Re: [gardeners] flowers for my area
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 14 Feb 1998 17:32:31
At 05:19 PM 2/14/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Angelika wrote. I'd like to add
>> (possibly bright) color to the areas of my yard that are mostly shade.
>> Foxglove is one perfect example. Any other ideas?
>
>Having had the fun (challenge?) of gardening in a desert, in England,
>in a swamp, in Southern California, and now in the rockbound hills of
>Texas -- shade/no frost/wet sounds a piece of cake! There are so
>many varieties of impatience and they light up any shady corner and
>mine are insatiable drinkers of water. There are hostas in brights
>and variegations. And hellebors, trillium, lily of the Valley,
>phlox, violets, bluebells, daffocils, all the little bulbs,
>bluebells, primroses, astilbe, day lilies, lilies, and all of the
>ferns. Annuals? balsam, wax begonia, caladia, fushsia, nicotiana,
>lobelia (how jealous I am of those who can have lobelia). You can
>have a riot of color intermingled with beautiful greenery, annuals
>and perennials, herbs and vegetables intermingled with the flowers.
>Oregon is a wondrous place to garden. Enjoy!
>
>Pat, in the Texas Hill Country with a quarter inch of soil on top of
>rock!
What's rock? Here in SW Louisiana we have deep loam on top of blue gumbo
clay. I suspect there may be some rock several hundred to several thousand
feet straight down as they get oil out of the ground here. Many annuals
that you can grow in the Hill Country won't grow at all here due to
excessively hot, humid weather. Probably same goes with Oregon and here.
Shirley poppies make a colorful statement just prior to the heat killing
them. Torenia (Wishbone Flower) does well and blooms all summer as do all
the violets. Pansies are in bloom right now along with daffodils, crocus,
and a couple I can't remember the name right now. Iris blooms most of the
summer along with day lillies, caladiums make a brave show, nicotiana does
well, and most of the lily species are in and out.
I suspect you will have to do as we have done, experiment with annuals to
find those that will bloom well for each spot on your property. We try them
all eventually and keep replanting those that seem to do well. I suspect we
also have many micro climates on the property as well.
George, says hi to Pat and Dave, glad you're still on the list