Whether you're planting a container, bordering your garden or filling in blanks among perennials, annuals are a no-brainer. They grow fast, bloom long and are among the easiest garden quick fixes available. Here are 8 of my favorites this year. All are widely available.
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Here are some great container plants to play around with:
Thrillers
Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum')
New Zealand flax (Phormium)
Fern
"Spike” plants
Cana
Angelonia
Ti plant (Cordyline)
Dwarf banana (Musa)
Ornamental millet (Pennisetum glaucum)
Coral bells (Heuchera)
Fillers
Coleus
Begonia
Impatiens
Lantana
Allysum
Zinnia
Marigold (Calendula)
Wave Petunia
Geranium (Pelargonium)
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)
Spillers
Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas)
Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Trailing petunia (Calibrachoa)
Fuchsia
Ivies
Vinca
Lobelia
Verbena
Spiderwort (Trades.cantia)
Inchplant (Tradescantia zebrina)
I just planted 6 of these brightly colored Iresine herbstii, aka Blood Leaf, in a shady spot in the backyard.
Blazin' Lime will grow about a foot tall and a foot and a half wide. Though they're still babies, those lime and cream variegated leaves jump out from red stems and really brighten up the spot. I placed them next to Ligularia. Sometimes I really mess things up and have to dig up and rearrange later in the season, but I'm pretty sure I won't be doing that here. What a great combo!
The Iresine should hang around straight till frost, and will tolerate sun if you have it but the color probably won't be as bright.
Use them in containers, too.
University of Houston photo
The ASPCA issued a warning today about Brunfelsia, which you might recognize by one of its common names, "morning, noon and night plant" or "yesterday, today and tomorrow plant." Brunfelsia is a favorite in sun to partial-shade gardens in the south, and sports fragrant pansy-like flowers that start out purple then change to lavender within a day or two before fading to white a day or two after that (hence, the common names.) The warm-climate plant is suited for zones 9-11, but can be kept as a houseplant indoors or grown as an annual in cooler zones.
Problem is, according to a study by Dr. Safdar Khan, veterinary toxicologist for the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, the plant might kill your dog -- or a neighborhood dog that happens to wander by. Not only is the plant poisonous to dogs, but for some reason dogs are strongly attracted to it. A double whammy. Even eating a couple of seeds could prove disastrous.
Fourty-two dogs were treated by the APC from 2001 to 2006 after falling ill from ingesting parts of the plant. Three died. Symptoms included stiff limbs, excessive drooling and life-threatening seizures.
“Brunfelsia toxicity can progress very rapidly to a potentially lethal situation, so it’s critical that pet parents seek immediate veterinary care,” says Dr. Khan. “If pets consume any part of the plant, they can become ill within hours and develop gastrointestinal problems such as vomiting and diarrhea, as well as tremors, seizures and muscle rigidity that makes the animal appear to be in a ‘sawhorse’ stance.”
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| Daniel Siebert, an amateur botanist, with Salvia divinorum. (AP Photo) |
You know that beautiful Salvia plant you had growing in your garden last summer? The fragrant, purple one? It's gaining a heck of a reputation. Lawmakers in Florida and elsewhere are hip to the fact that teenagers -- among others, I'm sure -- have discovered the hallucinogenic properties of its cousin, Salvia divinorum. And you know what they say about judging a man by his friends.
I can't imagine how kids stumbled upon this, but Salvia divinorum can produce an hour-long high more potent than marijuana's when smoked, eaten or brewed into a tea. And it's currently legal, which means it can be easily obtained by anyone, unlike Sudafed or Claritin-D, for which I have to produce a driver's license and sign my name to a federal government log in order to purchase at CVS.
Online, an ounce of Salvia leaves can be had for $30; liquid extract sells for $12-$70, depending on the size of the bottle and its potency. Long-term health effects aren't clear, but its use was cited in a 17-year-old Delaware boy's suicide in 2006.
The plant, native to Mexico, has been used for centuries in indigenous healing rituals. Now, lawmakers in eight states have put restrictions on it, and Florida is considering making it illegal.
It sounds ridiculous to outlaw a plant, but the dilemma is a big one: People get the impression that whatever is legal is safe. Kids especially. And therein lies the problem: It could be dangerous.
The plants in our herb and perennial gardens are guilty only by association, as there haven't been any hallucinogenic properties or abuses reported about them.
• Salvia officinalis, also known as sage, is a fixture in many suburban gardens. The perennial prefers full sun but can tolerate light shade.
• Salvia elegans, or Pineapple sage, is a tender perennial, which means it's grown as an annual here on Long Island. It, too, prefers full sun, and its pineapple-scented leaves and flowers are edible.
• Salvia officinalis 'Berggarten', Berggarten sage, is a sun-loving perennial.
• Salvia officinalis 'Nana', Dwarf sage, is a perennial that prefers full sun.
They all make an eye-catching, deliciously scented addition to the herb or perennial garden.
You can't smoke them, but why would you want to?
Cornell Cooperative Extension photo
Ricinus communis, the Castor Bean plant, is widely grown in California, and sometimes found planted as annuals as far north as Nova Scotia. The plant has become somewhat notorious because it contains two toxins that are extremely lethal. Its a real danger to children, pets and even insects. OK, so maybe you won't be shedding any tears over dead insects, but I thought you should know anyway.
Though the plant, with its huge palm-like leaves, is quite an eye catcher in the garden, I say it's not worth it. A curious child wandering in the backyard could die from picking and eating a couple of beans. That's food for thought.
Ingestion of as little as 500 micrograms of the toxin ricin (which amounts to the size of a pinhead) can kill an adult, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. It destroys cell proteins and causes diarrhea and vomiting within 6-8 hours, and death a couple of days later. Inhaling it causes severe flu-like symptoms in the same time period and then fluid fills the lungs and skin turns blue. It's actually considered a biological weapon and is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention. Cornell University has called it "one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances known."
Ricinus communis agglutinin is another toxin present in Castor Bean. It affects red blood cells. An injection of that protein causes blood clots.
But it's not all bad. Oil from the beans (not technically beans, but let's just call them that for simplicity's sake) is used in food additives, prescription medications, laxatives, mold inhibitors, animal repellents (some say the plants repel moles in the garden, but I haven't seen any proof) and food packaging. Ever hear of Castor Oil? It'll help keep you, er, regular, but it won't kill you.
So, why am I writing about this today? Police found vials of a white powder in a Las Vegas hotel room on Valentine's Day. Oh, and in the same room they found a man who was unconscious. And a dead dog. Castor beans also were found in the room. An investigation of the powder began yesterday, and 2 preliminary tests concluded the substance was ricin. It seems the man somehow fell victim to it. The dog probably died from unrelated dehydration. Don't ask.
Though details are sketchy, and no one seems to know how the ricin and castor beans got into the hotel room, it seems possible they were left behind by a previous guest. Scary. I, for one, will be looking in the closet and under the bed from now on whenever I check into a hotel. The FBI has ruled out terrorism, but conspiracy theorists online today are in a panic.
Frankly, I think it was just a pissed off gardener.
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| Fiesta™ Salmon Double Impatiens |
As a result, I have some bare patches in what I had hoped would be a lush bed of liriopes so I just added some annuals to fill in the blanks.
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| BabyWing® White Begonias |
I'm trying out some new introductions this year, and so far I'm quite pleased. In keeping with my preferred orange-purple-pink color scheme, I arranged some Fiesta™ Salmon Double Impatiens around some pansies on the street side of the fence.
I potted up some BabyWing® White Begonias with purple Easy Wave petunias, which I also added to a couple of beds. Easy Waves are great because they spread beautifully while reaching 10 inches in height. Window boxes spilling over with the Easy Wave Beachcomber mix, a combination of blue, shell pink and coral reef, make the house look happy. As far as annuals go, this year they're my favorites.
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| Easy Wave Beachcomber petunia mix |
Though the backyard has been dug up for a new cesspool, I worked around the mess to continue my vegetable garden tradition, though this year I'll only be growing a couple of varieties of tomatoes (Burpee's Porterhouse and some San Marzano plums) along with basil, parsley and
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| Maracas Brazilian Fireworks |
To add a little color to the brown dust out back, I planted Maracas Brazilian Fireworks in pots and placed them on the deck railing. Now all we need is grass and a game plan for the newly blank canvas. It's a shady yard -- any ideas?
