My Orange and Purple Flowerbed – Electric and Tropical!

I’ve got a spot in my front yard where I like to put an old whisky barrel half. It gets sun most of the time during the day, and I want to plant something that my family and the neighbors will enjoy – even if it’s a bit unusual, as we take our daily walks.

This year I’ve decided to go a somewhat offbeat route regarding color schemes. I’m blessed with a good supply of Canna ‘Wyoming’ rhizomes. If you aren’t familiar with that particular Canna cultivar – it’s a very tall plant (grows to about 6-8 feet) and is topped with beautiful orange blossoms. The foliage is purple. Using this Canna will be perfect for my summer bed. I want to achieve a three-layered look, with some tall Cannas in back, an interesting intermediate layer planted in the flower barrel, and some annuals down in front.

The book Exotics are Easy was a useful read in planning this bed. Short articles with lots of pictures let you make quick work of choosing species and cultivars for your garden projects. Multiple authors present several styles - all of which are refreshingly different. I highly recommend it for flowerbed planning purposes!

Ultimately, I decided that I will use five Wyomings in a semicircle on the west side of the whisky barrel away from the road. These magnificent plants will form an excellent backdrop for the bed. I’ll plant them about 18 – 24 inches apart and space them about a foot from the edge of the barrel.

For the intermediate layer, I want to maintain the tropical look, but with some unusual plants that will contrast the Wyomings nicely. I’ve chosen an Alocasia x amazonica cultivar called ‘Polly’ as the centerpiece. This is an unusual elephant ear that has green scalloped foliage with large silvery-white veins. It’s a dwarf version of the African Mask alocasia. Dwarf, so it doesn’t overgrow the pot, and showy to contrast the Cannas behind it. In order to provide more interest for the eye, I’m also going to use a variegated spider plant Chlorophytum comosum ‘Vitattum’ that has a white stripe down the center of each leaf. This is a common houseplant, but works well in containers outside as well. The beautiful lime-green sweet potato vine Ipomoea batatas ‘Sweet Caroline Light Green’ will fill in the barrel and spill over the sides.

On the east side of the barrel and for the bottom layer, the intensely-colored Zinnia elegans ‘Zowie Zinnia’ gets the nod. This new cultivar is being marketed by the Burpee Seed Company this year. Seven or eight of these arranged in front of the barrel should make an outstanding orange and red connection to the Wyomings in back.

I will pot the Canna and Alocasia rhizomes up about the middle of March. Zinnias will be planted from seeds on about the first of April – I like to use Jiffy 7 peat pellets for this because they are so easy to transplant. The spider plant is already rooting. It is an offshoot from an established plant at my place of work. Local greenhouses always have lots of sweet potato vine. If you can’t find Sweet Caroline, try the old favorite chartreuse - Marguerite.