Plan Your Spring Garden Now!
Anna Montgomery
The long gray days of winter may seem unending, but spring is just around the corner. Spend this brief downtime planning your garden for spring. Here are a few of hardy annuals you will want to consider planting in 2017:
Angelonia: A heat- and sun-tolerant annual that is upright in shape with rather snapdragon-like flowers. Its popularity grows each season. Flowers bloom in shades of white, purple, pink, and blue. Try Angelonia for those hot, sunny dry areas in the garden.
Whopper Begonias: This plant is truly unbelievable; you really have to grow it yourself to understand the qualities of this begonia. Super-sized red or pink flowers sit atop a big, vigorous plant, and bloom from spring to the end of fall. Whopper begonias are a real showstopper, and best of all, they have excellent heat-tolerance against our long Southern summers.
Coleus: Stanley’s will feature two new Coleus varieties this spring—‘Rose Wizard’ and ‘Black Dragon’. Rose Wizard is a reintroduction with leaves that have a bright pink center that breaks into cream and is outlined in lime green. Black Dragon sports large curled and serrated leaves that have red centers outlined with dark black-purple edges. All coleus varieties are easy to grow and add wonderful contrast to the garden. Most varieties grow best in part-shade, but we also carry sun-loving coleus varieties as well.
‘Bounce’ Impatiens: This series of impatiens work best in shade and offer a disease resistance that old-fashioned impatiens varieties do not have. While not available in as many colors as the ‘Walleriana’ variety, Bounce plants more vigorous growers. This year we will feature these plants in cherry, bright coral, pink flame, violet, and white.
Marigolds: This classic garden flower is experiencing new life due to our “Hot Pak” series. Developed for heat-tolerance in the South, this series stays compact and continues to flower without stretching throughout our long growing season.
Petunias: ‘Night Sky’ petunias are sure to be one of 2017’s outstanding varieties; their dark-blue flowers with intermittent specks of white resemble the stars on a warm summer night. Stanley’s is featuring this petunia in pots and hanging baskets. This flower is truly out of this world! ‘Heartbeat’ has a unique heart-shaped, rosy-pink pattern on a white background. This variety is highly anticipated, and we cannot wait to offer it to you this spring.
Salvia: ‘Summer Jewel Lavender’ completes the sun-loving ‘Summer Jewel’ series with an unusual color that would make a lovely complement to ageratum, melampodium or marigolds.
Sutera (Bacopa): The ‘Betty Series’ of bacopa blooms continuously even in the hottest part of the summer. We will have this beautiful, draping container plant available this spring in blue, pink, and white. Bacopa is a very popular, mounding annual with a mature height of 6-8”, with a 10-12” spread.
These selections are only a few of the wonderful annuals you will find at Stanley’s this spring and summer. Come in and prepare to be amazed by the variety and beauty--then take some color home with you to enjoy through another Southern summer!
~ Monte Stanley