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Sarasota News Leader May 17, 2013 Deeper inward, Red Sister ti plants and snowbush interject their bright, blush tones. They give way to the taller variegated ginger and thryallis. Finally, the eye is led up to the design climax: the graceful palms and the large lush holly. Page 83 for the impatiens. I bought eight cool season annuals that I had never before planted as a trial to see how they would fare. The results, I must admit, were not encouraging. Slowly each of my choices descended from "greenhouse beautiful" into a swoon — all except one, that is: Mona Lavender. Next time you are planning a project, try to depart from linear planting and employ a vari- Whether you utilize it as a subject for a pot, ety of colors and forms. If you do, your garden hanging basket or bedding plant Plectranthus can maintain its deep green foliage and bright, will play and sing the songs of spring! spiked purple flowers through the cool of winPLANT OF THE MONTH ter and the hot moist summer of central Florida. A couple of autumns ago, I began to plant impatiens as I have for years to give my clients a This South African hybrid will grow into an blast of cool season color. By early February attractive, compact shrub 2 feet in height and 2012, most of them had succumbed to a dev- breadth. It also "plays nicely" with my cobalt astating outbreak of powdery mildew. blue birdbath, red geraniums and purple snapdragons. That disappointment led me to conduct a highly unscientific experiment to see if I could find Contact Rick Wielgorecki at 362-0600 or another annual that I might use as a substitute wielgo@hotmail.com. % Mona lavender maintains its good looks in both cool and hot weather. Contributed photo