Before the plants all succumb to a hard freeze, take a look at the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service’s landscape in Dewey. Master gardeners, led by Susie Smith, plant and maintain the gardens. It’s a good place to see how plants will look at a mature size or how they tolerate our summers. Several master gardeners also maintain garden plots on the local library grounds.
Smith said one of the annuals they tried this year was the new Surfinia Sumo petunia, but it didn’t do as well for them as the petunia hybrid ‘Supertunia Vista Bubblegum,’ which is a very vigorous petunia that doesn’t require deadheading. The other colors in the Vista series are silverberry and fuchsia.
The ‘African Blue’ basil was a standout this year, she said, growing much larger than anticipated. Smith said it was covered with bees and other pollinators all summer. African Blue is sterile, so it can’t produce seed, thereby blooming till frost.