia that fits your specific tastes and needs. They work well in
containers or as part of a large landscaping plan.