Although borderline hardy in my area, I have three agastache varieties that keep returning to bloom all summer. A dry spot is a must.
Mahogany Midget coreopsis is an exuberant bloomer.
I winter over most of these container annuals (except for the petunias) and perennials, either inside the house or in my garden shed.
Kathy Bond Borie
Richmond, Vermont
New England Editor
Kathy Bond Borie won her first blue ribbon in a floral design contest when she was in kindergarten with a pie pan filled with sand and pansies. Her mother and grandmother introduced her to gardening, and she couldn't believe her luck when she discovered horticulture was actually a career option.
Along with stints as a floral designer, interior plantscaper, and medical and nutrition writer, she has spent the past 20 years as a garden writer/editor. She has lived and gardened in the Colorado Rockies, central Iowa, and now in the colder reaches of the Champlain Valley of Vermont, where she dreams of a longer growing season. She pushes the zone 4 envelope by (among other things) planting non-hardy perennials and shrubs in pots and wintering them in a very cluttered garden shed.
She loves designing with plants, and spends more time playing in the garden -- planting and trying new combinations -- than sitting and appreciating it. She's partial to ornamentals and fruits but also has a newly expanded vegetable garden that the rabbits and deer find quite satisfactory. (The deer also found the newly planted sour cherry trees quite to their liking). A more critter-proof fence is on the drawing board for next year.
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