Gardening 101: Annual and perennial combinations for your spring and summer garden
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Try to dominate your flowerbed with perennial flowering plants, native or adapted to North Texas. I am a firm believer in perennials. You don't have to replant every year (so you only buy them once). As they mature, you can divide them and increase your landscape footprint for free (or gift them to friends).
Annuals can be pricey and a little needy (food and water). My goal is to have 80%-90% of my landscaping in perennials and pick some key spots (like near the front door) to rotate in and out annuals depending on the season.
For the perennial suggestions there is a good chance you already have some Salvia in your yard. There are some many varieties to choose from and it grows so easy here in North Texas. The idea is to have a little room just in front of your Salvia for a shorter, colorful annual. Petunias are great early season annuals. They also come in a wide assortment of colors to mix/match with your Salvia.
Jennifer Halaski from Calloway's introduced me to Garvinea, a variety of the Gerber Daisy. These would be considered cold-sensitive, you might have to protect them on our REALLY cold days across the winter (when we get below 20°). They are worth the extra work, producing a long stem bright flower across the growing season. They also come in a wide range of colors to choose from. A good annual to compliment them is the bronze leaf begonia. Bronze Begonias are meant for full sun (the green leaf ones are for shade). The come in pinks, reds and white.
If you have shade areas that need some color, a good perennial is Hokira. You grow these for the foliage which comes in a wide variety of both leaf shape and color. The go-to shade flowering annual is the impatien. The come in wide variety of colors including yellow now. You'll likely be able to find that ideal color combo to catch the eye.
Jeff Ray is the senior First Alert Meteorologist at CBS News Texas and avid gardener. When not covering weather, he is finding stories about gardening in North Texas. If you would like Jeff to come talk to your group about how changing weather patterns are changing the way we garden in this area, please email him at jaray@viacomcbs.com.