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Vertical Flowers

© Keith Muraoka

Kim Basinger, Elle MacPherson, Kathy Ireland, Michelle Pfeiffer. What am I getting at? Well, any male in America over the age of 12 would slobber over any of these beauties. On the other hand, what if every women looked like them? It would get pretty boring, pretty fast.

The same goes if all flowers looked alike. While it's true a mass of flowers can be stunning and catch the eye -- whether it's all purple petunias, a mixture of petunias or a mixture of many kinds of flowers. Yet, without a little aesthetic balance even the biggest blaze of flowers can appear missing something. That something often involves variation in shape.

Personally, I like a little contrast in life -- both in people and flowers. OK, OK, I admit I'd love to have the chance to get tired of Kim Basinger, but that's another story all together.

As for flowers, though, those that are spire-like in form -- namely, those that grow more vertically than horizontally -- are excellent contrasts to the more rounded shapes of many bedding plants. Besides adding aesthetic balance tall-growing flowers make ideal cut flowers because they have nice long legs -- er, I mean, stems. (Still thinking of Kim).

Of course, planting all vertical plants would be just as poor in the design sense. It is also poor design to plant vertical plants directly in front of another. For variety's sake, they should be combined with other forms. Again, it is the contrast in shape that provides texture and encourages visual interest.

Old-fashioned spire flowers include snapdragons, stock, foxglove, delphinium and larkspur, to name a few. All provide distinctive contrasts to the more rounded forms of annuals like petunias or impatiens.

Whether you're planting a new flower garden, renovating an old one or just adding a handful to complement an existing bed, vertical plants may be just what you're looking for.

Snapdragons and stock remain two of the most common back-of-the-border choices. While both are considered annuals, they can often be grown as perennials in many parts of California. This time of year, they do better in a little shade; in winter they prefer full sun. Children also love snapdragons due to the "dragon's mouth" shape of the flowers, which they can open or close. Plant breeder Glenn Goldsmith of Goldsmith Seeds in Gilroy, California, also "invented" the butterfly type snapdragons that offer even showier flowers.

No spire garden would be complete without delphinium and foxglove. Delphiniums are known for their arresting blue steeples of summer flowers. Flower spikes reach 6 feet high and spread 2 feet. Foxgloves feature individual florets that resemble the fingers of a glove. The funnel-shaped flowers have exotic spots and freckles as a means of attracting bees for pollination. Plants grow 3-4 feet high and spread a foot.