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Have you driven through your town and seen all the wonderful red, white and blue gardens at the start of summer? Many are elaborate gardens that, no doubt, took a full landscaping crew to create. You can show your pride in a much less elaborate way and still make a statement. Simple and quick tips for your own patriotic container garden.
Barbeques, watermelons, parades, and fireworks. These are things we associate with the Fourth of July in the United States of America. This is the date many see as the official start of summer. We fly our flags high and proud. We take the children to play at the lakes and oceans. Barbeque pits are fired up around the nation and blankets are spread on the ground at dusk to watch brilliant light shows in every community. We sing from our hearts, "America The Beautiful", "My Country ‘Tis of Thee", "This Land is Your Land" and other patriotic tunes.
On this day, begins the lazy, hazy days of summer for most Americans. Most gardeners have already been tilling, hoeing, seeding, weeding and watering for three or four months by the time July rolls around. Some even planting seeds in their home in the middle of winter to get a head start on the season.
There has been a trend for many years now to plant patriotic gardens. They stand out in neighborhoods all over like the north star in the black night. A patriotic garden appears to be very well manicured and in part this is due to flowers with like bloom colors being planted together.
If you would like to show your patriotism this Independence Day but did not plan a lavishly laid out garden space in advance, you can create several simple containers that will accomplish the same look, though on a smaller scale.
First you will need containers. Any container will do. You can always spray paint it the color you would like it to be. Find the perfect spot for your display. It may be on the front porch of your home, window boxes, out by the curb or lining your walkway. Wherever you decide to place your containers, you will want to fill them with blooms in red, white and blue. There is time before the barbeque is fired up and the family starts stirring to get down to your local discount store and purchase plants. If there is a nursery open in your area on holidays, all the better, they will have a more varied selection to choose from. While you are at the discount store, grab a few tiny flags, sparkly stars and other things to stick in the pots with the flowers. This will add a more festive look to your display.
Below is a short list of plants and the colors of their blooms. They are a mix of annuals and perennials.
Harebell Campanula rotundifolia (Blue and white flowers)
Red Salvia Salvia miniata (red flowers)
Sapphire Salvia Salvia sinaloensis (blue flowers)
Shasta daisy Leucanthemum x superbum(white flowers)
Sweet William Dianthus barbatus (red flowers)
White Penta Pentas lanceolata 'Butterfly White' (white flowers)
These plants should be blooming when purchased and placed in their containers. Planting all three colors in one container will make a lovely red, white and blue statement. A single color in a single container works well when containers are grouped in threes. Lining them along the walkway to your home with a small American Flag between each container says to the entire neighborhood, "I'm a proud American."
I should mention Petunia's, especially the newer Wave Petunias. These plants make wonderful additions to your hanging pots or stand alone containers. They can be found in a variety of vivid colors and are dependable bloomers. Below are two examples of petunia's in containers.
Photo courtesy of DG member,MaryE
Photo courtesy of DG member,Nathalyn
You will be able to enjoy your hurried patriotic display throughout the long summer months.
As great as it is to have a long weekend off work to spend with family and friends, it is more important to celebrate the meaning of the day. It is Independence Day. The anniversary of the day our Declaration of Independence was signed. July 4, 1776. Church bells rang out in Philadelphia on that day long ago and we are still celebrating today.
God Bless America and thank you to our forefathers for being forward thinkers.
Happy Gardening~
Photographs: flag/flowers in stone and flower pots with flags courtesy of 'ladyheart' Morgue File.
'A Glorious Fourth' photograph courtesy ofKaren's Whimsy.
About Jacqueline Cross
I'm a native Floridian...feet planted in the shifting sands of northwest FL. but my heart strings are tightly knotted to the hills of Tennessee.
I live my poodle, Minnie Pearl, Zsa Zsa the cat who runs the whole show and a new addition, Kitty Belle.
I'm a writer, gardener, quilter, cross stitcher, soapmaker and nature lover. Mother to 3 wonderful daughters & Nana to 6 perfect grandchildren.
I also write for Suite101 and was promoted to Feature Writer in the vegetable gardens section in 2008.
Posted by flowersanyone (from Grants Pass, OR) on July 8, 2008 at 2:34 AM:
Thank you for your article. It's a tradition at our home to show our pride and gratitude for the wonderful country we live in. We plant 3 pots in the front yard filled with white and blue wave petunias, red salvia,white cosmos ,red geraniums and flags.
We give thanks to the "Master Gardener" above, and thank him for the brave men who fought and continue to fight for our freedom.
thanks,
flowersanyone
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Posted by libellule (from Fountain, FL) on July 8, 2008 at 8:58 AM:
flowersanyone,
I'm glad you liked the article.
Yes, we owe so much to the men and woman that stand between us and the rest of the world, protecting our flag and in turn, our freedom.
Jackie
...
Subject: Wonderful article
Posted by patpenney (from Crossville, TN) on July 7, 2008 at 9:44 AM:
Another wonderful article. Keep them coming.
Love Pat
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Posted by libellule (from Fountain, FL) on July 7, 2008 at 9:56 AM:
Thanks Pat. :-)
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Subject: what a lovely article for today
Posted by vossner (from Richmond, TX) on July 4, 2008 at 10:56 AM:
I always have a patriotic veignet. I have 3 potted plumies that I place close together and I underplant with red/white/blue. One has white bacopa, another has blue petunia and the third has red calibrachoa. It is really nice. The petunias do get ratty by summer's end and I simply replace for a nice autumn display.
thank you for a lovely article.
...
Posted by libellule (from Fountain, FL) on July 4, 2008 at 11:33 AM:
That sounds like a perfect way to combine the colors of our flag.
I do love to see the creative displays people come up with for the 4th of July.
Thanks for your comments. :-)
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Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on July 5, 2008 at 12:36 AM:
Nice article, lovely photos.
Thanks.
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Posted by libellule (from Fountain, FL) on July 5, 2008 at 4:10 AM:
Thanks Sharon :)
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Posted by grandmachris (from Richmond, IN) on July 7, 2008 at 7:44 AM:
My patriotic garden happened by accident. We have only a small area by the gravel parking lot
that is dry, light, meager soil in full sun. It's a long, narrow strip that I plunk sun-lovers in without
a whole lot of planning. There in a row by accident are Alaska shasta daisy, bright red beebalm
and self sowed blue larkspur. I made two bouquets (not arrangements) for church yesterday.
Chris
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Posted by libellule (from Fountain, FL) on July 7, 2008 at 9:55 AM:
That sounds sweet, Chris. Your plants put on their own show..hehe
God Bless America and thank you to our forefathers for being forward thinkers. 
