Re: bad plant mixes

**"* C* M* I* <j*@earthlink.net>**

On Jan 6, 2007, at 7:55 PM, Catriona Tudor Erler wrote:

> Loved your comments about mixing spring flowers with fall blooms.   
> I've
> stopped going to the Philadelphia Flower Show because I was so  
> offended
> last time I went by seeing gardens that mixed bougainvilleas with
> flowering forsythia along with azaleas and sunflowers.  It was  
> jarring,
> unharmonious, and a great disservice to attendees inexperienced in
> garden matters who may want to try to copy the design.  I have no
> problem with the growers showing off their forcing expertise, but I do
> have a problem displaying flowers together that would never bloom  
> at the
> same time in the real world and combining flowers and plants that have
> totally different cultural requirements.   End of rant...

Catriona,

Maybe the persons who designed these gardens were from Southern  
California.  For us, bougainvilleas bloom all year long, Southern  
Indica azaleas often bloom three or four times a year or for 6-8  
months straight, depending upon the variety and weather, and we can  
rely upon some varieties of bearded iris to bloom 4 or 5 times a  
year.  It is not at all unusual to see these plants all blooming  
together.  Furthermore, with our crazy weather, plants frequently get  
confused and can burst into bloom at the most unexpected times.   
People say we have no seasons.  This is untrue.  We have distinct  
spring, summer, fall, and winter.  In the last ten days we have had  
all four of them, ranging from frost and snow and 80-mile-an-hour  
winds to 85-degree sunshine.  Here, if you design an all-year color  
garden, you had better be sure that every single plant fits your  
color palette.  Otherwise, a plant that was supposed to fit a  
different seasonal color scheme is certain to bloom out-of-season and  
spoil the effect.

It all depends on where you live and what you are used to.  With the  
effects of global warming, perhaps the rest of the nation will have  
to adjust themselves to seeing things bloom together that you haven't  
thought of as being seasonally compatible.  Here nothing surprises us.

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030
USDA zone 9   Sunset zones 21/23

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
&quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters