Hey, we’ve a just about made it through Spring. The last Daffodils are falling fast asleep and the Lantanas are bursting out of the ground in a furious motion of color. When the weather starts to get hot (and boy does it in these parts), we have the tendency to retreat to cooler climates and locations – like the mountains or air conditioned building.
That doesn’t have to be the case – use COOL colors to trick your mind into thinking you’re someplace cool (as in temperature, not as in hip). Junes Plant Showcase features plants of the cool sort – both growth wise and color wise.
- The June Showcase Of Plants features a variety of “Cool” plants, ranging from the cool contorted Weeping Atlas Cedar to the cool colors of the ‘Mini Penny’ Hydrangeas. Cool doesn’t just have to be a way of thinking, it can also be a type of color scheme as well. Take notice that the colors are all very calming and serene. The blues of the Nepeta (tiny flowers in front) bring out the subtle colors of the iron pots around them.
- The Blue Atlas Cedar is a cool plant in many ways. Not only does it stand out from the rest of the ornamental conifers by being a funky shape, but it also has a cool blue color to its foliage. The Blue Atlas Cedar comes in other shapes as well, such as grafted on a standard AND a low growing ground cover shrub.
- What’s cooler than a nice dip in some water? Hydrangea (from the Latin Hydra meaning water) Loves to be in cool spaces and will incorporate a cool blue color to your landscape. These Hydrangeas will be suited in your wet shady location and will entertain you with cool flowers all summer long. After the flowers decide to be done, they also make excellent dried flowers for fall arrangements. How cool is that???
- (Alright, this one is just cool because I have one, and I think it’s a pretty cool plant). Rose of Sharon – latin name Althea – is a tremendous shrub to incorporate into a perennial garden bed. These large growing shrubs have incredible Hibiscus like flowers that will pop out once the weather gets hot. The coolest thing about them, however,is unlike the tropical Hibiscus, you only have to plant these once and be able to enjoy them for years and years to come. Cool!
- The sweet scent of a Gardenia blossom on a warm summer night is pretty cool. The fragrance of the Gardenia is reminiscent of sweet times of falling in love, strolling hand and hand in the twilight and the intensity of puppy dog love for the first time. Let the fragrance of the Gardenia take you back to those times by planting them in your yard. How cool are memories? Gardenias will conjure up some, promise.
- Walkers Low Nepeta is cool, nuff said. The common name, Catmint, is neither a cat NOR a mint. This perennial is a tough as nails late spring bloomer with bright bluish purple flowers that appear against a steely blue foliage. Besides the cool color of the flowers, if you trim it back after the flowers subside, you’ll get a second (sometimes third) showing of flowers later in the spring. That’s pretty cool!
