Johnsons's Garden Centers Text File document - copyright 2005
PDF file available at http://www.johnsonsgarden.com/newsletter/flowers.html

"Harvest Blooms" from Hardy Boy
September/October 2005
Debi Borden-Miller, Hardy Boy Plants in Denver, Colorado

    Fall brings a change in the weather and a new season to plant. Much
like you change your indoor dˇcor, the garden needs a crisp, new fall
look, too. Hardy Boy's "Harvest Blooms" are grown and conditioned to
flourish in all types of weather. Fall planted pansies and violas
provide color all fall, off and on through the winter (when weather
permits), and then really take off and bloom profusely in the spring.

    Pansies are also great in containers, either by themselves or
combined with other cool-season plants like ornamental grasses,
flowering kale, dianthus, mums or Autumn Joy Sedum. Try planting in
bushel baskets; sage green, rust or gold glazed pots; black cauldrons or
even hollowed-out pumpkins!

New Varieties!
    Hardy Boy is proud to present four new pansies and a viola for the
2005 fall season.

    Chianti Mix Pansy blooms in rich shades of terra-cotta, salmon, rose
and wine-red on striped, semi-ruffled flowers. These tough, vigorous,
compact plants with long-lasting blooms are perfect for pots, window
boxes and containers.

    Fama Ruby Pansy has intense, ruby-rose flowers with a small dark
blotch. This deep, rich color glows when combined with yellow pansies,
or blends beautifully with pink dianthus.

    Two new pansies 'Whiskers Orange' and 'Whiskers Red-Gold' are the
"cat's meow!" The mid-size blooms feature a unique "Cat Face" pattern.
'Whiskers Orange' is a deep orange with black whiskers radiating out
from the center. 'Whiskers Red-Gold' has bright red upper petals and
golden yellow lower petals with a bright red edge and black whiskers
across the gold petals.

    Angel Amber Kiss is a versatile viola that is great for year-round
use. The uniform and compact plant habit has excellent disease
resistance. The very "fallish" petals have a yellow face etched with
black whiskers then kissed with autumn colored, rusty to rosy red edges.

    Fall is the best time to plant pansies and violas. The naturally
cooler and wetter weather is perfect for these plants.

More Fall Color Plants
    Other fall plants that like cooler weather and provide gorgeous
color for fall include; Dianthus, Stocks, Snapdragons, Nemesia, Diascia,
Flowering Cabbage and Kale, Calendula, Primrose, Cyclamen and of course
Mums and Asters. Plant tulip or daffodil bulbs between the pansies and
in the spring you will enjoy a fabulous two-tiered flower show!