The urn along our walkway still had the pansies and violas I planted back in early April. They had filled out to an impressive width and height that it didn’t look attractive anymore, and the heat has been a little hard on them, so something fun and summery was needed.
I strolled the local garden centre up and down, grabbing all sorts of plants, then putting some back, picking up new ones, putting others back… I couldn’t picture how well any of the plants would look together in the urn. Some days my mind can’t get into the creative groove. I must have spent 2 hours there and this isn’t a big garden centre like the nursery in the next town over where I normally go.
I had read rave reviews recently about fan flower and found some Whirlwind White from Proven Winners. Without having much of a plan in mind I grabbed 2 of those, 2 Supertunia Mini Purple, 2 deep red geraniums, and a sweet potato vine. Here is the urn all put together -
It doesn’t look too bad I suppose.
I also have to rave about fan flower. I love it. Its trailing habit is a great feature. It is now in with my favourite annuals and I will be adding this to my containers every year.
Scaveola aemula [fan flower], which is an Australian native, has rounded basal leaves and narrower stem leaves on prostrate stems that reach only 6 to 8 inches high but grow 2 or more feet long. The flowers appear on only one side which gives it a fan-like appearance. There were also some pretty blues and purples available, but the white I found very striking. It is definitely a trailing annual that will add lots of character to those planters.
