Last fall we planted the garden across the street from the shop with all the combinations of pansies and violas we could pack into it, and it was beautiful until the first hot, pollen-filled days of spring arrived. Then it sat…the poor pansies getting more and more bedraggled as we got busier and busier helping folks plan and plant their own gardens and planters. Finally we had a little breathing time and were able to at least get the scraggly winter plantings pulled out; but, by then, it was already June!
The large blooms of ‘Indian Summer’ rudbeckia already provide some color…
Clearly, something had to be done. We certainly couldn’t be a garden shop with no garden! So we began to plan our summer garden. We decided this year it would be filled with flowers and began to set some aside to plant along the edges of the four planting beds.
In the centers of the beds, we envision tall cutting zinnias, orange Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia), annual sunflowers, and nicotiana by seed (We’re keeping our fingers crossed they all come up!) and have some hibiscus planted as well.
There are two arbors in the middle of the garden. On the largest we planted hyacinth bean vine seeds on one side and a pink mandevilla vine on the other.
A red mandevilla and a moonvine are growing up the other arbor. Be sure to walk through in the early evening to watch the enormous, fragrant, pure white moonvine flowers unfurling. You can literally watch them slowly open, greeting the evening. By morning their blooms are gone – rather like a morning glory vine in reverse.
Red mandevilla…
Jay added bags of PlantTone to each bed, raked it in, added a light layer of soil conditioner, and graded the beds to prepare them for planting. Because we didn’t want to expose a lot of weed seeds to sunlight, which would cause them to begin growing, we didn’t turn the soil. As the flower seeds emerge and we’ve thinned those that need it, we’ll add more soil conditioner as a top mulch to help conserve water and keep future weeds in check.
Some of the low edging plants we used include purslane, red cuphea, mecardonia, gomphrena ‘Pink Zazzle’, and mexican heather. Plans are to also add some succulents at the front corner by the sign.
We hope everyone in the area enjoys our staff flower garden this summer. If you happen to be walking by, take a stroll along the paths, enjoy the flowers, and help pull a few weeds if you see them!
By Kris Blevons
The next uses a red fountain grass for height in a tall planter with the addition of white Profusion zinnias and white euphorbia as fillers. Spilling out are blue daze and potato vine. This planting will bloom continuously with regular water and periodic deadheading or clipping back of the zinnias. Late in the summer the grass will begin to bloom for an end of the season finale.
Many of you have pots that have shrubs in them that live year round, and just need some color added each season. In this example, the Chamaecyparis adds yellow foliage and is complimented through the summer with yellow million bells, white narrow leaf zinnias, silver dichondra and some euphorbia. The million bells and zinnias will be cut back when they get too leggy (There’s no need to deadhead each individual bloom on these.) and it will be watered daily, since the Chamaecyparis has been in this planter for a few years and it’s roots are filling the planter quite extensively.
The final planting uses a dramatic, and very large Alocasia – this speaks for itself, though it has supporting players as well, including dracaena, epescia, nepenthes, and alternanthera. It’s quite a combo.
Sometimes it’s fun to try a plant that’s more unusual as the centerpiece of a design. In this glazed pot the dark leaf of the Alocasia is a beautiful contrast to the coleus, grasslike juncus, maidenhair fern, trailing torenia, and creeping jenny.
Finally, here’s a simple planting for shade using a begonia and the contrasting leaf and brightness of carex ‘Evergold’, which will spill over the edge of the container. Simple, yet effective. The begonia will continue to bloom with a couple of cutbacks if it gets “leggy.”
While all caladiums appreciate heat and shade, there are some that can also handle sun, including ‘Red Flash’, the one shown here. These deep red leaves will mingle with the other foliage and flowers, including a copper plant, Acalypha ‘Tahitian Gold’. It was chosen for its yellow foliage to echo the yellow blooms of the thryallis. The acalypha and a red fountain grass will grow up tall, providing a nice backdrop to this composition.
Since it is a restaurant, after all, and ornamental peppers were plentiful in the nursery, those were placed next, just in front of red Dragonwing begonias. Eventually the peppers might be enveloped by the other plants, but until then they’ll contribute their small white flowers and ornamental purple peppers to the mix,
Last, a silver trailing plant. Usually I use silver dichondra for this color because it holds up extremely well in our heat and humidity where so many other silver plants fail. This year, though, I’ve decided to try a new plant…a selection of one that I haven’t had good luck with, but this is supposed to be an improved variety, so we’ll see. It’s a licorice vine, Helichrysum ‘Silver Star’. We’ll keep an eye on this one and hope for the best. It scored high marks in the University of Georgia Athens trial gardens, so I have high hopes!
A testament to its common name of cast iron plant, the aspidistra looked amazingly good considering the bone-chilling temperatures Birmingham dipped to in January. It only needed a few leaves cut out, and no thinning was required this season…probably due to the cold. A heuchera, that had been added in the 
Torenia is an interesting plant, useful in 
Because succulents, air plants and even 
The emphasis is on foliage, though, and I’ve included curly parsley for it’s fresh green color, a small blue fescue grass, and a shade loving heuchera for this planting. Holdovers from the summer are aspidistra, which I thin out each season, and a tiny leaf green ivy. After planting, I added birch branches to add more height and winter interest. (Branches are an easy way to get color in planters during the holiday – red twig dogwood branches would also be pretty.) While it looks a bit top heavy with the tall aspidistra at first, the parsley and heuchera will add fullness to the composition as it grows in. I’m also trying the Cool Wave white trailing pansies here this year, hoping they get enough sun to bloom well.
This fall Pardis asked if I would also take a look at the planters at Bottega, their other wonderful restaurant.
I’m not quite sure I’ve been living in the Southeast this summer…plentiful rain and decent temperatures – (Though it looks like the heat is finally returning.) this has been Alabama in August?!
But, if your garden and beds are struggling…think about where you’d like to see marigolds, ornamental peppers, late season salvias, and, further down the road, lettuce, asters and cool season herbs – we’ll have transplants of parsley, thyme (Look for the lemon variegated thyme which looks beautiful with green or red lettuce and marigolds.) dill and cilantro too.
With 2013 beginning with a wet, cool spring and the rain continuing into early summer, it seemed like we’d been transported into a different universe than Alabama, didn’t it? All the rain may have caused some complacency – everything seems so much lusher than it usually is this time of year…now the heat is here, though, and it seems certain we’ll be entering our usual summer pattern of hit and miss rain showers with lots of warmth and humidity…
Established plantings in your landscape should be doing well, but be aware that new plantings of shrubs, trees and perennials will need supplemental watering this first summer – pay attention to them. The requirement for new plantings is an inch of water each week.
Owners Frank and Pardis Stitt prefer white and green for the front of this French cafe, located next to their acclaimed restaurant Highlands in downtown Birmingham. These are fairly large, tan colored cast stone planters with nice clean lines. A mix of contrasting green and variegated foliage with a touch of white add light to this shady spot, and the stone wall adds a pleasing backdrop to the planting.
