Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Independence Day and ‘Fireworks’ plants
Today we celebrate Independence Day, the day our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence! A new Nation! Most of us will be celebrating with cookouts and fireworks, absorbing time with friends and family.
In honor of this day, I looked up plants with names that evoke the celebrations. Starting with an annual ornamental grass. ‘Fireworks’ fountain grass grows to 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. It’s blades are variegated stripes of white, green, burgundy and hot pink. Purple tassels appear in summer.
Another ‘Fireworks’ is a gomphrena aka Globe Amaranth, an annual flower that grows to 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Tons of strong, tall stems are topped with exploding bursts of full, 1″ blooms in hot pink tipped with bright yellow. In fact the entire plant looks a bit like a pink sparkler!
A perennial that would look pretty with the fireworks fountain grass is a Solidago rugosa aka Goldenrod called, you guessed it, ‘Fireworks’! In late summer, the bright yellow sprays of tiny flowers look just like an exploding skyrocket on the 4th of July. A 3 foot tall sturdy grower, it is deer and rabbit resistant, attracts butterflies and grows easily in sun.
Another gorgeous fountain grass, an annual in our cold climate, is called ‘Cherry Sparkler’, the pink and green foliage is beautiful with pink feathery seedheads splayed out above the foliage. It grows to 4 feet tall with an 18 inch spread. This would put the Thriller in a large container.
The University of Wisconsin Master Gardener program has a fabulous page called Garden Pyrotechnics that is filled with some sparkling plants, some I’ve mentioned, more that I haven’t.
Alliums really deliver on the sparkler power including the Perennial of the Year for 2018, Allium ‘Millenium’.
