Don't Let Gardening Drive You Bananas
The secret to hassle-free gardening? "Get out your checkbook, and hire a gardener," jokes Paul James, host of the HGTV series Gardening by the Yard. If that's not an option, or you just want to get your hands muddy, there are a host of new plants--and reimagined uses of old plants--to consider. And even though summer has begun, it's not too late to dig in.
Tropical plants, such as African violets and bananas, are entering the annual garden. Most tropical banana plants don't survive the winter, so they're for foliage, not fruit. Growing up to 16 feet tall, they add an exotic touch with coarse, floppy leaves and colors ranging from bright green to bronze, with purple markings. If you have your heart set on fruit, cold-hardy varieties like the Texas Star, says Patrick Malcolm Sr. of the Nursery at TyTy in Georgia, will survive temps down to -10 and eventually mature to produce "delicious bananas."
The latest editions of annuals are "really, really cool," says David Yost, plant specialist at Merrifield Garden Center in Fairfax, Va. The Kong Coleus is all about leaf color, shape, and size. Its leaves reach up to 6 inches across; reds and pinks may be speckled on one leaf; red, pink, and purple on another leaf of the same plant. Impatiens, the shade-thriving reliable, has a fresh variety, too. SunPatiens is, as its name suggests, sun and high-heat tolerant. Colors are orange, white, purple, and red. The SunPatiens can only be found at Home Depots in the southern half of the United States. Home Depot and independent garden stores are also selling the new Razzle Dazzle Crape Myrtle, the first dwarf version of the smooth-barked tree with drooping flowers. Reaching 2
In perennials, garden gurus are buzzing about the Heucherella, a hybrid of the maple-leaf-like Heucheria (also known as coral bells) and the Tiarella (or foamflower). Topped by a spiked, feathery flower, this low-mounding front-of-the-border plant has wild color combos: like the Stoplight Heucherella's chartreuse leaf with red-eye spot and white flower. The virtually unkillable, sun-worshipping Echinacea (coneflower) has an expanded palette. Tall and dramatic, the formerly just-pink flower now comes in yellow, orange, and pinkish-orange. All these new perennials are typically available at garden centers.
What if you have a sunny spot and want food for the table? There's always the tomato--what Ben Swett of Windowbox.com, the Vernon, Calif.-based mail-order business, calls "a set-it-and-forget-about-it kind of plant." And you can put it in now for a late summer tomato-fest. A big tomato trend is heirlooms, "rediscovered classics," says Swett. These new old favorites sport extravagant differences from the standard tomato. The Cherokee Purple's rose color signals a sweet, rich fruit. The Arkansas Traveler is pink-tinged and intensely flavored. Meanwhile, the Brandywine, Amish in origin, has what Swett calls "classic, red-tomato flavor." Windowbox.com ships these heirlooms nationwide.
Cauliflower is another candidate for summer planting. Charlie Nardozzi, a horticulturalist at the National Gardening Association, suggests sowing seeds indoors, then transferring the seedlings in July or August in the North, September in the South or West. Harvest is in 60 to 80 days. The cauliflower, which can tolerate temperatures to the mid-20s, now comes in a variety of colors, including Nardozzi's favorite, orange.
So your plants are in, the vegetables are growing. The only thing the plant has to overcome now is the "human problem," says Swett. "It starts to get hot, and people focus on sitting by the pool." Prove him wrong. Don't forget to water.
This story appears in the July 3, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.