May Day means it’s finally time to buy bedding plants for Western Washington gardens
May Day! May Day! It is finally time to buy up all the bedding plants, annuals and hanging baskets your lackluster garden desires.
It may not yet be safe to let any tender plant outdoors on a cold night (coleus and basil are especially prone to cold shoulder pouting if left outdoors in May) but if you have a covered porch or patio, then most annuals can harden off or get used to life outdoors if purchased this week.
Not to make anyone panic, but the good plants really do go fast and if you find a favorite color or type of annual, just buy it. Our local growers and nurseries can hardly keep up with the booming demand for plants as gardening continues to grow.
Q. I am guilty of planting annual flowers too early then watching them “melt” when rain and cold weather hits. I have lost coleus, impatience and begonias to the cold. What flowers can I plant in my very cool garden? We live up in the foothills near Bonney Lake and last year we had cold nights below 45 degrees until June. — T.H.. Bonney Lake
A. Your cool garden can bloom with these tough annuals: lobelia, alyssum, pansies, hardy geraniums, supertunias, wave petunias, larkspur, snapdragons, and calibrachoa.
Now here is the warning: The petunias, geraniums and calibrachoa hate to have wet soil, especially when combined with cold nights. Keep these a little on the dry side in May and June.
Your micro climate is very important as well. This means a warm spot close to the house under cover can offer protection from not just cool nights, but maybe visiting deer.
Q. Can you suggest some flowers for a really colorful hummingbird garden? I see you are speaking about pollinators for our South Hill library, and I cannot make the webinar but I do know that hummingbirds are pollinators. — A.N. Puyallup
A. The buzz on pollinators is that it is not just the birds and bees moving all that pollen around the garden. Bats and wasps also do their part, and any time you add more flowers you attract more pollinators.
Here is a colorful design using three Proven Winners plants: First plant “Rockin’ Deep Purple” Salvia in the back of a bed, then “Diamond Mountain” Euphorbia in the middle, and edge the design with low growing “Supertunia Vista Paradise.” You not only have the layering of tall, medium and low-growing blooms, but a color and shape contrast with the white and airy Euphorbia separating the spiky deep blue salvia from the deep pink, rounded petunias.
Q. What is the best container for growing tomatoes? I have clay, wood and plastic pots. Thanks. — T.G., Tacoma
A. In the cool summer climate of Western Washington I recommend the heat-absorbing magic of the humble black plastic nursery pot. Recycle a 5-gallon black pot and the dark color will not only attract heat but hold it after the sun goes down.
All tomatoes want to grow in the hottest part of your garden, preferably up against a brick, cement or white-painted wall that reflects even more heat. One hot tomato indeed.
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.
Free webinar on pollinators
Head to Puyallup or log on to your computer Saturday, May 7, for a class on “Pretty and Practical Gardening Tips for Pollinators” by Marianne Binetti and sponsored by the South Hill Library. To sign up and get a Zoom invite, visit https://calendar.piercecountylibrary.org/events