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Ideas for Spring

This time of year there is little to do in the garden, especially since we've been experiencing some really wintry weather. What's that all about! So much for living in the banana belt!

I've been browsing in some new and old gardening books and dreaming of what I would plant if I could just figure out were I could possibly squeeze something in to my garden.

The top of my list would be Clematis 'Blue Light'. This is an exotic looking double pale-blue violet-tinged double flower on a dwarf plant. [6 ft] It is compact enough for container planting and is hardy, zones 4-8 and would likely winter as a container plant if you used a large enough container and protected it. Remember you can loose 2 zones in a container due to frost coming in from the side of the container as well as the top.

Another thing I liked about this clematis is it blooms twice, spring to early summer and late summer into fall. Full sun and fertile well drained soil. A good choice if you're looking for a showy vine.

The new varieties of Coleus are great choices for containers, beds and as houseplants. King Kong has a fabulous variety of colored leaves on vigorous large plants with some sun tolerance. The leaves on this variety are huge. Another variety I was taken with is Coleus blumei. Zone 5-9 hardy which surprised me. It has wonderful purple blue colored foliage. Prefers sheltered locations. Giant Exhibition Chivalry, Copper Queen, Multicolor and Palisandra are all varieties to watch out for also.

If you like sunflowers then Soraya is the one to watch for. The first sunflower in history to earn an AAS award. It has eye-catching orange flowers that have a dark chocolate centre. Very vigorous with lots of branching. The 4-6" flowers make it perfect for cut flowers. Plants are self supporting and grow 5-6ft tall. Loves the sun, and is very showy. Also great for attracting birds.

This is just a few of the neat new plants that caught my eye. Something to watch out for when we start browsing in the garden centers. It's always fun to find something new or different for the garden.

Lindi Karmason for Lake Country Greenhouses

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