Success and Failures in the flowerbeds.
Success: the tulips out bloomed the daffodils. The daffodils seem to be more prone to early heat and late freezes than tulips. The crocus and allium (flowering onion) did great.
The mainstays like four o’clock (I grow the variety with striped and splashed flower blossoms), zinnias (the taller varieties up to 3 foot), and cleome (which got up to 6 feet tall) all did well.
The marigolds have been getting botrytis wilt in them (where the flower and gradually the plant dries up). I will substitute zinnias because nothing kills them.I grew the datura plant with trumpet blooms that open at night. The newer varieties grew tall but skinny. Will go back to the old white, bushy, standby.
Calendulas were the first to bloom (May) and the last to bloom (October) but require constant deadheading to keep them blooming.
Bachelor buttons are early blooming flowers with a fast bloom time which I pull out when they get done blooming.
For a fast-growing plant that will grow over 6-foot-tall and 5-foot-wide, it is the Castor bean.
I tried Ostersporuim (daisy-like flower grown mainly in containers) in the flowerbed. Never again, they got stunted growing in competition with other flowers.
Cosmos make nice filler plants in the bed, however, our winds last year just broke them down. They never recovered.
Mexican sunflower with its bright orange flowers was the outstanding flower this year. They do tend to bend down with the wind. Next year I will stake the main stem.