Planting season has begun in earnest in the South and as they say it will be matriculating your way wherever you live. I visited a garden center this week and it took my breath away with the giant selection. There was the new Supertunia Vista Cool Jazz Petunia too.
With the addition of Cool Jazz, the Vista group has grown to seven and now totals 454 awards. When you think of Supertunia Vista petunias you probably think of Bubblegum the bright pink variety with the big stature. But did you know all 7 varieties have the potential to reach 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide?

The National Garden Bureau has chosen 2026 to be the Year of the Sedum. It is always the year of the sedum at The Garden Guy’s house. As I pulled photos for this column I was stunned by its beauty, and in this case, it is Lemon Coral sedum.
I quickly came up with 30 photos which is about 25 too many but I’ll submit around 9 and see what the editors do. But this brought up a question in my mind: why isn’t everyone using it, especially in their containers?

Read the full Garden Guy column in Thursday’s Bowie News.

The Unplugged salvia group grew to four in 2025 and needs to be your start to an epic red, white and blue garden.
There also is an Unplugged Pink. The group has won 89 awards, and I predict more will come. Three of the four have Texas DnA which should put a smile on Bowie Texas gardener’s faces
The unplugged salvias give The Garden Guy a lot to talk about. Truth be known, I wanted to title this column Unpacking the Unpluggeds. Microsoft Word has already redlined that but I’ll persist and see if the bevy of editors along the way to a published column take exception. The unpacking should be fun if I do it right.

Read the full Garden Guy story in the Thursday Bowie News.

Unplugged So Blue salvia was the first in the Unplugged group and has won 37 awards. Here it is seen with Heat it Up Yellow gaillardia or blanket flower.