The Entrance Garden

Our Entrance Garden is at its peak

If you get a chance to stop by, our Entrance Garden is prime for viewing. This is the garden out by the road just as you pull into the driveway, and it is at its peak. We’re going to break down and explain the garden—it features a surprising Coleus with beautiful flower stalks, the wispy Ruellia ‘Purple Showers’, and a bed of mixed Vinca, all anchored by several plantings of Musa ‘Zebrina’.

Ruellia ‘Purple Showers’—the bloom resembles a traditional Petunia

 
Cream-colored flowers are enhanced by chocolate notes and lavender tips

The blooms of ‘Pineapple Surprise’ are just that—a pleasant surprise. Many vegetative Coleus selections have had the bloom bred out of them because it’s considered a distraction, but the opposite is true here. ‘Pineapple Surprise’ has pretty spikes that add to its beauty, and the flowering is uniform, leaving no doubt that the plant is supposed to be in bloom. If you look closely, you can see a dot of lavender on the tip of each flower.

Splashes of color truly look like splashes

Also surprising is the lack of uniformity of the patterns on the leaves. You’ll notice that the chocolate mottling wanders all over, so the splashes of color truly look like splashes. We’re used to the rigid structure in many patterned Coleus varieties, with the same design repeated over and over, like it is on a paisley tie. ‘Pineapple Surprise’ spatters the chocolate around in a random manner that looks carefree by comparison.

Lots of blooms spell good news for late season pollinators

Lastly we get a surprising number of blooms which is good news for the pollinators, as late season nectar sources can be hard to come by in fall. Another nice feature of Coleus—it thrives in sun, shade, and drier conditions. Our Entrance bed has a wet side and a dry side, a cool shady side, and a hot sunny side. From edge to edge, ‘Pineapple Surprise’ grew about the same height and looked pretty lush.

One of our Pansy houses

This is just a reminder that if you are working with any volume of Pansies in your projects or benches, you should give us a call. We specialize in a wide variety of Pansies in both spring and fall, in large and small sizes, in solids, blotches, and fancies.