Beyond the Garden Gate
Taylor's Version
…Step by step from town to town, sweet like justice: gardens are a queen, gardens take all my friends to the summit, gardens are the plot on the green, blooming straight home to me…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of months, and more specifically the last week, then Taylor & Travis have probably been monopolizing your screen time. You probably thought you were safe here, in the comfort of the weekly Pleasant Run email. “Surely, the crossover between horticulture and Taylor Swift has to be minimal,” you think to yourself wearily, eyes heavy from scrolling through endless feel-good videos of a pop icon finally living out her fairy tale dreams. Guess again!
This week, with the world’s favorite power couple and the Kiss Heard Around the World infiltrating our hearts, minds, and phone data, we’ve designed a fully Taylor-coded plant list for all of your Swiftie needs (even if they’re against your will).
Fearless - Gold, White, sparkles, whimsy
Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Summer Nights’
Coreopsis verticillata ‘Zagreb’
Rudbeckia subtomentosa (sweet black-eyed Susan)
Solidago sphacelata ‘Golden Fleece’ (goldenrod)
Wisteria frutescens ‘Amethyst Falls’
Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Goldfinch’ (Shasta Daisy)
Speak Now – Purple, red-purple, fuschia
Phlox paniculata ‘Cover Girl’ (garden phlox)
Phlox divaricata ‘May Breeze’ (woodland phlox)
Allium x ‘Millenium’ (ornamental onion)
Spiraea japonica ‘Magic Carpet’ (meadowsweet)
Monarda bradburiana ‘Midnight Oil’ (Eastern bee balm)
Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Purple Pixie’ (barrenwort)
Chelone lyonii ‘Hot Lips’ (turtlehead)
Red – All the reds
Monarda didyma Sugar Buzz ‘Cherry Pops’ (bee balm)
Rosa ‘Knock Out’ (rose)
Rhododendron Hino-Crimson (Azalea)
Paeonia ‘Karl Rosenfield’ (herbaceous peony)
Hemerocallis ‘Pardon Me’ (daylily)
1989 – Light blue, indigo, roses
Amsonia hubrichtii (Arkansas amsonia)
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Silver Heart’ (Siberian bugloss)
Baptisia australis (false indigo)
Rosa rugosa (rugosa rose)
Rosa Knock Out White® (rose)
Reputation – Black, white, daisies
“I once was your poison ivy, but now I’m your daisy”
Nipponanthemum nipponicum (Montauk Daisy)
Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Snowcap’ (Shasta Daisy)
Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Becky’ (Shasta Daisy)
Weigela florida ‘Spilled Wine’ (weigela)
Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Summer Wine Black’ (ninebark)
Lover – Soft pink, peach, periwinkle, robin’s egg blue
Anemone x ‘Fantasy Jasmine’ (windflower)
Cotinus coggygria ‘The Velvet Fog’ (smokebush)
Helleborus x ballardiae HGC ‘Pink Frost’ (Christmas rose)
Indigofera ambylantha (indigo)
The Archer - Thymus vulgaris ‘Archers Gold’ (thyme)
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Bloomstruck’ (bigleaf hydrangea)
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Endless Summer’ (bigleaf hydrangea)
Vitex x ‘Summertime Blues’ (chastetree)
Physostegia virginiana ‘Pink Manners’ (obedient plant)
folklore – White, beige, silver, fallen leaves, grasses with seedheads, wisteria
Wisteria frutescens ‘Nivea’
Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’ (bleeding heart)
Fothergilla x intermedia ‘Mount Airy’ (witch alder)
Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff)
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow ‘Queen’ (oakleaf hydrangea)
Phlox subulata ‘Snowflake’ (creeping phlox)
Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Moonlight’ (hydrangea vine)
Clematis viticella ‘Betty Corning’ (clematis)
Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama)
Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama)
Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’ (switchgrass)
evermore – Burnt orange, mauve, chestnut brown, crunchy leaves, willows
Salix gracilistyla ‘Mt. Aso’ (willow)
Salix melanostachys (willow)
Salix alba ‘Britzensis’ (willow)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak)
Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak)
Carpinus caroliniana (American Hornbeam)
Ginkgo biloba ‘Autumn Gold’ (Gingko)
Hamamelis vernalis ‘Autumn Embers’ (vernal witchhazel)
Pieris japonica ‘Dorothy Wycoff’ (andromeda)
Taxodium distichum ‘Emerald Shadow’ (baldcypress)
Actaea racemosa ‘Chocoholic’ (black cohosh)
Midnights – Maroon, lavender, poppies, violets
Cercis canadensis ‘Sparkling Wine’ (Eastern redbud)
Lavandula x intermedia ‘Phenomenal’
Lavandula x intermedia ‘Sensational’
Thalictrum sp. ‘Black Stockings’ (Meadow Rue)
Geranium maculatum ‘Crane Dance’ (Spotted cranesbill)
Hamamelis vernalis ‘Kohankie Red’ (vernal witchhazel)
Calycanthus floridus (sweetshrub)
Calycanthus raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’ (sweetshrub)
Viola walteri ‘Silver Gem’ (blue violet)
“I see the great escape, so long, Daisy May…” – Kalimeris ‘Daisy Mae’
Travis Kelce Era – Yellow & Red
Aquilegia ‘Little Lanterns’
Spigelia marilandica ‘Little Redhead’
Spigelia marilandica ‘Ragin’ Cajun”
Paeonia x Itoh ‘Bartzella’
Baptisia x Decadence ‘Cherries Jubilee’ (false indigo) – burgundy and yellow
Astilbe x arendsii ‘Fanal’ (hybrid astilbe) – red plumes
Hosta ‘Fire Island’ (plantain lily) – yellow with red petioles
