Peach Edit:
So I got a peach Mum plant this week. It's in the section of my garden for the "gotta have it" plants. It does what Fine Gardening says peach plants do ............. unites the garden. I had gotten magenta Mums a couple of weeks ago and originally put them in front of the Sunflower then a Black - Eyed - Susan. Both of them are back in my planned garden so I needed something behind it and have eyed the peach Mums for a week.
I'm a big fan of yellow, orange and white for most of the year but there is something special about dark red Mums. When I read that article on pink I though of these gorgeous light pink Mums I got last year. I was in the midst of my Mum addiction stage in October. Josh took our anniversary off from work and we took a walk past Hillcrest. This one Mum stood out to me. Those full and beautiful pink bloom beckoned. It became his anniversary present to me. I will probably get them again as my September Mums. They would look beautiful with the light purple Daydream Asters that stole my heart last year.
My main garden, with the pots, is a full sun garden with filtered shade. Beyond that there are limited places for full sun flowers. There is one house on one of my walks that inspired me to get my beloved 'Stella D'oro' Daylily and I wasn't surprised by my most recent discovery. After reading that article on peach flowers I found myself on the lookout for peach flowers. That house didn't let me down, they had some 'Chorus Line' Daylilies. I missed them last year but not this year. My perennial garden is the space in front of my neighbors. She said I can plant whatever I want there. There is a perfect place between decorative stones for three 'Chorus Line' Daylilies and today I FINALLY met the gardener for that house.
It's a two family house. I was taking my walk this morning and she just so happened to be coming home. We talked for a long time about gardening. She has arthritis and finds gardening hard to do now but told me about her huge garden at her old house. She's an older lady. I told her that if she sees me walking by and would like help caring for the garden to just speak up.
The upstairs neighbors moved out so I found myself looking at my layouts and wondering if there is anything I wanted to change. I always thought about colors matching but now I looked at it from a new angle. I used to start the Spring garden like this:
Pink Hyacinth
Blue Hyacinth
White Hyacinth
Yellow Tulip
Daffodil
The white looks best with the yellow Tulips so it seemed like a good flow. But now I looked at it and decided to just use white Hyacinths. In the Spring my flowers are all white, orange, or yellow so that seemed to be what's best.
It's also something I'll keep in mind when getting the June flowers. I budgeted in to get a type of flower in June but the type is unplanned. That's what came out of the whole Sunflower/Black-Eyed-Susan fiasco. This year is pink and purple Asters. The Asters are behind the white Begonias so it still flows well. Ironically, the nursery by Zach's preschool got Annual Black-Eyed-Susans in a few weeks ago.
In the past, I stuck to red, orange, or yellow Mums only. But during last year's Mum addiction I experimented with white, pink, and purple. My original plan was to just see what Mums look best each year and not to plan which colors. All these articles on coordinating colors inspired me to sit down and think about what colors would be best.
For September I'll get yellow Mums. There are yellow centers to the purple Asters to they will compliment each other well. The yellow Mums will eventually look nice behind my orange October Mums. The orange ones will be that row of three big Mums I get in October. I like what I did last year for the "Staircase Mums" so I'll do that again. The "Staircase Mums" are the Mums at the front of the garden. It's a big Mum in the middle with medium Mums next to them and small Mums on the end. The dark red big and small Mums looked good around the white medium Mums. As you can see, the orange big Mums look good with the dark red and white Mums.
Originally, I wanted to use the pink Mums because they would go so well with the purple Asters but then I would have relied on white and purple for the October Mums. When I really thought about it, I realized that the orange and dark red Mums are important to me. I have a white 20" container by our stairs. I have Marigolds in them now but I can easily just put pretty pink Mums in there in the Fall. I'm glad I took the time to think this through. Until Winter, there will be a lot of yellow, orange, and white in my garden. For Winter there will be the Blue Spruce and white Cabbage.
In a lot of the Fine Gardening articles they feature Perennials that don't flower. Some of that is okay but color is important. So is the timing of blooms. If you plant the right plants you can always have beauty and color in your garden. Choose colors that match each other and flower at different times of the year and have the necessary light requirements. Some places are shady in the Summer but not in the Spring, Fall, and Winter.
The Fine Gardening editor is Steve Aitken. I love his letters. In this one he mentions that he used to not like pink and when finding out why he asked the staff to help him list words that describe the color pink and the kind of people who love pink. Those descriptions didn't fit him. But that made me think about what I love so much about yellow and white. Mainly, they are cheery colors. You can see them from farther away and they are more likely to make you smile. In the dreary March those yellow Pansies really brightened things up. Yellow has literally always been my favorite color and white compliments it so well.
What colors are in your garden? Why are you drawn to them? Would you experiment with peach or use pink in the Fall? In the January/February 2013 issue they talked about using black plants. In June I found a 'Phantom' Petunia at Hillcrest. I got it but find I don't really like it that much.
Experimenting with color works out sometimes but not others. But I have never been a fan of the color black. I wear a little black sometimes but not much. I'm glad I tried it though. Other colors that fall under the "black plant" categories include deep red, dark purple, brown, bronze, and midnight blue. The 'Blackout' Heuchera looked good. I wonder what it would look like with the 'Chorus Line' Daylily? What do you think?
Depending on what's around and how much is used, It could work. They say it's best to plan your garden. It might seem like fun to go to a nursery, pick up a pretty plant, and put it in an empty space in your garden, but that might lead to a chaotic mess. You also have to consider light requirements and the flow with surrounding plants and structures. 'Blackout' Heuchera can handle any shade requirement but has white flowers in the summer in Zones 4 -9. I personally like it combined with the 'Burgundy Velvet' Daylily. Zones 3 - 10 blooms in Early - Mid Summer and requires part sun to full sun.
These articles have inspired me to look more deeply into what colors and plants I choose for my garden and explore new options. It makes me look at all colored plants and wonder at the possibilities. There aren't many peach plants to work with and Pink is hard to find in the Fall but by seeing things differently you might find yet another way to be amazed by your garden.
http://www.finegardening.com/
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