Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

There are certain plans I can count on every summer to perform under almost every condition.  I didn’t realize exactly how much until just this year.  This torenia, or wishbone flower (named for the wishbone like appendage in the center of the flower), bakes in mid-day sun, does well in containers and also does well in almost full shade.

Here’s another variety of the same plant and you can see how dry I’ve let the soil get around it.  Yet during last week’s heavy rain, this plant was literally surrounded by water–it looked as if it were an island (gotta love heavy clay soil, don’t you?)  So this is one tough annual, folks, and I don’t see it used a lot.

Here it is in a container with purple calibrachoa (the tiny petunia-like flower for those who don’t know it) a double non-stop begonia and a red dracena.  I always plant this pot with a very similar combination because, although you can’t tell now, the pot is a big teacup with strips of yellow, orange and pink and purple and I am echoing the pot’s colors.

And something else that always does very well for me: angel wing begonias.  They give a great punch of color on very little sun–mine may get an hour or two of late afternoon sun.

I try to use that color–along with the coleus you see behind it–to attract hummingbirds to that pot.  But believe it or not, where I see the most hummingbirds in my yard are on plain old garden impatiens.  I’m glad to see them–and I love the look of this pot anyway–but I wonder why I bothered?

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