Need help on a island in a macadam ocean... It's an island about 4 feet wide and about 30 feet long with a concrete curb around it and surrounded by road. They want to stay with all Blue, Pink, Lavender plants. I'm trying to come up with a combo of those colors that hopefully will be an all seasons combo... if possible. Any recomendations would really be appreciated.
Hi East Coast Lawn Choppers, I'm thinking you want perennials that return each year. If you want annuals you would need to lmk as there are some that bloom all summer long and still look fresh by end of summer. It would be helpful to know the sun conditions and your hardiness zone when asking for plant recommendations. I suspect it's full sun and your zone is 6. Here's a zip code zone finder to be sure. http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/zip.cgi One recommendation I would have is to place lighter colors near the curb so the curb can more easily be seen at night. Dark colors recede and light colors will intensify and be amplified at night. You will need some evergreen plants or small shrubs to anchor the site in winter with your hardiness zone. I would also add either yellow or white to the mix. Reblooming or everblooming daylilies are great for this application. The Appster series are wonderful. They do have a plum color. I have used the pale yellow 'Big Time Happy' and after three years there are more and more stems with blooms. http://www.perennials.com/hea.html Sedum is another hardy plant that can tolerate those conditions. I like Sedum 'Autumn Joy' because of it's longer season of interest. The flower heads start out looking like broccoli and change to a light pink in bud, deep pink when they are blooming and turn to a lovely rust in the fall. The flower heads can stay up all winter and look lovely with snow on them. http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/perennials/SedumAutumnJoy.html http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=Q490 http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&q=sedum+'Autumn+Joy'&btnG=Search Another native deciduous sub-shrub that comes to mind is Amsonia. There are several varieties and most have light blue flowers. I have Amsonia hubrichtii and it turns a lovely shade of yellow in the fall. The last pic shows fall color in combo with other plantings. http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=W810 http://www.onla.org/ps_02amsonia.html http://www.onla.org/images/amsonia3.jpg http://www.onla.org/images/amsonia4.jpg You could plant one or two small trees, some groundcover and the hardy geraniums. http://www.class.uidaho.edu/communityresearch/imagesAustin/eugene/DSC00719.JPG You can research plants here. They list several cultivars of most plants. This is the start page for the botanical names. You can click on 'Common Names' as well. http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Alpha.asp?start=A&end=A I also did a google using several different terms (median strip, traffic island, parking island, etc. and clicked on 'Images'. I found this first site using the term traffic island. There are a couple of interesting pics, especially the overhead one. http://www.co.delaware.in.us/mdcb/ More pics: http://www.jimbo.info/weblog/archives/MedianStrip.jpg http://slides.sitewelder.com/users/MonitRosendale2763/images/MonitRosendale2763146863.jpg Newt
