I am going to go out on a limb here and make a brash statement: “perfection in the garden is fleeting”. Yes, it is sadly true. As our gardens unfold in the spring, there seems to be many moments when a certain plant or arrangement of plants just feels and looks like absolute perfection. Perhaps it is the shape or the color of the newly unfurled leaves that are completely free of any blemishes. Or maybe it’s just the overall balance of the composition - everything fits together just as we imagined it would. Earlier this spring I was congratulating myself on how nicely all of my many perennials (probably too many if I am honest with myself) were knitting themselves together and gradually obliterating any bare, visible soil. That is still happening, to be sure, but along the way some of my early bloomers have “gone over” and it is time to take another look at what I can plop in and around them to keep things looking colorful and interesting. As a whole, gardeners abhor a void - which is especially true if they are a perfectionist (mea culpa).
No matter how well planned or designed a garden may be, sooner or later there are always opportunities to interject some excitement into the design to keep the show going into the next season. While I love perennials and continue to find nooks and crannies to shoehorn in one or two, it is annuals that give us the best bang for our buck in the months of July and August. They are cheap and fill in relatively fast. Here are a few of my recommendations…
No matter if you have shade or afternoon sun, you simply can’t beat wax-leaf Begonias, Coleus, or New Guinea and Sun Patiens Impatiens. Let me say that again… these three annuals will grow in full sun, as well as in shade, as long as you work lots of compost into the soil and keep them well watered. And they will bloom continuously until the first frost, with the exception of the Coleus which is grown for its colorful foliage rather than its flowers. As for the Impatiens, the colors are absolutely electric - try Hot Coral or Deep Rose. The Begonias come in shades of pink, along with solid red or white, and the foliage can also be an interesting deep bronze. While most of them are compact and dwarf, one of my favorites is the ‘Dragon Wing’ series which is larger and more open in its growth habit than others. Coleus comes in an endless array of color combinations, to say the least, but two that recently caught my eye were ‘Gay’s Delight’ which sports colorful green and white leaves, and ‘Redhead’, which is a sumptuous brick red.
Now, if all you have is full-on blazing hot sun, then your best choices are Zinnias, Marigolds, Dahlias, Salvias, Lantana, or Celosia, to name just a few. There are, of course, many more options available this time of year. The real trick to making this all work is to start with gallon-sized plants (rather than 4-inch), amending the soils generously with lots of compost, fertilizing like crazy, and then watering-in the whole thing for the first week or so. Luckily, it’s not rocket science.
So, while I have to admit that as hard as I strive for perfection in my garden, it is a moving target and comes and goes in multiple locations all through the seasons. Rather than getting annoyed or frustrated, I just keep tweaking and planting and filling any empty spots with summer blooming annuals. Hopefully, you are doing the same!
