I know, we've all done it, it looked so great at the store now what? Watch it slowly die. Above my number 1 don't get sucked into the beauty of this, New Zealand Impatience, it hates Calgary, it hates temps too hot or too cold (below 10C), it hates the combo of water and sun on it's leaves, it probably hates our hot and dry summer sun. When we had them at the greenhouse I would feature them prominetly so we could get rid of them, they are hard to keep! Instead of this precious princess of a plant better to go with Coleus, many new varieties can can take more sun and there are very intense colour ranges and they are so much easier to grow! See image below of this new variety Stained Glassworks Luminesce,
Maydays, Schubert Cherry, Choke Cherry and their ilk, all in the prunus family, nice for a week in the spring but loaded with issues like suckering, self seeding from millions of berries, dropping berries, and black knot gall virus. Fast growing but so are a lot of things! Instead I would opt for a flowering crab apple or if you're up for it a nice fruit tree like pear or apricot. Flowering crabs give us the spring show and so many less problems however.
Cedars, they always look so nice and green and there are many large ones in Calgary to boot, however, in the wrong spot they will soon expire. They never work here as a hedge in the open, the best ones I have seen are usually close to a house but even they they can just randomly die. Best leave these to the warmer valleys of BC and instead go with Juniper. Junipers of all sorts love our hot dry and high climate and have few problems, although mites seem to be a recent issue these days, a quick spray with a hose should help. Junipers come in hundreds of shapes and sizes and heights.
Alberta Spruce, I don't know why they have this misleading name but a place where I have often seen very nice ones is Vancouver and Vancouver Island! They hate Calgary in most situations. Now I have seen a few who like their spots, maybe they have just the right amount of shelter and moisture but mostly they will look like the one pictured here. Instead look for some of the other dwarf spruces that seem to do much better, there are many varieties now and you can also consider dwarf pines and even Yew does better here!
Granted, this is the nicest Birds Nest Spruce I have ever seen but they do OK in moist sites.
Here is a nice weeping spruce variety.
Finally Basil, not impossible but it needs a fair amount of care, another plant that dislikes temps below 10C and can get easily fried in our sun and/or eaten to death by caterpillars, not good for planting in the ground, I always plant in a pot because our weather is often ridiculous and you can extend their lives in the fall too. Herbs that love Calgary are Thyme, Chives, Oregano and Lemon Balm, Rosemary is hardy in zone 8 so should be treated as a houseplant in the winter!
