The deck planters are starting to look good. The tropicals love the heat and the annuals have settled in. Last year I had some big grasses in the three main planters, but the winter was too much and they didn’t make it, so this year I returned to my roots and stuffed the pots full with my favorite all summer plantings.
‘Tropicana’ canna, black sweet potatoes, million bells, and a New Guinea impatient fill this pot. Some ‘red rocket’ snapdragons fill in the back. I’ve never done the snapdragons before but right now they look great….. We’ll see how they last in the heat.
For some reason red was the color of choice this year. Usually I don’t buy most of the plantings and just use over wintered stuff, but this year I treated myself to a nursery run. 33% off helps and if you buy it all on one day I guess a red mood will give you red plantings.
This one has similar plants with the cannas replaced by a nice new coleus and burgundy fountain grass in the center.
The aloe pot here was overwintered, but the red blooms on the dipladenia are new. Not to rub it in but I think I found it for about $2 at a local greenhouse clearance and I hope to overwinter it for next year.
Here’s a new coleus, overwintered geranium, and a pot of blue fanflower/red celosia combo. The celosia is ‘new look’ celosia and I really like the bright flowers and dark foliage.
Herbs have a spot too; parsley, rosemary and a pot of annual vinca for color.
Here’s one pot that I’m not yet thrilled with. It should have a pink ‘Alice Dupont’ mandevilla climbing up the bamboo stakes, but for some reason she won’t grow…. She blooms well, but won’t grow. It was an impulse buy at a box store and looked great, but is no bigger today than it was the day I brought it home. I can’t help but wonder if it was treated with something to trigger blooming at the expense of new growth. Does anyone have an opinion on that?
There’s a chartreuse sweet potato that may step up and take over, and also an ‘Australia’ canna coming in…. But I really like mandevillas 🙂
Oh and a big basil that’s just about worn out its welcome. I never thought it would take off like that.
So that’s the news from the deck. I’ve been away for about a week so things have hopefully grown some since, but I’m pleased with the results so far. Yes, a little yellow might have brightened things up a bit, but my planting are always a little impulsive, so each year turns out a little different. Who knows, maybe next year all the grass will be back, or cannas will take over, we’ll see!
Category Archives: annuals
Canna Virus
The bed expansion is coming along….. not as fast as it should but it’s progressing. The plan is to go all along the front street border, widen the bed, thin a couple things out, weed, replant, and then mulch. Each year I like to clear out a couple spots for cannas and other annuals, and since it’s almost July I better get a move on it before it’s too late.
Cannas are usually easy to grow, but in the past decade canna virus has become a serious problem due to the appearance of yellow streak virus. CaYSV is the fancy name and it does exactly what it sounds like it does. On a normally healthy green leaf it produces streaks of yellow. Here’s a canna I was looking forward to adding to the garden, instead it will end up in the trash due to virus.
I got the canna in a trade and it was supposed to be a nice healthy banana canna and reach up to 12 feet tall… but it’s not to be. I’ll get over it, but it seems like the plant you can’t have is the one you want most.
The yellow streak virus weakens the leaves and results in brown dead streaks. Most of the cannas I see for sale have the virus, and Tropicana is one of the worst with green streaks showing up instead of yellow. It’s a shame but hopefully with tissue culture and more effort in raising healthy plants we can get some healthy cannas back.
When all resolve is lost
There were already a couple strikes against me. It was the first weekend in June, there was finally some steady rain to get things growing, most of my growlight seedlings are in the ground, I prepped the deck planters…… and then the kiss of death, a 33% off sale at my favorite greenhouse, Kettel’s Greenhouse in Falls Pa (check the link to their facebook page for current info). With the exception of shrubs and trees, they grow all their stuff on site in their own greenhouses. When it’s gone it’s gone, so waiting for the clearance sale is a little risky if you need something specific, but that’s not me….. plus I was already there once in April 🙂 …. Here’s what I got for under $40.
Apparently I was in a red mood yesterday. A little yellow would have been a good idea, but so goes the moment. Celosia ‘new look’, new guinea impatiens, and snapdragons are going to be new this year but the rest are planter standards. Usually I don’t get this much but the prices were great, the plants looked perfect, and I was rewarding myself for surviving a morning full of surprise furniture moving and bedroom painting.
I think I’m in denial over all the coleus cuttings, canna roots, and other overwintered goodies that also need to come out and get planted. I’ll figure it out soon enough. In the meantime there’s a nice Christmas display happening on the deck steps. Overwintered amaryllis and recovering asparagus fern. Happy holidays!
sorta like suburbia 