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Four Season Color
It is about
time that someone tells Texas folks that we are living under a false doctrine:
the Myth of the Four Seasons. In
fact, those who have been around for one full year will probably all nod in
agreement that our seasons here are but two: hot and hotter. Now it is true that anomalies do occur. Periodic cool nights might even warrant the purchase of a
sweater or jacket. Known in
other parts of the country as “winter,” some of us have come to call this
short period which may last from four to five weeks -- and never consecutively
so as not to allow for reliability -- to be the season of “less daylight.” We learn quickly in these parts to layer each article of
clothing, peeling down to a comfortable, short sleeve by afternoon, uniforms
that might denote “summer” elsewhere, which we can call the season of
“more daylight.” So, you
might ask (and rightly so), what in the world does this
have to do with gardening? The
point is that we cannot always subscribe to the hype of promoters – garden
catalogs, gardening magazines -- of the NORTHERN idea of seasonal color.
We endeavor each year to change summer to autumn by yanking out tired
periwinkles and replacing them with chrysanthemums.
Then just as quickly we switch to winter with a flat of bright-eyed
pansies. Spring can be sprung
with a splash of pink petunias and then the cycle begins again as the heat of
summer sets in, usually only a couple of weeks later.
It is easier and cheaper to
recognize that some plants can have at least three and possibly even four
seasons of color within themselves. Looking
at that premise, we will investigate the reasons we would want seasonal color
and some of the best ways to attain this lofty goal in our own landscapes.
AESTHETICS:
There is nothing wrong with color for color’s sake.
If you love orange and feel that your life would have less meaning were
it not for your orange zinnias each summer, then by all means keep your orange
coming. But why not look at some
alternatives to putting out zinnia seedlings late each spring, unless you have
the time and money to spend in such a way (or have better luck and patience
with seeds than the rest of us). Try
staggering flowering times of several long-blooming orange perennials.
Daylily, butterfly weed, Indian blanket, standing cypress, trumpet vine
and canna are just a sampling that give different orange blooms all through
the hot months. Then let shrubs and trees, including several varieties of
rose (blooms and hips), nandina, azalea, pyracantha, holly or pomegranate as
well as numerous trees with leaves that turn orange take up slack the rest of
the year. Buy these specimens during the same time of year that they would
normally display the desired color so that you get precisely what you want.
That way you can get your color fix annually without having to replant
seasonally.
Another method used to bring particular
colors into your landscape is through the hardscapes, outdoor furniture and
ornamentation. If blue by the
front door is the desire of your heart, maybe a porcelain fish bowl, treated
as a plant stand, could be the solution. Slide a couple of rockers with a blue
stained wash next to the door and nail a wreath with faded heather above it.
Grayish-blue flagstone can usually be laid right over the tired old
cement, giving it a whole new look and feel.
Or maybe just put out a colorful rag rug with cobalt blue in it to
liven up the porch and give visitors
a place to knock the dirt off their boots before coming inside.
MOOD CHANGE: There are those of us who
could not imagine a spring without azaleas.
It somehow makes us feel better to see life reawakening in those green
globs that give no indication that they have anything worth looking at the
rest of the year. Car lines form
for miles to see the wonder of the azaleas in bloom, proving that other people
must also be awestruck at these white and pink and salmon and lavender
displays. Some drive through the
Rockies to see the turning of the aspen.
Others plan fall trips to the New England states, wishing to be there
at the precise moment the fall show is in its peak.
Or maybe the first snow of the season rates as your most anticipated
seasonal event. Whatever your
preference, there is something mood elevating in seeing nature’s volatility
and ever changing dimensions. By
adding plants into your landscape that can display each of the seasons within
their own characteristics, you will also add year-round interest to your
garden. Look at the
specific seasons of a given plant:
does it flower… have outstanding fall color or lose its leaves quickly…
have striking bark or an interesting form… have berries or an interesting
seedpod? Or does it look exactly
the same all year? Monotony does
not make an exciting landscape; only the same predictable one, day after day,
every day of the year. Introducing
a number of plants that change, either in color or shape, can welcome the
seasons every bit as well as a trip to the nursery for a couple of flats of
annuals.
WILDLIFE: Planting
flowers, shrubs or trees for their seasonal color may motivate many, but there
are also those who bring in certain plants for the benefits they provide for
wildlife. Birders are more apt to
use berrying plants to woo in feathered friends for winter food supply than
for any other purpose. And a
gardener who understands and appreciates the butterfly and its stages will be
less likely to go ballistic with insecticide when caterpillars are found
chewing on a passionvine. The
reason the plant is probably in their garden in the first place might not be
for the incredible halo-like blossoms anyway, but for the fortitude it offers
several species of butterfly larvae. Those
who enjoy landscaping for wildlife realize that most plants do indeed have
their own colorful seasons (flowers, berries/seeds) that coincide perfectly
with birds’ migration and insect lifecycles.
They have learned to anticipate each one for its own inherent merit as
well as for the new visitors these changes bring into their garden.
The
primary frustration of neophyte Texans, (aside from their newly acquired
allergist’s bills) seems to stem from a desire to do things the way they
always have in their gardens. It
is not only impossible, it is also unnecessary to replant with every new
calendar season. Texas weather
does not read calendars. It is
just as likely to be 75 degrees in January as to be 35 degrees, possibly even
both within the same day. Purchasing
plants that thrive in a variety of conditions and either maintain their color
or change to another color can be the answer to the headaches of your
ornamental cabbage bolting within a month of its being planted.
And remember that although many things -- like the weather -- are
beyond human control, there is still a familiar rhythm that beats within all
life: a rhythm of crescendo then rest. Without
one, we would have no frame of reference to recognize the other.
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