In My Garden Blog
April 3, 2003
New England
By
Suzanne DeJohn,
Candler, NC
This close-up shows the two pointed spurs on each diascia flower, giving rise to its common name, twinspur.
Annual Color
After a winter like this one, we gardeners are hungry for color, and nothing brings color to a garden like annual flowers. I might feel more subdued in midsummer, but right now I say, "Bring on the bright fuchsia, brilliant orange, hot pink, and fire engine red. Bring it on, put it all together with some garish chartreuse foliage, and let me soak it up."
Time To Plan
Although it's still gray and muddy in New England, it's time to start planning for summer color. For exuberant blooming, you can't go wrong with petunias, lobelia, and impatiens. With reasonable care and the proper location, each of these will bloom for months. Conveniently, they cover the range of sun exposures: petunias for full sun, lobelia for part sun, and impatiens for shade.
Read plant labels carefully before choosing plants. Breeders have been busy creating new varieties, some with traits quite different from their more common cousins. Petunias, for example, are now available in low-growing ground cover types as well as taller hedge varieties. Flower size also varies: Large double-flowered petunias sport lavish 3-inch blooms, while minis (Calibrachoa) have more delicate 1- to 2-inch flowers. And it's not just petunias they've been messin' with. Plant breeders have even created trailing varieties of geraniums and snapdragons!
Try Something Different
You're likely to find some new plants at garden centers this spring. Diascia (twinspur) is an airy, delicate-looking plant with remarkable heat tolerance. Nemesia is very fragrant and is available in shades of blue, pink, and lavender. If you love the look of snapdragons but find they struggle in the heat, plant look-alike angelonia for midsummer color. New varieties of strawflowers are more restrained than their rangy relatives, and as an added bonus, the flowers dry easily for winter arrangements.
Don't Forget Foliage Plants
There are a host of new foliage plants available, in a range of shapes, sizes, habits, and leaf colors. Plectranthus makes a nice filler plant in the shade. Sometimes called Cuban oregano, it's not a true oregano but the name hints at its fragrance. There are dark-, silver-, and variegated-leafed varieties. Alternanthera 'Purple Knight' has dark purple, almost metallic-looking foliage that complements any flower color. Silver-leaved Dichondra 'Silver Falls' is heat- and drought-tolerant. Old foliage standbys include sweet potato vine (Ipomoea), elephant ear (Colocasia), ivies, and coleus.
Ornamental Grass
'Purple Majesty' ornamental millet, a 2003 All-America Selections Gold Medal winner, grows 3 to 5 feet tall and sports dark purple, strappy leaves (imagine purple-leaved corn). The tall seed spikes can be cut for use in arrangements, or left to mature and attract hungry birds.
I suspect that many of these new varieties will become tomorrow's old standbys. However, with their unusual names -- diascia, plectranthus, alternanthera -- we'll all need a pronunciation lesson so we can ask for them by name!
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