What To Do With The Strawberry Tower?
My strawberries hate my strawberry tower. They literally run from it. Last year in my book writing garden absence, I let them run as they wished as I was failing the time to reign them in. Subsequently, if you drive by my house this weekend you will see a sign at the end of the driveway that says this: “Free Strawberry Plants – You Dig”. I have decided not to fight them on this tower issue anymore. Instead I am going to let them have some of the pathways that they insist on taking over. They seem to be ok with me walking over them on occasion and I appreciate that they are a pretty effective at choking out any other weed that might want to take hold. Plus there is the profusion of home grown strawberries. But I am unsure of what to do with the tower. I have a few thoughts…the first is to fill it with a succulent garden. I think that would be a stunning focal point, but my reality is that I live in Massachusetts – not Southern California, and the selection of hardy succulents is limited – so much so that I that think this plan would likely turn out to be nothing more than a study in Hens and Chicks. The second is to fill it with herbs – an idea that I also love, but frankly – given the extreme amount of herbs I have planted throughout the rest of my garden – is something that I really don’t need. So I think my last idea – to fill it with a striking collection of annuals is where I am going to end up.
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I am not so big on mixed containers and find that single plant containers are easier for me to manage. Plus, I prefer a more modern look – but I think this is the place for an exception of sorts. The layers are calling out to me, they seem to be asking for a color study in ascending stripes. I am choosing yellow and plan to work a gradation from white to deep yellow over the five levels (I will let the strawberries have the bottom since it is what they insist). I have a little worry that the nemesia will not like the position (being a shade lover) but this is a tricky sort of thing since one side gets way more sun than the other. I am looking forward to seeing how this experiment works out over the season. If you want to know more about each plant, here are the links to each choice: Diamond Frost® Euphorbia, Nemesia Sunsatia® Coconut Nemesia, Luscious® Lemonade Lantana, Flambe® Yellow Chrysocephalum, Goldilocks Rocks® Bidens. If you want to read more about my strawberry tower, check out these posts. Images: Images courtesy of Proven Winners® and rochelle greayer. |
