Last year I lined my sidewalk with petunia's. They are a lot of work!! Deadheading so they don't get leggy everyday, they grow very fast....BUT they got so full and it was a sea of continual color!! They were Beautiful. This year I thought about lining the sidewalk with pansies. Will they fill out like the petunias? What kind of care do they need. As you guys know I am VERY new to gardening and have lots of questions. Will they take the shade? It does get sun but I would put the area in the partly shady category.
Pansies
Pansies are wonderful - but they will get leggy - and they will wilt in the heat of summer - and you have to deadhead them. On the other hand, impatiens will suit an area that is partial shady - especially afternoon shade. These will give you lots of colour, they will fill in nicely, and you don't have to deadhead them. PLUS, you can buy many kinds relatively cheaply in May.
Next year, you might want to do a sequence - get pansies very early in the spring - and plant them out (I put mine out the first week of April; pansies can tolerate some frost). Then, as the soil warms in mid-May, plant impatiens between the pansies. As the summer heats up, the pansies will wilt, but the impatiens will fill in and cover them. This way, you can have flowers from early spring until the first frost.
This message was edited Apr 14, 2008 2:00 PM
Debby, there are newer petunias that don't need deadheading. The wave series does not. There are others as well. Another option for a part shade area is coleus and the more sun-tolerant caladium. Impatiens will work very nicely, as Michaela said. New Guinea impatiens will take more sun.
I don't know that, Sherrie. I rarely buy seeds.