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girlgroupgirl

Spring in Atlanta

girlgroupgirl
13 years ago

We've had an odd spring so far, cold winter, warm spring...who knows what is in store for summer?

The cold has brought on the color, though!

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Blues

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Thinking now what I can put in the red/white/blue bed for summer and fall bloom. I always get stuck there.

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Comments (14)

  • plantmaven
    13 years ago

    I love blues! But am usually not found of red, so I am no help.

    Mentally, this was the toughest winter in a long time.

    k

  • frogview00
    13 years ago

    I just love what you have done to that house. The colors are outstanding!

  • gldno1
    13 years ago

    I am glad I checked here. I thought no one was posting in the gallery anymore...we need to remind everyone on the regular forum.

    Your house and gardens are just perfect.

    What is that beautiful flower in front of the grape hyacinths? I am very short on spring bloomers.

    The only true reds I can think of are salvia splendens and zinnias, I am growing a perennial gaillardia burgundy this year that already has buds. I don't know what my actual color will be. Almost forgot daylilies they have true reds just don't bloom all summer. I like annuals for that.

    Our weather has been the same, very cold winter and way too hot spring....dry here too.

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The low grower is Veronica "Georgia Blue" I have another, lighter blue veronica which blooms almost 4-5 days later but is not as vigorous here. I guess the problem in this bed is weird sun. Lots for awhile, then shade. I need slightly shorter plants too - I wish there was a good red, slightly shorter zinnia. I have some salvia, I have some daylily. If I can find another place for the amaryllis at some point, the whole theme will be able to move to a more suitable location, and I can just continue with purple and lime foliage here (my choice for this location, actually).

    Red impatiens might do well here, you know. I've not tried them since the water spiggot here has been leaking like a seive and I turned it off, and am using a rain barrel. I pulled out the drip irrigation but I may need to fix things and add it back again. It gets dry here.

  • token28001
    13 years ago

    Summer

    Red - Salvia splendens. Lots of varieties including Yvonne's which can reach 4-5'. I will have seed in the fall again.

    White - Yarrow. Cut it back and it just keeps blooming.

    Blue - Salvia Blue Bedder or Lavender. Both can handle the dry heat with little extra water.

    Fall

    Red - Salvia greggii or pineapple sage. S. greggii is evergreen for me. Should be for you too.

    White - Mums, asters, or Montauk Daisy. They will bloom later about the same time as the Pineapple sage. Montauks are nearly evergreen.

    Blue - Salvia Blue Bedder. Mine blooms from late spring til the frost kills it. Sun or part shade, doesn't seem to mind. And so far, no powdery mildew. Salvia Mystic Spires is another good one, but gets really tall in full sun.

    I love the colors. You've done a great job.

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks Token: I have not much luck with Saliva Blue Bedder and most lavenders - they melt out here. No Montauk daisy for my front garden. I'm hoping someday in my back. My front is surrounded by concrete and is SO HOT. White yarrow doesn't re-bloom for us in Atlanta (for me, anyway and I have it in several places and I want it to bloom LOTS!!! I love Yarrow)
    I have Yvonne's Salvia and another red salvia which I have the name for (but have forgotten) which I've grown before. I have a few other salivas in here -Hot Lips is one, and Cherry something or other is the other. Of course I also have some of the Pineapple Sage. It's a very tiny area, with really WEIRD soil. I'm going to do a soil test. The woman who I hired to help me with my landscape (yes, sure, the person who designs others landscapes can't get her own correctly on paper :) said she thinks I may have low acidity, which the tree soil analysis proved was true! Who'd have thunk it! So things you suggest may grow better with gulp, some sulfur!

  • dahli22
    13 years ago

    looks like something out of a fairy tale! love all the color and the house. want to jump into the photo! I hope you post more photos soon.

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    13 years ago

    I love the way you use color both inside and out. The flowering plants with the purple fence in the background makes a very pretty picture, I bet you have lots of passersby stop to admire.
    Rock roses (Helianthemum) come to mind when I was trying to think red, although I don't know if this is what you're looking for. I think there's a red called 'Dazzler' and 'The Bride' is white.

    Annette

  • Annie
    13 years ago

    Red Roses?

    Red Echinacea? There is a Red Kim's Knee high for a shorter flowering plant. Only 18" to 2 ft tall.

    I found a dwarf red Marigold - seeds by Burpee Seeds. It is gorgeous. Planted some yesterday before the rain started.
    It is called, "Scarlet Starlet". Grows to 10" tall. Profuse bloomer it says.

    It would look great with Blue Palace Lobelia and/or Deep blue Petunias (Abt 6" tall). In back or centered, Yvonne's Red Salvias or tall red Dahlia or Spider Zinnias (30+" tall). Maybe one white Zinnia just for interest. For a shorter plant, but a tall white, you could try a white Semi-dwarf Cosmos (20-24" tall ) in front of them or to one side. Then the Cobalt blue Lobelia or Petunias and then the Red Marigolds. White Dusty Miller would add texture and interest. Maybe some white Sweet Allysum in the very front along the edges. The Allysum and Petunias would add fragrance to the bed.

    With this plan, you would have your red, white and blue.
    Just a thought.
    ~Annie

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Sweet Annie, I had no idea there was a Red Miss Kim. I have a friend who is an echinacea breeder, so I pretty much know them by what he breeds (he did not breed this one). I need it! Rock Rose could work here, especially just outside this bed, in a small terraceing (that once was stairs, but I covered them up) They like well drained soils? Do they like it dry? A GW friend used to grow them, but she has since passed away and I can't ask her (yet).

    I do love scarlet starlet marigold, but it's a rusty red, Annie and I'm onto blue reds right now. Dusty miller keeps dying here (?). And wouldn'dt you know, I bough red petunia seeds and have not planted them! You reminded me. They are heirloom petunias and I will plant the seeds tomorrow. You are right, petunias would be grand right there! They'd smell great too. And alyssum may do, it gets PM shade and alyssum is hard to grow here in summer (so that may work!!!)

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    13 years ago

    Glynis, when I had rock roses they were spilling over a low rock wall in well drained soil, in one of the hottest spots in the garden but then our hot and your hot don't come close. They were also used in commercial planting around malls back then, they got little care and seemed to thrive on neglect.

    Annette

  • gottagarden
    13 years ago

    Don't you just love those purples of spring, they go so well with your purple fence. I love that fence! Probably because purple is my favorite color in the garden.

  • FlowerLady6
    13 years ago

    GGG ~ I love your gardens and that purple fencing. Glad to see things are growing so well there. How is your back/side yard coming along? Hope things all got straightened out there with the city.

    FlowerLady

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    FLower lady, notice no photos of them. They have NOT PROGRESSED at all. I'm now having to hire a landscape architect and a civil engineer, take out the majority of what was done and re-do it all. Now that we've had flooding rains (not recently, but in fall and winter) the soil is nasty and compacted and anerobic. It is growing weeds like mad in the nicer soil areas.
    The huge planters that I had built around the deck are not great. The plants are struggling due to compacted poor soil that the workers filled them with. The fill they brought in wasn't very good.
    We saved all winter to start over again.
    I just look at it all and shake my head and wonder how on EARTH I will ever get it all done. Here I am kicking my butt just getting done what is already out there :)
    However, I try not to stress over it. Patience is, after all a virtue which I am apparently determined to learn.

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