Bringing Color to the Late Summer Garden

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Hi! I am Dave Epstein. This is Growing Wisdom and I am walking into Western Nurseries today in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. I want to talk about heading into a nursery. Why do you go to a nursery? Well, couple of reasons, you might have an area that you need to do some screening. Perhaps you want to put up a hedge. Maybe you have a new perennial garden you wan tot put in or you just have a particular plant that you know you want to add to your garden. So today, I want to talk about what if you want to add something like a rose of Charon, a hearty hibiscus - the common name is rose of Charon, Latin name, hibiscus syringus. This particular variety is Aphrodite. What is great about this that only are the petals pink but the eye, the center of it has a darker pink to it.

Let us go back by the entrance here and to the right as I walk by. One, if you like something blue, is this blue satin variety. In blue satin again, notice that it has the darker eye to it ad it has the bluish petals around that, a really nice variety. I really like this. You know, it is kind of like walking into a supermarket. When you go to the supermarket, maybe you need a lot of stuff but you usually bring a list. I always recommend when you go to the nursery, know why you are there. For us today, we know that we want a hearty hibiscus. We are just trying to select the one that we want because we want something that flowers in late July and early August. That is the blue variety and the variety behind it is a white variety but not an all white variety. It actually has this darker center here - this is called red heart for obvious reasons. So, in my head when I came to the nursery, I was thinking, "I need some color this time of the year." So, the hibiscus is a great choice. I know this is one over there. Just work the camera over there. See, if we can see what is over there. Do you notice how those white hydrangeas and there is also another white hibiscus ad we are going to walk over there and I am going to show you what these look like close up.

This particular hydrangea is called lime-like. I love this because of the limey green color that it as and also again, flowering late in July through August and then when the flower stop flowering, the dry flowers also look really nice. But behind that is this last variety of hearty hibiscus I want to point out. And what is great about this is that there is no eye center. So, if you are one of those people that do not like that darker color, this is all white. Just fantastic. This wonderful variety is called Diana. Another great variety to add if you want to add some color in that late July to August even September time frame. Hearty hibiscus and some of the hydrangeas -- great choices.

Come back every week for all of our tips, hints and helps at growingwisdom.com.

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