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Let Your Trowel Dig True for the Red, White and Blue

© Wesley Ford

Memorial Day, the first summer holiday. The last holiday of the school year. Forget June 21, this is the DAY that kicks off the summer. The DAY when the pool opens. The DAY when you don't have to rise early and go into the office, but you do have to rise early and go to the little league game and picnic. The DAY to kick back, watch a parade, and pull the ole grill out of hiding. Memorial Day is the DAY. It's been a long, long time since the last federal holiday, all the way back to February, when there are far too many of them. So Memorial Day becomes the DAY. Man you are going to rest today and make up for that long spring grind, when the weather teased and you about went bananas.

Whoa, what's wrong with this picture? Sure Memorial Day is all those things, but what else is it? Read its name- words mean things. Memorial? Day. Aha, yes it is a day to remember, but who or what? Does it have something to do with all those American patriots who have gone before us, who have made ultimate sacrifices for the cause of liberty here in the US of A. and around the world? You bet! And as such, Memorial Day is the first of our summer patriotic holidays. It is followed by Flag Day on June 14, and Independence Day on July 4, and finally ends with Labor Day at the beginning of September. Summer, what a wonderful time to celebrate the grand and revolutionary ideas and principles and heroic actions that are the US of A.

So, fitting that we can use the summer growing season to grow a little patriotic fervor. Red, White and Blue planting schemes are nothing new but invariably they are eye catching, and suprisingly harmonious. Yes, "she's a grand old flag", and she has wonderful colors. I think every American garden should concede at least a small corner or planter to our summer patriotic holidays. One doesn't have to commit to large swaths or even permanent locations to the red, white and blue. A little sign of patriotic flare will stand out nicely and can be changed annually.

Annuals, those plants that germinate from seed, mature, flower and produce fruit in a single season, before succumbing to the vagaries of nature are the ideal vehicle for creating a patriotic flower theme to remind us of our national heritage through the summer. Modern annual cultivars and varieties are generally easy grow, produce abundant flowers over the majority of the growing season, and are adaptable. Here are some ideas for patriotic color combinations you may wish to choose from.

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