What I’m growing this year.
Posted By Firefox on February 21, 2010
This summer I decided to put more emphasis on annuals in the few open beds in the garden. Annuals are a great choice if you are just starting out or want the most color for dollars spent. All the flowers I mention here are being started as seeds in a cold frame with heating mats. Seeds started right now in late winter will be ready to set out in the garden just after our last frost date for blooms that should last well into September.
Cosmos 'Double Click'
Marigolds offer months of blooms. Flagstaff grows to 4ft.
Marigolds are often the first flowers to be grown by children but rarely grown by many gardeners because they are considered too simple. Marigolds have a very long bloom season provided they are deadheaded. I selected three varieties to add to the border along the western porch.
‘Cottage Red’ is a French style heirloom variety with deep rust red blooms edged with orange. It grows to about 24 inches forming a large multi-branched plant with the substance of a shrub. I used this variety last year among the tomatoes, this year I paired it with Rudbeckia ‘Moroccan Sun’. Rudbeckias are another great annual for sunny spots. This mix from Burpee has sunset color double quilled blooms growing to 20 inches.
Rudbeckia 'Moroccan Sun' has long stems for cutting.
I prefer tall growing annuals such as Cosmos that are ideal for cutting. I choose another double flower in ‘Double Click’ with mixed shapes of pink, coral, red, and white. Cosmos are ideal for mixed borders backing roses.
A less common cut flower is Celosia ‘Kurume Corona’. This heat lover has unusual crested velvety flower heads that are both irridescent red and yellow. Each head lasts for weeks on end in the garden, in a vase or even dried. The plants themselves are a bit stiff and awkward, so place this 45inch grower at the back of the border.
Kurume Corona has velvet two-tone blooms.
You are probably thinking that my choices seems to tend heavily towards orange and that would be right, but hear on the coast, oranges, yellows and reds stand out well on grey foggy days. My last choice, Marigold ‘Flagstaff’, offers deep orange blooms until October. It is another heirloom variety with large blooms on a massive branched plant to 4ft tall. That is alot of blooms!
I did choose one lower growing flower that I have grown for years. Godetia ‘Satin Mix’ can be direct sown in January for a flush of poppy-like flowers in April and May.
Godetias bloom in a solid mass of satiny blooms.
The blooms are solid or splotched in pink, white, red, or salmon. I have not found seeds lately so I special order starts from my local nursery.
All the varieties I mentioned today are available from Burpee Seed at www.burpee.com
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