文章基本信息

标题：Tropical summer pots in Denver - Garden Guide
作者：Colleen Smith
期刊名称：Sunset
印刷版ISSN：0039-5404
出版年度：2002
卷号：July 2002
出版社：Sunset Publishing Corporation

Tropical summer pots in Denver - Garden Guide

Colleen Smith

* Lush containers can give an otherwise sedate front porch an exuberant tropical look. The containers shown here were created for a Denver client by landscape designer Bruce de Cameron of Great Gardens Inc. (303/321-4423). They showcase the sweetly fragrant yellow flowers of angel's trumpet (Brugmansia x candida) surrounded by a colorful tapestry of shorter flowers and foliage plants. The containers are set out on the porch in May and continue dazzling passersby long into autumn. During the season, they get about a half-day of full sun and dappled light the rest of the day.

Angel's trumpet is a frost-tender shrub: At season's end, it can be pruned back to a 6-inch stalk, repotted, and over-wintered indoors in a sunny room for use again next year.

De Cameron used 2-foot square plastic containers. He mixed controlled-release fertilizer into potting soil.

PLANT LIST

* One 2-gallon Brugmansia x candida

* One 1-gallon Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

* Three 4-inch Coleus x hybridus, assorted leaf colors

* Two 4-inch 'Dragon Wing' semperflorens begonia

* One 2-inch Sprenger asparagus (A. densiflorus 'Sprengeri')

* Four 4-inch sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), two each chartreuse- and purple-leafed varieties

* Three 2-inch variegated vinca (V. major 'Wojo's Jem')

DIRECTIONS

1. Fill the container with potting soil to within 6 inches of the rim. Mix in a controlled-release fertilizer, moisten soil thoroughly with water, and tamp down with your hand.

2. Arrange plants still in their nursery containers atop the soil. Use the angel's trumpet to anchor the composition, then place the shorter plants toward the edges, letting the trailers like sweet potato and vinca spill over the rim. When you're satisfied with the arrangement, knock the plants out of their nursery containers, fill around them with soil, and tamp down.

3. Keep the container evenly watered; you may have to water twice a day during the peak of summer's heat. Deadhead spent flowers throughout the season.