Pitcher Plant and Pearly Everlasting at the Portland Japanese Garden

Perennials make up most accent plants. They die back to the roots in the fall, with most of them stubble at repotting time. No leaves in sight. It may be hard to identify your lump of roots in the winter if you don’t have a label.

In the summer there is no such trouble. The foliage is there. We can compare and choose leaf shape and flower color and height. There are clever nature apps to identify unknowns. And in the growing season perennials are easy to repot.

Oddly enough, summer is prime time for assembling accents.

In the growing season you can see what you’re doing, as the leaf of the perennial is out. Here a multiple species accent is assembled.

When we think of accents we often think of grass and flowers. Here we’ve got a Spirea (a thready shrub), grass, and a Wild Columbine. Three plants that do fairly well together. This is one of the main tasks before assembling multiple species, determining if their preferred moisture and care conditions are a good fit.

This composition is widely spaced and the idea is to let it grow for a year or two. The grass was divided into small clumps and will fill in the spaces. We put it in a cheap pot for now but will be on the lookout for something more promising. 

A small-leaved evergreen azalea. No idea what it is. We grew it from cutting years ago and decided it was weird enough to hold its own in the accent department. 

Weird azalea complete with a succulent.

Wild Strawberry and Dwarf Crested Iris. A Bloodroot is also in there, but not seen.

Lupine, grass, and Penstemon. Another one intended to let grow for a season or two before showing. The pot is about 12” and the Lupine can get tall. A planting of this size is a stand-alone, not intended to be shown with a bonsai.

Mallow.

Pearly Everlasting, Mallow and Wild Strawberry. Note the effort at different heights. This is a train wreck if you judge it in just-assembled form—the Pearly flower stalks are the same size, the Strawberry runners the same length—but in a future year we’d use scissors to balance it out.

Every accent planting session needs an oddball. This is Oregon Grape, which isn’t a grape but has a fun holly-like leaf. It was languishing in a pot by itself and appeared lonely and under-appreciated. We put it with some low plants for contrast—a Wild Strawberry and a Violet. 

Most of these were not intended to be “completed” as a pretty accent on potting day. The Pitcher Plant and Pearly Everlasting in the first photo were assembled this way years ago—planted open, then grown in, then scissored to balance multiple species and for shape.

If you attempt a summer repot (summer equinox or a couple weeks after that is a good time) put them in a greenhouse and mist your plants for a week or two afterwards. They bounce back surprisingly fast and next year fill out the pot well. Any sort of mid-season potting assumes enough remaining warm weather for the plant to rebuild its resources before winter.

August 2025 Bulletin Board

This June I posted Blog Survey: What Do You Want To Read? There were 66 responses to the survey. It asked what your preference was for the six categories I tend to post about (technical, development, puzzlers, travelogue, unique stories, and book / course reviews). Here’s a summation of your answers, as a percentage. Most respondents combined Technical and Development, so I will replicate that here:

63% — Technical / Development 

22% — All Categories

15% — Puzzlers

The remaining categories got only 1 or 2 votes, although many respondents suggested other content to post about. The highest of these were: 

9% — Younger, less developed plants

7% — Pots

I will try to keep your wishes in mind moving forward. Thanks so much for the responses!