Winners & Losers

  Our backyard is at its finest.  The summer flowering perennials have begun to display their brightness.  The annual flowers, both in pots and in the garden, are in their prime. 

No doubt, the never-ending rain has helped our garden grow.  But I’d like to think that the careful choices we make when picking out annuals at the end of May contribute to success in July and August.

To be fair, not everything we plant turned out to be a winner.  The Impatience on the North side of the house are struggling this year as they did last year.  I’ll put the blame on zero direct sun, poor drainage and too much water.  Yet the same Impatience in the backyard are flourishing beyond belief. 

The other disappointment are the palms.  The two Majesty palms, direct from Florida, were intended to be thrillers in the centre of large containers.  They haven’t grown an inch and their lush green colour has turned pale, bleached from too much sun.   Majesty Palms have a cheap price tag, so I don’t consider it a great loss.  Next year we will opt for sun-loving Banana plants or Cordyline in their place. 

Last year our top performers in the garden were Petunias and Lantanas.  We’ve switched from traditional Petunias to Calibrachoa (Million Bells, Superbells) and the new Supertunias, all with smaller flowers, all with the habit of tumbling over the edge of their container.  With periodic fertilizer, Petunias will bloom and bloom without the need for dead-heading.

Lantanas are an under-appreciated annual flower that loves summer heat.  Hummingbirds are a constant companion around Lantanas, although this year a little less than last.  Lantanas are tough as nails, will bloom until late October and are always colourful. 

Zinnias have always been the stuff that Grandma’s Garden was made of.  Tall, stalky, green leaves and stems, bearing simple flowers in red, white, or pink.  They were just flowers, nothing overwhelming but nothing under either.   Today’s Zinnias have been reformed with a new array of plentiful vibrant blooms on compact plants.  In our backyard, the Zinnias are planted in both containers and garden beds, each with stunning rewards. 

Portulacas continue to amaze.  We now have 4 containers of Portulacas, all in shallow bowls and planted in full sun.  Their blooms are wide open all day long, but close up when the sun goes down.  Portulacas are water misers and love the hot sun.  They don’t mind if you go away for a few days and neglect watering.  We find the best performers are pink and yellow, followed by white, salmon and red.

Sunflowers need more than a month to begin strutting their stuff, but when blooms finally open in mid-July, are vibrant as ever.  We always have a few volunteer Sunflowers sprouting up in odd places, that grow tall with blooms as big as your face.  But in our garden, the best Sunflowers are short, showing multiple blooms in shades of yellow, deep red and bicolured. 

Annual Vinca is a small growing, well-behaved plant with lush, glossy leaves.  Delightfully coloured blooms in pink, rose and lilac resemble Impatience, but prefer to grow in full sun.  Vincas are draught tolerant, so we planted them at the end of the driveway where we can periodically skip watering without issue.

 In next week’s Garden Clippings, we’ll look at the most dependable summer flowering perennials.