How to Plant the Hummingbird Annual Collection

 

How to Plant Hummingbird Annual Collection Transcript

Hi, I’m Cheryl Karpeichik, I’m the Head Gardener at White Flower Farm. I’m going to demonstrate how to pot the Hummingbird Collection, which is one of our customers’ favorites.

The Collection consists of 6 different annual plants. The first plant I’m going to put into the container is Fuchsia ‘Billy Green.’ Because it is kind of an upright grower, I’m going to place this plant in the center of my Collection.

Now, the Collection also includes two Begonia ‘Dragon Wings Pink; it gets to be mainly about a foot tall, and you can see its habit is sort of wide-spreading, not really trailing, but it will kind of give some bulk, it will fill out the Collection.

Okay, then the next plant I’m going to use is Coleus ‘Sedona.’ I’m going to kind of put it in between like this. So when this plant grows up, it’s going to kind of fill out and get a little bit wider, bushier and it will also add height to the Collection. This is also another Coleus, this is Coleus ‘Strawberry Drop.’ Now as this plant grows, the stems are going to elongate, and I’m going to try to sneak a few straight through the container to come grow out the other side, so it will look like I have this plant on both sides of the container.

Okay, the next plant I’m going to put into the container is Ipomoea ‘Margarita,’ again a foliage plant. This plant actually has a cascading, or trailing habit. So what we’re going to do is tuck this plant right here on the edge, and again, just like with this Coleus, this one’s going to come forth and hang over the edge of the pot. And then as this one grows, I’m going to try to wind it through again to come off the other side of the pot, so, as your Collection grows up and matures you're going to have a nice balanced pot.

Okay, so I’ve placed my plants in the container, sort of firmed them into the soil. You can see there’s a little bit of dent here in the soil, so I’m going to, just to finish off the pot, add a little bit more soil, and just gently firm the soil. You want the soil to be about an inch lower than the rim of your container. That will allow you to water without overflowing the container. As the plants mature, they’re going to get tall, and it’s okay, to give them a little bit of a pinch. In the case of the Fuchsia, if you pinch that out, again, you‘re going to have more stems, and more stems equals more flowers, which that’s what the Hummingbirds like.

For more information on our plants and cultural recommendations, please visit our Gardening Help section of our website