Garden Emergencies
I used fast growing white alyssum as a groundcover last year when most of the creeping thyme died over the winter. I liked it so much I planted it again this year!
Help!
As a designer there is one fundamental expectation when friends and clients visit; that my garden will be alive. This year that has been questionable as we've battled a plague of voles, unrelenting high temperatures, unprecedented drought and recovery from last winter which although mild arrived with a drop in temperature of twenty degrees or so overnight and threw several of my large, established evergreen trees into major stress and eventual death.
The result is that there are holes – sometimes BIG holes in the garden. Sound familiar? Do you have a garden tour scheduled to visit? Family and friends due? A summer party planned? If so you need a disguise and FAST. What can you use?
Both foliage and flowers can come to the rescue and the best nurseries and garden centers will have large, well established plants for you to drop quickly into place. Here are my favorites for sun and shade. In fact some of these work so well you may find yourself leaving room for these next year even without a plant emergency!
Sensational Salvias
Love and Wishes salvia holds the fort between barberry, Skylands spruce and peonies
Major flower power, big time hummingbird attractant and easily fills a space 3' x 3'; sound good? Then look for these amazing salvias that are part of the Sunset Western Garden Collection.
I've been growing three this year and my favorite is probably Love and Wishes with its rich magenta color. This has helped fill a gap left by a dwarf butterfly bush that didn't make it through winter. Looks stunning near a golden spruce but I can see using this in several pots next year
Amistad salvia. Photo courtesy Sunset Western Plant Collection. Photo credit; Saxon Holt
Amistad is a remarkable shade of electric blue-purple. I'd love a dress in this color! In my garden this is filling a short term gap while I decide what I want to plant in fall to work with an existing Rose Glow barberry and golden Forever Goldie arborvitae.
I wasn't sure what to do with Ember's Wish when I received it as a trial plant. The color is rather unusual for me; a neon-coral. I added it to a pot of odds and ends in shades of orange, purple and yellow and it brings hummingbirds by the droves. They positively fight over it which provides endless entertainment!
Ember's Wish is planted at the back left of this pot; I'm planning on using it in the garden next summer near a purple smoke bush
What they all have in common;
- Grow to 3' x 3'
- Drought tolerant (yes really)
- Deer resistant (Hallelujah!)
- Constantly flowering
- A bit messy when they drop old flowers
- An annual for me but hardy in zones 9-11
- Loved by hummingbirds
Clever Cleome
Senorita Blanca cleome has white flowers suffused with lilac
I drew your attention to Senorita Blanca Cleome (spider flower) a few years ago and have since also grown Senorita Rosalita in my garden, both available through Proven Winners. Like the Salvias mentioned above, each plant will quickly bush out to fill a gap, and will undoubtedly win your endorsement for future years. These dwarf varieties are sterile so no worries about unwanted offspring, which if you've ever grown their cousins you'll understand is a GOOD thing!
Senorita Rosalita looks incredible next to Love and Wishes Salvia – a perfect color echo and both look at home in everything from formal flower gardens to naturalistic planting schemes.
What they have in common;
- Grow to 3' tall and 2' wide
- Drought tolerant
- Deer resistant
- Do not self seed
- Don't have a funky smell!
- Aren't sticky like the species
- Make great cut flowers
Grasses
Mexican feather grass lines one side of a narrow path. Design by Joanne and Lucien Guthrie
When you don't need flowers but you do need 'oomph', grasses might be the answer. Even a 4" pot of Mexican feather grass can fill a decent sized spot and its easy movement in the slightest breeze makes it live large.
Do you need height, width or color? Choose your grass accordingly. They get bonus marks for flowering stalks which can triple their height.
For fuzz-factor you can't beat fountain grasses (Pennisetum)
My favorites include blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) for width, any of the fountain grasses (Pennisetum species) for fuzziness, and Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) as general quick, inexpensive filler.
What they have in common;
- Drought tolerance
- Deer resistance
Ferns
Autumn ferns display outstanding copper colors and are evergreen
A lifesaver for the shade garden, there are many big fluffy ferns that will quickly disguise the most embarrassing gaps. Forget the little deer ferns; think more of the robust autumn ferns (Dryopteris erythrosora) and Alaskan ferns (Polystichum setiferum) than can be purchased in 2g pots and larger. Let's face it you don't need three fronds, you need three FEET! Drop them where they need to go this year and transplant them to a permanent spot in fall if you have to. Right now consider them a band aid for the shade. Even the Boston fern – an indoor beauty for many of us, can be pressed into temporary summer service in this way.
Generally speaking
A group of coleus can quickly disguise gaps in the shade border
- Think short term. If it doesn't look big enough NOW it won't be much better for next weeks party.
- Think bushy. Small bottoms but big tops = lusciousness!
- Unless you're sure those flowers will keep on coming, foliage may be a better choice.
- Annuals will grow faster than perennials or shrubs; that's what they are bred for
- Water new plants WELL – even drought tolerant ones, as they will have a degree of shock when being transplanted mid-summer
- A boost of fertilizer or Moo-Poo tea is a good idea when you are expecting high performance on short notice.
If all else fails
Give your guests a glass of wine as they arrive. By the third glass they won't see any 'problems' anyway. Works like a charm…..
And remember that designers have "terrible" gardens from time to time too. Relax. they're only plants.
