pyomn
Hi Everyone
By early to mid-April it is safe to plant warm season annuals. Here are a few suggestions for annual color in your garden or in containers. Any suggestions where the name is in quotes (i.e. ‘Profusion’), planting these specific cultivars will yield the best results.
As mentioned in my Container Crazy! post, when planting containers, remember you want…
a “thriller” (tall plants),
a “filler” (plants to fill in the middle),
and a “spiller” (plants that trail over the edge).
By far the best container book I’ve ever had is called Easy Container Gardens by Pamela Crawford. She gives great plant combination ideas, and they all work for our Zone 7/8 climate!
A suggestion from the April 2011 Southern Living magazine is to first find a foliage plant that you love. Then choose a second foliage plant with complementary hues and contrasting textures. And finally, add a bloom that pulls it all together.
Some great annuals for summer SUN:
Thrillers: Purple Fountaingrass
Ti Plant or Cordyline (a.m. sun/p.m. shade)
Esperanza (Tecoma Stans)
Variegated Tapioca (Manihot esculenta)
Copperplant
Perilla Magilla and Perilla Vanilla
Canna
Fillers: ‘Profusion’ or ‘Zahara’ zinnia or zinnia linearis (Star zinnia)
Periwinkles/Vinca ‘Cora’ (plant periwinkles late May, early June)
Pentas – ‘Graffiti’ or ‘Kaleidoscope’ or ‘Butterfly’ varieties
Angelonia ‘Serena’ series
Crossandra ‘Orange Marmalade’
Begonia: ‘Cocktail’ or ‘Whopper’ series (bronze leaf) (a.m. sun)
Dipladenia
Melampodium
Gomphrena
Cosmos
‘Intensia’ Phlox
‘Dakota Gold’ Helenium
Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’ (pairs great with pentas)
Ornamental peppers
Coleus (sun varieties)
Croton
‘Dragon’s Breath’ Celosia
Asparagus Fern (filler/spiller)
Spillers: Lantana
‘Cora Cascade’ Periwinkles/Vinca (plant late May)
‘Wedding Train’ Coleus (a.m. sun/p.m. shade)
Mecardonia
Moss Rose (portulaca) or Spanish Moss Rose or ‘Samba’ Portulaca
Purselane
Sweet Potato Vine (Margarita, Blackie, Ace of Spades, Bewitched,
Emerald Lace & Midnight Lace, Medusa)
Blue Daze
Verbena tapien or ‘Homestead’ Verbena
Creeping Jenny
Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’
Sedum ‘Lemon Ball,’ ‘Reflexum,’ ‘Potosinum,’ ‘Sarmentosum’, etc.
Purple Heart
Scaevola – Fan Flower
Thyme
Annuals for SHADE:
Thrillers: Iresine
Persian Shield
Variegated Ginger
Lemon Lollipop or Golden Shrimp Plant (Pachystachys lutea)
Spike
Mona Lavender
Ti Plant/Cordyline
Caladiums (do not plant until soil temps are about 70 degrees)
Fillers: Dragonwing or Whopper Begonias
Waxleaf Begonias (green leaf)
Alternanthera (sun or shade)
Coleus (sun or shade varieties)
Hostas
Oxalis
‘Everillo’ Carex/Sedge (filler/spiller)
Spider Plant (filler/spiller)
Spillers: ‘Wedding Train’ Coleus
Summer Wave Torenia or ‘Bouquet’ series
Sweet Potato Vine (see above for varieties)
Creeping Jenny
Purple Heart
Hemigraphis
Asparagus Fern (filler/spiller)
Swedish Ivy
English Ivy (Hedera helix ‘Needlepoint,’ Glacier,’ etc.)
Note: You will not see petunias, geraniums, marigolds on my list because they just can’t take the summer heat! They are fine for planting an early spring container, if you’d like, but plan to replace with more heat tolerant plantings once the temps start to rise. I no longer recommend impatiens because they are susceptible to downy mildew. Don’t be wooed by flowering snapdragons and alyssum; they are cool season annuals that should be planted in the fall.
Watering: I know this is contrary to my usual watering recommendations for your garden, but I have found that watering my container plants in the evening helps the plants to perform much better through the summer.
