Try these summer plants to add color to beds
Pentas, angelonia and torenia are low-maintenance and heat-tolerant
Q: Every year I plant begonias around the edges of my azalea beds in mid-March. This allows them to get a good start before the summer heat hits. With all that is going on, I haven’t gotten to it this spring.
My beds do not have full sun. They get morning sun and some in the afternoon. Big oak trees are nearby. Can you suggest some bedding plants for this year? I really like having color in my yard. Linda Linder, Houston
A: White, pink, red, lavender or magenta pentas would be beautiful and attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. These low-care, tender perennials flower in full sun or part shade.
Angelonia, or summer snapdragon, is a popular summer bloomer that’s easily grown as a tender perennial. It’s available in lavender, purple, pink, raspberry and white. The multibranched plants, about 18 to 22 inches tall and eventually about 1 foot wide, are packed with small blooms spring to frost. You might try low-water angelonia, which grows in the sunnier areas as they take full sun to part shade.
Torenia, or wishbone flower, comes in foot-tall mounds or spreading types. The unusual charming flowers are cupped — white or blue — and rimmed in rose or blue. Inside, the stamens form a ‘wishbone’ — another summer favorite. These warmseason annuals are best in morning sun to part shade.
Q: I moved to Seabrook three years ago and planted a few Byzantine gladiolus that I brought from East Texas. They bloomed in April. When is the best time to replant them? Mary Ruth Greenwell, Seabrook
A: Byzantine glads are heirlooms with elegant, vivid magenta blooms in spring. Winterhardy Gladiolus byzantinus naturalizes easily in this area. It spreads by offsets, giving you greater returns each year.
You can dig and transplant the corms when the foliage yellows in late spring/early summer and enters dormancy. This transplanting time is often recommended as it’s easy to lose track of where the corms are in a garden once the foliage has disappeared.
But, if you can keep track of where the dormant corms are, perhaps with a marker, you can dig and transplant them in the fall — which also is the time to plant new corms. Sun or part sun and a well-draining soil is about all these low-care heirlooms need.
Q: Do you have any tips for growing pomegranate trees? Walter Reichert, The Woodlands
A: I have grown dwarf pomegranates for their ornamental value rather than as an edible. However, I do know gardeners who’ve found standard pome
granates as pest-free, deciduous small trees that produce attractive orange-red blooms and tasty red fruit that ripens August-September.
Plant a pomegranate in a sunny, well-draining area. This fruit tree needs some cold to produce, so choose a low-chill variety (150-200 chill hours).
Recommendations include ‘Garnet Sash,’ which has large, dark-red fruit; ‘Red Silk,’ for medium-large, pinkish-red fruit; ‘Sharp Velvet,’ which has large fruit with dark-red exteriors; and ‘Wonderful,’ with purple-red fruit.
Q: I bought a spectacularly beautiful blue delphinium with a tag that reads “full sun.” I read this plant likes cool weather. How should I treat it? Where should I plant it?
Carol Matney, Houston
A: I received your email in April, when your delphinium was in bloom. Hybrid delphiniums are especially beautiful and are best suited to our spring gardens. Unfortunately, they don’t like our summer, so we treat them as annuals.
Enjoy yours while it lasts. Then, add new plants in a sunny, organically enriched, welldraining spot in the fall — one expert plants in early December — so they will develop stronger root systems that will support larger plants and, in turn, give you better blooms next spring.
Q: Will my shell ginger bloom again on the same stalk?
Bernard Mathy, Houston
A: No, it won’t. The ginger produces one inflorescence or flower per stalk (pseudostem). You can remove a stalk once it has bloomed, or leave it and enjoy the lush foliage until a freeze turns it brown.
New stalks emerge as the clump expands during the growing season.
Q: We get lots of “daughters” from our amaryllis bulbs and are never sure how to handle them; break them off and plant separately or what?
Chap and Alice Cronquist, Tomball
A: Amaryllis produce small bulbs that develop at the base plate or ring, at the bottom of the bulb. These offsets are identical to the “mother” plant.
To harvest and replant offsets, dig the mother amaryllis out after the foliage has withered in the fall. Gently pull the young bulbs apart. Replant these in a well-draining area with the neck above the soil line.
Note: Since some have asked, amaryllis also can be propagated from seeds. However, seed-grown amaryllis will have characteristics from both the mother plant and the flower of the plant donating the pollen. If you wish to try this, do not cut the tall flower stalk after the blooms are spent.
Leave the seed pods that develop atop the bloom stalks to dry. The color will change from green to a papery brown. The seams of the pod will begin to open. Collect the black seeds and dry on a paper towel for at least 24 hours.
Lightly cover the seed with soil in a pot filled with a welldrained medium.
The tiny, single leaves will begin to appear in two weeks. Sporadic germination will continue for four to six weeks.
It takes a few years for a seed-grown amaryllis to bloom.