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Mailbox Garden

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July 2, 2016
The area around mailboxes are often planted as part of the landscape. Let’s take a look at a mailbox garden that packs a lot of color into a small package. This planting features multiple layers of interest. As ground covers I love the colorful selections. Purslane Fairy Tale Cinderella forms a dense mat and is covered with 1-inch yellow petalled flowers with pinkish orange puffball centers. Purslane is a tough summer plant for our Mississippi heat. The middle layer features a variety of plants that make color a priority. Mesa Bicolor gaillardia flowers early and spices the bed up with its bright yellow blooms with copper red center and halo. There are splashes of golden yellows courtesy of rudbeckia, like this volunteer growing out of the old stump. I don’t think you can beat the combination of coneflowers and Shasta daisy. An old favorite is Bravado coneflower with its two to four inch flowers with bright purple petals and dark center cones. And definitely your address will be known if you grow Shasta daisies with their 3-inch flowers bursting with pure white petals and soft yellow center eyes. Colorful sun coleus is a reliable filler for this bed. Finally there is the whiskey barrel planter with the hardy hibiscus, and tri-color sweet potato vine. Though it’s not in bloom, later this summer, the hibiscus flowers are as big as dinner plates and will be a special delivery of beauty. If you want your landscape to be delivered first class, don’t ignore the area around your mailbox. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern Gardening.
Department: Agricultural Communications

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