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August 2011 Newsletter
Well,
spring is gone and now we have the dog days of
summer. If you are like me, I like to plant four
seasons of color in my garden. My spring
flowers, diascia, nemesia, geraniums and
petunias are looking rough. The plants need so
much water it is becoming a chore to turn up our
sprinkler system or water it ourselves. If
you’re like me here’s an idea, plant quarterly.
What do I mean?? I mean plant according to the
seasons. If you say “I love the color of these
flowers and I want this color in my whole
landscape,” if you like those flowers plant them
but in small amounts all across 25% of the yard.
Then you’ll be leaving room for next season’s
plants to come in. If you add different plants
for the seasons it will not be hard to keep
flowers in the four season’s winter, spring,
summer, and fall.
If
you have a small yard you will be better off
planting annuals throughout the spring and fall.
Your summer season flowers you may consider are
types of perennials, mainly those that are
drought tolerant. The red hot poker, Lily of the
Nile (see photo right), and some species of bulb
plants prefer the hot and dry conditions. If
watered to much they can get a fungus and die.
Also, there are good old stand-byes such
lantana, flowering sages, coreopsis and yarrow.
Not only do they produce beautiful flowers, they
also attract butterflies and humming birds.
You have a small yard you
will be better off planting annuals in the
spring and fall. This will give you color year
round. As most perennials bloom 2-3 weeks a
year. This also complements a small water garden
or fountain and a patio sitting area with an
arbor for some shade. This is a pleasant
landscape to have fun and sip on your
grandmother’s Sweet Tea.
In
the yards we have been maintaining we have seen
on Crape Myrtles an Aphid (see photo left)
outbreak. They are usually on the underside of
the leaves and cause a black sooty mold on the
leaves themselves. This sooty mold can be seen
from a far. This black mold has a sugar
base and usually sugar ants protect the Aphids
from their predators Ladybird and their larva
and Hoverfly Larva.
Therefore, we all know the
temperature is not changing any time soon and if
the drought continues, here are some good
flowering plant ideas to add for the summer. If
you do not want to do it yourself, let Pleasant
Landscapes help you. We do not mind working in
heat.
James Parker
