2016 Garden

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Crazytunias

Cherry Cheesecake

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Crazytunias are the newest thing in Petunias this year. Breeders were told to “go crazy” in their breeding and this series is the result. I bought four of these (out of 19 varieties) for my garden in early spring, Cherry Cheesecake, Mandevilla, Star Jubilee, and Terracotta. All of them are pretty, but for me, they have been a little disappointing.

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Star Jubilee

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Of the four, Terracotta has been the heaviest bloomer, Cherry Cheesecake the most striking flowers, Mandevilla the weakest grower, and Star Jubilee the leggiest and largest-flowered. I didn’t find them  any more rain-tolerant than any other petunia, and although they are not supposed to have to be deadheaded, they really look bad if you don’t. They look fine from a distance, but up close, the spent flowers clinging to the plant really take away from their beauty. I did prune them back several times throughout the summer, and kept them well-fed and watered. They don’t recover well from rain, especially Star Jubilee, and they had to be clipped back a lot to get rid of the soggy spent flowers.. too much work if you had a lot of them.

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Terracotta

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I used Terracotta in a hanging pot, the rest I used in containers on my patios. As is usually the case, none of them were as beautiful and prolific as I expected them  based on growers photos, but I’ll probably try them again next year in some of the other colors.

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Mandevilla

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To see all the available colors in a pdf file, go here.

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Princess Lilies

Alstroemeria, also known as Princess Lily or Peruvian Lily, is new to my garden this year. These plants are not really lilies at all, but are tuberous perennials. I bought one of these as a thick root in a tiny 3 inch pot in early May and have had it in a container on my patio. I had it in full sun and it very quickly filled the pot with foliage but very few blooms. I moved it to an area with only morning sun and it looked much healthier and has bloomed repeatedly since.

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Alstroemeria

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These dwarf hybrids reach about fifteen inches tall in a pot, and are hardy only in Zones 8-10. I’ve read that the rhizomes can be lifted and stored over the winter though, and I’ll probably do that with mine. The flowers are gorgeous.

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Alstroemeria Princess ‘Sara’

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Princess Lily in a container

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2014 Garden

My garden survived the polar vortex winter! :) Some photos from this spring and summer (you can click on any of these photos to view larger):

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Garden beds and gazebo

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coleus bed

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hosta in secret garden

roses on fence in spring

secret garden, forest grass and hostas

annabelle hydrangea

invincibelle spirit hydrangea

potted cordyline, gomphrene and dichondra, caramel heuchera

fresh look celosia grown from seed

patio beds

creekside border, mixed

creek border

double delight coneflowers

celosia, mixed

cheyenne spirit coneflowers grown from seed last year, got even bigger and better this year!

cheyenne spirit coneflowers

denver daisies

red banana in a container, taller than the obelisk!

elephant ears, veronica, hostas, sunpatiens

annual salvia, petunias, ornamental grass

pinky winky hydrangea

bubble gum supertunias in hanging containers

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