The climate of Arizona definitely influences what types of flowering herbaceous plants are grown
and when we can grow them. Unlike more temperate climates, we can grow flowering
herbaceous plants during our winter (cool-season plants) but other flowering plants can only be
grown in the spring/summer (warm-season plants). For this topic, read the article and watch the
videos in order to be able to answer the following study guide questions before taking the topic
quiz.
1. Which colors are warm colors and which colors are cool colors? What effects do they
have when seen in a landscape garden?
(Look at video notes)
● Green, blue and purple are considered cool colors
○ They can make the yard seem cooler and more inviting in the summer
● Red, orange and yellow are considered warm colors
○ They can add excitement to landscape
● Hot colors appear to be closer than cool colors so put cool colors in the back to
make the garden appear larger
● Hummingbirds are attracted to red and orange tubular shaped flowers with lots of
nectar but may be attracted to other vibrant colors
2. What is the difference between monochromatic, analogous, complementary, and
polychromatic color combinations in a landscape? What are their effects on people?
3. What are annual, biennial, and perennial plants?
● Annual: A plant that completes its entire life cycle in one growing season
● Biennial: What is a bedding plant? What are the growth habit and life cycle
characteristics of bedding plants? A plant that completes its entire life cycle in two
growing seasons
● Perennial: A plant that completes its life cycle in three or more growing seasons
4. What are warm season and cool season bedding plants?
●
5. What time of year are they planted and grown in the Phoenix area?
● Warm season flowers can be planted from approximately February through May,
for bloom through the summer
● Cool season flowers are planted in the fall and bloom through May, or until
temperatures heat up.
Study Guide
6. What should one look for when purchasing bedding plants at a local plant nursery?
7. What is the most important cultural practice that needs to be done when planting
bedding plants into a landscape garden site?
8. What two things determine the proper spacing between plants for bedding plants?
9. How often should bedding plants be watered?
10. What kinds of fertilizers should be used and when should bedding plants be fertilized?
11. What are the two most common problems when culturing bedding plants in a landscape
garden? What are the most sustainable practices for eradicating them?
Bedding plants mentioned in this video are listed below.
Warm Season
● Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
● Star clusters (Pentas lanceolata)
● Mexican zinnia (Zinnia haagaena)
● Angelonia (Angelonia angustifolia)
Cool Season
● Pansy (Viola wittrockiana)
● Petunia (Petunia hybrid)
● Marigold (Tagetes species)
Final note: If you want more information about the bedding plants mentioned in this topic then
visit Dr. Chris Martin’s: Virtual Library of Phoenix Landscape Plants (Links to an external site.)
(Plants on this website are listed alphabetically by their genus and species).
Video: Bedding Plants and Landscape Color Terms
Terms
1. Annual
● Definition: A plant that completes its entire life cycle in one growing season
● In the lower sonoran desert, annual plants typically complete their life cycles
during one of two growing seasons
○ Warm season: From April through October
○ Cool season: October through the winter time to the following april
● In the video a flower Dimorphotheca sinuata or African daisy is shown
○ Completes life cycle during cool season
○ Peak flowering occurs from January through march
2. Biennial
● Definition: A plant that completes its entire life cycle in two growing seasons
● First growing season the biennial plant will grow vegetatively and the second
growing season it will grow reproductively producing flowers and fruit
● Ex in video: Beta Vulgari variety cichlid- Swiss chard
○ Biennial plant, will grow vegetatively in cool season
○ In late spring, early summer it will change for the second growing season
to produce a thick flower flower stock
■ Will produce seed and germinate for next fall
3. Bedding plants
● Definition: Small landscape plants that are planted close together in groups for a
colorful seasonal accent in the landscape
● Generally found at local garden centers or retail nurseries
○ Bedding plants in nurses are generally grown in very small containers
● Generally annual bad can also be biennial or perennial in terms of their growth
● Ex: Lobo Area Maritima- Sweet alyssum
○ When massed together they provide a vibrant white color to landscape
4. Chilling requirement
● Definition: The number of hours a plant must be exposed to temperatures
between 32F and 45F before it will break dormancy (and regrow in the following
spring)
5. Herbaceous
● Definition: A plant that does not produce secondary vascular tissues such as
wood
6. Nodes
● Definition: Points on a stem that grow leaves and have vegetative and/or
reproductive meristems called buds. The number of leaves at a node can be one
(alternate), two (opposite), or 3 or more (whorled)
○ Space in between each node is the internode
7. Perennial
● Definition: A plant that completes its life cycle in three or more growing seasons
● Can be herbaceous like Mexican sage plant or
● They can produce wood like: all trees
8. Variegation
● Definition: A (rare but) natural mutation that results in the production of cells in
leaves and stems that lack the green pigment called chlorophyll
● Lower rates of photosynthesis and as a result slower growth rates
● Can be used as accent plants in the landscape
Video: Bedding Plants and Landscape Color
● Color plays an important role in the world. But when was the last time you really aware
of the colors around you each day?
● Researchers have shown that color can sway thinking, change actions and cause
reactions
● Color can raise or lower your blood pressure or suppress your appetite
● Color has basic intrinsic visual appeal in terms of our perception of the world around us
● Color is paramount
● Color can mean many different things to people
○ Can impact our thoughts and emotions
Warm colors
● Red- historically symbolized with dange or passion
● Yellow- means caution or sacredness
● Both these colors are among the strongest hues in the landscape garden
● They are attention grabbers
● In the landscape, warm colors tend to advance towards the human eyes
● Warm colors make spaces look smaller than they actually are
● Use warm colors sparingly with purpose and discretion
○ Ex: be careful when placing warm colors near areas that you don’t want people
to focus on
● Place warm colors where you do want people to look at
○ Ex: front entryway to a home or some other point of importance
Cool colors
● Blues, grays and violets are cool colors with a distinct recessive quality
● Cool colors can cause or promote more passive, contemplative relaxed feelings
● Since cool colors tend to recede away from the eye, they offer a valuable service of
making landscape garden spaces appear larger than they really are
● Colors can have a harmonious or disruptive effect when used in certain schemes or
combinations
● Can cause the eyes to leisurely look around or come to an abrupt stop
Four flower color combinations for a landscape garden
1. Monochromatic
● Monochromatic color schemes use tints and shades of one pure color
○ Tint: lighter or whiter than the pure color
○ Shade is darker
● Ex: tints of shades of red including, white, various pinks, red, deep red or maroon
● Monochromatic color schemes bring a subtle rhythm of a landscape garden
letting the eyes travel slowly against the garden scheme
2. Analogous
● Analogous color aches use different color hues that are next to each other on the
color wheel
● Ex: orange is next to red orange. Blue is next to blue-violet
● Analogous color combos are not difficult to achieve
● Bring visual rhythm into a garden space
○ Makes eyes travel across the garden space, but more quickly than
monochromatic
3. Complementary
● Complementary color schemes use different color hues that are opposite of each
other on the color
● These are powerful and vibrant color combinations
● Examples: Red against green, orange against blue, yellow against violent
● Complementary colors tend to suddenly stop creating points of landscape accent
4. Polychromatic
● Polychromatic color schemes combine many different colors next to each other
other
○ This kind of scheme can seem rather in appearance and create tension
● This scheme can also evoke festive and playful responses…like a color party
● May seem chaotic but can encourage viewer to gaze more fully at a garden
space
● This scheme should be used to with great discretion to create a party like
atmosphere
Bedding plant definition
● Seasonal transplanting of fast-growing, short-lived, small plants into garden beds to
create temporary seasonal displays of sensory interest
Bedding plant growth habit
● Non-woody
● Tender
● Herbaceous
Bedding plant life cycle
● Annual
● Biennial
● Short lived perennial
Bedding plants are also used to produce
● Cut flowers for interior decoration
● edibles or dried flowers
● Fragrance gardens
● Wildlife
○ Hummingbirds and butterflies
● Smaller succulent plants have been used as bedding plants for unique colors and
textures
Use of bedding plants is shaped and defined by the periodicity of local growing seasons
● Growing season is unique to any location
● Growing season affected mostly by that locations climate
In the lower sonoran desert there are two distinct growing seasons
● Warm season
○ Warm season bedding plants
■ Transplanted into the landscape garden during late april. Grow until late
august or early september
■ Few bedding plants can withstand the high heat of a desert summer
■ Ex: periwinkle, star clusters, mexican zinnia, and angelonia
● Cool season
○ Cool season bedding plants
■ Transplanted into landscape garden during october and grow through the
winter until april
■ There are more plants to choose from for the cool season compared to
the warm season
■ Examples: pansy, petunia, geranium, marigold, pot marigold, and
snapdragon
Having success growing bedding plants always start with preparing the soil
● Thoroughly and heavily amending garden soil with composted organic matter to a depth
of 8-12 inches
● Organic matter improves water and nutrient retention
● Adding organic matter is the most important practice to improve growth and flowering of
bedding plants
Spacing
● Location is predicated on spacing the individual bedding plants close enough together
when you plant them so that they can quickly grow together to form a mass display of
color from their flowers
● To do this properly means knowing how fast a particular type of bedding plant will grow
and what will be its final size when it gets big at maturity
Bedding plants are cultured for a short period of time usually no longer than 6 months
● When planting them its critical to space them properly to have that eye-popping display
of color
Sustainable tip
● Transplanting bedding plants close together in your landscape garden will also help keep
your garden soil cool and moist
● This will cause bedding plants to quickly grow together and form a closed canopy of
leaves
● Close canopy will shade the surface of garden soil and lower rate of evaporation of
water from your garden soil
Most bedding plant species are not native to sonoran desert
● May not be able to grow in desert landscape garden without the application of
supplemental water
○ We call this irrigating the plants
How much water will bedding plants need in order to thrive in a landscape garden?
● Bedding plants will need to be watered more often than landscape shrubs or trees
● Cool season bedding plants will need to be irrigated about every two to three days
● Warm season bedding plants will need to be watered every other day or every day
during the hottest summer months
● After transplanting give bedding plants extra water the first couple of weeks to help
them get established
● Best time of day to irrigate bedding plants is morning
● Keep your bedding plant soil evenly moist
● Garen soil that your bedding plants are growing in should be evenly moist to depth of six
inches below the soil surface
○ You can inspect soil moisture by using your hand or small garden trowel
Bedding plants normally have a short lifespan in the landscape
● Locally they’re in the landscape garden site for no longer than six months before they’re
removed and replaced in time for the growing season
● Because of this short duration bedding plants must be able to
1. Grow quickly
2. Have robust healthy foliage
3. Flower quickly and profusely
Bedding plant garden soil fertility
● Performance will be enhanced by having an amended garden soil that is optimally rich in
essential plant nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus)
● Good rule of thumb
○ Fertilize bedding plants when you plant them and again after 3 months
● Use a complete fertilizer with a balanced mixture of essential plant nutrients including
micronutrients such as iron
● Avoid use of unbalanced incomplete fertilizers especially those containing mostly
nitrogen
○ This will stimulate leafy vegetative growth at the expense of flowing
● Remember to always read the label on the fertilizer bag and follow the instructions
● If in doubt about the amounts of fertilizer to apply, then apply less rather than more
Savvy bedding plant gurus know this
● Watch the videos
● Do the readings
● Answer study guide questions
● Complete topic quizzes way before the module deadline
● Adding too much fertilizer will cause salt burn on the leaves, flowers and roots of tender
bedding plants
Sustainable tip
● If you choose to use an organic fertilizer product then be sure to incorporate it into your
garden soil at the send time you amend the soil with organic matter
Growing bedding plants can come with a few special pest challenges
● Fortunately because of our dry desert climate the number of disease and pest
challenges that occur have compared to more temperate moist climates are generally
few
● Having a moist soil environment is great for the growth of bedding plants
○ But it can also provide a near ideal environment for our two most common
garden problems
1. The growth of unwanted and
2. soil bacterial and fungal diseases
● These problems are caused by the importation of contaminated potting
soil into the bedding plant garden site from local plant nurseries or garden
centers
Nursery
● One shouldn’t assume that the potting soil that nursery growers use to propagate and
grow bedding plants is in fact pest free
● When you got to a plant nursery to shop for the bedding plant transplants that you
should always inspect the potting soil that the plants are grown in for the presence of
unwanted weed and soil diseases
○ Inspect the potting soil surface for the presence of weeds
● Diseases are not clearly evident
○ Inspect the potting soil for 3 symptoms of disease
1. Abnormal leaf yellowing
2. Dead or decaying roots
3. Off odors and smells
○ Do not purchase diseased nursery bedding plants
If infested with weeds or a soil disease
● Eradicate weeds completely at first appearance
● Manually remove and replace the top 12 inches of diseased soil with clean soil
Bedding plants occupy a special in today's landscape garden spaces
