14 JUStpUt JULY 21, 2000 The Seduction of Summer Blooms Flamers in the garden A LAURELHURST DENTISTRY C larice J ohnston & dm . d . ASSOCIATES • Treatment explained and discussed • Teeth whitening • New patients welcome 503/233-3622 ® .rvrrjvr vr. 2520 East Burnside Rent withA Eddie A FREE APARTMENT RELOCATION SERVICE Need an apartment? Would you buy a house without getting the advice of a Professional Real Estate Agent? Of course not, so don't rent an apartment without the help of a Professional Leasing Agent... ...Rent With Eddie! Eddie's goal is to be your Personal Apartment Finder. Using our vast apartment knowledge, Eddie will make the rental process easy. Eddie is Oregon's most well known Apartment Leasing Agentl Eddie Passadore Your Professional Apartment Relocation Agent 503.703.6096 s the temperature rises from warm to hot, my interest in colors does the same. 1 have been well aware of this fact for the past couple of years. It has become something that 1 like to joke about with my plant friends. Like clockwork, when the mercury hits the 82-degree mark, 1 want bright, flaming-hot, red-orange flowers. I warn my friends when entering a nursery not to let me walk out with every orange blooming plant 1 see. I have been seduced by some of these flaming hotties before, only to be disappointed by some. Now when 1 get all hot and sweaty, there are a few bright flowers that 1 know I. can really count on. As always, there are some new ones, too. available at retail nurseries. At the moment, my Right when our first heat wave strikes, one of personal favorite might be Z. septentrionalis, my favorite perennials starts to put on its best show. “Mattole Select.” It has exceptionally silver leaves With traffic-stopping orange flowers that seem to and a low growing habit. 1 suggest checking the never quit, the genus Zauschneria makes the hot height and spread of each variety because they can days of summer oh so much better in the garden. vary greatly. Most Zauschnerias you find will have an orange to red flower and silver or gray leaves. They attract tons of hummingbirds and are fully drought-tolerant once estab­ lished. How do you like that? A new up-and-coming star in the garden world is the orange Echinacea. Only introduced a few years ago, it has won the hearts of gardeners all over the country, including at least a few of us here in Portland. 1 have to be totally honest. 1 have yet to plant one, but I am only waiting to find the right place. 1 can, however, say that 1 have it from two good sources that Echinacea “Sundown” is a really good garden plant. I’m convinced. 1 have grown Echinaceas before and have found them to be near no-brainers. There are reasons why plants become “classics,” and I can understand why Echinacea falls into this category. They can tolerate almost any garden soil but perform the best with rich, evenly moist soil. Echinacea can also stand some short periods without water and still look fine. It can handle full sun to part shade, and long after the petals have fallen off, the seed cones still look good. E. “Sundown” grows to nearly 3 feet tall and about half as wide. The attention­ Zauschneria produces traffic-stopping flowers that grabbing orange flowers have just the compete with summer temperatures. slightest touch of pink. The overall effect is a very rich, intense color that you can’t This is one of those times when you should take my pass by. As with all Echinaceas, the flowers are advice and run out to get some. 1 find Zauschneria great cut and attract their share of butterflies. so useful in the garden. In the past, I have used it Perhaps by this fall I will have figured out just in more tropical-looking plantings to fire things up. the right place to have my very own orange 1 have seen it used en masse on hillsides. It works Echinacea. But by the time November rolls around, itself nicely into mixed borders, and it is more than 1 will probably have forgotten all about the colors happy to be planted in a dry garden. that compete with a 90-degree day. 1 will be won­ There are two rules that I have found helpful dering what color goes best with the first frost of when using this plant. One, avoid planting it where the year. Eww, shame on me for even mentioning the f-word. © another plant might crowd it from above. Two, don’t water it from above. Both of these things can cause it to flop over. This makes for a sad-looking To reach DlRTY D an , who will answer any and all plant and gardener. of your gardening questions, simply e-mail There are a number of species and cultivars dirtydthegar