Why I Oughta...

This planter outside of an office building has a nice legibility to it:  annual vinca (Madagascar Vinca) in the front, sort-of spilling over the front ledge of the bed (or garden box), backed by a white-flowering waxy Begonia.  In the corners are Purple Heart Tradescantia (which has a trailing habit).  Behind the begonias (and taller) is a row of Salvia.  And, in the center?  Some tropical-looking cannas.  Nice combination that serves as inspiration for an all-annual island bed.  

I wrote about purple flowers this week.  Like I said then, I'm drawn to dark-color blooms.  The darker, the better.   When I saw this Petunia - Crazytunia Cosmic Violet - I immediately said to myself:  'add to cart'.   Here, below, is the sign at The Growing Place.  It says "Blooms deep plum purple feathering into pale lavender edges.  Crazytunias are bread for tolerance to extreme weather including heat, rain and wind.   Here's how White Flower Farm describes them : Petunia Crazytunia® Cosmic Violet is a prolific bloomer but maintains a tidy habit and won’t overwhelm its neighbors. We like the saturated purple tones of the flowers, as do pollinators. Here are a couple of photos showing the plants: I have gone back-and-forth on our smaller patio containers.  Mixed plantings vs. monocultures.   For this Crazytunia, I'm going sort-of 'in-between'.  I planted it to the side of one of our smaller containers and left ...

Last year, I planted three Inferno coleus in the island bed in our front yard after seeing them on a garden tour video and I wasn't disappointed.  By October of last year, I wrote a post praising sun-tolerant coleus as bedding plants and pledged to plant more this year.  I even included 'planting coleus as bedding plants' as one of my 2025 to-do items .   With the larger-scale planting of Crimson Gold Coleus in the (newly expanded) Island Bed in front, I decided to not walk-away-from Inferno coleus.  I bought three quart-sized pots of the red/brown annual and planned to put them into the expanded back patio corner bed.    Last Fall, I used the 'lazy bed extension' method to expand the corner bed adjacent to our back patio .  That created some new planting space that I can fill this season.   That spot gets decent sun - for our backyard at least.  It gets the MOST sun, I suppose, of anywhere in our backyard.  Thus, it seemed l...

I'm not drawn (normally) to pinks in the garden.  Or reds.  But, blues and purples?  They seem to jump off the nursery table when I see them.  At least, recently.    See the photo at the top of this post?  Little purple flowers on a trailing habit annual?  Yes, please.    That is Verbena x Lascar 'Black Velvet'.  And, I bought three of them.  What are they?  From this listing on Magic Valley Gardens : Verbena ‘Lascar™ Black Velvet’ adds rich, velvety drama to your garden with clusters of deep magenta-purple blooms that stand out beautifully against bright green foliage. This early-flowering variety features a mounded to trailing habit, making it perfect for mixed containers, hanging baskets, and sunny borders. With medium vigor and excellent weather tolerance, it delivers consistent color throughout the season. A favorite for gardeners seeking bold color and reliable, low-maintenance performance in summer plantings. Flower...

The way that I think about gardening is that you have to have a systemic approach to planning and planting that is paired with a secondary, supplemental approach to zhuzh'ing things during the growing season.  That systemic approach means trees and shrubs and even perennials.  (I need to do more evergreen shrubs....just a self-reminder.) But that supplemental zhuzh'ing is something that I've mostly done through division and some bulbs.   I suppose that's the difference between a landscaper and a gardener, right?  A landscape gets it all planted and is satisfied.  A gardener will work the garden all year long.  A plantsman?  That's for another post. One of the things that I've talked about over the years is how to use annuals in the landscape.  The only place that I've successfully planted them is out front in the porch beds.  In the back?  Nothing. Last year, I included the idea of using shade annuals and dark foliage .  B...

The past few seasons, I've planted (at least) one container with an annual flower pattern that we first saw in the beds at Luxembourg Gardens in Paris a few years back.  Here's one example - showing a combination of red, orange/yellow and blue/purple with Blue Salvia (Salvia farinacea), a yellow Zinnia and in front a red Wave petunia.  I've used marigolds in lieu of Zinnias in other years like the corner box last year .   I've drawn other inspiration from this very same garden - from chairs to edging to using cocoa bean mulch to the use of London Planetrees to falling in love with  the orangerie box to espalier of various forms .  One of the things that I was surprised by (not sure why) was that they have updated their annuals and the patterns they were using in their beds around Luxembourg Gardens in Paris this Summer (June 2022).   In the more sunny section of the garden - around the big fountain - they're now showing a series of beds tha...