Sunday, May 08, 2011

Coralberry Punch Million Bells

Million Bells
Calibrachoa 'Superbells Coralberry Punch'
(kal-ih-bruh-KOE-uh)

This is one of my favorite annuals and it was nice to see it in this exciting new color. Calibrachoa is just a crazy blooming flower that looks like a small Petunia but doesn’t have any of the problems that Petunias do. They seem to be heat and cold tolerant, meaning they bloom through the summer and hang on in the garden through a few light frosts. They are not hardy (Zone 9) and I haven’t tried over wintering them but maybe this year a couple will end up in the greenhouse.

Superbells only grow about 8 inches high but can spill out of containers or along the ground for a few feet. They don’t like extra water and require good drainage. They don’t need deadheading and if they start to look a little sad (not often) I trim the ends up a little. They do seem to benefit from a regular fertilization program.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Happy Mother’s Day to U.S. Moms. Here is a bonus flower for Sunday.


Trailing Verbena
Verbena 'Lanai Peach'
(ver-BEE-nuh)

Verbena is another great container plant. It happily grows and flowers along the edges of the pots. My experience has been that it is okay planted in the ground but the slugs love it and it seem more vigorous in the container garden. This color is great especially for the people that like the peach spectrum.

4 comments:

Jama said...

Pretty flowers!

Regina said...

Lovely. Thank you for the info.
Happy new week.

Kala said...

Love the colors in Coralberry Punch.

Stephany said...

Beautiful colors! I need to go find a new basket of Million Bells. The violas in the previous post are stunning.