Wedding Flowers

Has your garden turned into the dead zone? Do people as where the tombstones are or what zombie movie is being shot? Mine does, but not for long. There is no reason for you to stare at bland brown ground waiting for the spring when the bulbs you planted pop up their lazy heads. I have some easy and frugal solutions to the winter drabs.

Before I get into the heart of the blooms, you need to know what “zone” your in. You can check out your area by going to http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html. Now, armed with this information, you can go shopping making sure you totally disregaurd what you just learned. There is a man, who lives here in Seattle, by the name of Cisco Morris. He used to be the head garderner of the University of Washington as well as the author of “Ask Cisco: Ooh-la-la! Your Gardening Questions Answered” available at http://www.allbookstores.com/author/Cisco_Morris.html and other gardening books. He once said something that I keep close to my heart and it changed the way I garden completely. It went something like this: If the plants looks spectacular to you, plant it. If it isn’t happy, try to replant it someplace else. If it dies, you can’t grow it here, but, you will never know if it will grow unless you plant it.

Since I heard that, my garden has never been the same and I preach this very same thing. Also, I will be using common name for the flowers I discuss in this article as common names are so much easier to research than trying to remember the genus/species classification. I have spent many a long, obsessive night looking up some flower name to find out that I knew what it was already. So, now that I have finished preaching, LET’S GO GARDENING!

Let’s start out with easy basic colour solutions for those of you who want quick colour. There a a few choices for you.

*Pansy is the easiest plant that can tolerate temperature drops into the 30’s to low 20’s. They come in a shockingly large veriety of colour and are so easy to care for that even those “black” thumbs amoung us can grow them. If you really like the colours, harvest thierseed pods and plant them in your spring and summer garden. Pansy seed pods are somewhat egg shaped and are readyto pick once the pod turns tanish-brown.

I really like using pansies for my eye catching colour, after all, if your eye isn’t caught, your more exotic plants will be missed. Because of thier bright, cheery colours they end up being the best pop for your buck. I plant them in contrasting colours, like purple and orange, black and yellow or deep red and light blue. In clumps intersparssed around my garden. They highlight my exotics nicely.

*Painted Daisy is as easy to grow as the Pansy. It is a prolific seed producer and come in some of the brightest oranges, yellows and combinations of each that I have ever seen. Ooh La La! Harvesting thier seeds are really easy and can be used in your spring and summer gardens, just let the petals wither and the seeds are at the end in the center.

They resemmble dark green to brown bugs except that they do not move, leave slime trails or bite your hand. The flowers themselves, look like they had been half dunked into paint, hence thier name, Painted Daisy. These plants are very drought tolerant and can withstand temperature drops into the upper 20’s.

*Petunia are a great colour plant as well. Although not thought of this time of year, I have successfully grown them as my garden border. Like the pansy, these plants come in a wide range of colours. Try to purchase the bush petunia as they are hardier than the cascading veriety. I do use the cascading petunia in elevated plant bed so they can cascade over the edge. Not as hardy as the pansy, petunias do not like going below lower 30s but I do have a few in my garden that can tolerate a bit lower. Seed pods resmeble the pansy and are ripe to collect once they turn tannish-brown.

*California Poppies are a quick and very eady solution to bare dirt. Coming in white, red, yellow and orange, these plants are excellent for a splash of colours. I used orange poppies in around my maroon and purple iris in spring for a great contrasting festivil for the eye. Very drought tolerant, ease of growning and tolerant to around mid 20’s, poppies make a great diverssion to the winter blahs.

Seed pods are long and green that resemble funky long, green beans and banana combined. The pods mature very quickly and will give you a good scare when it pops in your hand. Explosive seed dispertion is something to excperience, at least once. They are prolific with about 30 to 50 seeds per pod and a pod from each bloom. To avoid this experience, pick the pods before they get ripe as they will ripen off the plant. I am delving in cross breeding my poppies to see if I can get pink ones.

*African Daisy is a wonderful plant to use for winter colour, but be careful as African Daisy like to take over your garden. They come in three colours with a variety within those colours. The white African Daisy is one of the most brilliant white flowers I have ever seen and has a slight bluish tinge toward the center of the flower. The center is black with a bit of yellow bits. The orange is bright!

It is the perfect colour to brighten any dark corner. The purple African Daisy is a brilliant dark purple and is another of my favorites. Growers have also created a veriaty called “spider” which has curled petals of the flowers so they look like straws and at the very tip, the petal opens up. It is a wonderful conversation piece. They seed like the Painted Daisy so harvest the dead head of the flowers to plant in other areas.

On to the more difficult wintering plants. I love a challenge, personally, and I like to see what I can grow in my climate. I have been rewarded with plants they typically do not grow in such climates blooming all winter long. I wish I could figure out what I was doing correctly so that I could bottle it, market it and become wealthy so that I could have more time for gardening. Unfortunately, I do not know what it is I am doing so I can only write about my success and hope that it works for you!

*Salvia is one of my favorite harder to grow plants both red and blue floweing verieties. They grow really well, here in Seattle. I use them up against a wall or fence as thier flower stalks can be 2 to 3 feet tall. As a backdrop, Salvia rules. It is a really hardy plant being both drought tolerant and tolerating tempertaures into the lower 20’s.

They have very interesting foliage as thier leaves are heart shaped and a bit fuzzy. Once established, which typically only takes about 6 months, they grow a type of tuber that helps them through the tougher times. Salvia also sends a modified runner, once established, that can be gently removed from the plant and placed in other areas. You can relocate the salvia if it gets too big as well, just dig the plant up digging around the base to give it plenty of space.

*Black-Eye Susan is a great complimentary flower for the African Daisy and the larger Salvia. It’s fowers are deep orange with a very pronounced black center. They are somewhat harder to grow as they do not like getting too wet, but can tolerate very wet conditions if it has addiquet drainage. I have yet to try to collect the seeds for this flower but do know that it is……. They are a more compact plant so they are great for planting under bigger ones to help draw the attention into your garden but, don’t plant too far under as Susans don’t like being deprived of the light.

*Lobelia is a charmer in the hanging baskets of spring and summer but it is not the best for winter baskets. However, you can use Lobelia as a ground cover relatively
well in winter. It doesn’t mind being under bigger pants but does not like being too wet. Make sure that where you want to plant Lobelia is well drained as wet roots make for no roots. I like the darker blues for winter as I tend to want to brighten everything and the darker blue keeps the eyes from hurting looking at all the brilliance.

*Chyrsanthemums are typically thought of as a late summer plant blooming in early October, but you can extend thier blooming or get them to bloom again. After thier first bloom, when the blooms are beginning to die, snip them off about ½ inch from the first leaf. This makes the plant think it is dying and forces it to re-bloom. Make sure that you give the plant enough plant food to help it through this shock. I typically use my fish tank water as it is the best for fixed nitrogen as fish waste. You can get fish waste fertilizer at your favorite garden store or a place like Fred Meyer, Home Depot, or Lowes. You can use Miracle Gro as well but I prefer organic.

Now let’s move on to some challenging plants for those who like to reap the benefits of being brave. REMEMBER-If you don’t plant it, it won’t grow. So, try it. Most of the plants that I will be discussing were left where they were due to running out of room in my house and I accidentally found out they could grow in the dark of winter. As these are the hardest plants to grow in winter, I seem to remember the genus names better, don’t ask me why, so I will be using them here.

*Fucia, in it’s hardy form, can grow nicely in the winter. It is deciduous, which means it drops it leaves in winter, so it doesn’t make a good plant to use. The Fucia plants that bloom in the summer, both single and double flower verieties, are really tough to keep pretty but, with some babying it can happen. They don’t like harsh winds nor do they like temperatures below the mid 30’s, but plant it just under a bigger bush and cover it with a baby blanket during those really cold nights and it should be ok. I suggest a baby blanket as they are a bit fluffier and smaller so that you don’t need to be mummy wrap your plant. Don’t use the glass bells that are used for tomatoes for the condesation that can build up inside can rot the plant and can freeze the leaves when you take it off.

*Nictiana is a very beautiful, petite plant that can be a real treat to find in a garden. Normally a summer annual, this plant seems to do rather well in colder temperatures. Even though it can bear the brunt of winter storms, I highly suggest that you plant it against a wall or other windbreak as it complains alot from wind chill unless you like the constant whine of a prissy plant. It’s flowers are quite beautiful being remenesant of petunia. They come in maroon, light yellow, pale pink and light green. I am not fond of plants with flowers almost the same colour as thier leaves as they really do not add colour nor distinction to a garden. This is only my oppinion and if you like the green flowers, then I do recommend Nictiana.

*Torenia is one of the cutest little plants I have found. Coming in all sorts of speckled blooms it is one of my more talked about exotic. The flowers remind me of the speckled robin egg malted milk candies that I get during Easter. It is a joy to see them in the coldness of this time of year. It grows easily in the spring and summer and rewards the grower with awsome displays. In winter, however, they become a constant pain in the behind behaving like a cold, hungry, spoiled child. They do make interesting rock garden plants and they can trail easily as they add alot of pizzaz to an ordinarily dull part of the garden. The rock garden also helps as Torenia really doesn’t like to have it’s roots in water. Try to plant lower in your rock garden as Torenia doesn’t like the chilly wind, either. Like I said, spoiled but fun.

With a courageous heart, a challenging spirit, and a little more luck, your garden can be almost as beautiful as it is during the nicer months. Colour need not be sacrificed just because it gets colder. If you have a plant that you really like, try it. If it doesn’t grow, then it isn’t for winter, but, you will never know unless you plant it. It is somewhat easy to keep the depressing blues of winter away with a touch of brightness in your garden. The plants I have mentioned here are by far not the only plants you can plant in your gaarden and not even all I have in mine. I have mentioned these plants as they are some of the highest “bang for your buck” flowers. I encourage you to go for it and see what you can grow. It at least gets you out of the house for a couple of hours while you pamper your plants. Now, everyone, get out there and plant!!

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