local dirt Reader's questions
Ms. Dobbie: My backyard faces south, and during
the summer months, the yard gets very hot. After a few years of spending quite a bit of money on plants, which die early in the season. I was wondering if you could recommend some plants with a longer life span that will tolerate heat. My back yard would be entirely
container gardening. I thank you for your time. Claude Nolin
Hi Claude: Plants such as petunias and calibrachoas
love the heat. Geraniums like it dry and hot and there are specialty plants such as bougainvillea that enjoy this climate too. Black-eyed-Susan vine is pretty well inde- structible and all kinds of salvias like sun and heat. Verbena and Lantana both like sun and heat as does scaevola. Diamond Frost euphorbia is a neat trailer plant with clouds of little white flowers ideal for
containers. The sweet potato vines – lime green, black, dark magenta – all enjoy sun. Any gray leaved plant, such as helichrysum, will be a sun lover too. Snapdragons should last the season – I love the trailing ones if you can find them. Celosia and dahlias are showy and tolerate heat. These plants should perform well for you
most of the summer and some into fall. Types such as the marguerites and daisy- like ones will need to be deadheaded to get new blossoms. Also, you can help keep petunias going
longer and looking lovelier by cutting them back in summer – they will reward you by branching out and producing even more blossoms. With container plants, the issue is gener-
ally watering and size of the pot. If drying out is a problem, add a bit of coco-husk (coir) to the potting medium – one part coco husk to six parts soil or potting mix (works better than the gels that are put into commercially potted baskets). This will keep
your containers moist a lot longer. Containers with a peat or straw type
basket dry out faster than those in a plastic pot. Plants to take off your list are pansies,
which like it cool and damp; begonias which love the shade, (except for Solenia begonias which are bred for sun but need to be kept moist); and impatiens, which like shade (except New Guinea impatiens which like sun). We all love lobelia but it prefers shade, even the sun-tolerant ones like some shade. Some annuals, such as forget-me-nots
or poppies are very short-blooming (we call them ephemerals) so avoid using them in containers. Thank you for subscribing and best
regards, Dorothy
Dear Dorth: I always end up with too many
containers every year. At the same time, I miss certain spots in my beds. So here's what I'm doing this year: I'm making a diagram of my entire
yard including positioning of the containers before I go shopping. Then
I will simply consult the
diagram to be sure I have the combi- nation of plants that will fit my vision for each container – and to make sure I have the bedding plants and "fill-ins" for every part of the yard. Also, when leaving with the plants
from the garden centre, I'm going to place plant groups together for specific containers so everything is right there and I'm not searching. Maybe you've already been doing this
for years. But, for me, it's about time. It will obviously save time and save me from kicking myself when I've forgotten a certain plant for a certain container. Mr. Tomato
Dear Mr. T. You are so organized! I plan what to
buy – a colour scheme, say – then go to the garden centre and forget all about it as my eye is fickle – caught by other charmers. I also buy groups of perennials so I can
plant in grand sweeps, but when I get home I end up tucking them here are there, will nilly. It’s no wonder your garden looks so good
compared to mine! Dorothy
4 • Spring 2015
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