Annuals


MAY 13 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals Vines	Mandevilla... Up, Up & Away! What travels up walls, drapes over trellises, climbs fences, can take the heat and offers non-stop blooms all summer long? Well it’s not Superman but it is super Mandevilla! Mandevilla, also known as Dipladenia, is a flowering, woody vine that is most popular with gardeners in warmer climates. Here in Hampton Roads, Mandevilla blooms late spring all summer long with an abundance of large, trumpet-shaped flowers against a backdrop of beautiful glossy green foliage. Blooming in variety of colors including white, pink and red, this summer climber can be trained up a wall, pergola, fence, trellis, porch post or even a mailbox.  Caring for your Mandevilla is easy as it has few requirements. They enjoy bright indirect or filtered sunlight, but can get burned in direct, full sunlight. Mandevillea requires a sufficient amount of moisture and well drained soil, but can survive short periods of drought. Applying a fertilizer periodically during the summer will also encourage blooming, so be sure to feed your plant a high phosphorus, water soluble fertilizer to encourage flowering. Pinching back every so often will also help to create a bushier and fuller plant. To pinch your Mandevilla vine, simply use your fingers to pinch off 1/4 – 1/2 inch off the end of each stem.
APRIL 30 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals	Warm Weather... Cool Geraniums! Everyone loves geraniums. These warm weather classics are seen everywhere from window boxes and containers to mailbox plantings and even flower beds. Used alone or mixed with other plants, geraniums have earned a spot at the head of the spring flower class. As one of the most reliable plants in the garden, growing these annual flowers couldn’t be easier. With a distinctive bloom and ruffly, textured leaves, geraniums give big color all spring and summer long. There's lots of choices when it comes to color and variety. Here’s the geranium low-down: ZONAL GERANIUMS - Boast large, bright flowers and attractive foliage. Available in a variety of colors including reds, pinks, white, salmon and lavender. Ideal for adding pockets of color in any sunny spot or group together for impact in flower borders. Plant in well drained soil in full sun or partial shade after danger of hard frost has passed. ZONAL GERANIUMS WITH VARIEGATED LEAVES - The leaves of these geraniums make quite a statement on their own. Leaves often have combinations of color including green, white, yellow, coral or burgundy. They can be either splotched or banded in the contrasting color. We offer the Brocade series and just like a tapestry, the leaves weave together a beautiful story between their beautiful blooms and foliage. CALLIOPE GERANIUMS - This hybrid offers vibrant traditional color and heat tolerance. They prefer full sun, but tolerate partial shade just fine. Calliope is a vigorous grower with deep green foliage. These blooms are available in deep red, hot pink and lavender rose and are an excellent choice for hanging baskets and window boxes as they have a semi-trailing growth habit. CALIENTE GERANIUMS - Just as their name suggests, the color of this geranium is truly hot! A hybrid between zonal and ivy geraniums, this little gem will offer flower power all the way through the hottest heat of summer. Available in all the hot, bold shades of the season like hot coral and orange, they are sure to turn up the heat all summer long. With a spreading, mounding growth habit, Caliente varieties perform well in baskets and large pots or as a spreading plant in your spring and summer landscape.
APRIL 17 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals Plant of the Week	Annual Packs – Fast Growing & Carefree! Annual packs add BIG color to seasonal containers and flowerbeds. With four, yes FOUR, plants in one pack... this surely is an economical way to landscape. There are a multitude of varieties when choosing annual pack color. Here’s our top pick for shade and sun: CELOSIA – loves the sun. This super tough, drought-resistant annual is adored for its unusual style and texture. It comes in an array of luscious colors including red, yellow, cream, orange, rose, deep magenta and pink. Use as flowerbed borders and in containers, inside or out. Celosia is an excellent choice as a cut flower and loves it warm and sunny. POLKA DOT PLANTS, or Hypoestes – love the shade. Available in white with green dots and pink with green dots, this little plant lives right up to its name. This beauty really shines when paired with ferns, impatiens, hostas and ivy. Polka dot plants are easy to grow and prefer a fast draining potting soil. They love humid environments, so our Hampton Roads summers are just perfect. Other annuals available in packs (on sale now, 4 for $5): Dianthus, Coleus, Verbena, Petunia. Marigolds, Begonia, Salvia, Impatiens, Dusty Miller
APRIL 12 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals	The 411 on Petunias With so many petunias out there, finding your favorites can seem overwhelming. Never fear... we've simplified it for you with answers to all your petunia questions! How do you prefer your petunias to grow? Petunias fall into two categories: Mounding Growth Habit and Trailing/Spreading Growth Habit TRAILING/SPREADING (cascading growth habit) Use as a spiller in containers, window boxes or hanging baskets. • Supertunia: great colors, vigorous grower; self-cleaning & no dead heading required • Wave: low growing and tolerates heat well • Shockwave: smaller flowers and more weather resistant; tolerates heat • Easy Wave: fast-growing and blooms early spring to late summer; doesn’t require cutting back • Plush: mid-size blooms with show of color all summer long • Suncatcher: large flowers in a wide range of colors that bloom repeatedly MOUNDING HABIT(grow in a clump) Use in the landscape, in containers and in combination planters. • Potunia: early spring bloomer in bold colors • Sophistica: one-of-a-kind flowers that bloom early spring - late summer Are you looking for a petunia to plant in the landscape or to fill a garden bed? We recommend Vista Supertunias or the original Wave petunias for this use. They are vigorous growers and will trail and cascade. Are you looking for smaller flowers? Shockwave petunias are the best choice. They are less sensitive to high light demands and are the earliest of the Wave petunias to bloom. Love Wave petunias, but do they get too big for you? Easy Wave is a great choice for this instance. Are you looking to create a solid color, petunia only display? Create an eye catching display by using Potunias. These are made specifically for containers. They are not as happy planted in the garden and they will not spread like a Wave petunia, making them ideal for containers. Do you want to create a combination planter using petunias? Supertunias are ideal as they will weave in and out with other plants to create a great combo. We recommend not using Vista petunias, they don't play well with their neighbors and need their own place to expand and grow. What petunias are best for hanging baskets? Supertunias and Wave varieties are great for this as they have a cascading growth habit. Are you looking for cool and trendy colors? • Sophistica Lime Green offers a solid, saturated color with no veining or fading. • Sun Spun Purple Star has a unique bicolor look with purple and white stripes. • White Russian is a unique color, kind of a love it or hate thing! • We also really love Suncatcher Vintage Rose which gives a ruffled antiqued heirloom look. Where are you planning on planting petunias? For the most part, all petunias are sun loving annuals. They will perform best in the sunshine!
APRIL 10 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals Plant of the Week	Vintage Rose Suncatcher Petunia This is the perfect bloom for a sunny spot! Antique pink rose petals bloom early to create lush flower filled containers from top to tip. Compact and controlled this beauty won’t overtake other plants. With a beautiful ruffled edge this bloom shows all the shades of pink. The shell pink edges deepen to a deeper shade of pink fading into a plum center. Plant in full sun for lots of blooms and good draining soil. Grows 8-12 inches high with 12-14 inch spread. This ‘tunia is perfect for mixed combos, hanging baskets, border edgings and mass landscape plantings. For best performance, this annual will require occasional upkeep. Simply trim off the flower heads as they fade to encourage more blooms all season long. It’s a good choice for attracting hummingbirds, but isn’t particularly attractive to deer (and, that’s a good thing).
APRIL 9 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals	Raspberry Blast Petunia Royale Iced Cherry Verbena Royale Chambray Verbena Lemon Slice Million Bells Wake Up Your Garden It’s time to get things in full spring! Here's some of our top picks to wake up your garden. Raspberry Blast Petunia This new, breakthrough color in Petunias with pink blooms edged in deep cerise violet will make you say 'Wow'. Its trailing habit and low maintenance makes it a winner for both baskets and beds. Attracting butterflies and hummingbirds, this bubblegum pink bloom is a must have. Royale Iced Cherry Verbena In all shades of bright cherry pink, this Superbena is a vigorous, heat tolerant, and mildew tolerant beauty. Great in containers this Verbena is also fantastic in landscape beds. While naturally well branched, trimming them back will encourage additional branching, fuller plants, and ultimately more flowers. Royale Chambray Verbena Just like the light blue fabric, this verbena is a beautiful color and offers scent. As a superbena, is a vigorous, heat tolerant, and mildew tolerant beauty. Great in containers this Verbena is also fantastic in landscape beds. While naturally well branched, trimming them back will encourage additional branching, fuller plants, and ultimately more flowers. Lemon Slice Milion Bells Looking like little Petunias, the unique bicolor pattern of white and bright yellow make these million bells a sunny choice for your containers. Covered with hundreds of flowers in yellow and white from early spring all the way through those first light frosts. With long, trailing branches these blooms cascade over the sides of hanging baskets and other containers, and spread over flower beds. Plant in full sun and tolerates the heat well. Caliente Hot Coral Geranium With exceptional heat tolerance this coral geranium is certainly hot in the garden this spring. Thriving in full to part sun, it is pretty drought tolerant once established. This bold eye catching color gives new color to this traditional flower. In a container these geraniums really provide the wow factor. Goldalia Dahlia Produces an unusual orange bloom with white tips and large orangey yellow centers. As a prolific bloomer, this petite dahlia is short and compact but well branched. These blooms look great in the garden or as cut flowers on your dining room table. Photos courtesy of Proven Winners
APRIL 2 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals	Maintaining Your Hanging Basket It's that time of year... time to get hooked on hanging baskets! And, to keep your baskets blooming their best we recommend following these easy instructions. WATER: Watering is the hardest part of maintaining a hanging basket, or any container plant. You can't keep the soil too wet because it will result in root rot, and you can't keep it too dry or the plant wilts and dies. Here are the rules of thumb for watering hanging baskets: Ensure your pot has drainage holes Water only when the top of the soil is dry to the touch Water thoroughly, that means water until it comes out of the drainage holes Never allow your pot to sit in standing water Larger pots will dry-out less quickly than small pots Early in spring when your plants are smaller and the temperatures are lower, you may only have to water every 3 or 4 days. As the plants get larger and the temperature begins to rise, you will water daily or sometimes even twice a day. Also note, you will need to water more frequently on windy days, as wind causes pots to dry out quickly. NUTRITION: Your container plants are only getting nutrition if you provide it to them. After watering, fertilizer is the most important thing to keep plants thriving. We recommend adding McDonald GreenLeaf fertilizer right after they are purchased. This will provide your basket with a good constant dose of fertilizer. Be sure to follow the directions on the fertilizer package to make sure you don't damage your plants. By midsummer, we recommend adding another dose of GreenLeaf. By this time the plants are very large and need a little more food to keep them going. Excess rains or watering can wash out fertilizer, meaning you will need to reapply. TRIM: Hanging baskets can become a bit stretched or leggy over time, even when you are doing everything right. We recommend giving baskets a trim to clean up some of the scraggly pieces. How much you cut off is up to you, a light trim of an inch or two is usually plenty, but there are times when a bigger trim might be good. If you have long trailing pieces that you don't like, feel free to cut them off. Giving the basket a "haircut" will rob you of some flowers, but it will increase branching, tighten the habit, and help keep the basket looking good long-term. Your flowers should come back with in a few days to a week and your plant, given enough fertilizer, is likely to start growing again.
MARCH 21 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals Plant of the Week	Sweet Alyssum Sweet Alyssum for Early Spring Blooms If you're looking for early spring blooms that like the temperatures a bit cooler, you'll love Sweet Alyssum! A member of the mustard family, it's quite fragrant and packs the blooms in early spring. White is the most planted color, but it is available in pink, lavender, and darker shades of violet. This annual grows best in full sun and cooler weather, but will tolerate partial shade. Growing only a few inches high, Sweet Alyssum will spread to fill the space with its ever blooming flowers. This plant will survive light frosts. The bright white pairs well with lots of other springtime favorites like Bush Daisy, Candytuft and Petunias. Be sure to check out our newest variety ~ Lobularia 'Blushing Princess'. Fragrant, just like the traditional Alyssum, this one goes into the summer heat! It’s a good sized grower - getting up to 24-36" wide, and capable of trailing down in a basket. Its pretty vigorous so chose its partners wisely. And, it does not require dead heading. Look for these in stores this week!
FEBRUARY 27 2013 FILED UNDER Annuals Plant of the Week	Add a Slice of Lemon NEW: Lemon Slice Superbells® There is nothing more super than these new Superbells. These cheery, new flowers produce brilliant bi-color blooms in lemony yellow and white. Lemon Slice is easy to grow and makes a stunning display at 6 - 10 inches tall with these long, trailing branches that cascade over the sides of hanging baskets and other containers, and spread over flower beds. It's incredibly heat tolerant and requires no deadheading for endless, cascading color all summer long. So, be sure to ‘squeeze’ this show stopper into a sunny spot in your yard this season!
OCTOBER 19 2012 FILED UNDER Annuals	The Little Flower that Could What flower has a face, is edible, blooms in both spring and fall and comes in the widest range of colors? If you guest pansies, you are right! Pansies are one of the best ways to add color to those 6 months of cooler Hampton Roads weather that we experience from October thru March. These tough, vibrant flowers come in all the colors of the rainbow ~ including red, purple, blue, bronze, pink, black, yellow, white, lavender, orange, apricot and mahogany. Pansies are easy to grow, are hardy and provide a burst of cool weather color. Pansies can be used in a variety of ways. Here's a few of our favorite ways to show these beauties off: Both the leaves and flowers are edible and have a mild, minty taste. They are even a rich source of vitamin A and C! Use leaves and flowers as garnishes in cakes, fruit salads, green salads, desserts and soups. Float pansies in a shallow bowl for an interesting mosaic-like effect. Freeze petals in ice cube trays and use in drinks. They make excellent cut flowers. Use to add a burst of seasonal color in flower arrangements. Plant pansies as an edging to form a colorful border in flower beds. Fill window boxes & hanging baskets with pansies to brighten up the exterior of your house. Cut pansies make for a colorful tabletop centerpiece... we especially love them arranged in a hollowed out pumpkin. Fill small containers like strawberry jars & bud vases with pansies for pops of color around your house. Plant white pansies in containers surrounding a dwarf Alberta spruce. Top it off with white lights for a festive holiday display. Press pansies between two pieces of glass and frame for a unique work of wall art. Pansies make excellent companions for spring-blooming bulbs, such as tulips, iris, and daffodils. Plant under shrubs; acting as living mulch, plus they inhibit the growth of weeds.