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PAS Garden Home: Color

From simple bouquets to the fanciful peacock feathers, this episode of P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home illustrates clever uses of color. Plus, we’ll visit a greenhouse filled with tropical plants, invite Mother Nature in for dinner, and explore the abundant colors of the Garden Home Retreat.

Featured Plants:
Red Spurge (Euphorbia continifolia)
Elephant Ears 'Limezinger'
Zinnia 'Canary'
Melampodium
Tulip 'Perestroika'
Hardy Orange (Poncirus trifoliata)

Construction Update
The last step before moving furniture into the cottage is finishing the floors.  To maintain the natural color of the Southern yellow pine wood tung oil was used in place of wood stain.  The tung oil seeps into the boards to strengthen the wood fibers.  Four coats and a 24 hour drying period later the floors have a beautiful and durable matte gloss finish.

The Green Component
Low VOC paint (Volatile organic compound) Nantucket Breeze is used in the back parlor, Dried Parsley in front parlor.

Friends in the Garden
Rose breeder Jacques Mouchotte shares tips for growing roses successfully.
•    Winter dormancy is necessary for abundant blooms.  Gardeners in tropical regions can induce dormancy by withholding water until the plant goes dormant.  This is called drought dormancy.
•    Container grown roses should be watered daily.  In
•    Drip irrigation

Garden Home Inside and Out
Everything comes around again in some shape or form.  The Victorians were hip on tropical plants and over 150 years later, they are still in vogue.  Tropicals add pizzazz in the way of color and texture and they're unique. Plant a Euphorbia cotinifolia or ‘Limezinger’ Elephant Ear in your garden and you are certain to have something different from your neighbor.


Allen’s Collections:
Adding garden elements to your table setting can make any gathering an event to remember.  Collect items such as tulips, pumpkins or winter berries for seasonal decorations.

Garden Home How To:
Rick Bogusch in Bridgehampton, NY shows us a shady green garden carpeted with moss and accented with hostas.

Pets in the Garden
Giant Dewlap Toulouse Geese and the two male peacocks, Castor and Pollex, add fanciful color to the Garden Home Retreat.  Castor and Pollex are Blue India Peafowl.   Read more.

Virtual Makeover
Cassie has a brand new house in Georgia with a huge lot.  She receives advice on how to frame the house with trees and shrubs.