BEAT THE SUMMER BLUES
Weary of the steamy summer heat? How about slipping your
eyes into a cool blue flower garden as you sit and savor an icy drink? We can
choose from a handful of inexpensive but reliable perennials and one annual to
refresh a fried flower garden that looked good briefly when planted in spring.
Plus some are lovely long lasting cut flowers for the dinner table too.
‘Indigo Spires’ salvia is three to four feet
tall and wide when mature and thus makes for a lovely backdrop to a landscape
bed, the long flower spikes ranging from various blues to lavender blues,
blooming non-stop plus inviting the charm of butterflies. I’ve yet to see this
sterile natural hybrid suffer from bugs or disease. Discovered in the mid 70's
at the Huntington Botanical Garden Los
Angeles
‘Salvia guaranitica’ is simply stunning, rich
blue honeysuckle-like trumpets adorning a bushy plant about half the size of
‘Indigo Spires’. Plant a few in front of that backdrop for a nice, slightly lower
succession of new shades of blue to draw in admiring eyes. Until very recently
this was a very rare salvia seen only in collections of “salvia freaks” like
me, but it too can be had for that same amazing price. I am still not used to
seeing it in the “Big Box” garden centers but am thrilled by that development.
It forms underground tubers, so will bounce back in spring after a winter frost
or freeze.
For the “water” in your “flower pool” just
fill the garden the rest of the way with Blue Torenia plants spaced about a
foot apart. Look for them in four inch pots for about $1 each, sometimes under
the names ’Summer Pansy’ or ‘Wishbone Flower’. Skip the new pink hybrids and
grab those in the shades of blue that most appeal to you as some are almost
purple, others in light pastels. They reseed easily, so feel free to transplant
those volunteers to other gardens or pots. This is one of those tough reliables
even kids can grow easily.
But hey, what’s a pool without a “fountain”
? Lily of the Nile is nickname for
Agapanthus, a relative of the amaryllis who various species and hybrids
surprise heat strained eyes with sudden
sprays of sky blue, sapphire or the richest royal blue. It tolerates light
shade well, as do these others, so the whole “blue lagoon’ garden can be
created at the edge of spreading tree, or in the shadow of your home where
respite from the noonday roasting sun is offered. Pop in a few in between the
Blue Torenias to complete the effect. One long stemmed bloom in a narrow vase
is pure class.
Okay, step back, sip a cold one while
admiring that lovely oasis, and when no one is looking, pop in a few pink
plastic flamingos!
Agapanthus
No comments:
Post a Comment