We recently visited Surinder Chadha’s beautiful indoor plant collection in northern New Jersey, and today Surinder is sharing his outdoor gardening endeavors from the summer.
Surinder says that the local deer population is rampant, so to avoid having everything eaten, he gardens on the elevated deck outside his home that the deer cannot access.
Pots full of flowers fill every space, both sitting on the deck and up on the railing. If you are limited to gardening in a small area, pots of annuals are a great choice because they will give you huge quantities of flowers and color all through the warm part of the year.
Trees make a beautiful green backdrop to the colorful pots of flowers.
I wonder how much time Surinder spends watering to keep all of these pots looking so lush and perfect.
Annual planters can be made up of mixes of different varieties, as seen in the lower pots, or just one specimen per pot to really show off each particular plant’s beauty.
A towering coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides, annual) grows on the deck, while shorter varieties sit up on the deck railing.
Classic impatiens (Impatiens walleriana, annual) have been struggling with a new disease in many gardens called impatiens downy mildew, but when they are healthy and happy, few plants for shade can beat them for sheer flower production.
Even this narrow deck space is lined with plants: cheery yellow marigolds (Tagetes patula, annual) and red and white wax begonias (Begonia semperflorens, annual).
Not all of the flowers are confined to the deck. Here by the front steps, magenta and white vinca (Catharanthus roseus, annual) bloom in a big mass, echoing the color of the crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia) blooming behind them.
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Comments
Fabulous!
Just what I need today amidst all the negativity so rampant right now. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Absolutely lovely! Both indoors and outdoors! It is clear that a lot of love is shared between Surinder and the plants!!
Oh my what a slice of heaven you have! Wonderful colors! Bet you love it when it rains & you don't have to water all of those pots! Thanks for sharing!
A rainbow of beautiful colors!
After losing my impatiens beds to (what turned out to be) downy mildew two years in a row, I had to accept that my soil is contaminated, and I might as well forward.
I’m learning to love Sunpatiens and New Guinea impatiens in my borders, but I miss the gradation of color I had with the Accent series of impatiens. I had a wide border of them in front of a perennial bed, visible but set well back from the street, and it was a stunner, receiving many compliments.
Is there a “cure” for downy mildew that I missed, short of replacing all my topsoil? (Definitely not feasible!)
Glorious! Just bursting with love and joy!!! Thank you for taking the time to share with all of us on our dreary winter days. I just read that there are only 63 more days 'til spring. Well I guess that depends upon the region but one can dream that we can have Surinder's colors in our gardens again.
user-5117752 got it right.
Glorious is the only word for the explosion of color framing your deck!
So very pretty! Until about 6 years ago, we lived in Franklin Lakes, NJ (Northern NJ) and I miss my gardens there so much. I used to run deer off with a golf club or a large push broom : ). I also had excellent results using a mixture of 1 part milk (any kind, including what has gone bad) to 3 parts water and several drops of peppermint oil (not extract) sprayed liberally on all of the plants they preferred and around the perimeter of my property which was an acre. Had to be done following rain, but was worth it because I was able to keep my hundred or so daylilies from being decimated. I also found that planting cat mint, lavender, and other herbs throughout my garden beds helped as they don't like the smell. Northern NJ = bears, deer, turkeys, foxes, coyotes, etc., and is very beautiful! Thank you for sharing your lovely plants - inside and out!
Such a cheerful garden!
Gorgeous! Surinder, do you have time to do anything other than water, water, water? Also do you use any fertilizers or are you not giving away your secrets ☺️? Thanks for the color today.
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