Red, White and Blue Garden

My grandma loved decorating with flowers–indoors and out. As a member of the Madison, South Dakota Garden Club, she always had a magnificent flower garden. She created flower arrangements for weddings, made corsages and boutonnieres, and even dried flowers for artwork and greeting cards. One of her favorite color themes was red, white and blue.

For three-season color around her flagpole, she would use bedding plants: red salvia or red geraniums, white petunias or baby’s breath, and blue ageratum or lobelia.

I love remembering her traditions, and will try a red, white and blue theme, myself, this season. I am more of a perennial flower gardener and already have blue field iris, red columbine and white lilies of the valley blooming, which also make a delicate and fragrant indoor bouquet.

Since I love their scent, I will also plant some red geraniums and dark blue and white petunias for the summer. There are still so many choices that I would also like to try... blue delphiniums, red bee balm, white shasta daisies, red Gerbera daisies, and white alyssum. But, I only have so many hours in a day!

I wanted to go to my favorite garden store for their recommendations on autumnal red, white and blue perennials. With our miserable rainy weather, however, I chickened out and looked online instead. Virginia Tech has a great publication specifically about red, white and blue gardens. [http://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-210/426-210.html] What I came away with is that asters and mums remain great autumnal standbys for reds, whites and blues.

You can make a red, white and blue garden anywhere (like around your flagpole or your mailbox, or in a planter), of any size and for any season. Although, in the northern climates like mine, for late fall and winter, you might have to get creative and use the snow and red twig dogwood with blue lights and a garden flag.

As the wonderful summer season arrives with Memorial Day weekend, get outside and enjoy the lovely creative challenge of gardening. For fun, consider a red, white and blue garden!

FlagRUs has garden flags and decorative mailbox covers to help.

If you finish your creation by this weekend, remember to enter your photograph in our contest! For more info, click here: https://www.flagsrus.org/pages/flagsrus-contest