September Walking Tour – Stroll through Lainie’s Cutting Garden

September is a great time to take a walk through the flowers in Lainie’s Cutting Garden. By this time in late summer the plants are in full bloom and at their peak for harvesting. This garden was designed with ease of cutting in mind with annuals planted in the center beds and perennials and shrubs bordering the entire garden. 

As you approach Lainie’s Cutting Garden you will notice that the center beds are laid out in concentric circles creating an almost labyrinth-like path through the garden. Enter the garden through the south entrance across from Oak Grove and give the flowers a quick scan. The garden is small in comparison, but it is packed full of beautiful colors, shapes and textures creating a lush living arrangement. Each of the center beds are designed and planted with a color theme in mind and as you walk from east to north to west the colors progress through each pigment of the rainbow.

• As you take a right around the circle the first plant you will notice stands high above the rest, Leonotis nepetifolia, or lion’s ear. Lion’s ear features perfect ball-shaped structures that adorn the tall main stem with small orange flowers protruding out of each ball. This flower is perfect for using in fresh or dried flower arrangements. Come back this winter and you will be able to see it on display in the Romantic Gardens’ dried arrangements.
• Another plant that shares the orange palette of the garden is Amaranthus cruentus ‘Hot Biscuits’. This cultivar of amaranth is a bit different than most of the red and pink varieties. Hot Biscuits features bronze-colored plumes that bloom throughout the summer and into fall.
• As you continue walking you will see a very interesting ball-type dahlia, Dahlia ‘Double Jill’. Double Jill gets its name from the many colors that it features on each flower. No one flower is ever the same with different combinations of white, orange and yellow. Dahlias make great cut flowers, and the ball types seem to attract less Japanese beetles!
• As you make your way around the pink section of the rainbow you may notice a familiar smell in the air that is Ocimum basilicum ‘Cardinal’. Cardinal basil is in its full expression this time of year showing off its dark pink blooms and lush foliage. Basil makes a fantastic filler for flower arrangements and with flowers and fragrance you can’t go wrong.
• Finally, you make your way to the end of the rainbow where purple is the featured color. The standouts in this section are Eustoma grandiflorum ‘Can Can Purple’ and Eustoma grandiflorum MARIACHI® Lavender, also known as lisianthus. The flowers on lisianthus often remind people of roses with their soft petals and double flower heads. They can be a bit top heavy, so we plant them tight and provide a lot of support as they grow. These flowers add a lot of drama to fresh arrangements, and they will hold up for weeks.

This is just a handful of the many flowers that are on display in Lainie’s Cutting Garden. Come back again and again to discover something new; the garden is always changing.
 

Gallery photos by Angie Andrade