Chrysanthemums

Day 330: Adding bedding plants to your garden is the easy way to keep colour fresh all summer long. Chrysanthemums are a fall favourite, and sometimes reward you by sticking around to re-sprout the following year. As a matter of fact, the purple one I planted in the center of the strawberry jar just off my back porch is now on its fourth year, and I have done nothing to protect it from winter temperatures. These three followed me home recently and replaced the straggling nasturtiums in a planter box on the steps.

Although perennials require less work than annuals (especially if you're growing your bedding plants from seed), changing up the colour in your garden can be a creative experience. It's fun to play with themes, although I seldom seem to stick to one, or at least not strictly to (say) reds or blues. Some plant outside the palette always manages to sneak into my cart...a purple chrysanthemum, for example. My layout never goes exactly as planned either, so the result is that my flower beds are a riot of colour in the manner of an English cottage garden. I like the unstructured look, although I wish I'd put the tall snapdragons closer to the back, and had spread the celosia out evenly along the border rather than dedicating two square feet of space to its cockscombs. "Maybe next year," I tell myself, and then when next year rolls around, the Haphazard Plan becomes the rule yet again. Perhaps I just can't bring myself to impose structure on Nature.