DOCTOR GROW: INSTANT COLOR: CONTAINER PLANTINTGS MAKE IT EASY TO ADORN YOUR LANDSCAPE

I would love to have big, beautiful flowers growing in and around my landscape right now. If I had followed Mother Nature's seasonal order, I would have planted seedlings in early spring, protected them from our late frosts, watered, fertilized and weeded. Unfortunately, spring is such a busy time for me that I didn't get around to planting when I needed to.

I don't think that my problem is unique. It seems that time is moving at a faster and faster pace these days. My sense of acceleration of the speed of time is corroborated by comments made by acquaintances and friends alike. "I never have enough time to do what I want to do, much less do what I need to do, when I need to do it."

So what do I do now? I want beautiful blooms adorning my landscape. I should have planted early but I didn't. Is there any way to get my cake and eat it too?

Fortunately, garden centers and growers have anticipated my problem. If you want large pots of showy flowers, just make a trip to your local garden center. Most of them carry 10-inch pots of mature geraniums, impatiens, vinca, marigolds or begonia.

All you have to do is take these flower pots home, place them on your patio, around your pool, on your deck or in your landscape, and you will be surrounded by instant color. Quite often the flowers are in deco pots or bowls that simulate terra cotta. If you don't like simulated terra cotta, find decorative pots that the deco pots fit in.

In order for you to select the right flowers for your particular location, determine when, during the day, your spot is in the shade or sun. If your location is sunny all day or sunny only in the afternoon, then select begonias, marigolds, vinca or geraniums. If your spot is only sunny in the morning or in the shade most of the day, select begonias or impatiens.

Now that you have instant color in your landscape, what do you need to do to keep them looking healthy and beautiful the rest of the summer? Flowers in containers are usually planted in a light soil or a soil-less root substrate. Because the substrate is a light-weight medium, watering will probably be required once each day.

Daily watering is only a rule of thumb. Remember to use the finger test before you water. Place your finger one to two inches deep in the root substrate. If the substrate is wet, don't water. If the substrate is dry, water.

When you do water, make sure that enough water is applied so that the rooting mixture is thoroughly wetted. Any excess moisture should be allowed to drain through the pot. If you have your flowerpots inside another container, make sure that any excess water is poured out of the outside container. If the flower roots sit in water for extended periods of time, root rot will occur.

In addition to proper watering you must fertilize on a weekly basis. Use a water-soluble fertilizer such as 23-18-16. Because plants need more nutrients than just nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, add some fish emulsion to your fertilizer solution.

Well and tap water in most areas are alkaline. Because of this, you may find that even with fertilization on a weekly basis, sometimes your plants begin to take on a yellowish cast. In fact, the leaves may turn light yellow between the leaf veins while the tissue next to the veins stays green.

If you find that your plants are turning yellow, make several applications of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate). This fertilizer will reduce substrate pH, while enhancing the production of chlorophyll. By reducing root substrate pH, applied nutrients will be more available for plant use.

If you want instant color in your landscape, it's nice to know that you can get just what you want even in the middle of the growing season. A trip to your local garden center, some judicious watering and fertilizing during the growing season and you can transform your landscape into a luscious garden without all of the early spring work.