Annuals Redux

At the beginning of the summer I wrote about the merits of annuals. Pleased with myself, I set out to wait for the French marigolds that I had planted to take off. They were to become a lush carpet of color and fragrance. Then it rained.... and rained. In July, I thought, "These things are never going to grow." And to make matters even worse, the marigolds were being eaten by pests. Those fragrant flowers that are meant to ward off pests! I never caught the culprit, and a number of plants bit the dust.

However, August has come and passed, and at last, the marigolds are just what I wanted them to be, Full and luxurious. The nicotiana filled out too, but have not reached the 18" height, more like 8 - 12" tall. The parsley is out of control. Elsewhere, some of the zinnias have taken hold. The red and pink ones seemed to fare better than the orange and white, which have been consumed by grasshoppers.

A few timely purchases of pots of coleus perked up my perennial bed this month. And the planters full of coleus, sweet potato vine and creeping jenny, surrounding  my water lilies look quite stunning. Best of all, The eggplants are arriving. If September remains balmy, I should have a good harvest. Besides, how many eggplants can one person eat? They are the perfect vegetable for a lazy gardener. Spare me the zucchini.

I am going to make a small change next year. Instead of purchasing Single Late tulips, I am getting the Giant Darwin Hybrids. I have chosen "Holland's Glory" and "Daydream"; "brilliant scarlet-orange with poppy-red edges and a muted yellow base," and "varying shades of soft apricot, warm orange and yellow with a rosy glow." And fragrant too. Sounds like a thrilling pair. Best of all they bloom mid April to May, giving the annuals an extra week or two in the ground in late spring. I also am returning to the Peony Flowering tulips, "Orange Princess" this time. They are classified as as "Early". We shall see.

I also decided to venture a little further afield and ordered:

• Leucojum aestivum "Gravetye Giant" ( Little white green-tipped bells)
• Species Tulip "Heart's Delight" ( Small light and dark pink)
• Crocus vernus "Twilight" (Deep blue)
• Allium azureum (Small blue puffs)
• Scilla siberica "Spring Beauty" (Blue squill)

All are small early spring blooming bulbs good for naturalizing. All total, 375 bulbs to add to the 300 tulips I am already planting. This October I am sure to be worn out digging.

Click on the first picture to start the slide show.

Coleus on the left, zinnias in the center

Water lily tub and planters

Nicotiana

Marigolds and eggplant

More marigolds

!!!!

Coleus filling in for the rhubarb which is past. Note the sorry orange zinnia.

Odorous

Did some creature die in my yard? Last weekend when I was taking a midafternoon break on my patio, I caught that faint, fetid odor. It was there, then it wasn't. Friends who came over for a Friday cocktail didn't smell anything. Even Esme, the dog with the great nose, seemed unconcerned. She can normally track down a dead animal at thirty paces. Maybe I was delusional. No, I smelled it again.

It took me until midweek to think of looking up, and there was the culprit. The hawthorn tree, grown from a little twig. Until this year it had never bloomed. Oh dear, an "odorous" plant in my midst. Having read enough plant descriptions from nurseries over the years, I recognize that "odorous"is code for "stinky." So let us sing a song to the stinky plant. I have had many through the years.

Actaea racemosa, a lovely perennial, commonly known as bugbane or cohosh, has a wonderful perfume...sometimes. Unfortunately, I purchased the plant with green leaves, not the black colored one. Those beautiful little white pearl blossoms at the end of that snake-like spire....stinky. I still have three of the plants, but they are planted far away from the house, where they can be seen and not smelled.

Once I was given a flat of wooly creeping thyme, left over from a landscaping job. I planted it at the edge of the stone wall near the entrance to my house. Later I discovered that when it bloomed it gave off the odor of stinky feet! That would have been bad enough, but its bloom time paralleled that of my dwarf Korean lilac, one of the most sweet smelling of shrubs. The combination of sweet and stinky was sickening. Still, a gift is free, and when you need a plant, you need a plant. Fortunately after five years, the thyme bit the dust. It took another three years to erase the memory of that smell, when I could once again enjoy my lilac.

"Odorous" is in the nose of the smeller, I guess. Not long ago I had a client who told me, "Please don't plant any more lilacs. I already have one and I can hardly bear to be around it when it is blooming... so strong!" I promptly went through the proposed plant list and pulled all flowering shrubs noted for their fragrance. I have to admit that I have the same reaction to viburnum carlesii. Too close to the house and it is overwhelming. A little goes a long way.

A few days ago when I finally got around to weeding the north side of my house, I was caressed by the most wonderful fragrance floating in the air. Ah yes, the tree lilac is in bloom. For years I used to wander around my neighborhood looking for the source of that delightful smell. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was coming from a small tree at the edge of my property. A tree I didn't even know I had. If you need a little flowering tree, Syringa reticulata "Ivory Silk" is a nice choice. It is easy to find at most nurseries. The bark is attractive, the flowers beautiful, the shape just right, and some June, you will wander around asking where in that wonderful fragrance coming from? Nothing "odorous" here.

Tree lilac from my window

A Case for Annuals

If your tulips are finished blooming, might as well get rid of them. I know this is hard advice for frugal sentimental plant lovers to take, but your tulips will never look as good as they did last week. There are a few, some of the Giant Darwin hybrids, that will come back fairly well for a few years, but you have to put up with them looking really crappy until way into July. By then summer is half over.

My choice is to dedicate a garden bed or two to "tulips followed by annuals". The lowly annual has had a hard time in our post modern age. People weary of impatiens have been lured by the siren song of perennials, with their large blossoms and promise of longevity and economy, returning year after year. The back story that no one ever tells you, is the fact that perennials are far from "maintenance free." Have you ever questioned why your gardening friends are so eager to fob off divisions of their perennials? Could it be that they have grown out of bounds, and your friends don't know how to get the monster under control? Sure, just give them to some unsuspecting soul and have a partner in misery.

Perennials need to be deadheaded and divided when they get too big. Otherwise, as in the case of most irises, they will just quit blooming altogether. Or in the case of phlox, if you forget to deadhead, all of your beautiful hybrid colors will revert to the pale lavender of the species. Then of course, there is weeding. Don't even get me started. The peskiest weeds like to mingle their roots with those of their favorite perennials. Daylilies and witch grass are congenial companions, and even if you dig up the daylily, spray wash all of the dirt out of the roots and, by hand, pick out all of the witch grass, some will remain to say "hello" next year.

So, time to reconsider the lowly annual. You have the luxury of choosing variety from year to year. Last year I planted zinnias, cosmos, and snapdragons, and enjoyed the myriad butterflies who came to visit all season long. You can even intersperse vegetables in an annual bed. This year I chose to plant six eggplants and surround them with the elegant colors of French marigolds - red, orange, gold and yellow. The marigolds have an added gift for keeping pests at bay because of their fragrance. In my other bed, I have planted ivory nicotiana and parsley. The nicotiana has a delicate color and fragrance, and should grow to 18" by summer's end.

It is a good idea to change your annuals from year to year. This keeps pests that may have found you from setting up housekeeping the next year. One year I built a temporary trellis out of twigs and planted pole beans. They fix the nitrogen in the soil, and will make next year's flowers even more beautiful. I have made a permanent border of evergreen boxwood along one of my annual beds (The other is bounded by a nice stone wall.) This gives everything form while I wait for the little seedlings to fill out.

For the budget conscious, just get some seed packets early in the season and scatter them on your freshly weeded bed. Incredible flowers for just a few dollars. If you pick the flowers throughout the summer, you will have more! In the fall, after the first frost has killed all your annuals, just pull them out and take them to the compost pile. Then plant your new collection of tulips, (get them from a wholesale dealer in bulk for savings) and dream of spring, when it will be time to do it all again.

The hardest thing about keeping an annual bed going, is that the real estate is so tempting. I can't tell you how many times, I have thought, "Oh maybe I'll plant these wiegielia shrubs I got on sale at the garden center," or, "I'll just put my divided overgrown daylilies here till I figure out what to do with them." I always manage to come to my senses before it is too late.

Exotic annuals and non hardy tropical are making a comeback these days. So if you grandmother's garden annuals just don't seem exciting enough, check out you local garden center. The humble coleus is now available with foliage of amazing colors and shapes. Annual grasses a lot easier to deal with that their perennial cousins.

I hope that I have made the case. If not, check out the following photos of my annual bed last year and the nascent bed of this year. Click on the first picture, and the whole thing will come up in slide show mode.

last year's zinnias



Peony flowering tulips

Peony flowering tulips, soon to become a nicotiana bed

Tulips in the spring

Marigolds and eggplants newly planted two weeks ago

Progress Report

A strange spring weather-wise, In the last week of May we went from freezing cold to 90 degree weather. Still, the yard has looked beautiful, the flowering crabapples and magnolias were the best they have been in years. My yard is bearing the fruit of previous hard work. All of my plants are happy and filling out. The beds look full for the first time in years. I thought I would show you some progress pictures. If you click on the first picture, I think you can see them all full screen.

 

LATE APRIL

first purchases of the season



best year for magnolias



boxwood in April

EARLY MAY: Tulips are up, this year a bold mixture. The crabapples lasted for a week with a lovely fragrance, and the blossoms of Cornus florida "Appalachian Blush" has taken the place of the magnolias. These dogwoods are susceptible to a blight, but I am taking my chances in the belief that there are no others like it for miles.

 

 

 

Redbud blooming and boxwood are on a growing tear.

 

 

 

LATE MAY: The tulips are going, still beautiful in their decay. I bought some Hick's yews from the Job Lot, and have them in temporary pots on either side of the gliding bench. Kind of like the look. the Heuchera (coral bells) planted in April are blooming. New annuals are ready to go in the beds and pots, and the flower beds, so puny in April are full and lush now.

 

 

Annuals take the place of tulips

these are the tiny nymph flowers of the kousa dogwood.
They will double in size over a few weeks and turn pink.

the viburnum are blooming

Oops, some things have been neglected since fall

 

 

the lilac bush next to the stairs is a Korean lilac, meyerii palibin,
superb fragrance, a beautiful shape and bronze fall color.

 So hope that your spring and summer plants bring you beauty and joy this year. I will report back on the peonies that should be blooming by the end of the week.