Cottage garden in Lancaster is colorful in three seasons

by Connie Oswald Stofko

“My garden has color from spring to fall,” said Elaine Bialecki, founder of the original Elaine’s Flower Shoppe in Depew.

What does it look like at this time of the year? Watch the video below, made by Jay Jinge Hu of Williamsville at this time last year. Hu has shared many of his videos with us, and you can see them here. He has also welcomed visitors to his own wonderful garden on Open Gardens.

While Bialecki’s gardens look marvelous now, how does she get the color in other seasons? I gave her a call for more tips.

Summer to fall

‘Blue My Mind’ is an annual with spectacular flowers that are a real blue. It takes the heat and humidity of summer, is drought tolerant and is still doing well now. It’s in the genus Evolvulus, and the plants are generally called dwarf morning glories.

‘Heavenly Blue’ morning glory is an heirloom morning glory that is tall and vining. It doesn’t begin to flower until the end of August, Bialecki said, then keeps going into fall.

Black-eyed Susans will continue into September. They spread well and “have kind of taken over my whole yard, but it’s kind of nice,” Bialecki said. “They are tall and cover up everything (like weeds.) They’re great for a cut flower.”

Phlox. Some of her phlox will continue into September, she said, because early in the growing season deer munched on the plants. Those plants budded later and will continue to flower longer.

Hydrangea will continue through September and October.

Scaevola is another annual that does well in hot summers. “It can completely dry out,” Bialecki said, “and when you water it, it will come right back. It’s hard to kill.” It will bloom until we have a frost.

Zinnias fill two raised beds in Bialecki’s landscape. A retired florist, she uses the zinnias as cut flowers. They continue blooming until the first frost.

Marigolds are perky annuals that will flower beautifully until frost.

Mums are annuals that Bialecki buys for autumn. There are early-season, mid-season and late-season mums. They bloom at different times, depending on the variety. Late-season mums will be in bloom at Halloween. A good frost can damage opened flowers, but unopened buds should open normally.

Autumn crocuses bloom in September, October or November.

Spring

Crocus and Solomon’s seal fill a space in the front of Bialecki’s house. When you watch the video, you’ll see that black-eyed Susans have covered up the spring plants.

Other plants in her spring gardens are:

• Forget-me-nots
• Violets in four colors
• Woodland hyacinths
• Daffodils
• Mini-daffodils
• Primroses
• Ferns

Bialecki had one last suggestion for other gardeners. She had once read that “a garden is for you.”

“How true,” she said. “Whatever you enjoy–flowers or all greens–don’t compare your garden to the one across the street. That’s how your garden is.

“My garden is me.”