Two amazing late-season annuals
Mama Nature said there鈥檇 be daze like this.
First we get a dumped-on deep freeze with the earliest snowfall ever in early October.
Then 鈥� la-di-da 鈥� November turns out to be the Indian Summer we never had, all barefoot boy and cheeks of tan.
The December gives us whiplash. Ouch. Buckets of rain fall overnight, turning into a deep ocean of ice that immediately gets overlaid by snow and snow and more snow.
How bad was it, Johnny? Well, we got the most snow for December on record. Which is to say, Iowa got as much snow last month as we usually do all year. I鈥檓 still reeling. And digging out.
And the garden? I know it鈥檚 out there somewhere. But it鈥檚 hiding under rock-hard six-foot snowdrifts.
Be that as it may, in that warmish weather lull in November a couple neat things happened 鈥� the kind of things that encourage any gardener, transplanted or otherwise.
I usually grow Melianthus major, sometimes called, for the cool gray-blue foliage (quite architectural) and its fragrant party trick. [See first photo above.] Tell a guest 鈥� especially a kid 鈥� to crush some leaves in his hand and then smell. Their eyes pop. Yes: peanut butter!
Although melianthus is a tender perennial (hereabouts, read: annual), it survived the two-inch early snow and hard freezes with nary a woe. Hoodathunkit?
I start these plants from seed, and in my all-too-short growing season, they never reach their six-foot peak 鈥� which also means they don鈥檛 get woody. They never have a chance to flower either, alas, but they are great landscape plants in my 鈥檋ood nonetheless.
Another annual I rely on is 鈥� more glaucous blue-gray foliage, but 鈥渇lowering鈥� with an exquisite blue-purple bracts. Stunning. [See second photo above.]
Like all the other annuals in my yard, this one went pffft when creamed by the first snowfall. But then, shazam! It reseeded itself and grew as quickly as Jack鈥檚 beanstalk.
What these two little surprises meant to me was that even after my schizo forsythia went by the wayside, and even after the last of my perennials lost their luster, I still had color in my garden.
I still have color in my garden some weeks later, but the color is white.
What else I鈥檓 into this week: Our new puppy. [See photo above left.] And she鈥檚 into everything.
Editor鈥檚 note: Craig Summers Black, The Transplanted Gardener, is one of eight garden writers who blog regularly at Diggin' it. Look for more of what he's written at our . (Scroll down.) The Monitor鈥檚 main gardening page offers articles on many gardening topics. These are new URLS, so you may want to bookmark them so you can return easily. See also our . You may want to visit . Take part in and get answers to your gardening questions. If you join the group (it鈥檚 free), you can upload your garden photos and enter our next contest.
