Landscape Ideas for Dallas: Fan Flower

I’m a  fan of the Fan Flower (Scaevola), it’s a great annuals for Dallas. This plant grows 6-12″ tall in part sun to part shade, blooming mid summer to early fall. It has rounded basil like leaves and can be propagate by taking soft wood cuttings in late spring plant. They should be planted 8″ apart, a little closer in shade as they will take longer to grow. The ’New Wonder’ cultivar can survive temperatures into the low 100s and down to freezing. It’s can be used as a tender perennial in these parts and is originally from eastern Australia.

Fan Flower is a heat and drought tolerant plant so it’s perfect for Texas. One look at it’s blooms and it isn’t hard to tell where it got it’s name from.The petals are arranged around a yellow center which is a nice contrast. The flowers are a pretty shade of blue but are also available in Pink. do look like a fan. ‘Blue Wonder’ is the cultivar most commonly found. Other varieties are ‘New Wonder’ and ‘Purple Fanfair’. These plants are easy to grow and require little care often not being to particularly bothered by pests. You can prune Fan Flowers by pinching them to keep them bushy.

This self cleaning, low maintenance plant is more expensive than your typical annuals but it’s worth every penny. It looks best when planted in masses. A good companion plant is Coleus, Persian shield and Ti/Thai plant.

Landscape Ideas for Dallas: Sun Patiens

When are impatiens not impatiens–when they are SunPatiens of course. In the northen United States impatiens are grown in the sun. Now we too can grow these beautiful bountiful plants. SunPatiens were bred in Japan by Sakata Seed. Sakata is well known for pansies and is the originator of the well known ‘Majestic Giant’ Pansy, which we are all grateful for.  Daylily and Lavender make great companion plants.

Click here for more info from SunPatiens

SunPatiens compact series

Sun Pateins spreading series

Sun Patiens Vigorous series

If you would like to have SunPatiens installed in your garden by a  Landscape Company in Dallas please contact us at sales@DallasCurbAppeal.Com or call us at 214-257-8155

Landscape Ideas for Dallas: Annuals-Pentas

By Dallas Landscape Contractor

Maria Bargellini

Pentas or Star Clusters are great annuals for Dallas. These African natives come in bold colors like red, hot pink and purple. part sun (the morning kind) to dappled shade in Dallas. This is not a drought tolerant plant. As with most annuals it will require regular watering. What does that mean you ask? Well here goes. It needs to maintain it’s moisture. Annuals are typically bought in 2-6″ containers. When the first 2 inches are dry it needs to watered. Place these great Dallas annuals close to your entry points so that they can be hand watered when necessary. Expect your blooms in late spring through to fall.

This is also  a great plant for butterfly gardening in Dallas. It mixes well with the usual annuals like Begonias and Dusty Miller. I like to plant them with Gregs Blue Mist Flower (Ageratum), which is also widely used as a butterfly garden must have. If you want to take great pictures of butterflies, especially Monarch’s go to the Texas Discovery Garden and hang out by the Mist Flower–you won’t be disappointed. Pentas are widely used in borders or bedding plants but they also do well when grown in containers.

Please consider becoming a member or volunteering at the Texas Discovery Garden. It’s a fantastic place to go to with your family or just yourself. There’s great people that work there. I have and will continue to volunteer there. I learn something new every time I go. The people that work there are not only great to talk to but extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the Texas Discovery gardens. They have educational program throughout the year and are definitely worth taking a look at.

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Fall Plant Choices

With the cool weather comes really cool plants. Below you’ll find tons of pictures of plants for this season.

Foliage Plants Pansy & other cool weather annulas Tulips & Bulbs and Florist Quality Poinsettias for the Holiday Season.

Pick from a wide variety of colors and sizes.
Violas, which are the smallest of the pansies bloom the most throughout the season. The Colossus boost 3-4 inch blooms and the Cyclamens are show stoppers

Tulips are shipped chilled and ready to go in the ground. Quantities are limited

Florist Quality Poinsettias