PICAYUNE — Most local garden centers are loaded with fresh bedding plants to give you months of cool-season color and splendor. Pansies, violas, snapdragons, dianthus, flowering kale, cabbage and a host of others are waiting for you to give them a home in your gardens.Pansies, of course, are the favorites, and rightfully so. You’ll likely be buying 4 to 6 inch transplants that will offer bloom and performance until the high heat of late spring or early summer takes them out.
If I asked you to name a pansy, you would probably say Majestic Giant. This series has been around a long time and has been steadily improved. New, large-flowered varieties like the Matrix and Colossus have started eating into Majestic Giant’s market share. All are good performers.
The Mammoth series is new this year. It is an extremely large-flowered variety boasting several colors, and each has a unique name. One of my favorites at the trials was On Fire, which gives that illusion with its fiery yellow, orange and red blooms.
Perhaps you are toying with the idea of going with violas this year, but are wondering if you can develop a landscape sizzle with these smaller-flowered cousins of the pansy. Let me put the answer in simple terms for you — absolutely.
The viola is an incredible powerhouse of blooming potential. I’ll explain potential in a minute. There are many good varieties in the marketplace. I love the Sorbet and Penny series, and the new trailing selections like the Rebelina.
If you could see the Floral Power series, you would want them as well. The name Floral Power really says it all. This variety produces blooms that are larger than a nickel and not quite as big as a quarter, but in a quantity that stops traffic.
The Floral Power Cream with Purple Wing is stunning in every aspect from performance to fragrance. The name doesn’t quite do it justice, as you will see some deeper yellow and whiskers in the center.
The Floral Power Super Blue Beacon has slightly larger flowers. It offers a truly unique color combination of light blue with a darker blue halo, a spot of yellow in the center with whiskers, and a bold copper bronze on the bottom.
Like pansies, the viola can be partnered with snapdragons, kale, cabbage or mustard, and dianthus.
Let me explain what I said earlier about the viola’s blooming potential. We have been inundated with rain in my part of the state and most likely in yours, too. Neither winter annuals nor summer-blooming perennials can tolerate sitting in cold, wet winter soil.
If you are not already planting on raised beds, start doing so and it will change your life from the standpoint of garden success. In our trials, we found that incorporating peat into the soil as a process of building up the bed paid huge dividends in performance.
Whether you use peat, humus from your pile, cotton burr or mushroom compost, the results will help you garner the green thumb now and in the spring.
Feed pansies and violas monthly during their long, active growing season. These cool-season troopers will reward you as they are among the best buys for your garden dollar.
Features
Related Photos
-
Photo by Norman Winter
Pansies, violas provide long season of color
- Features
-
-
These walls are talking and they have stories to tell
Thirteen captivating days of historic home tours via an authentic double-decker bus, candlelight reenactments at Friendship Cemetery, dining, boutique shopping and walking tours in Columbus, Miss.
-
PRCC dental hygiene students brighten kids’ smiles
Approximately 60 children left Pearl River Community College’s dental hygiene clinic with bright smiles Friday, Feb. 3, after participating in the annual Give Kids A Smile event.
-
Planning ahead makes a difference in landscape
Even though it’s cold outside, now is a good time to stroll through your yard with pencil and paper in hand, noting what worked and what didn’t in your landscape last year. Viewing it during the bare-bones winter season will help you see where changes should be made.
-
“Words With Friends” kidnaps innocent brain cells
“All our words are but crumbs that
fall down from the feast of the mind.”
— Khalil Gibran -
Mr. Know it all: ‘A River Runs Through it’ Montana
Q: I was watching a DVD of the movie “A River Runs Through It.” Where was the movie filmed? — V.A.D., Carson, Calif.
-
Tweet, tweet: Can you hear the mockingbirds singing?
One of the best free shows I’ve witnessed lately was a boisterous mockingbird who also had mastered a pretty showy dance routine, jumping up and down in the top of a sweetgum tree.
-
History brought to life: Local woman portrays African-American abolitionist Harriet Tubman
Gwen Williams, a.k.a Miss Chocolate, is portraying famous ‘conductor’ for the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, for local children in recognition of Black History Month.
She says, “In high school we always did Negro Spirituals, but never really appreciated what they were about or how significant they were in the Underground Railroad. -
Pawdi Gras coming to Picayune February 25
The Senior Center is hosting its first Mardi Gras parade for pets and calling it Pawdi Gras 2012. The event will be held on Goodyear Blvd from 10 a.m. (registration at Jack Read Park) to 1 p.m. (ending at Jack Read Park) and awards will be given for both the court and regular parade crew. Registration is $25 for regular crew and $50 for court. All registrants will receive an official t-shirt and proceeds will benefit the Senior Center, SPCA and local animal rescue.
-
Mary Ellen Bright
Mary Ellen Bright is this week’s Picayune Item Super Senior because of her high-energy, task oriented, community service which has spanned decades.
She and her husband, Dan, have two children, three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and have been married for 52 years. -
Tis the season to obliterate the candidate
Dr. Stanley Watson/Syndicated columnist
We still have several long months to go before the presidential election and we wonder how the slandering on both sides can get any worse. Apparently our election system requires opponents to destroy one another. By the time the election is over the citizens will have been ill informed and distrustful of the nations leadership no matter who wins. Winston Churchill was right when he said our system of government was the worst except for all the other systems. Even after the election is over we will still not know if the winner is the fittest or the unfittest survivor. - More Features Headlines
-
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
