Gardening & Landscaping
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Low growing annual ideas needed
I'm looking for some low growing spring/summer annuals to plant in front of my daylilies. Last spring/summer, I planted some petunias and annual verbena. I wasn't thrilled with the verbena because it ended up with powdery mildew, and the summer heatwave nearly did it in. It was just not attractive after awhile.
The petunias did ok, but I'm coming to realize that I'm just not a big petunia fan. They tend to get leggy in the summer heat.
Do you guys have any other ideas for the area? It gets full sun and my zone is 7b. Bonus points if it's something I can just grow from seed easily. I probably won't be doing much planting this spring with the new baby on the way.
"There's a very simple test to see if something is racist. Just go to a heavily populated black area, and do the thing that you think isn't racist, and see if you live through it." ~ Reeve on the Clearly Racist Re-Nig Bumper Sticker and its Creator.
Re: Low growing annual ideas needed
How bout Portulaca?
I'm surprised that Verbena got powdery mildew in your garden. It isn't exactly susceptible. I would expect Daylilies to get every fungus known before the Verbena got one. Always try to keep the foliage dry when watering.
NB - I think some of that might be my fault as far as watering is concerned. We had a drought here this summer. We ended up with 100+ days of 90+ degree weather and very little rainfall. So, I watered the garden more than I normally would. I use the lawn spinklers to take care of both the grass and the flower beds. Normally, I don't have much of an issue. The Verbena was the only thing that got powdery mildew.
Last year, my zinnias got it. But because it was so dang hot and dry this summer, the zinnas pretty much took over the garden. The daylilies had no problem at all. The petunias just get to leggy in the heat for my taste.
I was thinking about maybe planting Alyssum (Lobularia maritima), but I'm reading that it has a fragrance. I hope it's not too strong since I have such horrid allergies.
I think the Portulaca could work. I've seen it in the nursery and have been drawn to it.
Zinnias are so susceptible to mold, I don't even buy them. Yuk.
Daylilies very commonly get fungus, but it causes such mimimal cosmetic damage many people don't even know they have it. It doesn't affect the flowers, just the foliage, which gets discolored and streaky looking; but the pretty flowers keep us from noticing. I get it every year but never treat it.
Oh, and Alyssum is such a teeny, low growing flower it probably wouldn't bother you. Unless you were crawling along the ground on your belly.
It's very pretty and pollinators love it. Give it a try.
NB - My DD loves the Zinnias. She loves for me to cut them and then she has flowers all over the house. She was SOOO hurt when I cut them down this fall. But yeah, the first time I planted them, I thought - I'm NOT doing this again. I decided to grow them from seed instead of buying them. So, I guess for the $1.50 I spent on the seeds, I can deal with them.
Alyssum may be the way to go then. The daylilies are near my raised veggie beds, so anything that will encourage bees, I'm all for it. I still have one bumblebee that frequents my garden, so hopefully the alyssum will bring me more visitors.
MMP - I do love annual vinca! I plant it every year in my front bed. It does re-seed freely (which I like).I'm not going to put them in the back with the daylilies though because they have a tendancy to get tall with the heat here. I have to cut them down every few weeks in the summer.
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