Tip of the Week — 5/27/08

Posted in Gardening Tips on May 27 2008, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Annual Affairs
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.

For nonstop color in the garden, you really can’t beat annuals. For those of you who are not blessed with bright sunshine, last year we featured quite a few begonias in the Garden and I have a deepening respect for the plants.

We planted a number of Rex Begonias as an ornamental ground cover. During the latter half of the summer I would make flashy floral centerpieces by combining the begonia’s bright foliage with the silver-pink swirls of roses and hydrangeas. When I lived in Massachusetts, I used to keep my dappled borders bright with the nonstop begonias (tuberous begonias). The apricot and pinks were so beautiful that I would add them to shady containers to complement my coleus and fuchsias.

For those with moderate to full sun, the plectranthus stole the show on the foliage front. They are in the mint family—many of them have a nice fragrance, and they also have the added benefit of being deer resistant. Some plectranthus have wonderful silvery foliage that accents any planting, while others are sublimely variegated in blends of greens, chartreuse, or whites. Last year we grew ‘Silver Foil’ and ‘Green on Green’.

The list of good annuals for the sun is longer than the expanse of our annual walk. It was interesting to watch the ever popular Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena). While it has a wonderful sheer quality and is a delight to small birds and butterflies, if it gets too congested it is prone to powdery mildew and it is a very happy plant (i.e., it will seed all over the place). Remember, your annuals will need a little more fertilizer to keep them going throughout the summer—but don’t overdo it.