Paeonia ‘Bartzella’

A Garden Crossings new introduction for 2012, Peony Bartzella is really showing its colors.  The butter yellow, 8″ double blooms load this beautiful plant full of color. Peony Bartzella has an extra long bloom time, the plants send out new growth from the side creating more blooms for later blooming.  Bartzella is a  new cross of the herbaceous garden peony with the woody tree peonies. Due to this excellent breeding, staking is NOT needed. ‘Bartzella‘ would be a great choice for landscape design because of its tidy habit.

Shade doesn’t have to be dark and drab, there are so many great colorful choices for your shade gardens. Color comes in a few different forms. For some, color means that the plant has to have a colorful flower. In that case my top two annual picks for shade are Impatiens and Begonias. Many shade gardeners will say ‘but I have used those plants every year’. Is that a bad thing? I would have to say ‘NO’!  My absolute favorite is Impatiens they give such a huge impact of color that lasts ALL SEASON. Why would that be a bad thing? Impatiens come in a wide range of colors from white, red, salmon, orange, and an array of pink colors.

Another option for color comes in the form of foliage. The top choice for shade gardens is the Hosta, but for many they feel that Hosta is just ‘to plain’. Hosta do come in a wide range of size, texture, and variations of blue, green, yellow and white but for many this is just not enough. So for those of you who want to take foliage color to the next step I recommend trying Heuchera.  Heuchera offer a rainbow of color in foliage with chartreuse, purple, orange, green, burgundy, and variations in between. Also many varieties of Coral Bells offer a unique bell shaped flower that stand tall above the foliage for an added splash of color.

Now if shrubs are more your style, I would recommend trying any of the Proven Winners Color Choice Euonymus. The variegated foliage comes in shades of white and green, yellow with green edging, and green with chartreuse edging. These shade loving shrubs stand about 2-3′ tall with an equal spread.

So don’t think that shade has to be boring take a look at all of the plants we recommend for your shade gardens.

Hosta ‘Rhino Hide’

If slugs seem to be winning the battle in your Hosta Garden, we recommend giving Hostas one more try.  Hosta ‘Rhino Hide‘ is as tough as nails!  The thick substance of  ‘Rhino Hide‘ make this a real match for slugs.  The extra thick leaves have extra wide blue margins with a splash of light green up the center.  The leaves are cupped shape, giving this Hosta more dimensional look.  Although ‘Rhino Hide‘ can withstand full sun, it is recommended that it be planted in a more part shade location.  In mid summer watch for the white flowers to emerge.

Salvia  ‘Black and Blue’

and start to see some green (hummingbirds) and orange and yellow(butterflies) and…

One of the most popular annuals for hummingbird attraction is Salvia ‘Black & Blue’. Although it is not the typical color for hummingbird attracting , which is red, this Salvia does a wonderful job! The intense blue flowers bloom off of black stems. This tall, 30-40″ sun loving annual is great for in those hard to grow dry areas in your garden. The butterflies, hummingbirds, and song birds just love hanging out on this annual. Hardy for zones 7-10 this may also be considered a tender perennial in some areas of the country.  Salvia  ‘Black & Blue’ makes for a great garden addition along with a great thriller for your combination planters. The best part of this plant for those of you with deer problems, it is deer resistant!

Here are a couple comments from other gardeners like yourself who have tried and love this variety.

Brenda, Zone 6 -This is my 3rd year growing these salvia’s. I live in zone 6, so I have to reorder each year. I don’t mind at all though, because they are beautiful blue color and bloom all summer. The hummingbirds absolutely love this blue flower.

Jaime Zone 8- Really, really nice plant! Bloomed for months – non-stop! I will always have 1 or 2 of these in the garden.

Retro Chic Birdhouses

All of our retro chic birdhouses are hand crafted and have tons of detail. The hand painted birdhouses are adorned with a  tin roof and a whimsy beaded flower or bird on top. The tin roofs are screwed in and have been insulated along with ventilation holes to provide a cool space for birds during the summer months. Cleaning is a breeze, with the easy to open clean out door on the back. Use this retro flowers bird house for indoor decoration or enjoy the beauty and practicality of it in your backyard. Birds will love the new home that you provide for them.

Combination Hanging Basket Design Tool From

Garden Crossings

Create your own beautiful hanging basket in minutes with Garden Crossings easy to use design tool. You plan out the masterpiece and we will grow it and ship it out to your door step. Our new ‘tool’ allows you to select the plants you want for your design and see what they will look like together. One you have the perfect looking basket we will plant the basket up for you and within 4 weeks it will be filled out and shipped to your door. Here is a video explaining the process. Relax and enjoy the experience!

L.A. Dreamin’™ Hydrangea  ’Lindsey Ann’

L.A. Dreamin’ Hydrangea is a brand new  ’can’t go wrong’ macrophylla Big Leaf Hydrangea. It offers the best of both worlds-blooms on new and old growth  AND blooms both pink and blue with no soil altering! L.A.Dreamin’ is a very reliable bloomer, you start off by getting blooms from the previous seasons growth and then as new growth emerges, you will get blooms from the new growth.  This also means that you will have a longer bloom cycle. Another REALLY cool feature of L.A. Dreamin’ is that it flower both pink & blue. This happens naturally on this plant and does not require any acid to turn the blooms blue. Standing 24″-30″ this compact bloomer does not require alot of valuable space in your garden. This mass when you think L.A Dreamin’, what a lovely sight it would be to have a whole border or garden full of the wonderful blue and pink flowers. Hydrangea also make for a wonderful cut or dried flower. Enjoy the beautiful blooms in a vase on your table or hang them to dry so you can enjoy them all season in a beautiful dried flower arrangement. No matter how you dream it, L.A. Dreamin’ is a sure bet dream come true!

As a side note, as of this writing Garden Crossings is one of 2 companies to carry this exclusive variety for 2012.

Leucanthemum ‘Banana Cream’

In a recent walk through the greenhouse I found this Shasta Daisy Leucanthemum ‘Banana Cream‘ blooming. I took this picture in my hand so you can see how large these blooms are. I love the double row of petals on this bloom. The butter yellow color of ‘Banana Creme‘ make this different from the traditional Shasta Daisy. Blooming from summers beginning to summers end, ‘Banana Creme’ will add a beautiful splash of color all summer.  Take a different twist with your perennials, try planting them in a container as a thriller and adding annuals in as fillers and spillers. Be sure to check out all the great Proven Winners Plants that are part of the P Allen Smith Collection.

This is the number one question we get from customers when they are trying to decide if they want to ‘try’ and hanging basket again this year…

For many,  growing Hanging Baskets, Planters, or even annuals in landscape design is a task they just don’t know if they want to take on again this year. Last season their annuals just did not ‘last’ all summer. They looked good for a month or so after they got home but then went down hill from there. Many people will say ” but I watered every day”!

If the above statement sounds like something that you may have running through your head, let me give you a few simple steps to succeeding at growing annual baskets and planter.

#1 “But I water every day” to that statement I would first ask you, ” When you are watering do you water enough that you see the water running freely from the bottom of your basket/planter?” If not, I dare say that you are under watering your plants. If the water is not reaching the bottom of the pot your roots are not able to evenly drink up the water that they require.

#2 My question to you is ” How often do your fertilize? Have you fertilized at all?” At Garden Crossings we recommend fertilizing your baskets/planters at least every other week, although weekly would be great with a low concentrate water soluble fertilizer. We recommend and personally use Proven Winners Water Soluble Fertilizer.  The reason you need to fertilize your plants is because every time you water you are flushing a little bit of the nutrients/fertilizer from the pot. Like humans, plants need nutrients to perform to their highest standards. The fertilizer will help keep your flowers flowering and your foliage nice and green. You may even feel like you have a plant on steroids if you keep up on the fertilizing. If you do start to feel like you have ‘too much’ growth we recommend giving your plants a ‘haircut’ or a trim to keep them nice and full. Don’t cut back on the fertilizer because this is keeping your plant healthy.

Now if you are thinking there is no way I am going to fertilize every one to two weeks we do have another option for you. That option is a continuous release fertilizer. Generally we recommend Continuous Release for ground planting as it will not flush away in the ground as fast as in a basket. But if you are feeling like “I will fertilize, but I am only going to do it one time” , This option is better than nothing.

And Lastly #3 if watering is a problem for you and you feel like you just can’t keep up or are always forgetting to do it, we recommend installing an inexpensive self watering system. We have found a system that is easy to use, and does a great job, it is the Waterwise System from Proven Winner. Basically all you need is the kit and a scissors. Here is a link to show how simple and easy it is to install the Waterwise System. You can go away on vacation for a week and come home to beautiful flowers.

If you have any questions on watering or fertilization of annuals please feel free to contact us at sales@gardencrossings.com

Aralia ‘Sun King’

‘Sun King’ Aralia makes you think a plant for sun… not so!!! This foliage plant is a shade gardeners dream come true, if for no other reason than just another choice. Standing 36 inches tall ‘Sun King’ could be used as a backdrop to your Heucheras and Hostas. Each branch has several chartreuse leaves that fan out for an airy garden look. In the late summer white flowers emerge that later turn into purple berries. ‘Sun King’ would also be a great center piece to a shade to part shade container garden, add in some Xtreme™ Impatiens or Bada Bing® Begonias for a constant summer color.