Suggestions for cascading color?

EDITED TO SAY I WANT BRIGHT COLOR....NOT PASTELS. THIS WILL MAKE YOUR MEMORY SEARCH EASIER! THANKS, ALL! :)


I have rock walls in the back of my house. I have tried petunias ("Wave" I think they're called) in purple and love it, but half of them have died!

Any suggestions about...
1. What the Wave petunias like...lots of water...little water...sun...?
2. What other color plant (I don't use white or light pink in this garden) would cascade down the wall?

The area gets full sun and has a watering system that runs once a day for 15 minutes. I turn it off after it rains for 2 days or so and hand-water just the new plants that need a daily drink.

Thanks!

This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 12:00 PM

In spite of what they say about the Waves, I can't get them to survive the high heat of summer in full sun here in Houston. Other ideas for cascading plants that I've had good luck with are prostrate rosemary (evergreen, purple blooms and wonderful smell and you can cook with it!), scavieola/fan flower (lavender purple blooms), purslane (lots of colors), Blue Daze (bright intense blue). I'm growing all of those without problem. You might loose all but the rosemary in a prolonged winter freeze, but they're pretty inexpensive plants.

Please post pics when you're done Connie. I bet it'll be spectacular!

Connie, I just thought of one more that would look great in the color scheme you have going. Had you thought of Bat Face Cuphea? It's not truly a cascading plant, but mine are slightly elevated and do drape over the sides of the bed. I think they'd look wonderful there, but might get taller than you want if you're looking for more of a trailing ground cover.

I was going to say prostrate rosemary. I will try to remember to take a pic of mine that is cascading over my rock wall.

Mexican Heather. I know that sounds strange but I saw a massive planting of it over on Westheimer @ a restaurant. It was awesome. Never thought about MH trailing but it was coming down better than 5'.

And of course, there are always the 'trailing' lantanas in just about any color combo you could want.
:~)


This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 5:44 PM

Ice plants

again I say ice plants lol

Trailing Lantana

Pink buttons? Green, pink, red in leaves...

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/363/index.html

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm thinking! :)

How about some of the sedums?

Blue plumbago might get too tall for you but mine kind of sprawls along the ground and it would look great coming over your wall.
I love bat faced cuphea and it has a similar habit, comes up from the ground slightly in a fountain kind of shape then drifts down and trails along the ground....nancy

I have blue plum. in a bed next to this one, and it's a bit large for this space, but I love it!

I also have loads of rosemary and lantana in the front of the house, as the deer don't eat it here.

I'm gonna look up sedums...are they the very fine foliage stuff that has little purple or white blooms? and going to look up ice plant....thanks!

Scaviola, Blue Daze....think I used it before and the deer ate it, but then they don't come in my back gardens...YET! Grrrrrr

If you decide on the Ice plant I have lots of pink and a lesser amount of the yellow.

I wonder if sweet alysum would do well there or is there too much sun for them in that spot?
The white petunia plant that I bought did better than the purple ones. I think they got too much water from all this rain, and it made them unhappy. I moved them under the porch after picking at it, and it is blooming again.
The white one has been blooming all along.
I think portulacas, ice plants, and wondering jew would look nice there.

Aunt...I"m only doing "hot" colors in this bed...no whites, pinks, or light yellow. Aw.... :(


Tex...the area gets FULL SUN all day long. I"m with you concerning too much water for petunias...

I have not had success with sedums in full sun. I have them in part shade. Although they may do better with your daily water.
Do you like potato vine. That lime green is bright and it is vigorous!

Deep purple looks really nice with the greens, especially silvery green. It will offset the red salvia annuals that you have.
I have a container with a giant aloe and the wandering jew dripping out off the sides. Some mexican petunias seeded themselves in there and decided that was a good place to live, so they are going to town in there with their cute little pink contributions.
Maybe you should try some deep purples?
Verigated wandering jew is pretty too if you don't want it to be so overwhelming.
My momma thinks it is a sin to stop wandering jew from going where it wants to so she has it everywhere. I was amazed at the combos that looked good with it. Same thing about ice plants. I got sick of them after a while, but frankly, they are both great trailers. The cold kills them back, and you can easily bring some into the green house to make sure you have a supply for next season. Whatever survives the winter will grow like crazy when you get them out in full sun again.
Good stuff.

Added bonus:It is very easy to propagate wandering jew...just stick 3"terminal in the ground. It is a "wanderful "plant.Mine dies back in the winter but has returned each year.

How about salvia?

Verbena?

You could always put some short metal rods and wire on the rock face and send a small growing vine up it. Does clematis do well in your area? Most vines I remember from my days in Austin get too big for what I am suggesting. Maybe something tropical that would die back to the ground in winter.

I don't think this plant is hardy in your town.

Dale, is that russelia? Coral?

dale? what is that? It is just so beautiful

Smockette, that's firecracker plant, Russelia equisetiformis. I love that plant! I planted three this year, but they've struggled with all the water we've had. I'm going to relocate to a more raised location and see if that won't cure them.

Dale your garden is beautiful. I love the varying shades of blue/purple in the salvias and verbena. You have a good eye for form and color.

found something you may like the look of...

http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2249077

Dale, I already have things growing up! the wall behind this area...it's Cape Coral honeysuckle. Then I have angelina, then some reddish sage, (with some orange and school-bus yellow gazanias in between) and THEN the area where I tried to grow the purple petunias. ALL the pet's to the left DIED and so I tried to buy more and no one has them here in Austin...they say the TEXAS HEAT won't let them survive. So...I was trying to find something that wouldn't take up much room, but would give a jolt of Color cascading down the wall. Here's another pic of the area...a closeup first of the area where the purple pet's are surviving...

And now the area I want to replant bc all the pets died!

And I have another question. The neighbor who is ABove me sprayed his crape myrtles about a month ago with something for fungus. Could that affect the plants? I notice that the "new growth" on the Cape Coral HS's is not turning deep green like last year...

This is the same neighbor that I posted about last year..used ROUND UP on a tallow tree that was growing between the rocks (I saw him with the container in the yard!) and killed 3 of the honeysuckles...

I'd try portulaca if it were me. It's in hot sun here and thriving. This is flat ground, but I believe it would drape down.

Kent beauty oregano. It is one of my favorite sun cascaders...
-T

Brigid...I love that idea! I just remembered that my grandmother used to have a "rock garden" with that in it!
But I also think you can only buy the "assortment" of colors....and I"m trying to do oranges and purples (and dark yellows)... Yes?

Seedpicker...

Went to PlantFiles and i LOVE the cascading oreg, but alas...it's a pastel color!! I'll edit my title (if I CAN) and add BRIGHT color...but thanks! I"ll definitely use that somewhere else...!@!!!

What do you call dark yellow? Ck pix. Neither pix look as bright yellow as mine!

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/59488/

I see this pix's description say 18-24" tall but I have it at my house in several spots (came w/the house) & it is not more than 12" tall at highest. If I let it go, it would lay out in my yard for 3-4'. We run over it with the mower, diberately!!!

Also, I would love to give you a ton of it. :~)

It didn't pick up the pix I was trying to show you!


This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 12:15 PM

oh cool.... I would love to trade you something for some smockette.... I don't have that color.

If you want seasonal (summer) color than Portulaca oleracea is the plant you need.

The verbena above, in blues and purple is one I like, but, they are not bright colors.

I'm planning on extending my deck further down the back of my house so it will include my hot tub & two huge 'bunches' (for lack of a better word), will have to be moved out! So, I can get you plenty! Say when & get on my calendar!
Old-heimers makes me write everything down these days. Yesterday, I forgot about a Chiro appt until it was after time to be there & I was still @ work. lol

I found purslane in single color flats at Lowe's recently. It trails really well and can take full sun and only needs rain. I never water these pots and they're concrete, sitting on concrete by the drive. It also reseeds, so you don't have to replant!

Connie,
If you want petunias have you tried the Laura Bush petunia?? I lived in Texas last year and they did great, and last summer was very hot in Texas. They are fragrant, love the heat and reseed. The common color is the bright violet-pink though I had a few in dark purple. They recommend that you cut them back every so often, which I did to control them mostly. I grew them from seed purchased from https://www.wildseedfarms.com/wildflowerSeeds/shopIndividualSpecies.html
Here is some info on them:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Wildseed/laurabushpetunia.html
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cemap/petunialaura/petunialaura.html

I had a small garden center and use to sell them. They are hard to find as plants. The picture was taken in May and I have other pictures of them still blooming with Sedums in Sept.