Tag: annuals

Posted on in Gardening, Landscaping, Plant Profiles

A Pantone “Color of the Year” Garden

Right on schedule, Pantone has revealed the color of the year for 2021. In a break with tradition, there are actually two colors—a bright, buttery yellow called Illuminating, and Ultimate Gray. The minute I saw the yellow, I thought, perfect choice! It’s cheerful, and after 2020, we need all the cheering up we can get. But gray? Most of 2020 was a dismal, gray year, and the thought of facing yet another year like that is downright depressing. I don’t need to reinforce those bleak feelings.

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Posted on in Gardening

Annuals for Bouquets

Narcissus_Daffodils_Seattle-WA_LAH_9750.nef

Every year in early  March, Pete and I discover a FedEx package on our front porch. It typically arrives on a cold and blustery, perhaps snowy, day. It may be winter outside, but I know that spring will be found inside that box. I run downstairs, grab a large vase, and rush back to the kitchen, where I fill the vase with warm water. I eagerly tear open the package. Then, carefully extracting the bundles of flowers from the box, and sliding the rubber bands off to separate them, I snip off the ends of each stem with a pair of kitchen scissors  and arrange the as yet unopened daffodils in the vase. Thanks to some wonderful friends, over the next week or so, cheerful yellow flowers will provide the perfect antidote for Colorado’s late springs.

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Posted on in Gardening, Landscaping

A “Living Coral” Garden

In case you haven’t yet heard, the 2019 Pantone color of the year is Living Coral. According to Pantone, Living Coral is an “animating and life-affirming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge.” Coral has always been one of my favorite colors. I think it’s pretty (and I like this shade much better than last year’s Ultra Violet, described as a “blue-based purple that takes our awareness and potential to a higher level”).

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Posted on in Gardening, Landscaping, Plant Profiles, Surviving Winter

Annuals You Can Plant Now

Warmer days flirt with gardeners anxious to get outside and plant something, anything. But the harsh reality of cold nights, coupled with the persistent chance of frost—or even more snow—intrudes on our dreams of summer. It’s far too soon to be trusting Mother Nature with frost tender petunias, geraniums, or marigolds, but there are some annuals that can handle a bit of cold. Don’t expect them to survive wintry extremes, but they should still be alive and flourishing after lows in the 20s.

Pansies

viola-x-wittrockiana_pansies_dbg_20100417_lah_2623Annual members of the violet family, pansies are much hardier than they look. Hot and sunny summer days will fry them to a crisp, so now is the time to enjoy them. Pansies prefer enriched soil, and will do fine in full sun or light shade, as long as the weather stays cool. They are slow to start from seed, so buy transplants. Their small size makes them perfect for edging, or group them in containers where they won’t be overlooked. With colors ranging from deep purple and burgundy to pastel pinks, soft peach, and cheerful yellow and white, you can find just the right cultivar to fit any landscape scheme.

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