landscaping « Gardenpoiesis: Adventures of a Naturalist

Annual Plants for a Splendid Border

August 21, 2022

I grew all these flowering plants this year sown directly in place from seed. I didn’t have them arranged in a border. But they would make a splendid border for mid to late summer bloom in climatic zone 6 of midwestern north america.

In the back of the border; the Orange flowering Tithonia rotundifolia (Torch sunflower) and the pendulous red Amaranthus (chenille dreadlocks)

moving forward to the next layer would be; Cleome Violet Queen, Pink Okinawa Okra, and Crimson Nicotiana (flowering tobacco)

moving toward the next layer would be; Red and Yellow Mirabilis jalapa (Marvel of Peru i.e. 4 O’Clocks)

in the front row; Red Celosia (Chinese Wool flower)

These are TALL plants. You will not find these as bedding plants in the garden centers. They grow best from directly planted seed.

Since they are TALL they will require some architectural structure to keep them upright as they become heavy with bloom. My Tithonia and Amaranthus are supported with T-posts and cross members. For beauty sake, some more attractive support would be ideal.

These plants do not have any serious pests once they get to be a few inches tall. I did have a problem with rabbit predation of the juvenile plants. Other than that – all good.

Tithonia rondifolia

Amaranthus

Cleome violet queen

Cleome southern charm

Pink Okinawa Okra

Crimson Nicotiana

Mirabilis jalapa red

Mirabilis jalapa yellow

Celosia chinese wool flower

In Gardens, landscaping, Plants

The Unplanted- Wild and Weed

June 20, 2020 — Leave a comment

Rudbeckia hirta

The Un-planted are sometimes called wildflowers or weeds. But they are really just the plants that retain their natural ability to propagate themselves. They may be the indigenous plants of an environment or introduced species that have become naturalized.

It’s unfortunate some introduced species are so prolific in their new environment that they can easily overwhelm the indigenous plants. We call them weeds or invasive. In the current world they occupy the location between the cultivated spaces. Sometimes intruding into the cultivated space, where they are considered a nuisance.

Local Examples: Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana: that prolific descendant of the Bradford pear), Tree of Heaven (Alianthus altissima), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and Chinese honeysuckle (Lonicera tragophylla), Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum), You see one – then you see a million.

We humans bring our plants with us. Either by design or by accident. Now the whole planet has been re-arranged in the last 100 years. Of course the plants have been moving around forever, but we have moved them at such a rapid pace. Every nursery, greenhouse, yard, and field are filled with plants from somewhere else.

We adore plants, they nurture, give pleasure to our senses, and are useful for our purposes. However, they have a life that is not about us. I think that is the part that we don’t commonly understand or appreciate. That is Nature for itself, not nature for us.