Planning for season long color can be a challenging task. The majority of perennial flowers have a period of bloom lasting only 10 days to two weeks but our growing season may be 30 or more weeks long. To have color all season long requires a study of not only how long the bloom period lasts but also when does it occur.
A simple tool used by flower bed designers is to number the weeks of the year from 1 to 52. Week one being the first week of January. The first week of April is week 14. The first week of July is week 27 and on through the year. The plant chart on our Prairie Bloom list of perennials has a column providing the week of the year each of the plants begin to bloom here in Kansas. The dates are an average over time, so depending on any particular year's weather the actual date will vary. Remember that here on the prairie the average only represents the middle of the extremes and it is the extremes that actually occur.
Use the week of first bloom data to select your plants to have something in bloom throughout the growing season. Annuals are simpler as they bloom for the entire season or maybe we plan for a cool season and a warm season planting. Thirty weeks of color may require us to plant fifteen to twenty different perennials. But perennials offer a much greater depth and breadth of color, form and texture, a richness of palette choices, that annuals cannot match and they don't have to be replanted each year. Just be sure to consider bloom date when choosing which perennials to plant. If you have a big annual 4th of July barbecue for friends and family you may want to consider plants that will be in bloom week 27 to help decorate your yard for the party.
An ideal flower garden should have color spots of annuals for season long color and the uniqueness of perennials for all the visual interest and changing of the season they provide.  What a wonderous display of color this bed of peonies provides lining the entrance to the farm. |  Two weeks later the flowers have matured and are gone. the peony bed becomes non descript and blends into the neutral green landscape. |
When to plant annual flowers is based on soil temperature and not the calendar. Some cultivars tolerate cool soil, while others require warm soil. This spring we have experienced such wide temperature fluctuations that it can be difficult to know what to do.
An easy way to tell soil temperature is simply to stick a thermometer about 4" in the ground. You can take a measurement in the early morning and late afternoon to get a high and low for the day, then average them. K-State also has a good weather data library that shows soil temperatures at weather stations throughout the state.
When the soil temp is around 65 degrees, Petunias, Begonias, Lobularia (Alyssum) and Snapdragons can go in the ground. More sensitive crops like Vinca (Catharanthus), Celosia, Lantana, Melampodium, Zinnias, and Pentas need soil temperatures of 68-70 degrees. These are the flowers that thrive in the heat of the summer and need those high temperatures. Most everything else falls in between.This is the year to have patience. Wait until soil temperatures are up for a couple of days before rushing out to plant. Our most heat tolerant plants tolerate the heat because they love and thrive in warm soils. Cool damp soils will comprise their root systems and then when the real heat of the summer does finally arrive, they will have few roots to support the plants growth.Happy planting!  Lantana 'Landmark Sunrise Rose Improved'. Lantanas need high soil temperatures to thrive.
My grandmother liked her flower beds planted in straight rows; short, medium and tall. Her flower bed designs consisted of straight lines and right angles. Today a more natural design style better reflects our environmentally friendly mindset. Curves, swishes and swirls, grouping and clusters of plants of varying heights and leaf textures can be observed in the landscape bed pictured below. Notice the placement of the tall, medium and short plant elements in the bed. The large mass of tall ornamental grass (green/white variegation) is placed to the back left of the bed. The finer textured, medium height, red colored grass is moved forward to mid-bed (front to back) and planted to the right side of the design. The groupings of ornamental grass form the skeleton or foundation of the bed. The void or open space within the bed has its own components flowing from the taller red coleus through the orange and yellow zinnias. Notice how the bed flows from back to front and left to right both in plant height and in color spectrum (red - orange - yellow). Also notice how the void extends across the entire width and completely from the front to back creating a window to view the landscape behind the bed. The small multi-trunk tree adds character and places a roof over the area providing a better sense of a "room" or alcove in the space.
A formal approach, using straight lines or geometric shapes also has a place in landscape bed design. The picture below illustrates a classic diamond shaped "hedge" interplanted with a plant of a different color and texture providing a strong contrast and increasing the emphasis on the pattern of the design. The picture is of a sample design. It could very easily be replicated multiple times down a much longer bed with the diamonds touching point to point. The 'Boxwood' cultivar of basil forms the line and a plume flowered, red foliage celosia provides the color and textured contrast. In the picture below, the great deep, dark colored grass foliage contrasts with light and bright flowers. If you look closely you will see that the throat and veins in the petals of the 'Supertunia Vista Silverberry' petunias match, and repeat nicely, the dark maroon color of the foliage of the 'Vertigo' cultivar of Pennisetum grass.
Also notice the asymmetrical design with the Vertigo grass planted to the back left of the bed and the Vista Silverberry petunia flowing out to the front and extending around it to the right. This is a very simple design: two types of plants. A large mass to anchor the bed with an extensive void surround.
Landscape design tip
Flowers need sun - more sun more flowers, less sun less flowers. It really is that simple. A location with full sun all day will provide the most colorful flower display. There are few plants that bloom with significant flower displays in the shade. For years we have relied on colorful foliage of hostas (perennial) and coleus (annual) to provide color in shady areas. I have never met anyone who has purchased a hosta or coleus for the beauty of their flowers.
There is a major problem with growing flowers in all day full sun here on the prairie. The environment in full sun is very harsh. The problem is not the temperature of the sun. It does not change. The sun is no hotter in the afternoon than it is in the morning, but the environment in full sun is harsher in the afternoon than in the morning. The air temperature is hotter. The relative humidity is lower (dryer) and the drying wind blows stronger. It is hotter, drier and windier. The challenge in growing beautiful flowers here on the prairie is then to locate and plant the flower beds in a way that will make the environment less harsh. The best way to accomplish this is with a windbreak. If we slow or stop the wind we can reduce its drying effects, slow the rate of evaporation from the surface of the leaves, and raise the relative humidity in the microclimate around the plants. The environment around our flowers will be much less harsh.
We do not need to plant giant walls of evergreens to provide a windbreak. Our annuals will be dead when winter comes so deciduous plants will work just fine. Remember our dominant winds in the summer are from the south, southwest. To protect our flowers we need to plant windbreaks on the south to southwest side of our color spots. The plants used for these "windbreaks" can be anything a little taller than the flowering plants we will plant in front of them. Medium size shrubs, ornamental grasses (annual or perennial), and several taller growing annuals that are heat and drought tolerant work well as windbreaks.
The perennial grass Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' provides a good windbreak for the annual flowers Blue Salvia and Vinca.
This example from South Park in Lawrence, KS shows annual Hibiscus planted on the southwest side of the petunia 'Supertunia Vista Silverberry.'
Landscape design tip
Where should flower beds - spots of color - be placed in a landscape? Colorful flowers should be used to draw the eye to a specific location and to provide a color contrast to nature's neutral green grass, shrubs and trees. A well designed landscape should lead a visitor's eye to the point of initial contact. In town this is usually the front door, while out on the farm, it may be a door to the side or rear of the home. A pot of flowers or a group of annual flowers near the front entrance will attract attention and help guide your visitors to where you would like them to go.
Color spots are often used to give clues or guidance to visitors.
Bright begonias flank the sidewalk that leads to the home, drawing your eye to the front door.
Out on the farm, pots of colorful flowers guide visitors to the walk that leads to the side door.
Spots of color (groupings of flowers) should also be widely spaced apart to create depth and breath to a landscaped area. In the public space of a front yard we would plant color toward the property lines shared with the neighbor's yard (width) and also place them forward toward the street and back closer to the house (depth).
The same principles also apply to the backyard (private space). Color spots can be used to draw the eye to great views from the patio or from inside the house looking out into the yard. Color spots can also be placed to provide the appearance of greater depth and breadth to the backyard landscape.
Flowers planted along the property line between two houses.
Color spots by the front door and the street create depth in the landscape.
Color spots draw the eye toward beautiful views and provide the appearance of greater breadth.
For the final installment of the newest Prairie Star editions, we showcase the entries in the "Plants for Containers" section!
As a reminder, all Prairie Star flowers in the "Flowers" and "Foliage" sections can also be grown in containers, but the ones listed in the "Container" section have not grown as well when planted in the flower bed and we encourage you to use them in pots only.
The PDF version of the entire Prairie Star list can be downloaded free from the K-State Bookstore here or checkout www.prairiestarflowers.com for all the information plus more pictures.
Now that the snow has (mostly) melted, spring is close on the horizon. It is time to start thinking about fertilizing the perennials in our gardens. Perennials should be lightly fertilized at emergence, when they first poke their noses up, in the spring.
Why now? Let us use peonies as an example. From flowering in May, to dormancy after a hard freeze in October, they do not grow. Not a new stem or leaf is added to the plant and the existing leaves do not grow any larger. They do not grow after blooming but they do carry on photosynthesis all season long. The food made in photosynthesis during the summer is translocated down and stored in the roots so we will have a larger, more glorious plant next year. Many perennials have similar growth patterns. All growth happens between emergence and flowering. This is why it is important to have nutrition in the root zone at emergence to fuel the vegetative growth portion of the plants life cycle.
Most perennial flowers are not heavy feeders. They should be fertilized each year but only lightly. Nitrogen is the key element for growth and should be applied each year. A little nitrogen is important but a little more nitrogen can lead to very soft, and succulent tissue that is more susceptible to insects and diseases. Phosphorus is important for healthy plants but it can build up in the soil and can easily be carried off site attached to soil particles and contribute to pollution issues. Apply phosphorus only when a soil test indicates it is deficient. A 3-1-1 (12-4-4), 2-1-1 (16-8-8) or 3-1-2 (18-6-12) fertilizer ratio is ideal. If you prefer organic fertilizers then blood meal, fish emulsion, soybean or alfalfa pellets are all good choices. Note that bone meal because of it's phosphorus content should be used only when a soil test indicates a deficiency of phosphorus. Chemical fertilizers are readily available to the plant shortly after application. Organic fertilizers must first be transformed - they must breakdown before the nutrients within are available to the plant. They need to be applied a month or two earlier to be available at the proper time to fuel a perennial flower's spring growth.
While we are on the subject of perennials, here is just a little reminder that we also have the Prairie Bloom program of recommended perennial plants from the trials at Kansas State University. In recent years we have added many new Perennial Hibiscus, Iris, Daylilies, Hostas, Shrub Roses, Ornamental Grasses and more to the list. Though they don't offer the continuous color of annual flowers, perennials are not to be overlooked when planning a garden. On the plant profiles from the Prairie Bloom list you can find the approximate first week of bloom for the perennials, enabling you to plan for some spots of color throughout the entire season.
Perennial Hibiscus 'Fantasia'
Starting to plan your flower garden? Here are the newest additions to the Prairie Star list in the "Foliage Display" section. These plants can add some strong color and texture to your landscape, and best of all they hold up in our hot summer weather.
The PDF version of the entire Prairie Star list can be downloaded free from the K-State Bookstore here or checkout www.prairiestarflowers.com for all the information plus more pictures.
Are you getting anxious for spring? The 2013 version of the Prairie Star list is now available, with many new additions. View the slideshow to see the newest plants in the "Flower Display" category. Stay tuned for slideshows of Foliage and Container plants.
The PDF version of the entire Prairie Star list can be downloaded free from the K-State Bookstore here or checkout www.prairiestarflowers.com for all the information plus more pictures.
Green: Nature's Neutral
Think about landscapes in the summer months, and what color do you see everywhere? Green!
Green grass, green shrubs, green trees. Nature's neutral color is green! Even the best maintained landscape that is only green grass, green shrubs and green trees is dull, boring and lacks pizazz. Folks will drive by or walk down the sidewalk in front of it and hardly notice it.
Flowers are the brightly colored throw pillows of your landscape
If the living room of our personal home had an exclusively neutral palette (white, off white, cream, beige) and we asked an interior decorator for advice, the first thing they would suggest is two brightly colored throw pillows be placed on the beige upholstered couch. Color contrast is an important element for an interesting landscape, especially in the front of our homes. Annual flowers are the brightly colored throw pillows that provide the color contrast for a landscape with pop. Large flower beds can be spectacular and are certainly nice to see, but a pot of geraniums on either side of the front door or six petunias here and six more over there, a couple of bright color spots, can be very effective as well. Do you have pictures of color spots in your own front yard? Please share!
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