Bedding Plants Show Colors
Got a garden bed that needs filling? Fall is the time to plant all of the flowers that bloom in the spring, whether they are flash-in-the-pan bedding plants or more permanent perennials.
Though perennials have nudged annual bedding plants aside in some gardens--because they are more permanent and care free--no perennial comes close to a calendula or an Iceland poppy if you want a socko, drop-dead display. Annual may be their name, but color is their game.
Commercial growers of annual bedding plants are not unaware of the trend away from annuals and they have countered with new kinds and new colors. There are, for instance, many more annuals that are pastels, or that at least harmonize with the largely pastel colors of spring-blooming perennials.
Expert gardeners are not planting these new kinds in great masses--that would look too much like the plantings in an industrial park. Instead they are using the new kinds, and the old, in fascinating combinations.
Check some of these combos that Lillian Greenup, master of color at Sperling Nursery in Calabasas, has come up with. These are not the double row of calendulas up each side of the front path that grandma used to plant!
--A mix of Midget stock and Linaria reticulata with the Antique strain of pansies in front. The Midget series of stock comes in shades of lavender, violet and rose and grows only 8 to 10 inches tall so needs no staking; Linaria reticulata is just as short and the flowers are fuchsia and orange. A lot of people are raving about the new Imperial Antique strain of pansies that are described as “autumnal” colors, with maple-leaf orange and reds or misty maroons and violets.
--Liberty snapdragons, Wonderland Iceland poppies and Carnival nemesia with blue violas. The new Liberty snaps are of medium height (18-22 inches) and are very sturdy. Wonderland is a new shorter Iceland poppy that is equally sturdy, as is the compact Carnival strain of nemesia.
--Linaria Fairy Bouquet with Midget stock, light yellow pansies and Easter Bonnet alyssum. The Easter Bonnet mix of sweet alyssum has much richer shades of purple, rose and lavender than the standard alyssum and the linaria is an underutilized annual with masses of dainty pastel flowers.
Greenup singles out linaria and the new pansies as annuals that are not used enough. Linarias are easy (even from seed), and planted close to other vertical flowers like stock or snapdragons they are great fillers. They bloom for a long time in spring.
This would seem to be the decade for pansies. Toni Parsons, who does the colorful containers at Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar, says there are so many new pansies that you could spend all fall trying to think of ways to use them.
One of her favorites is called Imperial Frosty Rose, with flowers that combine soft purples and light lavenders. Lillian Greenup likes the saturated orange flowers of Padparadja, a pansy discovered in Sri Lanka that won the top flower award in 1991. Despite the strong, clear color, she says it goes well with pastels--”It picks them up a bit.”
John Dampier, the color specialist at Capistrano Garden in San Juan Captistrano, also likes the new pastel pansies and one of his favorite combinations is simplicity itself: Antique pansies or the Pink Shades pansy with pink snapdragons.
Annual bedding plants are not just for garden beds but are one of the best choices for containers, and Toni Parsons has some simple schemes for big pots. All use pansies.
--Iceland poppies and nemesia in the center of the pot, with a surround of Antique pansies and white sweet alyssum.
--Midget white stock with Monarch pansies and English daisies. Monarch is another pastel series, and most English daisies are shades of pink.
--Parsley and one of the faceless pansies, such as Crystal Bowl, Gold Crown or Azure Blue and, if there’s room, annual phlox or dianthus.
Now’s the time to plant.
All of these annual flowers bloom in spring and must be planted in fall because they grow and flower during the cooler times of the year.
This confuses a lot of new gardeners who haven’t discovered what John Dampier calls our “two springs.” Dampier says there are a lot of people who come in during the fall months and ask “Don’t you have any more marigolds?”
Everyone knows you can plant marigolds, petunias and other annual flowers in the spring, but they don’t know that fall is another sort of spring, when you can plant all those things that grow in cooler weather, then bloom in March and April. Most nurserymen suggest planting small plants from packs, even though they carry plants in larger containers. Small plants have time to grow a good root system before blooming, so they make more flowers and last longer.
Prepare the soil before planting by mixing in bags of soil amendment and do your mixing well.
Lillian Greenup adds Osmocote, a slow-release fertilizer, to the soil so plants have fertilizer available during the entire season. If you don’t, be prepared to fertilize on a regular basis, once a month or even every other week.
Dampier also suggests planting a little high, so the very base of the plant (called the crown) sits just above the soil. This will help prevent crown rot, which is caused by the base of the plant staying too wet. Pansies are particularly susceptible. Yellow leaves, or the sudden collapse of the plants, usually means the soil was too wet.
You will have to water these spring blooming annuals, but not nearly as much as you might think. Because the sun is low and the weather cool, they do not dry out quickly so they are a lot easier to grow, and a lot thriftier with water, than summer’s annuals. And, if we stay lucky, winter rains will do much of the watering for you. That’s why a lot of expert gardeners think our “second spring” is our best planting season.
IT’S FALL PLANTING TIME Almost all perennial flowers. Bulbs of all kinds. (Note:Tulips and hyacinths must be refrigerated for six weeks before being planted.) Among flowers you can plant now are:
African daisies cyclamen nicotiana Alyssum delphinium pansy and viola Bells of Ireland dusty miller phlox Calendula English daisy primulas Candytuft forget-me-nots ranuculus Canterbury bells foxglove blue salvia Chrysanthemum mulitcaule hollyhock schizanthus Chrysanthemum paludosum Iceland poppy snapdragon Cineraria larkspur stock Clarkis and godetia linaria sweet peas Columbine lobelia sweet William
* Vegetables to plant now:
Artichoke celery onions Beets endive peas Broccoli fava beans radish Brussels sprouts garlic rhubarb Cabbage kale spinach Carrot kohlrabi Swiss chard Cauliflower head and leaf lettuce turnip
Cool-season grasses including annual rye over Bermuda grass lawns, perennial rye, bluegrass, fescue.
All California natives, including wildflowers, from seed.
Most shrubs, trees, ground covers and vines.
Note: This is not the best time of year to plant citrus, subtropical vines or shrubs, deciduous fruit trees such as apples or apricots, roses or subtropical lawn grasses such as Bermuda or St. Augustine. All of these plants are about to go dormant or may freeze.
