2011, 2012 Tax Refund Calculator

Improve Your Home With Perennial Plants

To add a touch of color to their spring and summer landscape, some people can’t wait to rush out to local greenhouses or home improvement stores for blooming plants on the first sunny day.

But not everyone enjoys the spring ritual of planting annuals – from the early blooming pansies, to those that grace yards with color all summer like marigolds, zinnias, impatiens and petunias. That’s because no matter ho pretty they are, annuals will only last you for the season before dying. And most of today’s varieties are hybrids and even though they are capable of reseeding, they are not expected to produce the exact variety which you actually planted.

Your home can benefit from perennial plantings however, if you’re one of those people who don’t enjoy a lot of gardening but wish you had flowers anyway. If you choose plants suited for your locality and plant them where they receive the optimum light and moisture for their type, you can plant once and forget them.

Different from annuals, perennials actually return yearly. Most of which will increase in size and beauty. Others will be distributed through rhizomes, making new bulbs, or through seeds, so that one plant can, in time, become big enough to fill up flower beds without the additional work.

Among the hardest working of these self-propagating plants are some of the best known. And while spring plants would need to be set in the fall, for this summer you can still buy bagged or potted varieties to add to your lawn.

Before buying, evaluate your planting areas. While most areas are sunny in the early spring before trees leaf out, when looking for summer plants you’ll have to consider foliage and the difference it makes.

Probably one of the easiest plants to think about is day lilies if you can find a spot that is going to be mostly sunny. Newer varieties, aside from the original stock, which was tall, orange and only bloomed once, offer a lot of options while still possessing the hardiness of the original. Virtually in any color, day lilies can be found from the nearly black to the palest pinks and yellows. You can choose plants that are much shorter and those that will re-bloom as well. Their soil demands are not high, so you don’t have to do a lot of digging and cultivating to get an area ready for them. Looking like ornamental grasses, they will extend their rhizomes and spread and can quickly fill in beds with their foliage then cover themselves in blooms by mid summer if left with room to grow.

For shady areas, hostas in all their varieties are an easy choice. They rely on their foliage for their beauty, as their blooms are generally small, but the leaves come in many sizes and color combinations. Variations of greens from yellowish to blue-tinted, or variegated with white or multi-tones are the shades you usually find these clumps of leaves in. There are also tinier leaves and some as large as a plate. They will make larger clumps of leaves each year and can periodically be dug and broken apart for new plants as desired.

With little work and just two types of plants, you can transform your yard into a summer beauty, without digging out the gardening tools every spring.

For your industrial woodworking needs, Machinery Masters offers used cnc router and other solid wood working machines. When it’s time for remodeling your home consider siding Wichita KS and replacement windows Wichita from All Seasons Construction.

Tags: home, home and family, home improvements, plants

No comments yet.

Leave a comment