Top performing Annuals of 2018

Annuals: Top performers of 2018 & looking forward to 2019
Tracy Koehler- Horticulturalist

Last season we saw the old standbys continue to perform up to or beyond expectations. Coleus, Ornamental Pepper, Lantana, Canna, Elephant Ears, Angelonia, Gomphrena, Celosia, and annual Ornamental Grasses. A few favorites of these standbys were:
Coleus ‘Marrakesh’ was planted in the Loop containers and City Hall. It is a great shorter, mounding coleus.

Sedona Sun ornamental pepper is vigorous and whimsical, it looks like a bundle of string lights.They were planted at the Post Office and Centennial Commons.

We had some lovely dwarf Cannas in the containers on Olive Boulevard. They made great thriller centerpieces as did the Elephant Ear,  Alocasia ‘Calidora’. You can also see the robust ‘Ping Pong’ series Gomphrena (right photo). A variety of flower shaped really adds interest to displays and Gomphrena (Globe Amaranth) blooms like crazy all summer.

I am really fond of the Nassella tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) that is in the Delmar roundabout and in the Vernon and Midland intersection of Heman Park gardens. It offers fine texture and movement to gardens.