On July 9, at 4 p.m. at the Huckleberry Gardens in Des Moines, Marianne Binetti is hosting a free seminar about “Four Seasons of Color.” Visit www.binettigarden.com for more details.
The first week of July is when annual flowers should be exploding with celebratory fireworks of color.
If your petunias are pouting and geraniums, marigolds and other bedding plants not yet in flower it may be lack of fertilizer (did you reuse potting soil without improving it?) This is a good week to fertilize vegetables, all container plants and blooming perennials and annuals in the ground. It is usually not necessary to fertilize trees and shrubs. If you have not yet fertilized your lawn this year, apply a slow release lawn food only if you will be able to water after the application.
In honor of the 4th of July, here are the best red, white and blue bloomers for our Western Washington climate:
Best of the Red:
Geraniums – especially a variety called “Big Red” with huge leaves and blooms. This geranium is often used in hanging baskets with great success.
Petunias – especially the bi colored varieties with red and white stripes.
Salvia – spiky flowers with an upright form add texture and color
Best of the White:
Alyssum – low growing and a great edger for beds or pots this annual may reseed in our climate and adds fragrance.
Geraniums – several varieties have white blooms in both the trailing and upright forms of this sun loving annual. Geraniums also repel flies.
Petunias – white petunias can light up the garden after dark and like most white flowers they have more fragrance to attract night flying insects.
Best of the Blues:
Lobelia: This annual comes in a light sky blue, a pure white and darker shades of blue from navy to deep purple. Lobelia also comes in both trailing and upright, more compact forms. Most importantly lobelia will bloom even in deep shade.
Ageratum: This sky blue bloomer has a powder puff form of flower and is not easy to grow in our sometimes rainy climate but true blue flowers are so hard to come by that this sun lover deserves a shout out.
Fan Flower: the succulent leaves of fan flower or scaevola give it a drought resistant advantage on hot summer days and newer varieties are now more compact.
Patriotic Design Tip
Choose a container that is either red, white or blue and you will need less flowers to make the patriotic point. A deep blue pot filled with red and white flowers will be a shout out to your flag waving theme as much as a neutral container with all three colors – plus blue flowers are the hardest to come by so hooray for navy containers.
The big cheat
Fill your pots and window boxes with all white flowers for a classy look of restraint. Then just add small flags (check the dollar store) to all your container gardens or up the front walkway for an instant patriotic party look.
Table dressing
Make a centerpiece by collecting the blooms of flowering shrubs and perennials as well as annuals. We are lucky to live in the land of blue hydrangeas as Western Washington has naturally acidic soil. Add white spirea and the red leaves of heuchera or maple to accent the blue in a vase to welcome the holiday.
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For answers to gardening questions, visit plantersplace.com and click “As The Expert”. Copyright for this column owned by Marianne Binetti. For more gardening information, she can be reached at her website, www.binettigarden.com.
