Plant Cool-Season Flowers for Winter and Spring Color
One thing I like about living in Louisiana is having a landscape with abundant color, even during the winter. Evergreen trees like live oaks, magnolias, and pines play a big part in this. Kumquats ripen around Christmas, camellias flower between January and March, and many hollies have red berries that hang on for a long time.
Another way to add cheer to fall, winter, and early spring landscapes is to plant cool-season flowering plants.
Petunias are classic cool-season annuals. To maximize flower production, plant them between September and early November. Early February to mid-March provides another planting window. Planting at that time can help extend the flowering period of heat-tolerant varieties into the summer.
One such heat-tolerant cultivar is Supertunia Vista Bubblegum, which was chosen as a Louisiana Super Plant several years ago. Individual plants of this vigorous, pink-flowered variety can reach 16 to 24 inches tall and 3 feet wide.
Another group of traditional cool-season flowers includes the pansy and its close relative, the viola or Johnny-jump-up. Compared to pansies, violas produce an abundance of smaller flowers. The Sorbet series of violas, which includes members with a wide variety of flower colors, joined Louisiana Super Plant ranks in 2012. Plants in this series grow to approximately 6 inches tall and 12 inches wide. It’s advised that violas and pansies be planted between late October and early December.
One of the most striking cool-season flowers is the foxglove. Those in the Camelot series were chosen as Super Plants for 2010. These can be planted between November and February, before they’re in bloom, for beautiful spring flowers.
Other cool-season Super Plant selections have included the Jolt and Amazon dianthus series, the Swan columbine series, Diamonds Blue delphinium, and one that you can snack on, Redbor kale. Besides these Super Plant selections, other cool-season flowering plants include alyssum, calendula, snapdragon, and stock.
Choose a well-drained site for bedding plants. Tilling the soil to several inches deep and incorporating 2 to 4 inches of an organic material such as compost or aged pine bark is recommended. If drainage is questionable, form a raised bed. A couple of inches of mulch will help suppress weed growth and retain moisture in the soil.
Fertilizer can be incorporated into the soil or broadcast on the surface at a rate of 0.1 pound of nitrogen per 100 square feet. The first number in the fertilizer analysis is the percentage of nitrogen in the fertilizer. Examples of fertilizer quantities that would give you 0.1 pound of nitrogen include 0.7 pound 15-9-12, 0.8 pound 13-13-13, or 1 pound 10-10-10. Slow-release fertilizers are a better option for this purpose than readily soluble ones, but either can be used.
Many flowering bedding plants perform best when planted in full sun, though some tolerate partial shade.
Let me know if you have questions.
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Dr. Mary Helen Ferguson is an Extension Agent with the LSU AgCenter, with horticulture responsibilities in Washington and Tangipahoa Parishes. Contact Mary Helen at mhferguson@agcenter.lsu.edu or 985-277-1850 (Hammond) or 985-839-7855 (Franklinton).
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