Salvia is a excellent plant to put in a garden. They are drought tolerant (which is important in Tennessee) and look great. They also come in many colors including red, pink, white, orange, blue, and purple. Depending on where you live and the variety you choose it may be a perennial or an annual. According to the website Floridata, there are more than 700 different kinds of salvias or sages. In our yard we have several perennial Salvias (Salvia nemerosa) including the 'East Friesland' Hybrid Sage, 'Caradonna' Meadow Sage and 'MayNight' Salvia. All three of these plants are bluish to purple in color. They flower in early summer then repeat later in the fall with another flush of flower stalks.
The Salvia I am looking forward to planting this year is Salvia splendens 'Flare.' This salvia has bright red flowers and is very heat tolerant. It is commonly grown as an annual from seed but according to various seed merchants can be grown as a perennial in milder climates. It is native to Brazil. According to BackyardGardener.com its hardiness zone is from 5-9 which puts Tennessee right in the middle. They also list it as tolerant to deer (somewhat of a concern in my yard), drought (a big concern in Tennessee), heat and humidity (we're in the south of course that's a concern!), slopes (not a big deal), and the seashore (I won't have to worry about that! And if I do we all have bigger problems to worry about!)
How and where I will use it:
Salvia splendens 'Flare' will be used as a hot color plant in and around my rain garden. I'll raise it from seed to save money. I plan on mixing it with various warm-colored rudbeckias, asclepias tuberosa, and ornamental grasses. Hot colors are mostly colors like yellow, orange and red. They lie next to each other on the color wheel.
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Showing posts with label Plants I am Planting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plants I am Planting. Show all posts
Plants I am Planning on Planting: Nepeta (Catmint)
If you don't like kitty cats then perhaps you should not read further! If you can at least mildly tolerate those wayfaring strays, then this plant that I plan on planting this year might be good for you too! It has some profound benefits that don't necessarily involve fraternizing with your feline friends. The plant in question is catmint. Its botanical name is Nepeta nervosa and is a member of the mint family along with catnip (Nepeta cataria). Catmint tends to not evoke as intense of a reaction in cats as catnip does.
Maureen Gilmore of the DIY network wrote a very interesting article that explained the benefits of the species. To sum it up it repels some dastardly devilish bugs, namely termites, mosquitoes, and cockroaches. Now who in their right mind would not like to repel those bugs? Maybe the birds and bats who like to munch on them but most people would love to repel these insects. According to Gilmore, the insects are repelled by a chemical called nepetalactone which apparently has been found to be many times more effective against the aforementioned bugs than DEET. The nepetalactone is also the same substance that attracts your friendly neighborhood felines. You know what cats around your garden means: fewer mice and rodents! Of course cats like to lay down and roll in it to release more of the oils into the air which can flatten your plants. Some sacrifices for the good of the garden must be made!
There are several varieties of catmint on the market now. The one most companies seem to be pushing is 'Walker's Low' which does not seem to be available from seed. I think the one we will start with will be the Nepeta nervosa 'Blue Carpet' since it is available as a seed. According to the description at Park Seed
it grows easily and prolifically. They say that it will "spread readily in any soil" which probably means it could take over a garden bed quickly. That doesn't bother me as I can envision a bed of mostly catmint surrounding our raised bed vegetable garden (not built yet). It should attract bees and other pollinators to the garden area and provide a moat around the garden from cockroaches, termites, and those blood-thirsty mosquitoes. Perhaps around the edge of the catmint bed we could put alyssum or another white flowering low growing annual to define the border. One other point of interest is that nepeta is a perennial that should come back year after year, so once it's established I won't need to reseed the area. Park's also says that it blooms in the first year which makes this perennial very attractive!
Anyone have any experiences or ideas with your catmint you would like to share?
Maureen Gilmore of the DIY network wrote a very interesting article that explained the benefits of the species. To sum it up it repels some dastardly devilish bugs, namely termites, mosquitoes, and cockroaches. Now who in their right mind would not like to repel those bugs? Maybe the birds and bats who like to munch on them but most people would love to repel these insects. According to Gilmore, the insects are repelled by a chemical called nepetalactone which apparently has been found to be many times more effective against the aforementioned bugs than DEET. The nepetalactone is also the same substance that attracts your friendly neighborhood felines. You know what cats around your garden means: fewer mice and rodents! Of course cats like to lay down and roll in it to release more of the oils into the air which can flatten your plants. Some sacrifices for the good of the garden must be made!
There are several varieties of catmint on the market now. The one most companies seem to be pushing is 'Walker's Low' which does not seem to be available from seed. I think the one we will start with will be the Nepeta nervosa 'Blue Carpet' since it is available as a seed. According to the description at Park Seed
it grows easily and prolifically. They say that it will "spread readily in any soil" which probably means it could take over a garden bed quickly. That doesn't bother me as I can envision a bed of mostly catmint surrounding our raised bed vegetable garden (not built yet). It should attract bees and other pollinators to the garden area and provide a moat around the garden from cockroaches, termites, and those blood-thirsty mosquitoes. Perhaps around the edge of the catmint bed we could put alyssum or another white flowering low growing annual to define the border. One other point of interest is that nepeta is a perennial that should come back year after year, so once it's established I won't need to reseed the area. Park's also says that it blooms in the first year which makes this perennial very attractive!Anyone have any experiences or ideas with your catmint you would like to share?
Staring into the Blue Mist
I've been perusing many catalogs over the past several days trying to figure out what seeds to get. I finally wrote down the vegetables the other day but while looking at the plethora of pictures in the catalogs I found a perennial shrub that intrigues me. I've seen it before but the catalogs' pictures make the Blue Mist Shrub come alive. Its blue blooms would make an awesome addition to our yard. I could easily see it in sweeping masses along our backyard slope. Its blooms flush out in the mid to late summer. Caryopteris has several varieties like 'Longwood Blue' or 'Dark Knight' (Caryopteris x clandonesis). I wonder what Batman would think to have a flowering shrub named after him?
It would make a great border plant for one of our existing planting beds or lining a pathway to one of my future garden zones. Edit: See an update on the Caryopteris row!
Photo from Wayside Gardens
It would make a great border plant for one of our existing planting beds or lining a pathway to one of my future garden zones. Edit: See an update on the Caryopteris row!
Photo from Wayside Gardens