You know when you drive through a neighborhood and see that house that just stands out from the rest? It's bursting with color and looks like a professional landscaper lives there? It makes you think WHY DOESN'T MY LANDSCAPE LOOK LIKE THAT? Well, most of the time the people in those houses use annual flowers in their landscape beds. The term annual means that they only live for one growing season. Although short lived, annual flowers come in all sorts of colors, textures, and sizes which allow you to put together a really showy landscape! We've done several articles on annuals because we feel they make such a difference to the look of a garden bed. And because you change them out in spring and fall, you can change the look of your yard frequently. This year, we're using more Vinca in our beds.
Here's why we like it: The new and improved varieties of Vinca that we are using tend to be drought tolerant which makes them a good choice for the south. They come in a variety of colors. They look great planted en masse in groupings. Unlike the older varieties which were susceptible to fungus and required deadheading of spent blooms, these new varieties are low maintenance. But even though they don't require much maintenance a well prepared bed and fertilization throughout the growing season will produce the best blooms.
For more information on bed preparation, see this blog from last year:
http://aatexlawn.blogspot.com/2011/05/planting-annual-flower-beds.html
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| Mixed Vinca (one of our favorites) |
Wishing you many blooms!
The AA Tex Lawn Team
