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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Danielle Smith danielle@springmeadownursery.com
The Secret to Easy, Colorful Gardens Do you dream of a colorful garden like those in garden magazines? Rich waves of colorful flowers are hard to resist. But remember those photographs are just a second in time, and they don’t show faded blooms or overrun borders. The typical perennial blooms for only three weeks, and annuals must be planted every year. Gardening expert and author Tim Wood suggests that the greatest success is obtained by using flowering shrubs with colorful foliage. “Think of flowering shrubs as perennials that don’t have be divided or staked, and that stay where you plant them,” says Wood. “They’re easy to grow and require little pruning or dividing. Varieties with colorful foliage look great all season long. Flowers are just icing on the cake.” Dark, Rich Foliage Purple is a highly desirable color in the garden. Wine & Roses Weigela is a wonderful medium sized shrub prized for its dark burgundy leaves. It combines easily with yellow or silver leafed plants, and shines when planted with pink petunias. In the spring it is covered with vivid pink blooms - icing on the cake! Midnight Wine is a dwarf weigela to that’s only twelve inches tall. It’s a great little shrub for the sunny perennial garden. Planted in drifts of five, its dark purple foliage contrasts with perennials like yellow Creeping Jenny or Silver Mound Artemesia. Summer Wine is a new compact ninebark with dark burgundy foliage. Extremely hardy and easy to grow, in mid-summer it‘s dotted with white button-like blooms. For a bold look consider Black Beauty elderberry’s dramatic purple foliage. Durable and easy to grow, it has large pink blooms in late spring. Coming soon is Black Lace elderberry with all great attributes of Black Beauty, but with finely cut, lacy leaves resembling an exotic Japanese maple. It will be in better garden centers in spring of 2006. Plants with colorful foliage and interesting texture, like these, create the very best gardens. Bright, Sunny Foliage Yellow foliage brightens up the garden. Sunshine Blue Caryopteris is a great example of this with its rays of bright yellow leaves. This three to four foot tall, mounded shrub is at home in the perennial garden or planted around your deck. In late summer the foliage contrasts with sprays of misty blue flowers. It’s easy to grow – just plant it in well- drained soil and full sun. Another great yellow leafed plant is Chardonnay Pearls Deutzia. This new selection of an old favorite has bright yellow-green leaves. In the spring it sends up flower spikes of white, pearl-like buds that burst into star-like flowers. These new introductions are available at better garden centers. Two colorful evergreen shrubs are Blondy and Gold Splash wintercreeper. These low, mounded plants have green and yellow variegated leaves. Blondy has bright yellow leaves with a thin green margin; Gold Splash’s large gold leaves have a green center. Both are very colorful and easy to grow. Plant them next to dark green plants or with long blooming Stella d’Ora daylily. Shrubs with colorful foliage are also great for container gardens, and Golden Lanterns Pheasant Berry is the perfect choice. Its heart-shaped, lemon-lime colored leaves combine wonderfully with Blue Wonder Scaevola or Purple-leafed Fountain Grass. In late summer Golden Lanterns is graced with pendulous burgundy blooms and dark purple berries. Creating a beautiful, all-season garden is not difficult if you select the right plants. Look beyond the bloom to see what a plant will do all season long. Foliage and berries can be even more beautiful and long lasting than flowers, and are often found on plants that require little or no maintenance. Flowering shrubs with colorful foliage make it quite simple to have an easy garden that shines all season long. To learn more about flowering shrubs that create exceptional gardens visit www.colorchoiceplants.com.
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