Gardening Potpourri July

Unless we are living on Mars or in a cave, we should all know that America is celebrating its 250 year founding on July 4th this year. I am certain Montgomery and other River Region communities will go all out with parades, flags flying high, marching high school bands, military bands, red, white and blue bunting stuck everywhere, and people dressed up like Uncle Sam who may even be on stilts. We should all be so proud to be Americans. So display your flag to show patriotic pride. I saw a recipe the other day for a patriotic trifle which is a layered dessert usually presented in a tall glass container. The layers consisted of vanilla pudding, whipped cream, vanilla wafers with blueberry, strawberry or raspberry layers. Or there is the old standby, an American Flag sheet cake.

In honor of this milestone year, I have created a large red, white, and blue garden in terra cotta pots of various sizes. I used red geraniums, white vinca, and blue ageratum planted about one month ago. With 4 hours of sunlight a day, these flowers have thrived. I make sure that I fertilize the geraniums once per week as they are heavy feeders, and dead head any spent blooms. My patriotic pot garden is a great success. One reason is that I planned in advance for the red, white and blue theme and went out to secure plants about a month ago. The exact plants were not as important as the color scheme. The white color could have come from petunias, or white begonias, the blue color from blue salvia, the red color from red dragon wing begonia or red salvia. But today is not too late to have a patriotic color scheme since we will be celebrating for the rest of the year. If you have a shady area, caladiums have both red and white, varieties, with plumbago or blue phlox for the blue. If you really are in the patriotic mood, what about a rectangular flower bed configured in the shape of a flag. All of the flowers would have to be about the same height. Let your imagination run wild.

PLANT OF THE MONTH-OBEDIENT PLANT(Physostegia)

These plants are also called dragon mint,or false dragonhead. They are easy to grow and stand 3-4 feet tall. Their bloom time is mid to late summer but their nature is far from "obedient". They multiply through underground roots and are rampant spreaders, which means either more weeding them out or planting them in pots to contain their multiplication. They thrive in full sun to partial shade, and can tolerate an abundance of moisture. I place them in the same category as marigolds which love wet feet. They come in shades of pink, rose and white and are hardy in Zones 2-9. Just do not let them get out of control as pulling them out is a major problem.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY AND GOOD GARDENING.