Show your team colors
Along with apple pie, there are few things as American as the fierce love many of us have for our sports teams. Even if we’re not particularly into the game and the whole loyalty thing, we still feel good when “our” teams win — witness the response when the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl last February and when the Villanova Wildcats won the their third NCAA victory last month. Eagles and Nova banners, bumperstickers, and other paraphernalia were everywhere.
Supporting that passionate spirit, the folks at All-America Selections have come up with a way to show your team colors in your garden. They took a look through AAS flower winners over the years and came up with color combinations to match various teams. As AAS says, “We love the passionate team and collegiate fans! Planting a combination of flower colors may not be as daring or as drastic as body-painting but might be a tad bit easier and more accepted by your friends, family, and neighbors.”
Are you a Philadelphia Flyers fan? AAS suggests teaming up the South Pacific Orange canna lily with Purple Majesty ornamental millet. The bold, orangeflowered cannas grow to about two feet tall. The millet — with leaves so dark as to be almost black — grows up to five feet, so consider planting this duo either “in large, statement-type containers or planted en-masse as a landscape item.” This combination would also work for Princeton parents and alums.
Love the Phillies? Planting a flower bed to show support for Philadelphia’s baseball team is even easier. Simply plant one flower: AAS-winner, Arabesque Red penstemon. The beautiful tube-shaped blossoms are red on the outside and white on the inside, with a red border around the top of the interior. With their upright stalks, the flowers look like they’re standing up and cheering!
Living in Kimberton puts me in the Phoenixville Area School District. The school colors are purple and white, so one flower combination caught my eye in particular: Summer Jewel White salvia and Twizzle Purple penstemon. The compact salvia, which grows to about one-anda-half feet tall, has a “prolific bloom count” throughout the summer.
“As a bonus,” says AAS, “the blooms appear almost two weeks earlier than other white salvias, and the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love the larger flowers, making it