You have to really look to find red flowers here at May Dreams Gardens.In fact, as far as I know or can recall, there are no red flowering plants of any kinds amongst the perennials, trees, and shrubs.
Most years, as a matter of fact, I don't even get red flowers for the containers.
But I did buy this dwarf canna the other day, figuring it would be red-flowering, even though it had no bloom or tag when I bought it. I thought it might help attract hummingbirds.
But look what I planted around it.
Those are pink, purple and rosy colored verbena. Now, those are flower colors!Near my new hummingbird feeder, I also gave in and planted this Pentas 'Butterfly Red'.
This is a lot of red flowers for me, more than I usually plant. (I know that's just two so far, but wait, there are more.)I do like things that are red when they are in the vegetable garden.
I've picked about five dozen strawberries between yesterday and today out of my little 4' x 8' patch and there are more ripening daily.I hope by mid-July I'll also see some red tomatoes in the vegetable garden, instead of just seeing red when the rabbits eat something they shouldn't or that neighbor's cat does his business in one of my raised beds.
The only other red flowers I have are these impatiens.
I'm almost, but obviously not quite, embarrassed to show these, since I just planted them rather hastily this evening, trying to get the last of my plants potted up, and they look a bit rough. But we all know they'll fill in nicely.How did I end up with red impations, you ask? For some reason, I got a packet of Tutu Impatiens from Pinetree Garden Seeds with my one of my seed orders. I don't remember ordering them, but I could have. The packet said it was a mix of rose, peach, and red flowers, but I sowed the seeds anyway, taking my chances that I'd end up with rose and peach colored flowers.
I ended up with all red flowers.
I decided to dedicate them to one of my fellow garden bloggers who couldn't believe I avoid red flowers in my garden. In response to one of my comments on Digging about how I avoid red flowers, Pam, the author of Digging, left me a comment and I quote, "You avoid red?! Can it be so? Red is one of my favorites in the garden (and elsewhere). But I’m fond of purple and yellow too."
So, Pam, this isn't exactly one of your famous stock tank planters, it's just an old metal wash tub, with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage, planted with some of the only red flowers at May Dreams Gardens. I thought of you when I planted it up. I hope you like it.
Does anyone else have a particular flower color that they avoid in their garden? Don't tell me I'm the only one who does this!
Comments
Until the middle 1990's I had very few red flowers either, Carol -going for pale pinks and peaches, lilacs and blues and pale yellows.
Then I decided to make a 'Hot Border' next to the west-facing, long blacktop drive, and I put in red monarda, red daylilies, Maltese Cross, etc. I planted pineapple sage which sometimes managed to bloom before an autumn freeze killed it.
Down here I also started out with more sedate colors, and have consigned the hot pinks to the Pink Entrance Garden, but once I saw the first hummingbird began to add lots of red flowers. So your red canna looks pretty tempting to me!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
[the word verification is "jokrsss" - sounds like good name for a Band with a blog.]
I posted some pictures of how my vegetable garden is doing today, plus a few shots of the front. Hope you have time to stop by.
I am attracted to deep, dark blood reds and shy away from fiery orange reds. I've learned that whether I like a red or not depends a lot on the texture of the flower.
I do avoid certain flower colors: pale blue, pale pink, and peach. They're all pastels, now I think about it.
Red is a particular favorite, but most of my reds come from annuals. However, last year I planted Park's Pastel Mix of zinnias and most of them turned out bright red.
bee balm in my hummingbird garden because they really attract the little hummers!Natureboy planted some tomatoes so more red this year!
When we were in Arizona this past winter everywhere are RED flowers and among the desert gardens it looks wonderful...POPS out at you! It also complimented all the red clay tile rooftops too!
I guess red in our gardens can be striking!
However there are other considerations. I like to attract birds and bees, but I can't grow anything that is palatable to deer. And everything must be able to survive a hot dry summer without artificial irrigation. So picking plants on the basis of flower color is a luxury I don't have.
Dave, I think that's more how I am. I gravitate toward colors I like and red is just not one of those colors.
HealingMagicHands, I will definitely take time to 'stop by' and see your gardens.
Layanee, Hmmmm, School Bus Yellow. Would that include the Stella D'Oro daylilies, because I have a lot of them.
MSS @ Zanthan Garden, Yes, I remember your post about the red coral bean flowers, right? And different reds do often clash, at least to me.
Pam/digging, Even without the beautiful pastel colored flowers, your gardens are always beautiful.
Entangled, Except for red, I can find most other colors in my garden, but like you, I'm not sure what I would get rid of.
NatureGirl, I agree, red in the right kind of garden setting can really "pop" out at you and be pretty, if you like red.
Bill/Prairiepoint, Well, at least I can see all the colors, and pick most any I want. You do have some gardening challenges!
Gail, So you only have one red flower?
Robin's Nesting Place, Red is becoming quite popular!
Mr. McGregor's Daughter, Lots of laugh, don't hold back, tell us how you really feel about orange flowers!
Gintoino, I agree, red can be difficult to work into some color schemes.
Zvrk, I'll have to look that one up!
Thanks all for the comments on red flowers.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Right on the tails of pink is yellow, but I'm learning to make friends with a few buttery shades of that. There's no hope for the pink, though!
I love your planter with the dwarf canna.
Well, I was the one who promised myself the biggest box of crayons that I could get when I was a little girl...and I kept that promise when I was an adult.
Seems to have carried through with my garden. Hmmm. There may be a blog post in that for me too. Needs some thinking.
lol word verification: bcrqi
Every color is beautiful to me, when it is being worn by a flower!
I read your post above about houseplants too. You know--I don't have a single one. I think it's cause my season of outdoor plants goes for so long that I never get around to the indoor plants.