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Need a few winners for your summer flower garden or mixed border? Looking for a few good "easy keepers" so you can kick back and relax rather than fight the heat and struggle with garden?
Cleome: self-sown plants multiply annually in pink, white, and all shades in between. Variegated euphorbia: Snow on the Mountain has a cooling name to echo its distinctive and refreshingly crisp "look" which finally appears right about the end of July in a big self-renewing drift. A native annual. Gladiolas! Fabulous rich bursts of color, and best of all a minute footprint in the garden. One of my favorites and so easy a child can plant them. Sunflowers! Those 90-day deals hit their stride right about now. Look out, summer's here! Another one the kids can plant all by themselves. (And so can you!) Rose of Sharon. It's hot as blazes but these shrubs bloom their hearts out and the display lasts for weeks. Butterfly Bushes: Big. Bold. Beautiful. What more do you need? Purple Coneflowers: Maybe muddy pink isn't your favorite, but they bloom often and a lot and the goldfinches love 'em come fall. Echinacea at its decorative best. Malva: As long as we're in the pink, malva is about as reliable and as pretty a weed as you're likely to find; this plant thrives on thin soil atop a boulder at my house and goes ape on good soil. Don't let it go to seed unless you'd like some everywhere. Mimosa: More pink! A tree full of those eye-catching or some might say overwhelming orangey-pink puffballs is a butterfly and hummer magnet. Awesome is one way to describe the display, especially if you hate the color. Phlox paniculata "David": Reliable through wet years and dry, recently testing near the top for mildew resistance among tall border phlox, too. You need this excellent tall white in your perennial garden. Black Eyed Susans: Possibly the most well known of the rudbeckia tribe, this one is reliable and tough but the flat orange color is hard to work with. I think I like it best teamed with the restful backdrop of ornamental grasses. Ornamental Grasses: Although there may be an issue of self sewn weed status in some areas, these plants bring drama and texture to the summer garden - they waft on the slightest breeze and sound good, too. The winter display is a bonus. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Summer Flower Champs in Cottage Garden is owned by Barbara M. Martin. Permission to republish Summer Flower Champs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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