Months fly by as we watch our plants grow, bloom, and attract throughout the year. In place of the Azaleas, the Clematis’, Daylilies, and Crape Myrtles are summoning up the energy to be in full bloom these next few weeks.
The delicate structure of the Clematis vine has very attractive flowers containing multiple colors, depending on the cultivar. The after flower is considerably showy with the unique frills growing out of the seed giving it a fine texture. For a continuing bloom time throughout the summer, cut back or ‘deadhead’ the after flower.
Daylilies give the nice wispy grass texture of an herbaceous perennial. The flowers can last throughout the summer, straight into frost, depending on the weather conditions. The individual flowers generally open for one day but the quantity as a whole, makes the perennial more enjoyable throughout the summer. Planting Lilies in larger quantities help accentuate other major focal points throughout the landscape with the consistency and distinct texture of the Daylily.
Crape Myrtles are more of a woody shrub developing beautiful panicle flowers in the summer, reddish purple foliage in the fall, crepe-papery dried flower structures in winter, and peeling bark as an added aesthetic feature all year round. Along with these distinctions, Crape Myrtles do well in the St. Louis area in terms of its deciduous, upright, spreading, and multi-stemmed growth habit. In more of the southern states, this plant can get up to 10-11’ tall, whereas in Missouri, it can grow from 2-10’ tall. Winter weather can take a toll on the upper growth, therefore, by applying a winter mulch around the base plus cutting the stems back 8”, will allow more growth in the spring.
These well rounded plants can either be used as specimens in the landscape with all of their wonderful characteristics throughout the year, or can help accentuate other focal points to help them stand out. Contact our Landscape Designer for a free consultation about your landscape!