Repetition Wows In The Garden

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - I saw a cartoon recently showing someone at a flower store gazing at a huge array of all the blooms and colors with the shopper asking 'Which ones of these will look best without the others?'

And that's the trick, isn't it? When you go shopping for plants, they all look so tempting, it's easy to start grabbing out one of these and two of those. Then you get home and plant that mish-mash and think, 'That's not the way it looked at the store….'

What's hitting you so hard when you're out plant shopping is seeing so much of the same thing – hundreds of red geraniums together on a table, or parades with row after row of purple petunias.

To make an impact in the garden, nothing succeeds like repetition and, since annuals only bloom for one season, don't be shy. Choose one or two easy-care annuals that bloom from now until frost, and if you want that WOW factor – don't buy one pot of this and one of that. Pick a color you love and buy them by the flat.