I'm new to DG, so forgive my basic questions.
I have an area between the porch (new house, so nothing there yet) and sidewalk about 20" wide and 32 feet long. It begs for flowers. I want to do bulbs or perennials rather than seeds or annuals because my thumb isn't very dark green yet. We made tulip decisions for spring and will be planting those bulbs this fall. The tulips will be red and yellow varieties and we want to stay with the red and yellow (mostly red, if possible) for summer and fall.
What are some red or yellow perennials that would look great in a border and bloom in the summer or in the fall besides crocus, cannas, and gladiolas? We're in Zone 5. I am going to post this same queston in the Bulb forum because I don't know what I'm doing on this site yet. This is my first question!
Summer & Fall red/yellow borders
Welcome to DG, McGlory! First thing I thought when I read your post - "new house" - was that your must have had to rebuild due to the tornado last year. Can't imagine having to start all over again. Anyway, I think yellow chrysanthemums would be beautiful...also red and yellow daylilies. I'm sure there are many other possibilities, but my brain is on slow right now. LOL Judy
Hi! I'm from the south,but I think Solidago (goldenrod) is hardy. I have a lovely small one. If you go to Bluestone Perennials they have a search engine with zone, light,soil, and color choices. Maybe that can help. GingerGaia
Thanks, Judy! Yes, "new house in Hallam" can only mean one thing, can't it? :-) My old house was pretty well landscaped when I moved in so I just watered what was there. Got to be a jungle. Now that we're starting over, I don't even know the names of the flowers and bushes we had before!
Thank you for your input, GingerGaia. That's really smart, and I should have thought of it. Goldenrod is the state flower here. I'll look into the type you suggested and maybe some others.
I bet you would like gaillardia "goblin". It has been blooming for weeks at my house. I started my plants from seed three years ago. They bloomed the second year and are going crazy (but not invasivly so) this year.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/23866/
Had another idea...red & yellow iris, for earlier blooms. On the Rainbow Iris Farms website you can browse iris by colors. I'm just getting started with DL's & iris, otherwise would love to be able to share some with you.
Here are two (little different) ideas for late summer bloom from bulbs/corms:
crocosmia--comes in reds and yellows
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/83169/
knifophia (torch lily) --traditional red and yellow spike
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/528166/
Welcome to DG! You'll find lots of good information and gardening friends here. Hope you like it. t.
Thanks, Tabasco. I love those torch lilies. Was worried about whether or not they'd work in my zone, but then found this thread: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/528907/
I think that's what I'm going to try!
You might also like Gerber daisies. They come in bright red and brilliant yellow and come back every year with no fuss. Mine start blooming in July and continue until frost. They only get about 12" tall. Dianthus also comes in a beautiful dark blood red color, but I don't know the name. I might be able to salvage some seeds for you, if you'd like. I'll try to get you a picture tomorrow.
What kind of sun exposure does this area get? Asiatic lilies came to my mind for some nice reds and yellows. I don't think Gerbera would be hardy in your zone, but would be nice grown as an annual. The shorter varieties of red monarda(beebalm) would be nice summer color and hummingbird magnet. Thread leaved coreopsis (like 'Moonbeam') would be pretty spilling onto the sidewalk. Gold leaved plants are pretty with red flowers to, and not as loud as some of the yellow flowers. There are some great hostas, heucheras, lysimachias, and sedums with gold leaves that I love with dark red daylilies, lilies, ect. Some miniature roses could be really nice to. Have fun! Neal.
gardengram and gemini -- Thank you for your ideas! I currently have Gerbera daisies in a crock on the porch, but I messed up and they're a little more orange than I like. They come in the colors I'm looking for though. I think geminisage is right and that they would have to be an annual here, but that still might be a viable option if I can't find just the right perennial or bulb to suit my fancy. Planting an annual would also give me more time to figure out exactly what I want to do.
The area is along the east side of the house between the sidewalk and the porch - about 32 feet! The morning sun is good, but afternoon is shady right there. I've been looking at and debating about coreopsis. I went to PlantFiles and looked at miniature roses. People tend to add photos of just the flower itself rather than the entire plant. I may have to see one live and in person.
Thank you both for your thoughts!
I didn't think about miniature roses. I had bad luck with full size roses, but have wonderful success with the miniatures and they come in the right colors for your plan. They don't require a fortune to buy or maintain and don't seem to have all the same health problems. The bushes are full and the foliage is a very pretty green. Picture a gorgeous full size rose bush only it's about 1 to 2 feet tall and full of perfect little roses and then you've got the right mental picture. Build little cones of mulch around them in the winter, trim them up in the spring. The bush in this picture has not stopped blooming since April and is larger than when I took this. It's planted in a clay drainage pipe section that I salvaged for use with small plants, if you can imagine that, but it's roots have now gone all the way into the ground below.
This message was edited Aug 4, 2005 12:28 AM
1gardengram, your mini rose in the drainage pipe is so cute, almost gives it the look of a little tree rose and duplicates the shape of the birdbath.
McGlory, morning sun is great exposure for a lot of plants, so that gives you a lot of good options. Sounds like the area gets a lot of visablility and traffic around it, so some fragrant flowers could be nice there. If you can use some height, some of the Oriental-trumpet hybrid lilies would be a nice, fragrant addition. There are several with red blooms edged in yellow like 'Touching', 'Shocking', 'Alchemy', and 'Caravan'. For spring color a good border plant would be primula; the red with yellow eyes would be perfect and look so nice with spring bulbs.
I would like to try a few of these mini roses, too. Do you spray them on a regular basis? Or are they more resistant?
I haven't had to spray mine at all. They seem to be much tougher than the full size roses.