By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia
Color often goes missing in January. Trees are bare, the grass
is brown and most annuals are housed somewhere warmer. But that
doesn’t stop floriculture experts from talking about the beauty
of tropical plants, container gardens and annuals.
On Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006, the Georgia Green Industry
Association will present “A Gardener’s Palette: Saturday with
the Pros” in Athens. The conference will feature University of
Georgia Cooperative Extension floriculture specialist Bodie
Pennisi, garden writer and nursery owner Rita Randolph, and
Color Burst owner and landscape artist Joe Burns.
Geared toward homeowners, registration starts at 8:30 a.m. and
ends with an opportunity to browse booths from noon to 1 p.m.
Pennisi, from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences campus in Griffin, Ga., will speak on tropicals for
landscape accents.
She says that over the past two years the Research and
Education Garden in Griffin has been “wonderful, just taking
your breath away. The plants are so beautiful. Those tropical
plants, they look good from the moment you put them in the
ground until the end.”
Tropical plants are typically annuals, although in warmer parts
of Georgia, some may be perennials.
“There is an untapped potential for this material that we
thought of previously only as houseplants,” she said of
tropicals.
Many Georgians, she said, don’t realize they live in a state
with a long growing season.
“Depending where you live, it starts at the end of March or
early April,” she said. “We can enjoy these plants until the
first frost, which may be way into December. These plants have
great potential for use both in the ground and in
containers.”
Container gardening is growing in popularity, Randolph said.
She will be teaching conference attendees how to contain the
unusual as she discusses foliage and flower combinations.
“With shortened time and shortened schedules, container
gardening is a real quick, easy way for people to get their
gardening in,” she said.
Randolph runs a greenhouse operation with her husband Hamp
McCall. She said the most common question they get in regard to
flowers is “does it come back?”
“Perennials have a huge growth potential in container
gardening,” she said, “especially when it looks good all year
round.”
And when it comes to mixing plants in containers, “I always
think of some kind of texture,” she said.
Burns will show gardeners how to brighten their landscapes with
annuals. He emphasized using these plants creatively.
“We’ll look at the top 10 annuals, the ones that are tried and
true,” he said. “What I want them to do is to use the plants
that perform best, especially in drought and heat. These
flowers are easier to grow, and I want to teach them to use
them creatively.”
For more information, go to www.ggia.org/gdnpal.htm or call the
Georgia Green Industry Association at (706) 632-0100 or (888)
438-4442 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Registration is $25 before and $35 after Jan. 14.
(Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University of
Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
