America's Anniversary Gardens are popping up
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER
gardens celebrating

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer America's Anniversary Gardens of red, white and blue flowers are being planted at Henricus Historical Park and throughout the county in celebration of America's 400th anniversary.

Volunteers

busy preparing containers with

America's

If you are seeing red, white and blue at neighborhood entrances or historic county locations, you are looking at gardens celebrating America's 400th anniversary. Volunteers and county employees have been busy preparing and planting beds and containers with America's colors. As a salute to America's birthplace, the Virginia Cooperative Extension has developed America's Anniversary Garden as a signature garden with red, white and blue color schemes.

Chesterfield has joined this commemoration with programs on anniversary gardens given by Master Gardeners and gardens and containers at the county's historical sites, explained Public Affairs Officer Chris Ruth. The biggest effort at this point has been at Henricus in preparation for the Godspeed's visit last weekend.

Master Gardeners have been helping with the designs and volunteers and county employees have assisted with the planting, said Ruth. "It's a cooperative effort." Magnolia Grange is next, she added.

Windy Schatzle, Master Gardener, has been working at Henricus to spruce up existing beds and add red, white and blue plants to pots and borders. The pots are filled with pentas, petunias, dusty miller and ageratum. Girl Scouts and some 4-H members helped with the planting.

Master Gardener Henrietta Yaworsky designed the plantings for Magnolia Grange. Since they will be in a historic area, she started many of the plants from seeds using varieties common to the 1850s to the very early 1900s. In order to preserve any artifacts on the property, the plantings will be done in raised beds so the surface soil won't be disturbed.

"I've got a deck full of plants I have started from seed. Some are blooming already," said Yaworsky. Scarlet runner bean, Empress of India nasturtium, cypress vine, pimpernel, tassel flower, Maltese cross and gentian sage are just a few.

Container gardens grace the entrance to the county museum while some beds for annuals, perennials and shrubs have been created and others refurbished. Information from the Cooperative Extension provides examples of landscape beds, container designs and corridor plantings. Visit www.ext.vt.edu/americasgar den or call the Extension Office at 751-4401 for additional information.

Create your own

Residents are encouraged to join the celebration and plant their own anniversary garden, whether it is a simple container beside a mailbox or a more elaborate perennial bed.

Before you start, determine the conditions of the location of your bed or container. Is it shady or sunny, wet or dry? Then select the plants for your design using the suggestions on the Web site or those listed in the box on this page. Plant tags will give you information about the size of the plant, the conditions and whether the plant is an annual or perennial. Annuals will bloom all summer. Perennials generally have one big display but may bloom sporadically after that.

Annuals and perennials do best when the site has been prepared before planting. Dig a 12-inch test hole, fill it with water and if the drainage is less than one inch per hour, move the bed, install drainage or raise the bed. If the soil is compacted, add compost to a depth of 8-12 inches. Test the soil to see if nutrients need to be added or if the pH needs to be changed. Soil test kits are available at the county libraries. After planting, apply a long-acting, controlled release fertilizer, especially to containers and raised beds. Then water the plants well. These plantings dry out faster and need watering more frequently which washes away the nutrients.

Plants need an average of one inch of water a week. Mulch helps conserve moisture, protects the roots from extreme temperatures and holds down the weeds, but keep the mulch from touching tree trunks and shrub stems.

You can choose a simple design with red, white and blue/purple petunias or a more complex one that varies the texture and height by using Red Velvet yarrow for a tall background, Shasta daisies for a center spread and ageratum for the low blue color.

When the perennial yarrow and daisies are finished blooming, plant them in the garden for color next summer and replace them in the container with annuals like gerbera daisies and pentas. In midsummer, cut back the plants that have become leggy and add more slow release fertilizer.

If you don't have time to create a flower bed, just hang a basket with red, white and blue on your porch. Suggested plants for America's Anniversary Gardens
Annuals                       Color
Lantana                           Red
Pentas                             Red
Angelonia                       White
Bacopa                           White
Salvia                             Blue, white
Verbena                           Blue, red, white
Ageratum                       Blue, white
Zinnias                           Red, white
Gerbera daisies                 Red, white
Geraniums                       Red, white
Petunias                         Red, white, blue
Hibiscus                         Red, white
Dusty miller                     Silver/white
Perennials                   Color
Monarda                         Red
Day lilies                         Red
Coreopsis                       Red
Butterfl y weed                   Red
Clematis                         Red, white, blue
Astilbe                           White, red
Artemesia                       Silver/white
Lamb's ear                       Silver/white
Phlox                             White
Shasta daisy                     White
Virginia bluebells             Blue
Hardy geranium               Blue
Delphinium                     Blue
Salvia                             Blue