Ten Minute Gardening » Annuals

Wave Good-bye to Petunias

Bert — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:50:04 +0000

No petunias allowed!

Warning: This article may be offensive to some gardeners. Reader discretion is advised!

For the life of me, I cannot believe that petunias are the annual of choice for so many gardeners! Every where I look I see petunias in gardens, hanging baskets and containers. There is no escaping them! Talk about cookie cutter landscaping!

Why? Why do so many gardeners plant petunias? What is the attraction? Is it because petunias are drought tolerant? Low Maintenance? Showy? Is it because they are easy and cheap? For the life of me, I just don’t understand why so many people like petunias! One theory of mine is the marketing behind the petunia. The gardening public has been inundated with adverts telling us that petunias are the wave of the gardening past, present and future. Well I say it’s time gardeners waved goodbye to petunias!

Petunias are one of the few plants that I will not allow on my property and I include calibrachoas in that ban. Now, I have grown petunias in my garden and, in my greenhouses. Thirty years ago when I was first learning to garden, petunias were the recommended annual for a novice gardener. I soon learned of their shortcomings and within two gardening seasons I came to detest petunias and my garden to be a petunia-free zone. So intense is my dislike of the petunia, when I was operating the greenhouses, my staff could always tell when I was planting petunia seeds by the frozen scowl on my face and the constant muttering coming from the propagation area. Even with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (the most beautiful music ever composed) playing in the background, I my mood could not improve until the last petunia seed of the day was planted.

Why do I detest petunias? I find them boring, blowsy, overused and just plain ugly! Not to mention they become weedy looking by mid summer. And, they are sticky little things. The use of petunias shows no imagination whatsoever. Why limit yourself to petunias when there are hundreds, thousands of alternatives available? Flowers that are every bit as easy to grow, and just as colourful, not to mention more interesting.

If you are among the millions of petunia planters out there, I encourage you to explore your local greenhouses, skip over the petunias and you will discover how much more beautiful and interesting your gardens can be sans petunias.

Talinum paniculatum (Jewels of Opar)

Bert — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:06:31 +0000

Here’s an annual that we grew for the first time this year. Based on its performance, it won’t be the last!

Perennial, grown as an annual in colder climates (hardy to 40F)

Light: full sun

Height: 28” – 34”

Width: 16” – 18”

Flowering: mid to late summer

Flowers: tiny pink singles, star shaped flowers maturing to bright red berries on tall, slender, multi branched stems

Leaves: chartreuse, mounding

Watering: keep on the dry side

Fertilize: once a month using 15-30-15

Other: drought tolerant, heat loving, very low maintenance

Pests: insect resistant

Diseases: disease resistant

Uses: containers, borders, naturalized areas, makes a great stand alone (accent) plant

All in all, I have to say that Talinum is one of the best container plants I have ever grown! I am very satisfied with it and can see it becoming a staple in our gardens.

I will be attempting to dry stems of Talinum seed heads to incorporate into indoor arrangements this winter. I’ll let you know how that works out!

Climbing Annuals – Part III

Bert — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:46:00 +0000

Continuing with the annual climbing plants theme, this week’s victim is Canary Vine (Tropaeolum peregrinum) a member of the Nasturtium family.

Canary Vine is supposed to be fairly easy to grow but in our gardens, we have had varying degrees of success with it. As a result, this year, it will not be included in our plantings. It probably will show up again in a year or two. I will not be defeated!

Tender perennial (zones 9 – 10) grown as an annual

Full sun

Height 6’ – 8’

Fast growing

Flowers are yellow, 3” long with long fringes on the edges

Leaves are lobed, gray-green in colour

Grows easily from seed or cuttings

Susceptible to powdery mildew so provide good air circulation

Susceptible to whitefly, flea beetle and aphids

Fertilize with 15-30-15, or top dress with composted manure

Flowers are edible

Annual Climbing Plants

Bert — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:25:00 +0000

Climbing plants deserve a place in everyone’s gardens. Whether they are on a fence, a wall, a trellis or obelisk, few things can rival a climbing plant for adding visual interest. There are so many climbers available, annual and perennial, but few gardeners look beyond the traditionally grown varieties. Is that because the unusual are not offered at garden centres or is it because we’re afraid of the unknown?

It is time to break free, meet some new plants and invite them to live in your garden this year! Watch this site for info on a few of our favourite annual climbers. It may be that you’ll be inspired to experiment with some different climbing plants this year.

Climbing Annuals – Part II – Cardinal Vine

Bert — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:12:00 +0000

An annual climber that my garden is not complete without is Ipomoea coccinea, or Cypress vine or cardinal climber. A very pretty plant.

Hummingbirds love this plant!

Cardinal climber is easily grown from seed.

Reaches 6’ – 12’

Bears trumpet shaped red flowers

Leaves are deep green, finely textured

Likes full sun

Grows well in containers or loose soils, not so well in heavy soils

Disease and insect resistant

Fertilize with 15-30-15 water soluble fertilizer or top dress with composted manure

Very easy and low maintenance plant

Does not require deadheading

Self seeds

Best planted in groups of 3 or more for better coverage

Climbing Plants – Part I

Bert — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:27:00 +0000

If you like climbing plants, here’s one for you to try. It is Mina Lobata (Ipomoea lobata), an annual that grows easily from seed. It is a very low maintenance plant.

A fast grower, it reaches 9’ – 15’ in no time at all.

The flowers are pale yellow near the stems and graduate to orange then red near the tips. It’s stunning when in full bloom, which is usually all season long.

The leaves are dark green and deeply lobed about three inches long.

It is disease and insect resistant – a real plus!

Give Mina full sun and fertilize regularly with 15-30-15 water soluble fertilizer.

A very forgiving plant, Mina will recover nicely if you occasionally forget to water it.

In our garden, with its clay and/or acidic soil, Mina doesn’t perform too well. But, planted in containers, or sandy loam, and given something to climb up, it is one of the show stoppers of the garden. It is a staple of our gardens.