Looks like we aren’t gonna have another late frost this year, so here goes, tucking summer flowers in between winter and spring beauties still in their prime. Even before traditional Good Friday planting, which is extra late this season.
I am not about to brag on what all my garden has, but just want to share a bit of my approach to having all-year garden beauty without having to start from scratch every fall and spring.
Over the years, from watching other folks have success here and there with individual plants, I have managed to amass a nice collection of different hardy shrubs, small trees, vines, succulents, ornamental grasses, and super hardy perennials, all with different shapes, textures, foliage and flower colors and other seasonal effects, so there is always something out there to enjoy.
My main garden chores now are mostly dragging a tarp around once every spring and fall for hauling weeds, trimmings, and spent flowers to my long, low “dead hedge” (a row of stuff piled neatly for wildlife to live in). After that, I simply spread fresh bark or wood chip mulch, which keeps most weeds down and feeds my soil as it composts.
I minimize my annual plantings by having five strategically placed small beds and a handful of large containers where I put seasonal flowers, herbs, and veggies that double as flowers. Rather than pull up and redo, I just stick small new plants between the still-performing older stuff.
In the fall I plant a few pansies, violas, snapdragons, colorful kales, burgundy mustard, dusty miller, emerald green parsley, dianthus, and hollyhocks, all which survive through the worst weather and flower well into spring; in the spring I go with summer annuals like compact zinnias, marigolds, periwinkle, angelonia (“summer snapdragon”), begonias, and various “edimentals” - veggies that double as both food and beauty.
This transitional time of year, I don’t have to start from scratch, don’t have to be in a rush. Just replace what is done with, or stick up-and-coming plants in gaps so when the old stuff finally peters out there is already something coming along. This works in big pots, too, where I usually include a small shrub or perennial to carry the scene through all the seasons; a dwarf nandina, big clump of striped liriope, and some cascading ivy keeps things looking good no matter what is planted with them.
One of my most fun projects is planting cast-off kitchen containers including mom’s old colander with edimental lettuces, parsley, and violas. Love having stuff that is pretty to look at and I can also eat it!
Even in the back of my old pickup truck, which I drive all statewide and beyond, I have a year-round container garden overstuffed with plants that can take summer heat and winter cold without any extra watering other than rainfall. It’s all in a big custom-fit metal box pushed up against the cab where winds aren’t so gusty.
Between the ultra-compact Flirt nandina and dwarf agaves I have all-year rosemary, oregano, thyme, liriope, iris (mostly for the foliage), and cascading sedums; these look good together and some I actually cook with. In between them are seasonal annuals; last fall I went with different colorful kales, violas, dusty miller, and parsley, and in the spring, I use compact flowers and herbs that can take the wind. I just tucked three different basils in between the already-flowering kales.
With an old gnome watching over it all, each garden spot is transitioning quite smoothly. SO, yeah, it’s time to plant summer stuff. If you can find the room.
Felder Rushing is a Mississippi author, columnist, and host of the “Gestalt Gardener” on MPB Think Radio. Email gardening questions to rushingfelder@yahoo.com.
