Come see how our flowers grow
Published 12:00 am Friday, June 7, 2019
Submitted photo A spider wasp, with its bright antennae, enjoys buckwheat planted at Hurley Park. The wasp is a good pollinator.
Submitted photo Hurley Park's entrance gardens change frequently. The theme this year is deeper colors like this purple basil, which can also take the heat.
Submitted photo The deeper colors in some Hurley Park gardens are highlighted by brither colors, like this coleus.
Hurley Park has many beautiful stationary gardens that are only altered once in a blue moon. However, there are just a few gardens that are changed several times throughout the year.
The entrance garden is one of the spots where the flowers change frequently. Hurley Park staff plants this section a few times a year with spring blooming tulips and summer and fall annuals. Having something bloom throughout the year gets quite a bit of attention, and we are often asked what we have planted.
Last year, our summer entrance garden was a hit with a red, white and blue motif. This year, we went with a warm color theme using burgundies, reds, oranges and yellows with a bit of chartreuse and delicate white flowers from a cover crop we are trying out. To complement the heat wave we are having, I suppose a flaming oasis is not such a bad theme for this year’s summer garden.
From experience, I love trying different flowers. This year, it was somewhat difficult finding all of the plants we needed. The area we are planting in gets much warmer than the surrounding gardens due to its close proximity to the asphalt and pavement. The plants in this location must be hardy, heat tolerant and bloom for longer periods of time. Some of the plants we selected must be deadheaded (removal of spent blossoms) to continue the flower production.
One of the other things that Hurley Park staff tries to do every year is to purchase our plants locally, and we did this for our summer garden. For the summer bed, we used pineapple sage, banana portulaca, dahlias, flare salvia, purple basil, celosia, sun coleus, marigolds, zinnias, calendula and even decorative amaranth.
We also did something new this year by incorporating a cover crop called buckwheat. We are using the buckwheat to help reduce soil erosion and provide nutrients to our pollinators.
The summer bed is just starting to take off and should be a hit within the next few weeks. If you have any questions about the plants, just ask, call or send us a message on our social media.
For more information or to donate to Hurley Park, please visit: https://salisburync.gov/Government/Parks-and-Recreation/Parks/Hurley-Park, like us on Facebook and Instagram @HurleyParkSalisbury or call us at 704-638-4459.
