Tag Archives: drought tolerant

Frankly Scarlet from All American Daylilies.

I want to tell you about one of the standouts in the front garden. Frankly Scarlet

Frankly Scarlet is a rebloomer. photo: All American Daylilies

from All American Daylilies. A daylily that is not to be ignored, with 4″ diameters and sun-fast red blooms standing tall above the dark green foliage.

Being a daylily enthusiast, I have quite a collection. Even though the blooms only last a day, the plants produce several blooms, lasting for weeks. With so many varieties blooming at different times, there is a daylily of some type blooming in the front garden all summer long.

Daylilies require little care once established, but demand attention for their brilliant fade resistant colors. This Frankly Scarlet gets a little late afternoon shade. And, who can’t appreciate a bit of shade during the heat of Missouri summers?

This daylily has been in my garden for 4 years. It’s time to dig and divide. Frankly Scarlet daylily will have even more hardy blooms once once it is divided and has a little more room to grow.

  • Heat and Drought Tolerant;
  • Good for Erosion Control; Salt Tolerant
  • Excellent Rust Resistance

This lovely flower bloomed like the star she is and then continued to thrive during last summers drought. I suggest you buy one of these rebloomers. In no time you will have dozens.

AllAmericanDaylilyLogo

Frankly Scarlet has won awards as a landscaping plant. They are truly beautiful in a broad swath of color, perfect for a border or lining a sidewalk. Daylilies are also ideal for erosion control or planting on hill sides too steep to mow.

Serena® Blue Angelonia

Look For This Plant

Serena® Blue Angelonia

Serena® Blue Angelonia is a lush green plant with  true blue flower color.  photo by PBH

(Angelonia angustifolia) is some times called Summer Snapdragon. This sweet blue flower bloomed late spring, all summer and until frost.

No matter where you plant it, this perky upright flower is drought tolerant, heat tolerant and low maintenance. Honestly, this plant received no extra attention. I did not fertilize the angelonia all season. It did receive occasional watering during a long summer of drought.

I can only imagine how beautiful the angelonia would be with a little attention, regular watering and fertilizer. The plants reached over a foot tall with bright green foliage and narrow leaves. I planted this Ball trial in a raised bed in full sun.

The plant grew to just over a foot tall and at least that wide. Blooming nonstop all season, Angelonia needs no pinching or deadheading.

This Serena® Blue Angelonia is a clear blue upright continuous bloomer. Two more new varieties, Serena Waterfall Mixture Angelonia and Serena Mixture Improved Angelonia are beautiful color combinations. Also in this series are lavender, purple and white.

Serena® angelonia blue was a trial plant sent to me by Ball Horticultural Company  for evaluation. Angelonia is much hardier than the delicate looking blooms and foliage appear. It is truly care free. There was no hint of disease or insect damage.

I love the non fade blue color that was not phased by last summers extreme heat. I would buy this plant again and would recommend it to my friends.

More color choices:

Waterfall Mixture photo: Ball

Mixture Improved photo: Ball

 

 

 

 

 

One Last Thing: put your garden to bed.

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower is attracting gold finches and butterflies. photo PBH

If the sun and drought has sucked out the last of your love for gardening, there is still one last chore before you call it quits.

Put your gardens to bed.

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower

Chocolate Cherry Sunflower (Renee’s Garden Seeds) tired and ragged from the long, hot summer. photo PBH

First, clean up and remove all evidence of disease or damage. Do not add this to your compost pile. You can get more tips and services from couvillionslandscaping.com

Add chopped leaves, grass, compost or other healthy organic matter. Work it in to those top 6 inches of soil. I say six inches, I’ve never actually measured it. I mean about as deep as my hand it long.

I use a garden hoe or hand trowel for  cleaning and weeding beds. (Tool choice depends on whether I am sitting, standing, or kneeling.)

Add organic matter.

Make sure that you visit this web-site and educate yourselves. Spread organic matter on your raised beds. Gently mix the organic matter into the top few inches of the garden soil. Leave it loose (no smoothing or flattening.) This is a good time to pick out rocks and roots.

For working around established survivors (AKA, perennials), like roses, tarragon, and lavender, I work in the compost with the Cobrahead, taking care not to damage the roots.

Add more organic matter.

Then, cover the raised bed with mulch (I happen to have lots of chopped leaves and pine straw.) You can add layers of newspaper followed by shredded newspaper, bagged compost, fine wood chips, or shreaded leaves for example.

Yes, I said add stuff and add more stuff.

At this point you can choose to add a green cover crop* or not. Adding more green matter to your garden can only improve your garden soil. On the other hand, if the summer heat has burned, toasted and shriveled you to a crisp, stop here. Good Job. The bed will be ready, resting and waiting for spring.

The point here is to never leave the garden soil bare. Preparing the garden bed now will give you a couple of weeks jump of the 2012 garden season.

Trees

If you have young or newly planted trees, make sure they are well watered, add a two or three inch layer of compost, then a couple of inches os mulch. No need to add commercial fertilizer. The compost is feeding the tree. The mulch is holding in the moisture and limiting sudden temperature changes.

*Cover crops is a whole other post. And I am going out to enjoy this fall day. More later.

 The big success in my garden this year: Dragon Wing® Red Begonia by Proven Winners. More, Later.

dragon wing red begonia

Faithful bloomer all summer this begonia is tired and burned from heat and drought.

Supertunia® Giant Pink Petunia

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If you haven’t grown petunias in a while, look again. These Proven Winners bloom continuously with no need for deadheading. Hummingbirds stopped by daily. Butterflies and birds love these flowers.

 

Giant Pink Petunias are heat and drought tolerant. To survive in my garden, flowers need to be care free and low maintenance. My opinion of petunias has changed. I love these bright pink annuals.


 

Supertunia®

 

 

Supertunia® Giant Pink Petunia hybrid

If you haven’t grown petunias in a while, look again. These Proven Winners bloom continuously with no need for deadheading. Hummingbirds stopped by daily. Butterflies and birds love these flowers.

 

Giant Pink Petunias are heat and drought tolerant. To survive in my garden, flowers need to be care free and low maintenance. My opinion of petunias has changed. I love these bright pink annuals.

Supertunia

 

Not to be deterred, this little wren moved in and raised a family right beside the Supertunia®

Supertunia® Giant Pink Petunia

It was my pleasure to trial these plants for Proven Winners last summer.

Proven Winners are easy to find in our area. You could imagine my shock when I read the back of the plant label this spring: “BUY THIS! Even Patsy Bell Hobson did not kill it.” I don’t know if this is a regional marketing strategy or a National Campaign. Let me know if you see this tag in your store.

The Supertunias® were regularly watered, but not fertilized.

Diamond Frost® Euphorbia

Look for this plant

I’ll be looking for Diamond Frost® Euphorbia again this year.

Diamond Frost® Euphorbia was a cloud of airy white flowers all summer. Heat and drought tolerant, this is a low maintenance plant that looked good all season. No fussy pruning, pinching or deadheading.

Diamond Frost Euphorbia

My only contribution to this hanging basket was water. This plant is self cleaning, takes full sun or part sun and looks good in any combination. Last year I planted this as a filler in a basket. This year, I will plant it solo to take the starring role hanging from the pergola.

I’ll be looking for Diamond Frost again this year. It was a stellar performer all summer.  Proven Winners are easy to find in our area. It was my pleasure to trial this plant for Proven Winners last summer. This euphorbia got a lot of compliments last year. 

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