Head to the Tropicals

Create a lovely English garden look using tropicals with spider flower Cleome, Vinca major 'Merry-Go-Round-Red' and Melinus 'Pink Crystals' grass (Plant of Merit), Verbena bonariensis (Plant of Merit), Nicotiana langsdorfii, and Cuphea 'David Verity' (Plant of Merit).

It's going to be a long, hot summer. Around here, you don't have to be a meteorologist to make that prediction. Translated into gardening terms, it means no matter how fresh and beautiful your plants seem in May and June, a good many of them will be deep-fried by August. Chris Kelley of the Cottage Garden in Piasa, IL, has the perfect recipe to get you out of that gardening frying pan and perhaps even loving the fire. She recommends filling your beds and containers with tropical plants.

"Tropicals provide instant gratification," she says. "They are fast growers and are reaching their peak when other plants look worn and tired. Tropicals will continue to look good well into autumn." Chris spends her non-gardening time constantly looking for new plants she can try out in the St. Louis climate. "I want new and different things," she explains, "but I don't like to sell anything that I haven't grown myself and know will do well here." Many of us grow tropicals without realizing it, notes Chris, citing such common plants as marigolds, wave petunias, geraniums, lantana and coleus. "Hybridizers are continually working to make what is already good better," she says. Formerly considered a shade plant, the colorful foliage of coleus offers a whole new ball game now that there are more sun-tolerant cultivars. Geraniums are also getting into the act with the 'Caliente Coral' and 'Caliente Rose' selections. A cross between ivy and zonal geraniums, they are designed to be more heat- and-humidity-tolerant and require less deadheading. For plants with unusual foliage, desert-loving succulents are a top choice because of their interesting shapes, drought tolerance and low maintenance.

The Missouri Botanical Garden's Plants of Merit list is one of the best places for gardeners to begin their search for tropical plants. That list is available on the Kemper Center for Home Gardening website at www.gardeninghelp.org. Click on "Plants of Merit" and then click "Annuals." More information on growing tropical plants and directions to Cottage Garden are available at www.cottgardens.com.