Carpet of Summer Color
Using densely packed plants of simuilar height this bed looks like a brilliantly colored carpet. First using flour lay out a design that you like, then choosing the flowers that appeal to you personally start planting in pattern or design that you find personally pleasing.
French Marigold " Jane Bright Yellow" are bright yellow, nearly round flowers that grow to around 10 to 12 inches in height. These plants grow best in full sun, with moist, well drained soil, although they will tolerate drier conditions. Plant outdoors as soon as all danger of frost is past. Seeds can be started indoors 4 to 6 weeks before planting outdoors. Seeds will germinate in 5 to 7 days at 65 to 75 degrees F. These plants require no dead heading.
Begonia "Coco" has waxy, maroony, rounded with bright red flowers and likes full sun and fertile, well drained soil.All zones.
Blue Oat Grass is a evergreen tufted, perennial grass with stiff, silvery blue leaves up to 12 inches ( 30cm ) or more long. Produces erect panicles of straw-colored flower spikes in summer. Has a height of 3 feet ( 1m ) and spread of 2 feet (60cm ). Needs full sun and well drained soil.
Verbena " Madame Du Berry" this annual has clusters of small crimson flowers from summer until fall with oval, dark green leaves, that grow around 8 inches high and has a spread of about 12 inches. Prefers well drained, sandy soil with good fertility. Will not grow well in shade or with wet feet. They also need air movement to prevent mildew.
Plant after all danger of frost is passed. Propagate by seed or cuttings. Sow seeds indoors 12 to 14 weeks before planting outdoors. Chill the seeds 7 days in refrigerator before sowing. Cover seeds, they need darkness to germinate. Wet seed flats 24 hours before sowing. Germination takes 3 to 4 weeks at 75 to 80 degrees F.
Dusty Miller a moderately fast growing, evergreen, bushy, sub-shrub, often grown as a annual. This plant has long, oval,very deeply lobed, hairy, silver/grey leaves. Rounded, yellow flower heads appear in summer, but are best removed.
Barberry " Crimson Pygmy" this shrub is grown for its rounded cup shaped, yellow flowers and for their fruits. This plants burgundy leaves turn brilliant orange red in fall. Fully to frost hardy, needs sun or semi-shade and any, but water logged soil. Propagate by seed in autumn.
African Marigold " Crackerjack" is a fast growing, erect, bushy annual with aromatic, deeply cut, glossy, deep green leaves. Has large double flower heads in yellow and orange shades, in summer and early autumn. Has a height of 24 inches ( 60 cm ) and a spread of 12 to 18 inches ( 30 to 45cm ) Needs full sun and well drained soil.
Ageratum " Blue Danube" is a moderately, fast growing, hummock forming annual with pointed, oval leaves. This plant has clusters of feathery, brushlike, lavender blue flower heads in summer until autumn.
Makes a useful edging plant. Has a height and spread of 6 inches, ( 15cm ). Needs full sun, moist, well drained soil.
Additional flowers for this garden: Celosia " Kimono Mix " this annual reaching a height of 8 inches with oval leaves. Comes in gold, pink, or red fleather duster type plumes. Needs full sun, average soil. Blooms last from June until Oct. Seeds maybe sown in garden after last danger of frost is passed. First blooms may last as long as 8 weeks after opening, but removing them will encourage development of side branches and new blooms. Plants should not dry out.
Polka Dot Plant also known as Freckle Face is a ground covering plant that likes shade or semi-shade in summer. It is a sub-shrub that will grow from 1 to 2 feet in height. Each leaf has markings in either white or pink. Propagate by seed or cuttings. The variety " Pink Splash" has much larger pink markings and is grown from seed.
Sedum " Tricolor " also known as Stonecrop this evergreen plant has red flowers with cream, pink and green leaves, is great for rock gardens and borders. Fully to frost tender. Needs sun and fertile, well drained soil. Rose Perwinkle " Apricot Delight" is a rose and pink annual with oval leaves that usually grows to 8 inches in height. This plant often needs full sun and warm, rich, well drained soil. Propagate by seed.
Iceplant "Lunette" daisy like red and yellow blooms atop fleshy leaves, this annual likes full sun and will tolerate almost any type of soil. Usually reaches about 6 inches in height.
Strawflower " Bikini" is a moderately, fast growing, upright, branching annual with a height and spread of 12 inches ( 30cm ). Half hardy, has lance shaped, green leaves and from summer to early autumn, papery, daisy like flower heads in many colors including red, pink, orange, yellow and white. Needs sun and well drained soil.
Zinnia " Star Orange" this orange, daisy like annual often reseeds it's self. Likes full sun, average soil. All zones.
Coreopsis "Goldfink" a short lived, dwarf, bushy, perennial that has a height and spread of 12 inches ( 30cm ). Fully hardy, zones 4 - 9. Sprays of daisy like, deep yellow flowerheads appear in summer above narrowly, oval, deep green leaves. Full sun and average soil.
Lithodora " Grace Ward" is a evergreen, compact, semi-prostate shrub. Frost hardy, zones 6 - 8. Trailing stems, bear lance shaped, hairy, dull green leaves. In early summer, bears masses of funnel- shaped deep blue flowers in terminal clusters. Needs acid soil. Plants should be trimmed back after flowering. Has a height and spread of 6 to 12 inches ( 30 cm ).
Nierembergia is a summer flowering perennial, sometimes grown as annuals and deciduous or semi-evergreen sub-shrubs. Frost to half hardy. Prefers sun and moist, well drained soil. Propagate by division in spring, semi-ripe cuttings in summer or seed in autumn.
Campanula "Blue Chips" also known as bellflowers this plant come as either biennials or annuals. Popular in various shades of blue and also alivable in white these flowers bloom from late spring into early summer. Basal leaves are usually broader that the stems leaves and form rosettes or mats. Need a good, moist, well drained soil with plenty of organic matter mixed in. In the north, plants will tolerate full sun as long as the soil is not dry, but elsewhere a spot of semi-shade is prefered. Propagate by seed or division.
Sweet Alyssum is a fast growing, spreading annual that has lance shaped, grey/green leaves. Rounded heads of tiny, scented, 4 petaled, white flowers are produced in summer and early autumn. This plant has a height of 3 to 6 inches ( 8 to 15cm ) and spread of 8 to 12 inches ( 20 to 30 cm ). Fully hardy, grow in fertile, well drained soil.
Globe Amaranth "Gnome White" a moderately, fast growing, upright, bushy annual with oval, hairy leaves. Has oval, clover like flower heads in white in summer and early autumn. Needs full sun and well drained soil. Has a height of 12 inches, ( 30cm ) and a spread of 8 inches ( 12cm ).
Lamium "White
Nancy" is a semi-evergreen, mat forming perennial with white varigated, green
foliage and spikes of hooded, white flowers in late spring and early summer.
Needs partial shade and moist soil. Height 6 inches ( 15cm ) and a spread of
3 feet ( 1m ).