Outdoor
The Garden Guy: Award-Winning Plants Will Keep You Beautiful Until Frost
By Norman Winter | Horticulturist, Author, Speaker
The arrival of July is when gardeners in the south double down, making sure they have selected plants that barring an unprecedented weather event will bloom until frost. That totals out to a 150-days plus. If they bloomed all of May too then we can round that up to 180 days, probably more, and which means a half of a year.
That is a tall order for a summer but The Garden Guy has three plants to recommend that not only will bloom into December, but will bring in hummingbirds and butterflies until you see the frost on the pumpkin, so to speak. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that these have been perennial in my zone 8a landscape for four years.
Luscious Lantanas
There are 12 selections in the series and despite being listed as hardy to zone 9a, mine have been coming back in my garden which is just northwest of Columbus, Ga. I expected catastrophe after December’s Arctic blast but this was simply not the case.
Picking a favorite is hard but I love Marmalade. The orange is so vibrant and plays so well with blue companions. I love Citrus Blend, Royale Red Zone, Citron and Golden Gate. Luscious Royale Cosmo, however, is incredible. It is a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colors and you would swear it had an innate ability to choose its colors to work with companions. I’ve had several species of butterflies visit it and it for sure is a hummingbird favorite.
To read more, pick up a copy of the July issue of NTFR Magazine. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
By Jelly Cocanougher
An array of majestic and alluring oddities are encapsulated on Route 66. The highway of mystery and amusement is a beacon for those who are curious enough. Filled with the stories of artists who have paved the way forward, the gratitude and plethora of visitors who use this area as a beacon for sentimentalism and wonder. This scenic highway holds the inspiration to iconic art, the road to Hollywood, and a glimpse into the past. Stay curious.
By Tony Dean, [email protected]
The Old World bluestems (OWBs) are a large family native to Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. Although there is strong evidence that Columbus may have inadvertently brought OWBs to the Americas, they were first officially introduced to the United States in the early 1900s. They have been widely planted in the Central and Southern Great Plains for forage production and erosion control.
The Old World family is made up of at least two species, the Yellow bluestems and Caucasian bluestem. The most common Yellow bluestem cultivars include King Ranch, Plains, Ganada, WW-Spar, and WW-Ironmaster. Caucasian has a single cultivar, WW-B Dahl bluestem. All of these cultivars are very similar and identification can usually only be made after a seedhead has developed.
Undoubtedly other species and varieties exist that have not yet been identified and categorized. For purposes of this writing, we will usually refer to them together as OWBs.
To read more, pick up a copy of the August issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Norman Winter | Horticulturist, Author, Speaker
After seeing the flowers at the Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour in Auburn, Ala., I felt a sense of desperation to get my hands on the Luscious Basket Tangeglow lantana.
I don’t always think about lantana being a component plant in mixed-container designs but they had several that were simply dazzling. Luscious Basket Tangeglow is a fairly new lantana and its name gives reference to its compact nature of 12 to 26 inches in height and a spread of 12 to 24 inches. You might wonder about the differences in height and width and that is attributed to the length of the growing season.
Luscious Basket Tangeglow has done great in university trials winning Perfect Score at the University of Minnesota, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and University of Tennessee. Then it took home Directors Select at Penn State and a bunch of Top Performer awards.
To read more, pick up a copy of the August issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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