It’s summer. Spring’s blossom extravaganza has come and gone. The bloom is off the Lenten Rose. Daffodil greenery has turned to yellow, and many of your perennial flowers and blooming shrubs have taken their last bow for the year. But your gardening hat is on and you’re looking for more color in your yard now that the spring show is over.
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It’s not too late to place annual flowers in strategic locations throughout the landscape. This is an inexpensive method of keeping color focal points that can last through summer and well into fall in warmer climates. Use annuals in odd numbered increments: one big splash or scattered about in 3, 5, 7, 9, or even 11 spots.
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Be careful to remember all of the perennial hues that may grace annuals’ surrounding areas when you choose them so you can make sure their colors will work throughout their life cycle. The same vicinity that sports yellow daffodils and purple irises in the spring may contain white gardenias, orange day lilies, blue plumbagos, or red bee balm in summer; and pink anemones or asters in early fall. Tying perennial flower colors together with annual selections will help you maintain your desired garden aesthetic.
Some annuals often act like perennials by self-seeding. I’ve been “perennially” successful with black-eyed susans and zinnias.
What if you’ve missed the bus on planting summer annuals among your shrubs and perennial beds? Pick up some hanging baskets or fill up some planters with annuals. Any amount of color is better than none!
And be sure to consider a more fleeting, but fun way to bring a flash of color to your garden by making it bird and butterfly friendly.
Seeing the blue stripe of a bluebird’s flight explains why they are associated with happiness. These social birds like to establish communities in open spaces, so if your yard is more open and less wooded, spread a few bluebird houses around. It may take a season or two, but if you post it they will come.
Little green missiles flock to tubular flowers and red hummingbird feeders. Watch them perform their own festival of flight as they dive through the air while competing for the feeders—they don’t like to share! You will know why they are called “humming” birds when they hover near your presence. Placing a hummingbird feeder, (use a red one—no need to dye sugar water red,) or tubular flowered plants—like petunias or salvia—near a well-used window provides a real “bird’s eye view” of their activities.
Cardinals like to establish life-long residence and bring cheer (which is coincidentally their song—“cheer, cheer, cheer!”) all year long. The males’ red color is especially eye-catching in stark winter months. They like to live in and among dense shrubbery and thickets. They mainly eat seeds and fruit, supplementing these with insects. If cardinals are native to your area, you are sure to attract them with a feeder full of black sunflower seeds.
If more sunny shades appeal, attract goldfinches with thistle seed. Their bright yellow presence warms the heart.
Butterflies, often called “flying flowers,” sup on composite flower nectar such as daisies or zinnias. Try planting fennel or dill as these are often host plants. Females will lay their eggs on them so when the larvae hatch out they immediately start munching. Plant some in a pot or in the ground to encourage metamorphosis within your property lines.
Combining a wide range of flora with fauna yields winning garden color throughout the year.
Photo courtesy of thawats / Free Digital Images
