Without a doubt, Kathy Pufahl changed the look of this country.
Kathy, was the founder of Beds
&
amp; Borders, a wholesale flower-growing business on Long
Island. The Garden Writers Association visited the business during
its recent annual symposium in New York.
Without a doubt, Kathy Pufahl changed the look of this country. Kathy, was the founder of Beds & Borders, a wholesale flower-growing business on Long Island. The Garden Writers Association visited the business during its recent annual symposium in New York.
Tragically, Kathy passed away last year of a brain tumor originating from a melanoma on her back that was removed 13 years ago. Yet, it was because of Kathy’s vision that our gardens today look a lot brighter and are much more innovative.
You see, Kathy was one of the first gardeners in America to define the look of flowering containers. Before she came around, flower containers were basically made up of geraniums and petunias for height, and lobelia and alyssum as trailers.
One could drive down the center of any town in the country, and see window boxes lined up in front of businesses. But no matter where you happened to be, those window boxes would be filled with the same static combination of plants year after boring year.
Kathy brought innovation to those window boxes. Plants like diascias, ipomeas, helichrysums and bacopas came into our vernacular. She changed our world – window box by window box, container by container. Due to Kathy’s efforts, Main Street USA would never be the same again.
I first met Kathy when I worked for Goldsmith Seeds, the wholesale flower breeder in Gilroy. We flew Kathy in from New York for intensive planting. For two straight days, Kathy worked in the greenhouse, planting different combinations of containers for Goldsmith’s world-wide Pack Trials. Basically, she introduced unique combinations of mixed flower varieties to Goldsmith’s customers.
Some of Kathy’s favorite flowers to intermix in containers included:
• Ipomea. Also known as sweet potato vine, ipomeas are now available in 4-inch containers from even big box stores. Some of the more popular colors of these big-leaved plants are lime green, pink, blue and even black (Ipomea Blackie).
• Bacopa (Sutera). Can also be found in big box garden centers, bacopa offers trailing white or lavender flowers on plants perfect for the edge of containers.
• Helichrysum. These outstanding foliage plants offer long-branching stems and colors like lime green (Helichrysum limelight).
• Ornamental grasses. Everything from dwarf Phormium (New Zealand flax) and Pennisetum.
Other possibilities include many types of coleus, salvia, begonia, verbena, petunia and more. One hint: check out the 4-inch-pot section of your favorite garden center. Priced at around $2 apiece, these 4-inch potted specimens will add to any container.
Check out www.bedsandborders.com for more ideas.
