Posts from the ‘annuals’ category

Flanders poppy

Sweet Peas

These lovely, childlike highly fragrant flowers have become already one of my garden obsessions. I ordered almost 30 different types of varieties by seed, while really only having room to grow about five. And this was never having seen a sweet pea before. But I am not alone, I have read many stories of other gardeners who fell to the same captivation by sweet peas, after seeing a photo in a catalog or gardening magazine. And I wonder why, for such a delicate flower? Read more

China Pink ‘Victoriana’

I sowed these in early fall of 2007, during a Dianthus craze. I was buying just about any Dianthus seeds I could get my hands on, and during a trip to London I bought a packet of these and one of ‘Ipswich pinks’ from the gift store at Kew Botanical Gardens. China pinks are hybrids of Dianthus chinensis and are very popular as winter bedding annuals in Austin; they can flower from October to sometimes as late as July. In some cases they even struggle through the summer to start blooming all over again in fall.

I have had some China pinks blooming for two years straight, even through summer. Although they are listed as annuals, I would suggest they behave more like a short-lived perennial, and I am even wondering if, by dividing them every so often, I could keep them going even longer. They are a true year-round flower here, and I don’t know why I don’t see more varieties around.

I assumed that my packet of “Victoriana” seeds might grow to look like the kinds I see in the nurseries every year, small cutesy bright red single flowers barely over 10 inches tall. But these are quite different; their taller stems bear larger, sometimes double, deeply fringed blooms in regal jewel tones. They look more like small carnations and make for very pretty bouquets. From a September sowing, I had flowers by Christmas. Needless to say, I will grow this again, and highly recommend them to Texas gardeners looking for another kind of dianthus. Just be sure and get them started in the fall, rather than spring, so they have a chance to show off in winter and get established.

Just one seedling can grow in over a year to make a neat, bushy plant about 2 feet wide and they are lovely if given room to spread. I just love dianthus; they have a way of looking wildflowery and formal at the same time. Unfortunately, many of the China pinks them have almost no scent, including “Victoriana”.

Other varieties worth trying from seed or plants include “Edwardiana”, a related variety, which I can’t wait to try next, and the Elegance series, both of which are available from Thompson and Morgan, an English seed site. I’ve also purchased perennial dianthus seeds from Allwoods in England, one of the oldest dianthus breeders still going. I’ve looked around for seeds in the U.S. but English gardeners just have a lot more choice in pinks. Perhaps they fell out of fashion here at some point.

Although they have survived full sun in my garden, they do struggle if planted late in the spring, and are best with some shade in the afternoon. Most dianthus do well in limey soils, which we have naturally in Austin, and decent drainage.

(Updated on March 30, 2009)

Moss Rose ‘Yubi Summer Joy Pink’

Also called purslane, or its latin name portulaca, Moss Rose is really popular around here as a summer annual. It grows like mad, cares not for overwatering or underwatering, and I’ve had far more success with it than “ice plant”. This plant would root on your finger if you let it, so be careful to dig it out where you don’t want it to spread. It doesn’t matter anyway, since it doesn’t live through the winter.

I bought this particular variety trailing beautifully over a hanging basket one late summer, then brought it indoors, where it promptly dropped all its leaves and with an exception of 2 leaves looked nearly dead. When spring came around I repotted it and sure enough, by summer’s end it was a big ole plant again.

This fall I took about 5 cuttings (just cut a few inches of stem off and stick it in soil and it will grow) and brought them indoors, where I have them under lights (which they didn’t have last winter and what contributed to their leaf-dropping), and I now have about 7 new plants.

The main drawback to this plant is its sort of succulent-looking foliage, which is not a drawback to some but I’m not a huge cactus fan aside from my large flowering prickly pear. This variety has larger, less spiny-looking leaves than most portulaca and so it fits me better. However, the colors are just gorgeous, bright pinks and fuschias that are hard to find and really stand out as filling spaces in a garden, or just in its own pot, which I do.

Periwinkle

Otherwise known as Vinca, I happen to like the name “periwinkle”. When searching for some kind of annual flower that would possibly make it through the summer–through heat and drought–there were very few possibilities. The two options pointed out to me at my favorite nursery were zinnias and gomphrenas. I went back a couple weeks later and the tables were scattered with periwinkle, which I had read would take the heat. (The periwinkles in the photo below are from the “Pacifica” series.)

I gathered up a tray full of light pinks, some with lighter centers and others with a bright pink center, and planted them straight away for fear that my mid-May plantings might be a bit late anyway. Thank goodness we’ve had a mild and rainy spring (2007)… it might give them a chance to establish.

I’m still trying to figure out how to fill in my front bed which wraps around our porch. It gets shade almost all morning and into the early afternoon, but especially in mid-to-late summer gets all late afternoon direct sun. A very bad situation for most plants (and people) but thankfully there is a large pecan over this bed which is growing a new big branch that will probably one day shade the bed all day.

Anyhow, I don’t like a lot of annuals… perhaps I’ll change my mind some day. I don’t like petunias or marigolds much. But I do like these periwinkles–they’re dainty, small and delicate. I’m realizing my need for annuals because there are just some places that will always look scanty, especially between seasons.

Update November 2008: The vinca planted in 2007 looked pretty straggly by the end of that summer. Although it rained quite a bit the plants languished in the shade. I’m still on a hunt for good summer annuals, and ones that do fine in shade. That may be a losing battle, and even annuals can be a losing battle in summer, especially after this one, where the only survivor after 3 months of drought and intense heat was the gomphrena.