My Annual Obsession

We're just easing into day two of the highly successful Saltscapes Expo, and I'd just like to thank all of you who've offered good luck wishes to me for this hectic event. I love this show, just as I love working with the people who own and work at the magazine, so it's all good. A couple of intense days leading up to, but once we're into it, things just run so smoothly. It's a terrific showcase for all that is awesome about Atlantic Canada, and it's fun to be a part of it. My talks went great yesterday, mostly because I have such nice audiences, and we have conversations rather than me being El Plant Knowitall (which I sure nuff AIN'T) and inevitably I learn a few new things too. It's all good.

I didn't take my camera for a walk yesterday, something I'll correct today, so I thought I'd give you a break from my conifer/evergreen obsession and move on to my next obsession--annuals.

Annuals are something I primarily use in containers, as observed before. We do have some annuals tucked into the garden beds, like annual poppies, nigella, sunflowers, Verbena bonariensis (which doesn't come back for me, unlike my talented friend Robin's Nesting Place who gets it to reseed!) Every year there are certain annuals that I especially have to have, but also every year I'm compelled to try some new colours and colour combinations in my plantings. So I thought I'd show you a few of the annuals that followed me home the other day from Gerry's Nursery in Centreville. We'll start with Ageratum Artist's Blue Violet, which became a plant I like only a couple of years ago based on this colour, which to me is leaning towards wine. There IS one even darker, but I can't remember the name without my journal of plant names.


While I dislike petunias--for my garden, I like them just fine in other gardens--I love calibrachoas, which are tidier, less smelly, attract hummingbirds, and bloom like gangbusters without me fussing about deadheading. This one is called Apricot Punch.


Lobelias do fine for me because I do deadhead and shear them fairly regularly, plus the cooler air temperatures (thanks to the fog) helps them. There is a Techno heat series that is very heat resistant which I quite like, but this is from the Laguna series, and it's Laguna Blue.


This is its sister, Laguna Blue Eye.


Lantanas are a staple of my containers because despite the smell of them, which I don't care for, butterflies and hummingbirds love them. This is Lantana Fruit Punch.


Nemesias have been underused in past year, but they do seem to be gaining in popularity, thanks to some work by plant breeders. This beauty stopped me in my tracks, and I bought four of them: it's called Opal Innocence, and while it's a bit pastel for my usual tendancies, it's just so lovely I needed it. It's also fragrant, quite nice I think.


Proven Winners has a nice series called Sunsatia Fruit, and I had great success with them last year. This star is Sunsatia Raspberry, though I also brought home Cranberry.


I don't know how you fair with torenias where you live, but I like them for their unique flowers and intriguing colour combinations. This is the well named 'Lovely Yellow' ; the soft yellow colour works as great contrast to its purple-blue throat, and while I don't know yet what will go with it, chances are there will be plenty of good options that I haven't seen yet. (after all, I've only hit one nursery with Annual Urgent Plant Seeking Madness).

This one is called Catalina Rose, and again isn't my usual colour choice, but I'm going to work it in with Sunsatia Raspberry, Opal Innocence, and a rosey Diascia that also got into the car trunk.

That's it for this morning. Oh, and a tip of the ol' gardening hat to my enabling plant chums. We'll see what happens when I get a day off next week to go working on UPSM at some other nurseries!