
Color My World
By Meda Kessler
Photos by Meda Kessler
There was a time when I was a plant snob when it came to my garden.
Geraniums? Never. Impatiens? Not interested. Begonias? Boring. To me, buying annuals meant having a landscape that looked like everyone else’s, never mind that many are easy to grow and offer instant impact.
But the pandemic changed all that. Suddenly, I craved color and lots of it. I kept this new passion a secret, as I only planted flowers in the backyard, my sole escape during the lockdown. I filled my raised beds with mounds of color. And I found ways to use annuals to complement the blackfoot daisy, yarrow, firebush and salvias, my hardiest perennials. Thankfully, the bees loved them all.
As I plotted my garden over the winter, I had guilt over all the one-and-done annuals. And then February’s arctic blast hit. The aftermath was brutal and brown. But after a week or so of warm weather, my catmint came back to life, as did many of my sedums. I spotted new growth on my salvias and butterfly bush. But the true bright spots in the garden were the two flats of yellow and white pansies, which had survived under a thick blanket of leaves.
Color me grateful, and yes, I’m buying petunias for spring and summer.