Late Season Planting
Doug says
One of the problems with summer is we sometimes find flowering holes in our garden designs. And as I write this answer in the middle to end of June, those holes are getting bigger. :-( Some flower seeds are fairly short season growers. I'm thinking something like Alyssum will get up and flower quickly. Dwarf sunflowers are pretty good.
A late planting of gladiola will give you a late bloom but you' ll have to plant early varieties to get them to bloom quickly enough (early September) before frost knocks them down.
No cutting is really going to get going fast enough to give you color. I experimented this year with a very late geranium cutting and am discovering that it really does take the full 12 weeks to get those plants recovered and growing enough to give a blossom show. So the cuttings I took in late April are growing fine but not looking like they're going to give me a bud for another month yet (end of July). Taking them now would give you something around October (decreasing fall light levels are going to slow them down).
My best recommendation on this one? Go to a garden center and pick up some flowering annuals to put into your dead zones. Or, do as my neighbor does and visit the dollar-store and pick up some silk flowers to do the same thing. Just remember to pull them out after frost or your "secret" will be out.
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