Low maintenance annuals for lasting flower colour – part 1

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Celosia plumose

Celosia plumose in a flowerbed

Celosias

If you are looking for lasting splashes of colour in your garden and a supply of fresh cut flowers to your table, annual flowering plants are your best friends. Of these, celosias, amaranths, gomphrenas and sunflowers are some of the hardiest on the market, that after the initial investment of care when planted, provide great returns throughout the season:

Very few flowers are as showy as celosia. Whether you plant the plumed type, which produces striking upright spires, or the crested type, which has a fascinating twisted form, you’ll enjoy the unusual red, pink, purple, gold or bi-colored flowers all summer and fall long as they typically bloom for up to 12 weeks in all the colors of a glowing sunset. When many celosia flower blooms are next to each other, they collectively resemble fire, thus their name Celosia, which means burning in Greek.

This is definitely a sun loving annual that grows between 1-8 feet tall and spread 6-18 inches wide. It requires watering until well established and can tolerate drought conditions later on.

You will love using celosia in bouquets, but you can also dry them easily. To dry these flowers, hang them upside down in a cool, dark, and dry place, for about two months. Celosia also makes a very showy, unusual display in borders and as edging. While the brilliant reds are by far the most popular color, Celosia, or Cockscomb, also come in yellow, orange, crimson, rose, and purple flowers.

Celosia is grown from very fine seeds. Celosia is usually grown as an annual; although this plant drops its seeds and given favourable conditions, it can seed on its own and take over an area larger than intended.

Amaranths

Amaranths produce tassels of dark red flowers

Amaranths

Amaranths are showy and exotic accent plants, ideal for beds and borders. They are also great in bouquets and in dried flower arrangements. At maturity, amaranth flowers cascade to the ground from tall, erect branching stems in breathtaking tassels of the darkest red or green.

The plant is large and bushy, growing about 3 to 4 feet high. Although amaranth is primarily cultivated as an annual ornamental plant, many of its species are grown as edible leaf vegetables or cereals.

Considered a native plant of Peru, this hardy plant is now grown around the world, including Ontario. Amaranth prefers partly shady to full sunlight conditions and a high elevation, but it can grow at almost any elevation in temperate climates. The soil type is not overly important, though it should have a PH between 6 and 7. For the most vibrant flowers it is best that the soil is not too rich, as this soil type encourages growth. Amarath can also survive in low-water conditions once the plants have been established.

Gomprena Fireworks

Gomprena Fireworks

Gomprena

If you’re looking for a tough plant that will keep on blooming despite the heat of the summer, gomphrena is a perfect choice for that. This native to Panama and Guatemala plant, also known as globe flower or globe amaranth, produces dozens of showy, globe-shaped lavender, purple, pink, red, magenta, blue, orange and white flowers that blooms from early summer to frost. The additional colours are brought to your garden by a variety of butterflies this sun-loving plant is sure to attract.

Gomphrena can reach about 25cm to 45cm in height. The flowers look a lot like clover about 1 inch in diameter, and they seem to last forever and have a straw-like texture. As such, they are highly valued for dried flower or cut flower arrangements.

Once established, gomphrena is actually maintenance-free. But the plant needs to establish itself first, so it’s best to give your gomphrena plant some extra pampering initially. Even though gomphrena can tolerate hot and dry weather, you still need to provide sufficient water to saturate the root zone. You have to be careful when watering gomphrena during the roots establishment – the plant does not like wet soil, so even in this initial stage do not water the plant again until the soil dries after the previous watering. Also, be sure to plant gomphrena in full sun. The plant will tolerate partial shade, but in full sun will produces better flowers.

sunflowers
Van Gogh in the garden

Sunflowers

American natives, sunflowers, have been grown in the Americas for centuries. They have been cultivated both, for decorative beauty and as a valuable food source when harvested for seed.

These annual plants have big, daisy-like flower faces of bright yellow (occasionally red) petals, and brown centers that ripen into heavy heads filled with seeds. Tall and sturdy, the plants have creeping or tuberous roots and large, bristly leaves. Some sunflowers grow to over 16 feet in height, however, most of the newly developed varieties on the market today are small plants suitable for small spaces and containers that are used mainly as cut flowers.

Sunflowers are remarkably tough and easy to grow as long as the soil is not wet. Most are heat- and drought-tolerant. They make excellent cut flowers and are sure to attract to bees and birds.

Landscaping Mississauga Gardens – Sumac

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Staghorn sumac will bring an interesting display of colours in the late summer and fall

Staghorn sumac will bring an interesting display of colours in the late summer and fall

Large shrubs for dry soil – sumac

Depending upon whom you ask, sumac (sometimes spelled, “sumach”) is considered either a small tree or a tall shrub. Regardless in what category the plant is put, it certainly outperforms the largest trees with its fall colourful foliage. Dense stands of sumac trees covering a slope next to some Ontario highways in a sea of red, are some of the best fall foliage spectacles we witness each year. Despite their beauty sumacs recently became less popular. This is due to the confusion resulting from the fact that apart from the delightful and harmless sumacs, there also exists in the wild a poisonous version of the species that can cause a severe skin irritation when touched. Poison sumac, however, is in a distinct minority amongst the sumacs. The remaining sumac trees and shrubs produce no poison, but provide spectacular autumn color.

Additionally, it is easy to distinguish poison sumacs from their non-poison sumac relatives in the fall, when the berries have ripened to maturity. The poisonous plants have white berries in the fall, and the berries hang down. Non-poison sumacs bear red berries and their berries grow upright. In addition, poison sumac plants grow almost exclusively in swamps, whereas non-poison sumac plants prefer precisely the opposite habitat — soils that are well-drained and many are drought- tolerant. To avoid any confusion it is best to buy sumacs from nurseries.

One of the most popular sumacs in the GTA area is staghorn sumac, a tough plant that can be grown in dry areas of the garden. It is a relatively tall, tree-like variety that can reach up to 25 feet in height. Staghorn derives its name from the hairy texture of its branches, reminiscent of the velvety feel of deer antlers. The smooth sumac tree (Rhus glabra) is another common variety; it attains a height of about 10 feet. Both provide striking fall foliage.

As mentioned at the outset, the fall foliage they provide is unsurpassed. Nor is their autumn color display limited to their leaves, for the tuft atop the plant that holds sumac’s berries is red and fluffy, increasing the plant’s visual appeal. An added bonus is the fact that this seed-tuft remains on the sumac trees all winter, attracting colorful wild birds, whose presence greatly enhances the color and variety of winter scenery. Increasingly, homeowners begin to understand the importance of achieving four seasons of visual interest on the landscape and sumac is perfect for that as adequate winter scenery is perhaps the most difficult to achieve, since vegetation is more robust in the other three seasons.

Sumac in winter

Sumac in winter

Sumac seeds are an important source of bird food, precisely because they do stay on the plant long enough to be part of your winter scenery. This makes them an excellent emergency food for birds throughout the winter and beyond. I have witnessed bluebirds, black-capped chickadees and robins feeding on sumac seeds throughout the whole winter and into early spring today.

Landscaping Mississauga Gardens – Best trees for dry conditions: Honey locust, Turkish hazel & Russian olive

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honey locust
honey-locust is a drought resistant shade tree

Honey locust

A great choice if you want a hassle-free, attractive, fast-growing (18”+ annually) ornamental tree that won’t shade out your lawn and landscaping as it has small leaflets that produce a filtered shade.

This native to central North America, deciduous tree requires very little maintenance once planted and established. In fact, it performs best if not fertilized or watered, since optimal growth conditions in the summer and rapid growth may increases susceptibility to winter dieback of some of the new branches.

Honey locust can reach a height of 20–30 m (66–100 ft). Its leaves are bright green in spring and turn yellow in the fall. The leaves are small and in the fall they simply disappear into the lawn and decompose, without any need for raking. The strongly scented cream-colored flowers appear in clusters by late spring. The name of this tree derives from the sweet taste of its fruit, flat legume pulp that matures in early autumn. The pulp is used for food by Native American people, and it can also be fermented to make beer. The long pods, which eventually dry and ripen to brown or maroon, make a striking visual statement against the winter snow.

This ornamental tree is your best choice in dry areas, where few other trees can survive and prosper and it also tolerates urban conditions, compacted soil, road salt, alkaline soil, heat and drought. The fast growth rate and tolerance of poor site conditions make it valued in areas where shade is wanted quickly.

 

Fast growing drought-tolerant shady tree

Fast growing drought-tolerant shady tree

Turkish hazel

 

 

Another excellent small tree choice for drier sites.  It is drought-tolerant, but it also does well in wet conditions. This a tree for all challenging landscaping condition. It grows up to 40’ tall and has a broad, distinctive and refined pyramidal shape with interesting corky bark, and dark green foliage throughout the season. The crinkled round leaves turn yellow in October.  The foliage is dense and the tree provides a nice shade in summer right from the beginning.

 

 

Russian olive can be grown as a small tree or a shrub

Russian olive can be grown as a small tree or a shrub

Russian olive

Russian olive, commonly called silver berry, oleaster or Persian olive is a native to the western and central Asia, an area stretching from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey and Iran, which is becoming very popular in Ontario as introduced species.

Russian olive can be grown either as a large thorny shrub if you trim it regularly or it can grow to the size of a small tree up to 5 metres in height. This drought-resistant ornamental plant is a very attractive addition to any garden with its dense covering of silvery to rusty leaves and highly scented flowers that appear in early spring and are followed by clusters of small cherry-like orange-red fruit covered in silvery scales. The fruits are edible, and in Iran, the dried power of Russian olive fruits mixed with milk is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and joint pains.

Russian olive needs to be planted with caution. Because it thrives in very poor soil conditions, has low seeding mortality and matures in a few years it often outcompetes the other plants and can become invasive.

Please see our previous entries for landscaping in dry soil conditions and the best evergreens to plant in these conditions.

Landscaping Mississauga gardens – best evergreens for dry soil

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The best performing shrubs in dry soil in Peel, Halton, and GTA in general, are junipers and yuccas.

junipers perform well in dry soil

junipers perform well in dry soil

 

Junipers – grow naturally in many dry environments, such as rock outcrops and even sand dunes. There is also a large variety of species to choose from ranging from upright junipers ideal for privacy fences to creeping varieties. They come in different colours from golden green to blue.  The hardiest varieties to look for this season include the following: ground hugging Calgary Carpet or Blue Coast, and upright medium height Limeglow or New Blue Tamarix, and Blue Chip that can be used for the flower garden background or property dividing green fence when trimmed regularly.

 

 

 

yuccas, such as Andrew's needle tolerate dry soil and look striking in the dry garden

yuccas, such as Andrew’s needle tolerate dry soil and look striking in the dry garden

Yuccas do not require watering once they are established.  They grow a long taproot and are able to find all the water they need on their own.  In search of water, they  also spread, and if they find hospitable conditions, they may even become invasive, so regular weeding and root dividing may be necessary. Yuccas look like desert plants with spiky, pointed leaves. In July, they also display tall 150 cm – 175 cm (5’ – 6’) flowers pictured here.  The beauty of yuccas, such as Andrew’s Needle above, lies also in the fact that they are very easy to share with your neighbours – all you need to to is to chop put a part of your shrub’s roots and give it to your neighbour to plant in their garden…..

Landscaping Mississauga gardens -moisture

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draught tolerantThe moisture content of the soil on your property greatly affects the design of your low-maintenance garden.  Before planting examine whether your proposed garden site, as it naturally exists, is wet or dry.  Once you have determined that, you can either amend the soil or choose plants that flourish in the sort of soil you have in the garden.

The most recent trend in landscape design is  xeriscaping -choosing plants that will survive on only the natural water that is available to them. These plants should be grouped together in a dry sunny area of your garden.

However, even if your gardening area is usually dry and you decide to grow drought tolerant plants, you still may want to ensure continued good drainage in the proposed garden site before you start planting. Good drainage will prevent unusually heavy downpours or extended spells of wet weather from creating lingering puddles that could drown your plants. You can improve drainage by building raised beds on top of existing soil, by installing underground drainage pipes or tiles, or by regrading the area to create a slope that will allow water to drain away.

If your proposed garden area is generally moist, you still need to be prepared to keep it watered in dry weather. You need a water source nearby, so that during a drought you can sprinkle the spot daily in the afternoons or keep moist with the soaker hose.

Check our next blog entries for ideas what plants will do well in specific soil conditions in Mississauga and generally GTA area.  Here is our next blog entry on shrubs that perform well  in dry soil.