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The Garden Life: Ultimate Flower Power
By ROBB ROSSER for The Columbian
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Most gardens are at their peak of flower bloom in the month of
June. Since this is the time of year when every nursery and garden
center across the land draws you in with sheer flower power, even the
beginning gardener with a newly planted garden will be able to have
a blooming border. For most of us, our gardening obsession begins
at this time of year. We are so moved by the experience of creating
color combinations or the simple, overwhelming beauty of a single
blooming rose, that we commit ourselves to perpetuate the spirit of
this creativity in our lives.
Anyone who dallies in the fields of creativity will tell you right
up front to give the process of flower gardening free reign. Trying
to control the nature of a garden is a full time job; often fraught
with frustration.
Chaos is a more reliable helpmate to the creative spirit than is
control.
Just last week I begged my oriental poppies, Papaver orientale,
to hold off blooming until the second weekend of June. "Wait for the
summer parties and the big garden events," I pleaded. "Think of all the
accolades as visitors "ooh" and "aah" at your vibrant delicacy." They
immediately turned towards the sun and burst into mouth-watering color.
The oriental poppies are reliable, hardy perennials, easy to grow if
planted in a sunny location with well drained soil. If you have heavy
soil, add compost and a handful of grit before planting. Think of them
growing in their homeland of Armenia, where they emerge from rocky
slopes and in dry meadows. Their large taproot ensures a tolerance of
drought once established. Few flowering plants can compete with the
strength of oriental poppy color. My favorite is the first poppy I ever
planted, Papaver orientale 'Allegro', with its bright orange-scarlet
flowers and bold, black basal markings. They bloom in striking scarlet,
vermilion and hot pink with a steady stream of new introductions in
purples, plum, salmon and white.
For a moment in June the oriental poppy appears to be the perfect
perennial but, alas, if I didn't at least comment on the other side
of growing poppies I would feel as if I'd introduced my sister
to Mr. Wonderful without mentioning his rather severe bi-polar
condition. Once the flowers are spent the only thing left is the large
clump of broadly lance-shaped or toothed, rough, hairy foliage. It
sounds like a weed and looks like a weed, too. My large planting of
poppies is hidden from close inspection at the foot of the 'Tibetan
Cherry' behind a groundcover bed of cotoneaster.
Another solution would be to surround them with a strong foliaged,
late flowering perennial such as daylilies or fall blooming
asters. Christopher Lloyd suggests that after flowering, the plants
can be cut right down, including the foliage, and be interplanted
with summer bedding.
For many years now, gardeners in the Northwest have focused on
perennials in the garden for flower color. We grew tired of the
process of planting annuals each year which also meant having to live
with large, empty spaces in beds and borders until the annuals were
ready to plant. It seems that many have finally found a comfortable
medium point where the bones of the plant world, the trees, shrubs,
groundcovers and seasonal perennials supply the bulk of garden interest
and annuals are used to fill what gaps remain. Annuals help us decide
what it is we want our flower gardens to become. They also give us
the chance to highlight an area of the garden when it needs it most;
along an entry walkway leading to the front door or in planters on
decks and patios.
Whether you're planting annuals or perennials, before you go to the
nursery, take the measurement of the area you are planting. A five
by ten foot bed is fifty square feet (multiply the length by the
width). When you find the plants you want, make sure you know how tall
and wide they will eventually grow. Ask the nursery personnel how many
plants you will need to fill the space or read the plant label and do
your own math. Don't skimp on annuals. In this case, more is better. At
some point over the summer, as you visit nurseries and other gardens,
you may run across a perfect perennial that could do the job as well
as this year's annuals have done. When we begin to garden seriously,
we start looking ahead and often into the next year. In the process,
we unearth this grand obsession to create the ultimate flower garden.
Robb Rosser is a WSU Master Gardener. He is a freelance writer,
photographer and speaker and you can reach him at [email protected].
By ROBB ROSSER for The Columbian
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Most gardens are at their peak of flower bloom in the month of
June. Since this is the time of year when every nursery and garden
center across the land draws you in with sheer flower power, even the
beginning gardener with a newly planted garden will be able to have
a blooming border. For most of us, our gardening obsession begins
at this time of year. We are so moved by the experience of creating
color combinations or the simple, overwhelming beauty of a single
blooming rose, that we commit ourselves to perpetuate the spirit of
this creativity in our lives.
Anyone who dallies in the fields of creativity will tell you right
up front to give the process of flower gardening free reign. Trying
to control the nature of a garden is a full time job; often fraught
with frustration.
Chaos is a more reliable helpmate to the creative spirit than is
control.
Just last week I begged my oriental poppies, Papaver orientale,
to hold off blooming until the second weekend of June. "Wait for the
summer parties and the big garden events," I pleaded. "Think of all the
accolades as visitors "ooh" and "aah" at your vibrant delicacy." They
immediately turned towards the sun and burst into mouth-watering color.
The oriental poppies are reliable, hardy perennials, easy to grow if
planted in a sunny location with well drained soil. If you have heavy
soil, add compost and a handful of grit before planting. Think of them
growing in their homeland of Armenia, where they emerge from rocky
slopes and in dry meadows. Their large taproot ensures a tolerance of
drought once established. Few flowering plants can compete with the
strength of oriental poppy color. My favorite is the first poppy I ever
planted, Papaver orientale 'Allegro', with its bright orange-scarlet
flowers and bold, black basal markings. They bloom in striking scarlet,
vermilion and hot pink with a steady stream of new introductions in
purples, plum, salmon and white.
For a moment in June the oriental poppy appears to be the perfect
perennial but, alas, if I didn't at least comment on the other side
of growing poppies I would feel as if I'd introduced my sister
to Mr. Wonderful without mentioning his rather severe bi-polar
condition. Once the flowers are spent the only thing left is the large
clump of broadly lance-shaped or toothed, rough, hairy foliage. It
sounds like a weed and looks like a weed, too. My large planting of
poppies is hidden from close inspection at the foot of the 'Tibetan
Cherry' behind a groundcover bed of cotoneaster.
Another solution would be to surround them with a strong foliaged,
late flowering perennial such as daylilies or fall blooming
asters. Christopher Lloyd suggests that after flowering, the plants
can be cut right down, including the foliage, and be interplanted
with summer bedding.
For many years now, gardeners in the Northwest have focused on
perennials in the garden for flower color. We grew tired of the
process of planting annuals each year which also meant having to live
with large, empty spaces in beds and borders until the annuals were
ready to plant. It seems that many have finally found a comfortable
medium point where the bones of the plant world, the trees, shrubs,
groundcovers and seasonal perennials supply the bulk of garden interest
and annuals are used to fill what gaps remain. Annuals help us decide
what it is we want our flower gardens to become. They also give us
the chance to highlight an area of the garden when it needs it most;
along an entry walkway leading to the front door or in planters on
decks and patios.
Whether you're planting annuals or perennials, before you go to the
nursery, take the measurement of the area you are planting. A five
by ten foot bed is fifty square feet (multiply the length by the
width). When you find the plants you want, make sure you know how tall
and wide they will eventually grow. Ask the nursery personnel how many
plants you will need to fill the space or read the plant label and do
your own math. Don't skimp on annuals. In this case, more is better. At
some point over the summer, as you visit nurseries and other gardens,
you may run across a perfect perennial that could do the job as well
as this year's annuals have done. When we begin to garden seriously,
we start looking ahead and often into the next year. In the process,
we unearth this grand obsession to create the ultimate flower garden.
Robb Rosser is a WSU Master Gardener. He is a freelance writer,
photographer and speaker and you can reach him at [email protected].