(Image above: Snapdragons – photo by K. Blackburn)
Maximizing Success with Cool-Season Bedding Plants
Plant List from Symposium talk by Dan Gill
Fall is the perfect time to plant bedding plants. They get a chance to develop a good root system over winter and perform well into the next season. Replace warm season plants now, even if they are still looking good, they will start to decline and look bad in winter. Here is a list of some of the plants Dan suggested.
- Calendula – ‘Touch of Red’ series, tall, red, yellow orange; ‘Bon Bon’ series, 8 inches, yellow, orange, apricot, calendula is edible
- Delphinium – Larkspur – (finer texture than Delphinium); Delphinium ‘Diamonds Blue’ – needs good drainage, harmful if swallowed. Tall, full sun
- Snapdragons – attracts bumble bees, bright yellow, oranges, pink, white, full sun
- Cornflower or Bachelor buttons – blue, tall from seed
- Hollyhocks – tall plant, disease problem at the bottom of plant, Dan says, “just hide it!”
- Foxglove – Camelot series, plant now for lavender, white and pink blooms. Spring blooms
- Lobelia – blue, pink, part shade
- Forget me not – grow in shade from seed
- Primrose – plant in full shade
- Cyclamen – full shade, do not over water
- Nicotiana – plant in part shade
- Poppies – direct seed, scatter seeds, now then thin to 8 inches apart. Papaver somniferous is edible with decorative seed heads
- Sweet Peas – direct seed, they need to be trellised
- Columbine – is an annual, Swan Series
- Diascia – small frothy plant
- Alyssum-Sweet Alyssum – is fragrant attracts bees, blooms when hardly anything else is blooming
- Ornamental Cabbage and Kale – is not only ornamental but also edible
- Viola-Sorbet Violas – blooms cover the plant, violas are edible
- Dianthus – snow princess, bigger baskets use on patios and decks, dianthus is edible
- Pansy – is edible, those without faces have more color impact; Pansies with faces tend to break up color
- Petunia – Plant now for fall and Spring blooms, may freeze in low 20’s temp
(Images above: [left] Pansy with faces – photo by K. Blackburn; [center] Hollyhocks – photo by K. Blackburn; [right] Foxglove – photo by K. Blackburn)
Dan suggests using smaller plants now, will go thru April and May. Use larger plants in April. See www.lsuagcenter.com for more cool season plant suggestions and check out Louisiana SuperPlants.
By Karen Blackburn