Hallson Gardens

It's July, heatwave is here. Plants are dying in the big box store, a flat of annuals is on sale for 50 cents.

My white Petunia was so leggy, and it got scorched by the sun. So, this is my loser plant. I won't plant it again next year.

What worked for me were 2 big pots in my frontyard, filled with Salvia, Chrysanthemum and Variegata Pineapple mint.
The mint was a bonus, its a fresh supply of mint for my salad, and evening tea. I will definitely do this arrangement again next year.

i won't bother showing the scorched petunia, but here is the picture of the front pots.



And some marigolds survive the heat too.

I always have great success with impatiens, variety "Super Elfin." The variety you choose is critical.

I always have fun with Angelonia, vinca, sweet potato vine - all colors - and this year I tried Bonanza marigolds and they are pretty sturdy compared to most.

I also really like bacopa and calibrachoa. The love the heat!

Brian has purple leaf sweet potato vines in his window boxes with pink and white petunias and they are doing really well. We've never had much trouble with petunias and find that they tolerate the hot and dry better than other things here. We also pair them up with sedum.

This is the second summer with the sweet potato vines. He pots them up and puts them in the garage over the winter where it is cold but doesn't freeze completely (the windows frost up so it is close to freezing though).

The pansies are long gone and thrown away as they are a cool weather grower, but they were pretty in early spring. Unfortunately the extreme heat of the summer set them back faster than usual, so they were a dud this year...

If I do pots I only use tropicals. Cannas and coleus are my favorite.

In the garden I use marigolds, cosmos, zinnias all even reseed and I do not have to plant seeds every year.

Aud wrote:If I do pots I only use tropicals. Cannas and coleus are my favorite.

In the garden I use marigolds, cosmos, zinnias all even reseed and I do not have to plant seeds every year.

Ah Aud, thanks for the plants list that reseed. Yes, even small flats of annuals can get expensive too, plus my hosta hobby.
I will definitely look for cosmos seed, and zinnias. I think my current marigold will re-seed, so will just buy seeds, sow in January, then its cheaper that way.

Chris: I planted sweet potato in the Philippines, as a root crop way back when I was a little girl in a big farm. We boil the rootcrop harvest, and ate it for breakfast. And make some sweet poridge, and other sorts of dishes.

This year, I saw sweet potato vine in a big containers, by the World Exchange Plaza........I was amazed how beautiful the vines were... when use as ornamental plant. Way back in our farm, we never seem to appreciate it, until its harvest time.

Angelina