Gardening in the Valley of Heart's Delight

Mike's Garden


Coleus	When we cut back the peach tree, a new strip for gardening magically appeared. Since it was still partly shaded and easily watered, I suggested that Mike plant some of his beloved coleus there. And indeed, they are doing splendidly. We both find the riotous colors of coleus charming, though some people consider them garish. Their loss. I find the velvety dark ones like the one below particularly pleasing.
Coleus is listed as a half-hardy perennial, but even our winters are too cold for them, at least without extra protection. I'm a bit suspicious, though, because last summer we allowed them to flower and they promptly died afterwards, which is a typical annual behavior — reproduce and die. Still, I may try giving them protection when frost or freezes threaten and see if I can coax them through the coming winter. At the very least, I should root slips from our favorites so we're not at the mercies of the nursery selections next year.		Velvety dark coleus
Heliotrope Marine	Heliotrope is a classic English garden plant, colloquially known some places as "Cherry Pie Plant", due to its vanilla-like flavor. Or so they say. I read recently that the most commonly sold variety, Marine, is also the least-scented one! I walked into a garden in England one time where heliotrope was lining the walkways, and they scented the whole garden magnificently. Ours you need to stick your nose right down in it. So I may try to hunt down stronger-scented versions next year. Marvelous color, though, isn't it? And with a mild winter or a little protection, it will winter over nicely.
For the last couple of years Mike has been encouraging the morning glories that reseed themselves along the fence. They're much happier this year now that they're getting more sun finally. They're twining over everything, even, as you can faintly see, climbing up into the nearby tree.		Ambitious morning glories
Lupine and dahlia	We also planted some charmingly sweet lupines and a wide selection of dahlias. It's a complete accident that these two lovely pink ones ended up together, but we're not complaining. With a little luck, they'll be back next year too. See the next page for even more dahlias.