At Long Last

Our Display Gardens—still in color last week

Here we are at the end of October and our most frequently asked question is: “What stays in bloom the longest?” 

For the answer we turned to our educational Display Gardens. These experimental beds allow us to monitor plants in a variety of different growing situations, including those plants that stay in color all the way to frost’s bitter end. These are some photos we took of the gardens just last week—they’ve turned up the following cultivars that are still blooming as hard as they did at the peak of summer: 

Gomphrena stands tall in fall

GOMPHRENA

You’ll be seeing these gumballs pop up in future newsletters—we have a soft spot for them so we grew out eight different varieties this year. They’re holding up nicely—we’ve noticed they age a bit like strawflowers.

Begonias: ‘Cocktail Gin’ and ‘Olympia Rose’

BEGONIA

These wax begonias are still going strong—our favorite way to use them is massed in the landscape. Here we’ve planted some bronze leaf, ‘Cocktail Gin’, along with some green leaf, ‘Olympia Rose’, both in the pink and rose family. 

Colorful foliage of variegated ginger

VARIEGATED GINGER

Here’s some dramatic foliage that’s still in good color. This is an ornamental ginger, as opposed to the culinary type we use in stir-fries. It’s a native of the rainforests of Southeast Asia, so we have it in indirect sunlight to mimic its natural rainforest environment. That’s sanvitalia down front—‘Tayla Great Yellow’.

Lantana still in bloom

LANTANA

Lantana is tough. It blooms reliably in the high heat of summer, right up until the killing frosts arrive. This is a favorite of ours because of the multi-colored nature of the plant. Since it produces new blooms continually throughout the season we’re sure to find color variations on any given flower. 

Pansies still going strong—are you surprised?

PANSIES

Pansies stand up to harsh weather conditions and even come back in the spring—but you knew that. This is a great mix—‘Delta Pure Colors’.

Bidens ‘Sundrop’ shining in the autumn sun

BIDENS

We introduced ‘Sundrop’ bidens last year and it’s been a solid performer, as you can see by these bright yellow blooms.

Impatiens—patiently waiting for winter

BOUNCE IMPATIENS AND SUNPATIENS

These varieties are both still in fine form; they’re sharing a bed that gets morning shade and afternoon sun so we’ll see how long they can go. We’re fans of each of them for different reasons but we’ll come back to that discussion in a future issue of Field Notes.