Color | Deborah Silver & Co.

The Pots At Home

The last 2 weeks have been wicked busy. Several extensive landscape projects swung into high gear, at the same time I began planting containers and annual gardens. There are but 10 of us that produce all of the work. We have done 67 annual and container gardens, with 6 more to go. One landscape project-a brand new house that needed everything from start to finish. The other project-a new pool and pool house needing a landscape. Needless to say, I have not done much at home. The bed around the fountain got replanted with scotch moss. I did get a few of the deck planters planted, so I wouldn’t have to celebrate my birthday looking at pots of dirt.

I have always liked the color purple in the landscape, but I have never made it the focus of my containers. Last year’s silver and brown containers were my most favorite ever, but I hate to repeat a scheme. The entire fun of planting annual containers is that you get to chose something new. Since I already have Princeton Gold maples, Sum and Substance hosta, and now the lime green moss, I thought yellow might be a good companion to the purple.

There are plenty of purple and yellow annual and tropical plants. Scaevola and dark purple angelface angelonia are both on the blue purple side. Yellow thunbergia, is a vine sporting sunny lemon yellow flowers. The contrast of colors is lively and cheery. I also like the look of these colors with my yellow brick. The blue from the sky and the green from the landscape are important colors in any garden scheme. The sky occupies a lot of square footage overhead. But the color of a home will influence the look of any color you put next to it.

But I was interested in something else besides color. I have always been a proponent of growing plants that are willing and able to grow. Some plants are not that demanding. Some plants deliver lots of satisfaction without asking for much in return. It is easy to become besotted with Vista petunias, as they grow and bloom profusely. But this year, I thought I would try to grow some plants that would challenge my ability to grow things. The lime scotch moss-it is hard to grow in larger areas. Yellow petunias are not that easy either, although this Proven Winner’s variety “citrus” promises be be a better than usualy grower.

Butterfly marguerites are willing growers, but they require regular dead heading to stay beautiful. They also seem to need more attention to the water than other annual plants. If I comer home at the end of a very hot day, it is the marguerites that are wilted. Angelonia performs well, as long as it gets heat. The best looking angelonia I have seen in the past week have been in the greenhouse. Our early summer weather has been especially cool.

Lime licorice will not tolerate too much water. The felted leaves say that loud and clear. The leaves will bleach, if the plant is grown in too much sun. It will wilt with too little water. Finding just the right spot for licorice is a challenge. Growing it with another trailer sometimes provides it with just enough cover to make it thrive.

Million bells are trailing plants with loads of charm. This new variety of super bells is called “Miss Lilac”. The color is very interesting. Growing million bells can also be interesting. They rot easily, and develop yellow stems and leaves. I recommend watering in the am only, and fertilizing with miracid. Million bells do not thrive when the Ph is too alkaline. Petunias don’t mind the miracid treatment either. The color of this million bells is delicate-we’ll see if it is tough enough to withstand my care.

Purple annual plants for shade are few and far between, so I am trying torenia this year for the first time. It is so true that the only way to learn how to grow plants is to grow them. If I have questions about the cultivation of a plant, I like to ask a grower. This is one of the best reasons to shop for plants at your local farmer’s markets. The people who are there helping you select plants are growers.

There are lots of ways to get yellow in a garden that don’t involve flowers. The millet Jester is an excellent grass whose color is an intense lime yellow. The centerpiece of this container is a variegated boxwood. The edges of the leaves are a creamy white.

The fairly new coleus cultivar called Wasabi is a very strong grower in either sun or shade. In sun, the plant is butter yellow. In shade, a yellow green.

In the center of these pots, I have planted cup and saucer vines. The dark purple/green foliage sends out delicate purple tendrils which will attach themselves to the poles. This is one of the few annual climbers that does not require a lot of support. Once it gets going, it grows fast, and big.

The flowers open pale green; they will turn lavender, and finally mature to a dark purple color. I have grown cobaea scandens on a wall, but I have never tried it in a pot. We’ll see how it works out.

Every year I swear I am not going to grow any big flowered begonias. But in spite of the fact that they are big and gaudy, I just can’t resist them. The obverse of the leaves have a purple cast. This non-stop yellow begonia is a deliciously intense sunny yellow. I planted some. There are pots that are not planted yet. But I am beginning to feel like I will in fact get them all planted. The process of the planting comes at a very busy time of year, but is a time I truly enjoy. Next up, the growing.

Posted on: June 21, 2013 9 Comments

Filed Under: Color, container planting, Summer Tagged With: annual container design, planting containers, container planting

At A Glance: Two Clematis

Posted on: June 9, 2013 12 Comments

Filed Under: Color, Summer, Plants Tagged With: large flowered clematis, clematis "The President", clematis

At A Glance: Blooming

Detroit Garden Works is ablaze with blooming plants-mostly of the annual and tropical variety. We do offer specimen boxwoods, dwarf apple trees, fig trees, blueberries, and espaliers. But the blooming plants get a lot of attention. Blooming lantana and abutilon standards. Great ferns. Bay laurel standards. We had lots of gardeners shopping for plants. The weather seems to have warmed up, and the danger of a killing frost seems behind us. Good gardeners are planning and shopping. Though the daytime temperature was a brisk 68 degrees, there was something in the air. Sturdy and healthy plants coming in to bloom made the shop come to life. Our life revolves around the plants.

Yellow Punch canna has the most delightfully clear yellow blooms atop a large growing plant. Said plant is handsomely endowed with large dark green leaves. Yellow Punch canna is aptly named. They look great with the King Tut papyrus set in close proximity. Most certainly, we arrange our plants with good design in mind.

Miniature fuchsia flowers are dainty and complex. This pink bicolor version is sweet. Paired with pale pink nicotiana – very sweet. The newer varieties of fuchsia tolerate hot weather. Look to them to brighten a shady spot.

These blooms of from a Venus dogwood I have at home. The flowers are every bit of 7 inches across. They are just coming in to full bloom. A cross between the pacific coast dogwood, cornus nuttallii, and cornus kousa, this tree blooms it heart out. It is hardier than either of its parents, and grows lustily in full sun. I plant them every chance I get.

We plant lots of annual pots at the shop. As soon as we have a group available, they are gone. The early summer blooming is irresistible. The dirt under my nails and on my hands will survive for another 5 weeks. How great is this?

The ornamental oregano Kent Beauty is tough to grow, early on. Professional growers shy away from it. It looks lame in a 4″ pot. Once it is planted, it thrives. The foliage and flowers never fail to attract attention. Have a planting planned for sun and dryer conditions? This oregano is a beauty.

The Cathedral salvias have my attention this spring. They have substantial flower heads in a variety of enchanting colors. Having never been a fan of victoria blue salvia, I am giving this plant a second look.

It is not the best move, buying annual plants in bloom. Flowering annuals in flats will take to transplanting reluctantly. If I plant flats, I plant green only. This is why I carry few flats of flowers. The soil mass of a 4 inch pot buys a little time. Time for you to organize your planting scheme. Time for the grower to realize their investment. The late spring season is really short. The time and expense getting ready for a spring season-enormous. The health and vigor of the annual flowers, at the mercy of the weather. Of this, I am sure. If you grow for a living, you have a very hard and demanding job. If you garden, you have a lot of work on your hands. The spirit dwarf cleomes have all the blooming beauty of the species, less the size. Look this cleome over. The blooms are so beautiful.

This planting with bok choy is about to go down. The pansies are unhappy about the heat. Alyssum is a supporting cast plant that will at best need to be cut back after a flush of bloom. At worst, alyssum will rot and die out with too much rain. But the main issue here is a vegetable bolting. Cool weather vegetables will go to seed, once the weather gets really warm. Should you grow vegetables to eat, the vegetable flowers are not of much interest. The food value aside, this blooming container is really beautiful right now.

The begonias love the hot weather. They also love a prudent and reserved waterer. Their blooms are breathtaking. They are so worth learning how to grow. We have them in our greenhouse still. They do not love so much the transition from spring into summer. They are summer born and bred. Once we have really warm weather, try them.

Agapanthus is not native to our zone. But we sell them, anyways. The form, that blue, so enchanting. They are not so hard to winter over, in a garage. Jut about every blooming is a garden is ephemeral. The annual plants-they soldier on. I love them for this.

So many things are blooming now. The alliums. The early clematis. The scilla hispanica. The bearded iris and the poppies. The azaleas and rhododendrons. The horseradish. The early annual plants. The nepeta. It’s an early summer bloom fest. My delphiniums and roses are budding. Are you not in gardener’s heaven? I am.

Posted on: June 2, 2013 7 Comments

Filed Under: Color, container planting, Plants, Detroit Garden Works Tagged With: June blooming trees, annual plants

A Day In The Life

This day was a something of a blur. A new house needed sod. A pair of annual plantings in a far away location needed to get finished today, as tomorrow is a set date for another planting. Three major plantings in one day-we worked it out. Steve’s landscape crew filled my pots, and planted the old topiaries this morning-he was on his way to sod a a new house landscape we have been working on since last fall. Scott and Shannon delivered the planted to our job 2 in the morning. Angie, Owen and Lucio knocked out this big planting by 2pm. At 2:30, we were a block over, planting 13 pots. Everything got done, in spite of the rain.

I have been landscaping, and planting pots for this client for better than 20 years. She has extraordinarily good taste, and is willing to change things up at a moment’s notice. Every spring, I look to her for a color scheme. This year-red, purple and lime. I was happy to oblige. This is a big job. 130 40 pound bags of soil-for starters. We have been wintering a number of topiary plants for her better than 10 years. They weigh a lot. Those over wintered plants constitute an entire truckload. She is 45 minutes away from me-so we have travel to consider. The terrain-a lot of up and down. This summer planting takes 11 people 7 hours to plant.

I print out pictures from last year’s planting, with notes about what I want to see happen this year. Those notes are broad. Once the broad strokes as established, I personally place every plant. There is no substitute for being there in person. A client, an environment, several truckloads of plants-something inspired needs to happen. I worry like crazy the entire time it takes me to drive there. What if nothing seems like it is working?

Once I am there, the worry falls away. I have work to do-there is no time to worry. I cannot really describe what happens next. It is a mix of my relationship with a client, the horticulture, and plants at hand. As this is client is far away, I pack two trucks full of plants. I want every plant that works available to me. Planting on location means I need more than what I need-at hand. What happens next is one part science, one part relationship, mone part inspiration, and one part experience growing plants.

This pot has a hyacinth bean vine in the center. The look of this pot will be much different, come August. But today I value the bones of that look-purple, lime, with a dash of red. There are upright elements, and horizontal elements. At the very last, before the sweep-up, all the topiary frames get straightened.

The deck off the master bedroom-an expression of the color scheme-with the odd pot out. To the far left in this picture, an old peach flowered abutilon. That one element that doesn’t fit in will work just fine here. Annual plantings that match too perfectly- to my mind, too cold. I like any expression in the garden which is personal. Really personal-all the better.

We had winds and heavy rains half way through this planting. The red leaved red flowering leaved canna Australia-who knew my client would like this? We surrounded it with red dahlias and red leaved alternanthera. The verdict on this planting-due in late August.

There are red purples, and blue purples. I opted for a mix, with some deep red Caliente geraniums. Hypnotica lavender dahlia is a great plant-it performs. The mini blue veined petunias-a great performer. Lilac wave petunias-a favorite of mine. I like this mix, with a smattering of creeping jenny and lime licorice. I feel fairly confident that these deck boxes will only get better over the course of the summer.

Our box truck-just about empty.

These old wax leaf privets have a new home this year. Last fall I told me client that she needed bigger pots, or we would have to abandon these privets on standard. She was not willing to let them go-I do not blame her. They are beautiful. She bought new pots. These 30″ tall by 30″ diameter pots handle these topiaries with ease. We under planted them with scaevola, variegated licorice, and mini blue veined petunias. Today, this planting is all about green, texture, form and mass. In August, there will be a another story about color.

The torrential rainstorms that have been passing through for the last few days means that all of us are wet. Really wet. My shoes and socks have been soaked for 3 days. The late spring weather has not been easy to deal with. The last time that the spring weather was easy to deal with-years ago. This is a way of saying that no late spring planting season is easy. The transition from one season to the next is always about turmoil. Michigan weather can and does turn on a dime.We have done a number of annual container plantings in the past 3 days. Thankfully those plantings look a lot more put together than what is left on this truck. Not that I am complaining-this is work I truly love to do.