First, choose a variety of annuals that bloom from the moment you set the seedlings in the ground until frost (the combo at right is a great example of this technique). Second, plant combinations of perennials that bloom at different times. Meet some good candidates for early and late summer on the next pages. Choose one or two of these combos or grow them all in different spots in your garden to guarantee that you (and visiting pollinators) will have plenty of blooms to enjoy from the time the weather warms up until the cold shuts everything down in fall.
Show-Stopping Annuals
It's never too late to grab a few annuals at the garden center and pop them in the ground, where they'll splash color across your garden until frost. Long-blooming, easy-care zinnias, salvias and marigolds offer so many different colors that you can have a lot of fun creating combinations. Plus, the mounding, draping habit of hakonechloa makes a perfect front-of-the-border plant and frames its companions beautifully. Regularly deadheading zinnia, salvia and marigolds encourages new blooms and keeps plants looking tidy.
A Canna Canna spp. and hybrids
Tender perennial; red, orange, yellow, pink, white or salmon flowers in summer; full sun; 2 to 8 ft. tall, 1 to 4 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 7 to 11
B Zinnia Zinnia elegans State Fair Mix
This story is from the Issue 172 - August 2023 edition of Garden Gate.
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This story is from the Issue 172 - August 2023 edition of Garden Gate.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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Birds & The Bees (and Bunnies)
Although I wouldn’t call my raised garden beds romantic, the rabbits in my neighborhood sure like to use them in spring for their bunny rendezvous and subsequent nests.
5 Ways to Stake Tomatoes
While it might feel early to be thinking about tomatoes, it’s never too early to start planning your next garden, especially if your tomato plants tend to look wild and overgrown by the time you remember to offer them a cage for support.
Destination Gardens
Don’t miss out on these four botanical treasures!
Bee Balm
Butterflies and pollinating insects can't resist this bold summer perennial.
2024's Best New Plants!
Instead of ringing in the new year with champagne and balloons, why not treat yourself to a few new plants that you can enjoy through the growing season? There are a lot of interesting introductions to get excited about this year.
6 Pro Garden Design Secrets
Starting a garden can feel overwhelming. And sometimes it’s hard to know if you’ll like something until you’ve seen it. By then, you’ve spent enough hours, hard work and money that it’s tough to make a change.
Dreaming of Summer
Unless you are lucky enough to live where it’s warm year round, when winter starts to drag on, it may feel as if the garden is awash in dreary, monochromatic browns and grays. Time to close your eyes and dream of summer—a colorful season when foliage is vibrant, fl owers are blooming and pollinators are active. If you need a bit of summer inspiration, here are three colorful low-maintenance combos that will also attract wildlife. Who wouldn’t dream of that?
Native Bees Find Winter Shelter in Surprising Places
As the buzz of busy bees gave way to the rustle of fallen leaves in my autumn garden, the last of the bumblebee stragglers hit up fading mountain mint blooms. Day by day, fewer sparkly green sweat bees and dwarf carpenter bees nectared on the asters, eventually vanishing along with the fluffy field thistle seeds.
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