Right Plant, Right Place: Tips for Growing Great Mid-Summer Flowers

Posted on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 · Leave a Comment 

It is mid-summer now, and my garden is full of gorgeous flowers, some finishing up their display, others just beginning. Here are some I love, and what I do to make them happy.

 

This double poppy comes back every year in my vegetable garden

The first flowers I see when I walk out my front door are poppies. Annual poppies ( Papaver somniferum). I didn’t plant most of them, or not this year. Each year I let them bloom and drop seeds after they’re done. They reward me with dozens of blossoms the following year. Sometimes I pick the pods and save to sprinkle seeds on the snow, an easy way to plant them in the dead of winter.

 

My poppies are in full sun and soil that is not particularly rich. I like these poppies because they ask nothing of me and each year the palette is a little different as they hybridize, offering some new colors and sizes. I have a nice deep red double annual poppy that blooms every year in one row of my vegetable garden. This year it is with the tomatoes.

 

Pink mallow is an enthusiastic plant showing up everywhere

Another favorite of mine is pink mallow (Malva alcea). This is a big, often floppy perennial with lots of pink blossoms that resemble those of a hollyhock. In my garden it pops up anywhere and everywhere. I have to treat it a bit like a weed to keep it in control. It does best in full sun and rich soil that stays lightly moist.

 

Pink mallow has a tap root and does not transplant easily, unless you do so when small. I often stake mine to keep them upright – it can grow to be 2- to 5-feet tall. Not often seen in garden centers, get a seedling from a fellow gardener, and let it go to seed so you’ll get more plants.

 

Another flower that moves around the garden, appearing by

Feverfew volunteers to grow everywhere

whim, is feverfew ( Tanacetum parthenium). Feverfew has white daisy-like flowers with a yellow center, each blossom just three-quarters of an inch across, but appearing in vast numbers. It is a short-lived perennial that sows seeds freely, so if you don’t want more plants, cut off the flowers before the seeds are dropped.

 

Feverfew will grow in average soil, but prefers moist, rich soil. It’s blooming for me now, and will continue for the rest of the summer, or nearly. The flowers do well in a vase.

 

My beebalm ( Monarda didyma ) is just coming into full bloom now, and is deliciously fragrant. It is in the mint family, with a square stem that is relatively fragile. But they make great cut flowers, in part, because of their fragrance. Bees love them (hence the name), but hummingbirds do, too. Mine grow to 5 feet tall.

 

Bee balm does best in part sun and rich, moist soil

Many books claim beebalm is a full sun plant, but I disagree. It does best in morning sun or partial shade in rich, moist soil. It goes by quickly in hot, dry areas. The best blossom colors are red and purple, though cultivars in white and bluish are sold. Recently short varieties have appeared in the marketplace, but I have not found that they are very hardy. Beebalm spreads by root, but pulls easily if it gets too rambunctious.  

 

Daylilies ( Hemerocallis spp.) are in bloom now, too. The common orange daylily is the friend of anyone who thinks they can’t grow flowers. You cannot kill a common orange daylily. I have dug them out, placed them on the lawn without any soil preparation, and they have thrived where placed.

 

Each blossom of a daylily blooms for just one day, but each scape, or flower stalk, has several buds that bloom in succession. The buds will open in a vase, too, so don’t be afraid to use them in flower arrangements. Unlike true lilies, these beauties are not eaten by lily-leaf beetles. They come in many colors from deep red to light yellow. I have tiny daylilies, and one variety that blooms on scapes as tall as me.

 

Astrantia does well in part sun

Great masterwort is an awkward name, so I prefer the scientific epithet, Astrantia major. This is a medium-height flower in the carrot family, along with Queen Anne’s lace, a wildflower or weed I love, too. The flowers range from white to purple-white, and bloom in great profusion. It is good cut flower, too. Each blossom is just an inch across, and resembles scabiosa.

 

Astrantia does well in part shade, but will grow in full sun if adequate moisture is present. The foliage is attractive even when the plant is not in bloom, and it is very well behaved – it stays as a nice clump and does not take over the garden.

 

I love knautia ( Knautia macedonia) both for the smallish (3/4-inch) purple-red, domed blossoms, and for its willingness to keep on blooming from now until fall. Most perennials have much shorter bloom periods, but knautia is a real trooper.

 

It has thin stems and delicate leaves, so is hard to display in a vase, but it is worth mixing with daisies or something else that will hold the blossoms up in a vase. I grow it in full sun with average soil, and it does well – and will occasionally provide volunteers from seed.

 

Each garden has its own winners and losers. Good gardeners try a lot of plants to find those that do best for them. So go buy some or trade with a friend.  

 

Henry is a long time UNH Extension Service Master Gardener and the author of 4 gardening books. He is available for consultations near his home in Cornish Flat, NH.

Filed under Article · Tagged with astrantia, bee balm, feverfew, knautia macedonia, perennial poppies

Eight Flowers Great Flowers

          “I have a brown thumb” is a claim I hear on a regular basis, but one which I always dispute. There are no brown thumbs, only bad soil or plants living (and dying) where they should not be. Of course, any plant can die of thirst when first planted, and poor soils can keep them from thriving. But some plants are tougher than others, so this week I shall suggest eight plants that you can use in your garden with a very high probability that they will do well for you. Even very well. Even if you have a brown thumb. Just put them in good soil in the right amount of sun.

Daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.) are fool proof. I once left a clump of daylilies on the lawn in a relatively shady place. I had dug them up and fully intended to put them in the compost pile, but didn’t get around it right away. Before I knew it, they had rooted in – and were blooming!

Daylilies prefer full sun and good soil, but they’re not fussy. The old orange ones spread by root, as do the double orange ones. Most others just develop into bigger clumps every year. Daylilies produce flower stalks called scapes, and each scape will produce 3 to 9 buds; these buds bloom sequentially, each for just about a day – hence the name. Most daylilies come in shades of yellow, but dark reds and some pinky ones exist, too. A few re-bloom off and on all summer.

Evening primroses or sundrops (Oenothera missouriensis) are blooming for me right now, but they are not really primroses at all. The flowers are bright yellow cups on 18 to 30-inch stems that flower – and spread – cheerfully. They spread by root and by seed, and might be thought to be thugs, except they pull easily and are pleasant.  They will bloom in full sun to part shade, and are not fussy about their soil.

Peonies (Paeonia spp.) These beauties are mostly done for the season, though a few late bloomers might still be blooming. They love full sun and rich soil, but will still bloom in part shade and even in dry, sandy soils. Their roots are big, fleshy tubers that go deep down into the soil, so I recommend digging a much bigger and deeper hole for a peony than for other plants. Enrich the soil with composted cow manure, rotted leaf mulch or other organic products, especially some organic fertilizer.

Bee Balm

Peonies grow from buds or “eyes” that develop each year beneath the soil surface. If you plant a peony too deeply and cover up the eyes with more than an inch of soil, the plant will not bloom after the first year. Other than that? Success is guaranteed. I have a peony that my grandmother Lenat planted – and she died around 1953. My mother grew it, now I have it. I shall leave it to one of my grandchildren. Peonies are forever.

Pink Mallow (Malva alcea). Some fancy gardeners turn their noses up at pink mallow, but I love it. It grows 3-5 feet tall and produces a bounty of pink blossoms that vaguely resemble single roses- but up to 3 inches in diameter. It has a deep tap root so it does not move easily, but seed-grown “volunteers” show up around my garden. Full sun to part shade. It is a short-lived perennial, but has plenty of “babies” so you will always have some.

Rudbekia ‘Prairie Sun’

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbekia spp.) There are dozens of species of this joyful summer flower. I grow a variety called ‘Prairie Sun’ in my hot, dry front walkway, and it blooms all summer – but, truth-be-told, often die in winter. No matter, I’ll buy it again and again. One of my favorites is a fall-season bloomer with delicate flowers, Rudbekia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’.

Hostas (Hosta spp.). These are primarily shade plants grown for their lovely leaves. If there is too much sun on them, the leaves will scorch and turn yellow.  A few kinds will bloom with tall flower spikes, but others have blossoms that are not of much interest. Hostas do best with rich soil, but will grow in almost any soil. I have hostas from under 2 inches tall to more than 30 inches tall, and a variety of greens, some with blue or yellow tinges.

Astillbe

Astillbes (Astillbe spp.). These are primarily sold as shade plants, but I grow them in both full sun and partial shade. The key is this: the more sun there is, the more moisture is needed. They bloom in great plumes of tiny florets in pink, white and dark red. They appreciate rich, organic soil, so improve the soil before planting.

Bee Balm (Monarda didyma). Bee Balm displays nice clumps of red or pinkish tubular flowers that are arranged in whorls atop 3-4 foot stems. In the mint family, they are fragrant and clumps spread by root – sometimes too vigorously. But extra plants are easily pulled. Grow them in morning sun in ordinary garden soil. All day sun in dry, sandy locations will not lead to happy plants.

You don’t have to be born a gardener. Just follow the directions on the plant tags – or my articles – and be sure to add compost to the soil before planting in a nice, big hole. You’ll soon have a green thumb.

Henry Homeyer can be reached at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or henry.homeyer@comcast.net. His Web site is www.Gardening-guy.com.

Copyright © 2014 Henry Homeyer

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