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We have had a lot of rain this year and are not having drought problems yet. Last year was a different story, and some plants are still suffering drought stress. As summers get hotter and drier, drought-hardy perennials will make your landscape use less water. You can have a drought resistant garden that is beautiful. You don’t have to choose one over the other.
Using native perennials that are adapted to the rainfall in our area does more than reduce your water bill. Native plants feed and shelter an amazing number of insects, birds, and animals. Everyone knows pollinators are in trouble. Planting native trees, shrubs, and perennials gives them a place to live, reproduce, and feed. As a quick example, an oak tree houses 532 species of caterpillars, 147 species of birds, 120 species of mammals, and 60 species of reptiles and amphibians. In contrast, something imported like Bradford pear trees might feed a few birds, who like the fruit, but not much else.
We have some suggestions for native drought-resistant perennials that will not need to be watered much once established.
This attractive coneflower is native to both Kansas and Missouri. It grows to be from two to four feet tall with vivid purple flowers on tall stems. In the wild, it grows in well-drained limestone, sand, clay, loam, so it grows in a variety of soils. As a bonus, this plant attracts butterflies and hummingbirds and is valuable to native bees.
This cheerful flower can be an annual, biennial, or a short-lived perennial, depending on the growing conditions. It grows to be three feet tall. Black-eyed Susans grow easily and can sometimes spread aggressively if the conditions are too perfect for it. Insects use the nectar and birds eat the seeds.
Milkweed or Butterfly Weed grows up to two feet tall. It attracts butterflies and hosts monarch butterfly caterpillars. The pollen and nectar attract other insects, as well. The plant is often home to aphids, but it will attract predator insects like the ladybeetle. Both the larvae and the adults love aphids. This plant is a must for anyone who wants a true butterfly garden, as it is the best place for caterpillars to grow and thrive.
While we don’t plant exclusively natives, as it would limit the combinations and creativity of our landscapes, we do like to incorporate them as much as possible along with other hardy plants for our area.
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can come to your landscape and recommend the appropriate native plants for your location. You can remove non-native plants or start filling in natives as other plants die. Simply schedule a consultation and a garden care specialist will come suggest some native plants for your landscape.
While it is hot now, fall is coming. Remember, fall is the best time to plant shrubs in your landscape. Look around at the shrubs that have not survived the intense cold and then intense heat this year. Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping recommends the following shrubs to replace your dead or dying ones, or to create an entirely new landscape area for your home as well.
Drift Roses are a low shrub with beautiful large flowers from apricot to coral red. The leaves are dark green. The flowers are 1.5 inches across with up to twenty-five petals. The plant gets up to two feet tall and three feet wide. Drift roses have excellent disease resistance making them a very low-maintenance plant. Plant in full sun. Deadhead spent flowers for the best results and continued blooms.
Ninebark shrubs vary in size and leaf color depending on the variety. The young stems are brown while the older stems have exfoliating bark. Leaves are dark green above and lighter green below. The small flowers range from white to pink and are replaced with red fruit that stays on the shrub through the fall. Depending on the variety the shrub can get from 3-8 feet tall and 4-6 feet wide. The fruit attracts birds and other wildlife. Plant in full sun.
This showy plant has small pink flowers and golden-colored leaves. New leaves are gold, and mature leaves are green gold. This hardy shrub will tolerate partial shade but does better in full sun. It is resistant to deer. Spirea Gold Flame grows up to 3 ½ feet tall and 4 feet wide. The flowers attract butterflies and other pollinators.
Crape Myrtles are a wonderfully versatile landscape plant. They bloom all summer, come in a variety of colors from hot pink and red to white, come in sizes from ground cover to tree, and have interesting bark. In our area, crape myrtles reach shrub size. However, you can find a crape myrtle cultivar to fit almost any space. Plant in full sun for a very showy plant.
Butterfly bush is another plant that flowers in a variety of colors ranging from yellow to orange to red to purple. The leaves vary from deep green to gray-green to silverish gray. As the name implies, the bush attracts lots of butterflies and other pollinators, including Monarch butterflies. The bush grows 6-10 feet tall and 4-10 feet wide and has a pleasing arching form. The size, flower color, and leaf color vary by variety. It requires full sun. One of our favorites is the “Miss Molly” variety.
Rose of Sharon has big flowers that come in blue, red, pink, lavender, purple, white, or a combination of these colors. Some flowers are double blooms, while some are single blooms. The leaves are bright green. Different varieties come in different sizes, but the largest can grow up to fifteen feet tall and wide. Bees and hummingbirds love Rose of Sharon flowers. Rose of Sharon will grow well in partial shade but has more and bigger blooms in full sun.
Oakleaf hydrangea has large, showy green leaves that turn bronze or other colors in the fall. The flowers are ivory-white when they first come out and may blush pink as they age. The bark on the stems is fuzzy and brown at first, maturing to a cinnamon color. The bark exfoliates its outer layer, lending interest to the stems. Oakleaf hydrangea size varies by variety but is typically 4-8 feet tall and as wide. Dwarf varieties may top out at three feet high. These bushes do best in partial shade or dappled sun. They attract pollinators with their flowers.
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping’s Garden Care Specialist, Jess Jones, can advise you as to which of these beautiful shrubs will best fit into your landscape. She can help educate you on the alternatives, as well, if none of these strike your fancy. You can call our office at (816) 825-2524 or schedule a consultation to have us come out and help you evaluate your landscape and suggest new plants for your needs.
After our article on evaluating your landscape, you may have found some plants that are not doing well and need to go. You may also have found some holes in your landscaping. Consider putting one of our favorite perennials in instead. These perennials are hardy and do not need much water and fertilizer to thrive.
Catmint does great in a well-drained area in the sun. There are several varieties that all grow vigorously. The height varies by variety but is usually around 18” – 24” tall. Catmint can grow like crazy, so make sure to give it 2 to 3 feet of spacing for room to spread. When the flowers fade, shear them off to promote more blooms. Catmint is drought tolerant once established, and the leaves are edible. The scent repels some insects, including aphids and squash bugs. You will also notice that small white butterflies love this plant.
Black-eyed Susans are easily recognizable with their yellow petals and dark brown or black centers. This member of the daisy family is native to the Eastern United States but has been naturalized across the country. This perennial is tough as nails and grows to be two to three feet high. Pollinators love this flower, and the Silvery Checkerspot butterfly grows on it. The cut flowers last a week to ten days in water, bringing the sunshine in with them. These hardy flowers will self-seed. If you want more of these in your garden, then crush up the seed heads in the fall and leave them in the mulch to sprout.
The purple coneflower is native to the central and eastern United States. It has pinkish-purple petals with a dark brownish center topped by an orange cap. This tough plant is drought tolerant once established and is also deer, heat, humidity, and salt resistant. It grows to be two to three feet tall and will grow in full sun and partial shade. Pollinators, especially butterflies, love coneflowers. Birds, especially American goldfinches, will eat the seeds if you leave them on the plant. Coneflowers make a nice border or plant a clump of them in the landscape. Varieties have been bred that are red, white, pink, orange, yellow, or red as well.
Daylilies have big, showy flowers in a variety of colors. They reach from one to four feet high, depending on the variety. Blooming at various times of the spring and summer, daylilies provide an important source of nectar to butterflies and hummingbirds. They grow in full sun to partial shade. While each bloom only lasts a short time, the plants have numerous blooms over a long time period. Daylilies are poisonous to cats, so do not plant them if you have outdoor or feral cats around. We prefer the re-blooming varieties for more color throughout the season.
There are over 27,000 registered varieties of Dianthus. Some of them are perennial. The flowers are fragrant and can be pink-lilac, pink-purple, or white. They have frilly margins, and some have a border around the petal. Dianthus makes a great border or is part of a landscape bed. They grow from four inches tall to four feet tall, depending on the variety. The plant is resistant to deer but vulnerable to rabbits. The petals are edible if grown organically and are often crystallized and used on cakes. We use the shorter perennial versions as the front-row border plants in many of our designs.
Liriope is a low-growing ground cover. It comes in green and variegated with white. We prefer the variegated varieties. Most varieties grow from ten to eighteen inches tall. An evergreen, Liriope has lavender, purple, pink, or white flower spikes during the summer. It grows in shade or full sun and is heat, drought, and salt tolerant. In addition to being used as a groundcover, these tough plants can be used as edging or massed in a flower bed.
Coral bells are a low-growing perennial that has interesting foliage in colors ranging from green to yellow, red, and Burgandy. It has a tidy, clumping habit. The tiny bell-shaped flowers draw bees and butterflies. Depending on the variety, this plant will prefer partial shade. The leaf colors can be a stunning contrast to the dark mulch and other plants in your garden. Coral bells may need to be divided every three to four years to do well. They prefer the soil on the drier side but tolerate heat well.
If you need a perennial for the shade, you need a Hosta. Most Hostas are between 1-2.5 feet tall and are grown for the foliage. Some varieties have fragrant, showy flowers in white, lavender, or purple. The leaves range from yellow-green to dark green to bluish-green, and variegated varieties are common. Hostas will fade or change color in the sun and get burned up easily. However, in the shade, the Hosta may outlive you if given reasonable care. They do prefer an inch of water a week to do well, so make sure to water frequently, especially when the plants are young and getting established.
These clump-forming perennials have fern-like leaves and thrive in partial to full shade. The flowers are feathery plumes in pink, red, or white. Bees love Astilbe. The plants are tolerant of heavy shade, black walnut, deer, and rabbits. The mounds can grow to be one to five feet tall. The leaves come in red/Burgandy, brown/copper, and green. They look nice in containers, walkways, and woodland areas.
Need Some Help?
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can help you choose the best perennial for your space. We can also plant the perennials and care for your landscape beds for you. Schedule a consultation with our plant expert for ideas, or to get on our schedule.
Over the years, we at Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping have seen shrubs come, and shrubs go. Our favorites are hardy, last through whatever weather Mother Nature dishes out, and look great. Any of these shrubs would make a great addition to your landscape.
Some of these shrubs are evergreen and give interest all year long. Others on this list have colorful flowers, while some have leaves that turn colors in the fall. They come in many shapes, sizes, textures, and growth habits, giving them their unique personality and purpose in the landscape. All of the shrubs on this list are easy to care for once they are established and fairly low maintenance for your typical homeowner.
Boxwoods are a staple in the landscaping industry and are the number one selling plant for landscapes. Originally from Europe and Asia, many varieties of these shrubs are available. They are all evergreen and grow into a dense, thick shrubs. Our favorite varieties are Green Velvet and Graham Blandy. Both are very hardy, especially when established. The first winter is the most challenging, so make sure they are watered correctly. As a bonus, they are deer resistant.
Green velvet boxwoods are low, round shrubs great for small hedges. The dark green leaves hold their color all year. In the spring, light green foliage and white flowers make an appearance. These naturally rounded shrubs can be pruned into any shape you want.
Graham Blandy boxwoods are tall, skinny-shaped evergreen shrubs that are great for flanking entryways or for screening air conditioners and meters. They are a wonderful accent shrub in the landscape to create some height in tight spaces.
Fine Line Buckthorn is a great woody shrub for entryways and screening meters or air conditioners or even summer privacy around the pool. It is deciduous, so it will lose its leaves in the fall. However, buckthorns have a light, airy texture and are a little bit softer than boxwood. They are also less maintenance than tall boxwoods. The leaves become yellow in the fall before dropping off for the winter.
These super hardy shrubs are great to bring interest to a spot in your landscape. They are rounded and have very nice flowers. Spirea is deciduous, so they will lose their leaves in the fall. Their flowers attract bees and butterflies. Our two favorite varieties are gold swan and gold flame.
This spirea is a dense, compact shrub that can be trimmed back aggressively. In the spring, we trim it into round bowling balls, which hold their shape all year. Gold Swan has clusters of white flowers in the spring.
The leaves of gold flame spirea start out bronze tipped in the spring. They turn yellow-green and then turn red in the fall. Clusters of red flowers appear in the summer. Gold flame is a super hardy shrub.
Butterfly bush is a deciduous shrub with long, narrow sage green leaves and lots of flowers. The colorful, cone-shaped flowers bloom in the summer and attract hummingbirds and butterflies in swarms. Butterfly bushes come in many colors, from pinks and purples to dark purple. Our favorite variety is Miss Molly.
The Miss Molly variety is the closest to red of any butterfly bush. Miss Molly is a fun summer shrub that looks good in any landscape.
Crape myrtles come in various heights, from low dwarf varieties up to even small trees in our climate. In the south, they can grow even bigger, as you see in the image above. In the KC area, they tend to stay under 8’-10’ because of our colder climate. We have been substituting crape myrtles for roses in our landscapes because roses are having some challenges with pests and diseases. Crape myrtles leaf out in late May or June and have bright flowers in pinks, purples, and reds. They shed their thin gray bark, which adds texture and interest to your landscape. Crape myrtles often have multiple trunks. Do not give up on your crape myrtle plants in early spring, as they often don’t come out until late. Water them deep in the fall and protect them in the winter, and they will be a hardy show stopper in your garden.
Ninebark has a nice, rounded form with small white flowers that appear in clusters in the late spring. After the flowers, red capsules appear, which turn brown in the fall and stay all winter. Ninebarks have green leaves with red highlights. The leaves turn yellow in the fall. The bark of the ninebark peels off, showing layers of bark that are reddish to light brown, increasing the shrub’s interest. Our favorite varieties are amber jubilee and coppertina.
The leaves are red to purple when they grow in the spring. In the fall, the leaves turn yellow, orange, purple, or red before falling off for the winter. The flowers are white with yellow centers. Amber Jubilee was named to honor Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.
Coppertina has copper orange leaves with soft pink flowers. This shrub makes a dramatic specimen or an excellent hedge. Coppertina is drought resistant after it is established. This is a good shrub for problematic areas in the landscape.
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can help you decide which shrub you want and where it might fit in your landscape if you want to add some of these shrubs. Our garden care specialist, Lauryn Pitts, will be happy to consult with you on this. Schedule a consultation with her today.
Have you been considering adding trees to your property? Trees can provide so many benefits for you and your family by creating shade and helping lower energy costs, providing privacy from unsightly neighbors, and of course, the beautiful flowers to let you know that Spring has arrived. Choosing a tree can be a little overwhelming with all the different choices available. Here are five of our favorite trees for residential landscapes.
Both of these magnolias are part of a series bred by Francis DeVos and William Kosar in the 50s that are referred to as “the girls”. The main difference between them is the flower. Jane has whitish-pink flowers with more petals than Ann. Ann has deep pink flowers with fewer petals. Jane grows to 12-15 feet tall and 8-10 feet wide. Ann grows to 10-12 feet tall and 8-10 feet wide. Both trees bloom in the spring and sporadically rebloom in the summer. These are very pretty small trees to add to your landscape and fit well in a residential setting near houses and structures.
Black gum, also called black tupelo, is a very nice shade tree that is underutilized in our area. The green foliage turns to intense red fall color with hues of orange, yellow, and purple in the fall. This striking tree is not messy. It also adds welcome diversity to the landscape. In our area, red maples are over planted, and they could be one disease or pest away from disaster. Whereas the Black gum is underutilized and can produce equal if not greater fall color displays with a much better chance of long-term success. Black gum gets 30-50 feet tall and is 20-30 feet wide at maturity. They are usually found in moist well-drained soil along streams and creeks but will grow in dryer ground.
This medium tree starts the spring with fragrant white flowers. Green leaves come next, then the leaves turn burgundy for summer and fall color. The tree also produces tiny chokecherries, which can be pitted and used in jams and jellies. Birds love the chokecherries too and will flock to your yard for them. This cherry tree grows 25-30 feet tall and 15-20 feet wide. Canada red cherry is water-wise and thrives in our area. It has a straight trunk and uniform growth.
If you need a fast-growing screening tree, the green giant arborvitae is the one for you. It is much better than the other emerald green varieties that have multiple leaders, split, break, and die more than any other evergreen. Green giant arborvitae does not do that. The dense green foliage bronzes slightly in the winter. This tree can grow to a height of up to 40 feet or more and a width of 12-20 feet at maturity, so it will make a tall screen. The tree will grow up to 3 feet a year. In the summer, ½ inch long cones emerge green, then ripen to brown in the fall. These provide food for birds and small animals. Green giant arborvitae is also less attractive to deer than other arborvitae.
The redbud tree is a classic native tree for our region. Redbuds naturally grow as an understory tree along the edges of wooded areas. Mauve blossoms great the spring and bloom for 2-3 weeks. The leaves emerge reddish in color, turn green in the summer, and yellow in the fall. Newer varieties such as Hearts of Gold and Forest Pansy have great leaf color throughout the season. The tree grows to 20-30 feet tall and 15-35 feet wide.
Any of these trees can be a star in your landscape. Want to plant trees this season? Don’t fancy digging a big hole and planting them yourself? Let us do it for you. We have the equipment and know-how to give the tree the best chance to grow and shine. Contact us at Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping to discuss your landscape needs. We can design your landscape and plant the perfect trees for your property, and also help maintain them along with the rest of your landscape.
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Fall is fast approaching. That means it is time to do your fall planting. Planting in the fall gives your plants a head start in the spring for perennials and gives the flower beds a burst of color from fall annuals.
Fall Vegetables
Planting in the fall is a race between the vegetables and the onset of winter. It is a little late to plant most things, but if you use transplants, you will probably make a crop before the first freeze. You may even get a crop of root vegetables, depending on when the first killing freeze comes. The Missouri Extension Service has a good map with planting dates and cultivars on their website. Here are some you can still plant.
For specific tips on how to plant each vegetable, go here.
Fall Ornamentals
Ornamental plants brighten the landscape. The time is right to plant the following plants.
Lawn Renovations
Mid-August to mid-September is a good time to renovate your lawn. The following will make your lawn lush and thick in the spring.
Need some help getting ready for Fall? Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can remove fading annuals and replace them with fall colors. If you want a few vegetables but don’t want a vegetable bed, we can plant them in a corner of your flower bed. While we do not offer lawn renovations as a stand-alone service, we can refer you to a trusted partner we know does good work. Of course, if we manage your whole landscape, we can do the lawn renovations, too. Contact Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping today to get on our schedule.
Selecting a new plant for your landscape can be a lot of fun. The plant must look good in the space it is planted, of course, but there are many other factors to consider. Not every plant will grow in a particular spot, no matter how good it would look. Here are some factors to consider that will help your plants to thrive in your garden.
Site Conditions
Site conditions are the environmental factors that affect how plants will grow in the specific space. These conditions are not easy to change, so the right plants must be put in place. Only then will you have a lush, healthy landscape.
Sun or Shade Sun, in this case, is defined as getting at least six hours of sun a day. Partial sun is less than six hours but at least four hours a day, and shade is less than four hours of sun a day. Deep shade is getting less than two hours of sun a day. Shade plants will burn up in full sun, while plants requiring full sun will die in the deep shade.
Wet or Dry How much water does the location get? Does the water linger in this spot, or does it drain quickly? If a spot is boggy, you will have to place bog plants that can tolerate the moisture. If the area almost never gets rain, you need plants that are drought tolerant that will not die of thirst. While an irrigation system can help, it cannot change the drainage rate or reduce the water in a specific location.
Soils The type of soil also factors into the moisture question, but soils do more than that. Clay soil means poor drainage and needs to be amended with lots of organic matter such as compost. Sand can drain too fast, so it also needs lots of organic matter. The soil where you are may be fertile, in which case many plants can grow there, or it may be lacking in nutrients. A soil test can tell you what your soil nutrient content and pH levels are. In our area most soils are heavy in clay, adding compost is a great way to amend the soils to improve drainage and nutrients. This can be done by hand around each plant individually or with a roto-tiller for an entire garden area.
Acid/Alkaline The pH of your soil is important. There are many plants that will only grow on acid soil, such as blueberries, and there are others that will only grow in alkaline soils, such as blackberries. Soil pH can also keep nutrients locked away where the plant cannot use them. Alkaline soils make iron absorption difficult for some plants. Many people get focused on the USDA zone (discussed below) and forget that the soil pH matters, too. Sphagnum peat moss is often suggested as a soil amendment to decrease soil pH and is often used when planting azaleas, rhododendrons, and hydrangeas.
Plant In Layers
When creating a landscape, you do not want all the plants to be the same height. In nature, tall trees give way to smaller trees. Shrubs give way to shorter plants, and groundcovers are the shortest of all. Choosing a mixture of heights makes the landscape more complex and pleasing to the eye. Remember to put the tallest plants at the back and work your way down with the shortest plants in the front.
Variety
Landscapes look best when they feature a variety of plants. Having the exact same thing in every flower bed, for example, becomes monotonous. Here are some things to consider while mixing things up a bit.
Size As mentioned above, it is a good idea to plant in layers. More than that, you must consider how tall and wide the mature plant will be. If you plant a large tree too close to your house, it will damage the foundation with its roots. Small plants can be overwhelmed and shaded out by bigger plants. Make sure there is space for all the plants you are putting in.
Shape (habit) Each plant grows in a certain way. Some plants are very vertical, while others are mounds. Still others stay close to the ground or grow up structures as a vine. This is especially important when planting in a container. You want a thriller, or the showiest plant in the container, spiller, or a plant that will grow over the edge of the container, and fillers, which are the rest of the plants in the container. Too many thrillers, and they get in the way of each other.
Texture How does the plant feel when you touch it? A cactus has one texture, a hard and prickly one. Lamb’s-ear, an herb, feels as soft and furry as a lamb’s ear. There are many textures in between. This is especially important in shade gardens, where everything tends to be a shade of green. The different textures of ferns and hostas break up the monotony of the greens in the shade.
Color This is the easiest feature to focus on. You want a variety of colors but need to make sure that colors either go together or are deliberately contrasting. Use a color palette to paint your landscape. That way, even if you have a favorite color, you can use lots of different shades of plants in that color.
Seasonality Flowers bloom for different amounts of time. Some bloom once, while others bloom in spring and don’t stop until the first frost. Make sure that you pick plants that bloom at different times all through the growing season. Not only does this mean your landscape is always interesting to look at, but it also helps pollinators such as bees and butterflies find food during the year.
Contrast Sprinkle in some contrasting plants to liven a flower bed or landscape up. For example, the Japanese maple has brilliant red foliage all year. It contrasts nicely with green or gold trees and shrubs.
Formal vs Informal
Some gardens are very formal. They have a plan, with every plant in its place. Trees and shrubs tend to be sculpted without a branch out of place. They may be trimmed into topiaries of various things. Other gardens also have a plan, but plants are not shaped as formally and are allowed to grow into their natural forms. If you have a large landscape, you may have both. For example, you may have a formal cottage garden and an informal flower bed.
Maintenance
When picking plants for your landscape, remember to consider how much work a particular plant will be. Does it need pruning, or does it grow into its space naturally? Will your flowering plants need deadheading in order to continue to bloom? How much and how often will you have to water this plant? After it gets established, will it still need supplemental water? Landscapes are to be enjoyed. Will you enjoy this plant, or will it become a chore to take care of?
Hardiness
This is essentially whether your plant will survive the temperature extremes in your landscape. The USDA hardiness zones are helpful to see if your plant will manage the winter. The USDA zones do not tell you if the plant will survive the summer in your landscape. Always read the tag or catalog to see if the plant you want will grow in your zone. Zones can be deceptive, however, as plants can have the same hardiness zone but different pH needs, watering needs, etc.
Who knew there are so many factors to consider when choosing landscape plants? Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can help. We have many years of experience choosing and planting landscapes. We know what will grow here and what will not. Contact us for expert guidance in choosing plants for your landscape. We can maintain your landscape planting beds, too. Contact Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping today for expert advice and assistance.
It has been a long, hard winter, and landscapes are greening up and coming to life this spring. Now that we are getting past the chance of overnight frost, you can use hardy annual color to brighten your outside living space in time for Mother’s Day. There are several annuals that can be planted now to bring some color to your landscape after a tough winter season. Here are five of our favorites that tend to do well in our climate during the summer season.
Begonias (Begonia x benaratensis)
Begonias have pretty flowers May through September. It is treated as an annual here because it is sensitive to frost. The BIG SERIES is new for 2021. Begonia x benaratensis is a hybrid wax begonia. It has a compact, mounding, bushy habit with dark green to bronze leaves. The flowers are in shades of white, pink, and red. There are also bicolor plants. The BIG Series flowers earlier and tolerates heat better than other begonias. It can be grown in the sun, partial sun, and dappled sunlight. Begonias are poisonous to humans, cats, dogs, and horses, so be aware of where you place them if you are a pet owner. Hanging baskets could be a safer spot.
Salvia (Salvia officinalis)
Salvia is in the mint family and has very fragrant leaves with spikes of densely packed flowers in blue, purple, pink, red, white, and yellow. It attracts bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Salvia is low maintenance and loves the sun. They require well-drained soil, so work well in raised beds. Sage is also a type of Salvia that grows into a nice bush about 4-5 feet tall. The blue flowers smell good, too. If you remove spent flower stalks it will cause the plant to bloom longer. Sage is drought-resistant.
Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri)
Impatiens are originally from Tanzania and Mozambique. They are planted as annuals here because they can’t tolerate the cold of our winters. Impatiens are short plants. Most of them top out around 18 inches. Impatiens grow best with morning sun and afternoon shade. They will tolerate full shade but won’t flower as well. They will not tolerate full sun. Impatiens bloom May through September. The leaves are dark green to bronze to variegated. The flowers come in many colors: white, pink, orange, red, violet, and purple. Impatiens are easily available in cell packs from most nurseries.
Sunpatiens
Sunpatiens are impatiens that have been hybridized into a plant that will thrive in full sun to part shade. It also tolerates hot and humid weather that would kill regular impatiens. These plants want evenly moist, well-drained soil, so do well in containers and in raised beds. They are very low maintenance. Sunpatiens plants come in three size categories: compact, spreading, and vigorous. The compact and the spreading both do well in containers. The vigorous need to be planted in a flower bed as they spread out and grow fast and would outgrow a hanging basket quickly.
Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas)
Ornamental sweet potato vine is the same species as the sweet potato tuber. The ornamental one has just been bred for its leaves, not its tuber. This vine thrives in the full sun but will tolerate part shade. These vines are grown for their leaves, which vary depending on the hybrid. They range from almost black to chartreuse green or variegated. Depending on the cultivar, sweet potato vines can be anywhere from 5-10 feet long so make sure you plant it somewhere that it doesn’t overrun the plants in its path. This plant can be toxic to dogs and cats, so beware.
Growing Annuals In Containers
You can plant any of these plants in containers, ranging from hanging baskets to large showy pots. Most containers look best with several different kinds of plants in them. Gardeners talk about plants as thrillers, fillers, or spillers. You need all three in a mixed container. Thrillers are the spotlight plant that pulls people’s eyes toward them. Fillers are the background plants that fill out a container. Spillers are plants with a trailing habit that flow over the edge of the container. Usually, there is only one thriller and one or two spillers in the container, and fillers make up the rest of the plants.
Plants in containers need to be watered more frequently. They also heat up faster. Be sure you fill your container with plants that have the same water and fertilizer needs, or some of them will die. It is also a good idea to get a container large enough to hold a good amount of soil. The more soil in the container the longer it will take to dry out. We also recommend using packing peanuts or gravel in the bottom of the containers to improve drainage.
Planting hardy annual cover is work. If you don’t have the time or don’t know what to get and where to put it, Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can help. We can plant the annual flowers for you. We can also help you decide what to get and where it would be the most effective in your landscape. We will even maintain the plants and pull them out when they are spent in the fall. Contact Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping now to schedule your consultation and have your landscape brightened up this season.
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