At Hyannis Country Garden things are always coming up roses…and houseplants, perennials, shrubs, trees, vines, and annuals, to name just a few. So even though the planting season isn’t yet upon us, we’re focused on flowers! We know that our customers want plants that will perform well, and we offer you this photo taken of C.L. Fornari’s front porch to help with your summer planting planning.

Here is a breakdown of the plants seen in these containers, moving from left to right, starting in the urn.

1. White Snow Princess Lobularia – a wonderful, vigorous alyssum that flowers from planting well through several frosts. This photo was taken in late September and you can see how well the Snow Princess is still flowering! Snow Princess does well in the ground or in mixed containers.

2. Yellow and white Calibrachoa Lemon Slice. This member of Proven Winner’s Superbells series is a summer-long star in Cape Cod gardens.

3. The center of this urn is planted with a Firecracker Fuchsia. This variegated Fuchsia isn’t a Proven Winners plant but it combines well with the other annuals and provides that dash of bright color and upright form the urn needs.

4. In the blue box is the new for 2015 Rock ‘N Grow Lemonjade sedum. For those who want the texture and durability of an upright sedum but don’t particularly care for pink flowers, this is the plant for you! Lemonjade has the same drought tolerance and all-season interest as other stonecrops, but the flowers are a soft citron color instead of pink.

5. The tall purple/pink flower is a Senorita Rosalita cleome. This shorter, bushier cleome is at home in a container or in the ground. You get a full season of bloom from Senorita Rosalita, and she never shows her bare ankles as seed-grown cleome is prone to.

6. That touch of orange that makes the blue box planting really sing is provided by a new Cuphea in the Proven Winners line up. Dubbed Vermillionaire, this annual will make you feel rich indeed, if wealth is measured in flowers. Not only is the dash of color that this cuphea supplies important, but the plant also attracts hummingbirds!

7. What would a box be without a plant that cascades? In this case you’re getting a look at one of the new Supertunia varieties for 2015, Mini-Rose Vein. This plant is a true spiller, and you can see how it flowers its heart out on the ends of the new growth.

To keep your containers of annuals flowering well, use these suggestions:

• Fill the entire container with good quality potting soil. Don’t put any rocks or shards in the bottom and don’t cover the drainage holes.
• Mix in equal parts of time-release fertilizer (Osmocote) and an organic fertilizer (Plant-tone) before placing the plants in your container. For most containers a Tablespoon of this mixture per plant will be perfect.
• Water the container well when the soil is starting to dry, and after the moisture soaks in for a bit go back and water it again.  Don’t let a container go so dry that the plants wilt.
• Most annuals can be planted on Cape Cod between May 15 and the end of June.