Spring Color
Spring Seasonal Color planting usually begins in the middle of March. Usually, March 15th marks the beginning of frost-free days. Planting earlier than that can be risky, a chance of cold snap damaging the new plantings. One of our Color Consultant’s favorites for Spring Seasonal Color is Geraniums which are good for sun and light shade in commercial landscaping. Petunias make a huge splash of color and do great in full sun which makes them perfect for monument signs. Marigolds come in two bloom sizes, the regular size and a bigger bloom head. Red salvia and Lobelia work well for this time of year as well. In addition, some of your Winter Seasonal Color varieties continue to do very well in Spring, like Alyssum and Snapdragons. Planting a combination of these Spring varieties provides great contrast with the pops of pink, purple, yellow, blue and red which is eye catching for your landscaping.
Summer Color
The heat of a Houston summer can put Seasonal Color to the test. Especially for commercial properties with heat from roads and parking lots or glare off of windows, wind tunnels or large trees pulling out much of the moisture in the soil. Our years of experience has taught us which Summer Color varieties work best for summer temperatures. We start our Summer Color installation around mid-April. If a commercial property planted a Spring Color, we will push the Summer Color install date to late May. Summer Color that we like to use include Vinca , Pentas, Caladiums, Coleus, Yellow shrimp plant, and Angelonia.
Vinca should never be planted before April 15th in a commercial landscape setting. Cooler nights slow down the growth and could cause diseases. Pentas do very well in both sun and shade which makes them a versatile choice for many places on your property. Caladiums are one of our favorites. They are both sun and shade varieties in many different shades and leaf shapes. Yellow Shrimp Plant is a choice that provide a really great pop of yellow and is an interesting flower that gets lots of attention, mainly for light shade. A new Seasonal Color variety for summer is Dragonwing Begonias. They enjoy afternoon shade, grow taller than the traditional Begonia but have the same bloom type. Their height makes them a good choice for beds that need a tiered effect of Seasonal Color.
Another LMC favorite is Indian Summer Rudbeckia. The huge bloom is showy and a crowd favorite in commercial property management. Potato Vine is a great choice for hanging baskets or elevated planters because is trails nicely and has a bright chartreuse color or can be mixed with the dark leaf variety. Lantana love the heat and comes in some really eye-catching colors with new varieties that stay more compact. Profusion Zinnias are a good sturdy variety for the area. You can choose a single or double bloom in shades of yellow, orange, fire, which is a dark deep red-orange, and even white. They are also Zinnia varieties that grow tall and have a much bigger bloom, like Dreamland or Magellan zinnias and come in many colors. Blue Salvia provides has been a stable for years and works well in cottage gardens and the tiered look.
With all of these awesome choice for Summer Seasonal Color, we like to plant cottage gardens for our commercial landscaping. Using different shapes of flowers with different colors creates a rainbow effect that looks natural and beautiful. Cottage beds also have the benefit of one plant dies or isn’t performing as well, it doesn’t leave as much of a hole in the Seasonal Color scheme because the other plants will grow over and cover that spot. In addition, toward the end of the Summer Color season it becomes harder to find replacement for particular color that may be dying out. If you do solid rows of Seasonal Color, you may not always be able to find a replacement. Cottage gardens are a lot more forgiving and work really well in the commercial landscape in our heat of Houston area.
Summer seasonal Color include LOTS of choices!
