Enlarge photo | | An Invitation
D&K Flowers Etc. at first sight promises an easy, informal time shopping for good nursery goodies.
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Enlarge photo | | Come on In
Judy Patterson, who's filling in on this particular day, flashes a
cheery smile--and means it.
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Enlarge photo | | Susan
Susan Cargill, who evidently was born with a hose in
her hand (we've never seen her when she wasn't watering), is a big
contributor to D&K's reputation for keeping plants in superb
condition and good customer service. We don't think she'd mind if
we also said she has a great sense of humor. But maybe she would.
We'd better ask her.
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Enlarge photo | | Special Treats
Let's get right to some special D&K offerings. Kathi loves Purslane and The Rio series of Purslane hybrids (Portulaca grandiflora species) developed by Ball Horticultural features larger, more tropical-looking flowers than most Purslanes. They grow to 8 inches tall and 16 inches wide.The red here is 'Rio Scarlet' and the yellow 'Rio Yellow.' As Purslanes are succulents, they need well-drained
soil, time to dry between waterings, and light watering. They love
full sun and will take high summer heat and are
perfect for edging borders, hanging baskets, spot plantings, and
containers.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Rio Apricot' Purslane
We're not sure why they call this pinkish Purslane 'Rio
Apricot,' but they do. In any event, it's lovely and has all the
virtues of the other Rio hybrids.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Rio Orange' Purslane
The 'Rio Orange' Purslane flower is especially engaging,
we think, for its bright orange petals and glowing yellow centers.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Fairytales Cinderella' Purslane
In the Fairytales series of Purslane, also developed by Ball Horticultural, 'Fairytales Cinderella' (Portulaca oleracea 'Fairytales Cinderella') sports small, jewel-like flowers with flat yellow petals and pink-to-orange-pink centers. It grows about 8 inches high with a 24-inch spread. Note: The yellow flowers belong to 'Rio Yellow' Purslane, which has similar features.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Fairytales Sleeping Beauty' Purslane
Another in the Fairytales series of Portulaca hybrids, 'Fairytales Sleeping Beauty' features double yellow flowers.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Orange Verdolaga' Purslane
Verdolaga is Spanish for the Portulaca, or Purslane, which is commonly used as a vegetable in many Latin American countries. Also used as a salad green in France and other European countries,the plant is said to resemble watercress in flavor and consistency. The species, Portulaca oleracea, is also a common weed in the U.S. Like other Portulacas, this beautiful hybrid should be given full sun.
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Enlarge photo | | For Fun
Every year Kathi, who doesn't lack for a sense of humor, whips up a garden-to-go for a favorite customer with this three-wheeled bike.
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Enlarge photo | | Gerbera Daisies
Gerbera Daisies (Gerbera Jamesonii), also known as African Daisies, Transvaal Daisies, and Barberton Daisies, are almost stunningly vivid in color. They do beautifully in Ozarks gardens if given full sun and rich, well-drained soil. To avoid rot, plant them with the crowns above the soil and never water from overhead. They grow 10-18 inches tall and make superb cut flowers lasting up to two weeks in water.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Pink Versicolor' Hibiscus
'Pink Versicolor' Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Pink Versicolor'), given full
sun, provides a profusion of large, gorgeous pink blooms with reddish
centers throughout the season. The flowers contrast beautifully with its
rich, glossy green foliage. Said to grow as tall as 8-10 feet and 2
feet wide, it's become a favorite with gardeners who like the tropical
touch.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Sunny Wind' Hibiscus
We apologize for this lackluster photo, which doesn't
begin to do this marvelous plant justice. 'Sunny Wind' Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Sunny Wind')
is a tropical plant that features dense, dark green foliage and
brilliant yellow, 6-inch-wide flowers with crimson centers. It can reach
3 feet in height with a similar spread and is virtually spectacular in
the garden or in containers.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Luna Pink Swirl' Hibiscus
Okay, we have to say it. We think 'Luna Pink Swirl' Hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos 'Luna Pink Swirl') quite simply the most beautiful Hibiscus we've ever seen. We love the huge white bloom, the rose blush, and the burgundy center. We also like that it grows beautifully in the Ozarks, taking our fiercest sun and heat, and that it attracts bees and hummingbirds. This perennial grows to 3 feet tall and once established produces a great many flowers. Note: Be sure to give it plenty of water in the fall to help it winter over.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Mauve Delight' Brachyscome
'Mauve Delight' Brachyscome (Brachyscome angustifolia 'Mauve Delight') is an
extremely likable, colorful, low-growing perennial ideal for ground
cover, rock gardens, borders, and containers. Covered with small,
daisylike mauve-pink flowers nearly all season, it grows vigorously to a
foot tall and 15 inches wide. It likes full sun to partial shade and
moist soil. Brachyscomes are sometimes called Swan River Daisy. Note: This one is also very attractive to butterflies.
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Enlarge photo | | Magilla Perilla
Magilla Perilla may look like a coleus, but it's
actually a colorful member of the mint family. A hybrid of the species Perilla frutescens, it grows quickly
and vigorously in full sun or light shade. It can take our Ozarks
summer heat and will grow 12-18 inches tall and 18-24 inches wide. A
great choice for adding spot color to the garden and containers, too.
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Enlarge photo | | Aurora Raspberry Coleus
Coleus have become terrifically popular with
home gardeners and for good reason--new hybrids are producing spectacular colors and color
patterns. To wit, the Aurora Raspberry Coleus (Solenostemon scutellariodes hybrid). Growing to 12
inches tall and as wide, this annual is gorgeous in garden or landscape
and, like all coleus, a powerful complement to other plants in
containers. It does best in partial sun.
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Enlarge photo | | Kong Mosaic Coleus
Kong Mosaic Coleus (Solenostemon
scutellariodes
hybrid) features huge, very showy leaves with cherry-red
centers, creamy variegations, and splashes of red. This beautiful annual
prefers shade or partial shade and grows to 22 inches tall and 18
inches wide.
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Enlarge photo | | Kong Red Coleus
Kong Red Coleus (Solenostemon
scutellariodes hybrid) is another coleus with very large leaves,
these a pale green with a vivid red midrib and dark burgundy veins.
This beautiful annual is showiest planted in sunny locations, where it
grows quickly to 18 inches tall with a similar spread. Note: If you find this one at the
nursery or garden center, best snap it up, as it tends to sell out
quickly.
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Enlarge photo | | Lava Rose Trailing Coleus
Lava Rose Trailing Coleus (Solenostemon scutellariodes hybrid) is an absolutely unique coleus that grows in a mound as tall as 18 inches and also trails to a length of 24 inches. A fast grower, it prefers partial sun and is especially effective in hanging baskets, mixed baskets, and containers. As you can see, the coloration is wonderful.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Stained Glassworks Kiwi Fern' Coleus
'Stained Glassworks Kiwi Fern' Coleus (Solenostemen scutellarioides species)
is an intiguing novelty in the vigorous and highly colorful Stained
Glassworks series of coleus developed for landscaping. It grows to 19
inches tall and 21 inches wide and needs warmer, 70-85-degree day
temperatures, good soil, and ample moisture. It will grow in full sun
but develops deeper color in the shade.
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Enlarge photo | | Joseph's Coat
Joseph's Coat (Amaranthus
tricolor) is a spectacular
tropical plant that grows beautifully in the Ozarks as a tender annual.
Given full sun it can grow to 4 feet tall and as wide. Common names
include Fountain Plant, Summer Poinsettia, Love-Lies-Bleeding, and
Princess Feather. Note: This plant has been famed world-wide for many
generations and in fact was brought to America by Thomas Jefferson in
1786.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Burgundy Wine' Euphorbia
'Burgundy Wine' Euphorbia (Euphorbia cotinifolia 'Burgundy Wine') can be a real
highlight in the garden, thanks to its rich burgundy foliage. An annual
in the Ozarks, this plant likes partial sun to full sun. It grows slowly
to a height of 2-5 feet and in summer bears very small, dainty yellow
blossoms that contrast nicely wtth the foliage.
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Enlarge photo | | 'So Sweet' Hosta
The 'So Sweet' hosta is a real winner, literally. It
has so many virtues that it was named the 1996 American Hosta Growers
Hosta of the Year. It features glossy green leaves with wide, creamy
white margins,an unusually quick growth rate, and very fragrant white
flowers in late summer. It that all weren't enough, it also has a very
neat mounding habit and can grow to 28 inches tall and as wide.
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Enlarge photo | | Starlight Impatiens
Impatiens are one of the top 10 annual flowers in
America for their vivid color, attractive foliage, ease of culture, and
general dependability in the garden and landscape. Starlight Impatiens (Impatiens wallerana hybrids) are
among the best for shade on all counts. Note: There are some 1,000 impatiens species in
cultivation.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Sweet Caroline' Sweet Potato Vine
'Sweet Caroline Green and Yellow' Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas 'Sweet Caroline
Green and Yellow') is , to put it simply, unique and wonderful.
Featuring deeply lobed green leaves lightly splashed with yellow and
chartreuse, it's superb in container plantings, hanging baskets, window
boxes or any other trailing situation, or in the garden. In full sun to
part shade it grows to 2 feet in length. Note: If you get hungry, guess what, the root really is
an edible sweet potato.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Key Lime Pie' Coral Bells
We hate to state the obvious, but 'Key Lime Pie' Coral
Bells (Heuchera 'Dolce Key Lime
Pie') is so the color of key lime pie that it looks good enough to eat.
Another of the newer Coral Bell hybrids, it's a perennial perfect for
shady gardens. It grows in a clump 10-14 inches wide and the foliage
looks good all year-round. The plant will take some sun, but in the
Ozarks should be protected from our full-out hot afternoon summer sun.
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Enlarge photo | | Non-Stop Orange Begonia
The Non-Stop Begonia series features
compact,
exceptionally vigorous plants with masses of perfect double flowers.
Ideal for low borders, window boxes, and mixed
containers, they come in rich, vivid red, orange, yellow, pink, white.
and copper
flower colors.
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Enlarge photo | | Non-Stop Yellow Begonia
The Non-Stop Yellow Begonia is another ideal plant for
those who truly love vivid flower colors. Next to it is the Non-Stop Red
Begonia.
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Enlarge photo | | Pony Tails and Weeping Brown Sedge
Pony Tails Grass
(Stipa tenuissima) is an
usually graceful, flowing, drought-tolerant perennial grass that likes
full sun and grows 12 to 18 inches tall. The plumes dried are very
attractive. Pony Tail Grass is also known as Silky Thread Grass, Mexican
Feather Grass, and Mexican Needle Grass. Weeping Brown Sedge Grass (Carex flagellifera) is a flowing, fine-textured coppery
brown perennial grass that grows to 20 inches tall. It likes full sun or
light shade and moist, fertile, well-drained soil. It also tolerates
heat and drought.
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Enlarge photo | | Golden Variegated Sweet Flag Grass
Golden Variegated Sweet Flag Grass (Acorus gramineus) is an evergreen perennial grass with swordlike leaves that keep their green and buttery-yellow coloration all year 'round. It grows upright to 14 inches tall and as wide and is extremely low maintenance. Great for contrast in the garden, it also serves beautifully in containers, especially as a middle-ground plant.
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Enlarge photo | | Fiber Optic Grass
Fiber Optic Grass (Isolepsis [Scirpus] cernus) is a marvelous novelty, a grasslike plant whose hairlike blades and tiny fluffy white flowers look uncannily like fiber optic strands. An annual in our Ozarks climate, it grows in a mound to 14 inches tall and as wide, tolerates heat, and is very low maintenance. Novel in the garden and good in containers, it can also be kept as a houseplant.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Peter's Gold Carpet'
'Peter's Gold Carpet' (Bidens ferulifolia 'Peter's Gold Carpet') can grow to 24
inches high and as wide. It features very lacy foliage and fragrant
buttery-gold flowers that bloom in midsummer to early fall. The plant is
very attractive to bees, butterflies and birds. It might survive a very
mild Ozarks winter, but is probably best grown as an annual. Bonus: It
reseeds freely.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Blue Spruce' Sedum
'Blue Spruce' Sedum (Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce') is a marvelous ground cover whose bluish coloration and extremely uniform texture seem identical to the foliage of Blue Spruce, lending a softening effect wherever it's planted. This perennial loves full sun and takes heat and drought. It's superb in rock gardens, rock walls, walkways, and containers. It grows quickly to as tall as a foot and two feet wide.
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Enlarge photo | | 'New Gold' Lantana
'New Gold' Lantana (Lantana x 'New Gold') features profuse clusters of brilliant yellow flowers from spring till frost. This trailing annual is superb as a groundcorver, a garden accent, and especially in hanging baskets. Easy to grow, it can reach 15 inches tall and 24 inches wide, takes heat, and drought. Like all lantanas, it's terrifically attractive to butterflies.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Silver Mound' Artemisia
'Silver Mound' Artemisia (Artemisia schmidtiana 'Silver Mound') is much loved by gardeners for its fine-textured silvery foliage and neat, compact, mounding habit, which make a superb border plant. This perennial prefers full sun and grows to 12 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Common names include Wormwood, Mugwort, and Ghost Plant. It's also sometimes called Dusty Miller, a name much more commonly applied to another plant, Senecio cineraria.
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Enlarge photo | | Two Great Spireas
It would be hard to find two more engaging shrubs for the garden or landscape than the 'Gold Mound' Spirea or the 'Little Princess' Spirea, both of the Spirea japonica species. 'Gold Mound', barely discernible at the upper left of the picture, features very striking golden foliage in spring that turns chartreuse in summer and rich yellow-orange in fall. Pink flower clusters appear in late spring to fall. Given full sun, the plant grows to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. 'Little Princess' features an abundance of showy rose-pink flowers against attractive mint-green foliage and a nicely rounded, compact habit. Given full sun it grows to 3 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Note: The flowers of both of these hybrids attract butterflies and make excellent cut flowers.
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Enlarge photo | | Fall Fun
Kath likes to make fall fanciful and festive with a whole family of whimsical scarecrows, haybales, leaf wreaths, and world of
pumpkins, squash, gourds, and colorful mums. She can do it, too.
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Enlarge photo | | Cornstalks Galore
Lots of Ozarks folk love decorating for the harvest time holidays, and dried cornstalks are a favorite especially for Thanksgiving. This crop came taller than ever--at least 10 feet--along with lots of dried ears of corn and Kathi arranged all into a neat row.
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Enlarge photo | | Plumpkins
This amazing collection of pumpkins blew us away for being plumper, maybe prettier, and certainly more symmetrical than any we'd ever seen. Don and Kathi liked 'em too.
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Enlarge photo | | Pumpkins and Flowering Kale
Flowering Kale, sometimes called Ornamental Kale, provide wonderful color and texture in the garden, in containers, or on the table in autumn. They include many varieties and the interior leaf rosettes may be white, red, pink, lavender, blue, or violet. Can you eat them? Of course you can, and they're nutritious as all get-out. One major caution: If you're thinking of eating nursery kale, always ask if it's been sprayed with insecticides, and if it has, or you suspect it has, don't eat it..
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Enlarge photo | | 'Golden Andrea' Mum
Mums are without equal for bringing brilliant color to fall and the 'Golden Andrea' Mum (Chrysanthemum x Morifolium
'Golden Andrea') is a truly outstanding example. Its beautiful
mounding habit and huge profusion of lovely golden flowers make it superb the garden or in containers. Will it winter
over the in the garden? Always ask your local nurseryperson, because with mums
hardiness always varies by geographical location.
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Enlarge photo | | 'Harmony' Mum
The 'Harmony' Mum is truly distinctive for producing a great abundance of gorgeous bicolor flowers, red-bronze in the center and gold-bronze to yellow in the outer petals. It grows in a mound that can reach 24 inches tall and 36 inches wide.
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Enlarge photo | | A 'Delicious' Mum?
Kathi's not sure, but she thinks 'Pink Delicious' may
be the varietal name of this mum. It was one of several that came from the supplier without plant labels. Whatever the name, its flowers are unique in blending many shades of rose and pink.
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