My strawberries hate my strawberry tower. They literally run from it.

Last year in my book writing garden absence, I let them run as they wished as I was failing the time to reign them in. Subsequently, if you drive by my house this weekend you will see a sign at the end of the driveway that says this: “Free Strawberry Plants – You Dig”

I have decided not to fight them on this tower issue anymore. Instead I am going to let them have some of the pathways that they insist on taking over. They seem to be ok with me walking over them on occasion and I appreciate that they are a pretty effective at choking out any other weed that might want to take hold. Plus there is the profusion of home grown strawberries.

But I am unsure of what to do with the tower. I have a few thoughts…the first is to fill it with a succulent garden. I think that would be a stunning focal point, but my reality is that I live in Massachusetts – not Southern California, and the selection of hardy succulents is limited – so much so that I that think this plan would likely turn out to be nothing more than a study in Hens and Chicks. The second is to fill it with herbs – an idea that I also love, but frankly – given the extreme amount of herbs I have planted throughout the rest of my garden – is something that I really don’t need. So I think my last idea – to fill it with a striking collection of annuals is where I am going to end up.

I am not so big on mixed containers and find that single plant containers are easier for me to manage.  Plus, I prefer a more modern look – but I think this is the place for an exception of sorts. The layers are calling out to me, they seem to be asking for a color study in ascending stripes. I am choosing yellow and plan to work a gradation from white to deep yellow over the five levels (I will let the strawberries have the bottom since it is what they insist).  I have a little worry that the nemesia will not like the position (being a shade lover) but this is a tricky sort of thing since one side gets way more sun than the other.  I am looking forward to seeing how this experiment works out over the season.

If you want to know more about each plant, here are the links to each choice: Diamond Frost Euphorbia, Nemesia Coconut, Lantana Luscious Lemonade, Flambe Yellow Chrysocephalum apiculatum, Goldilocks Rocks Bidens hybrid.

If you want to read more about my strawberry tower, check out these posts.

Images:  Images courtesy of proven winners and rochelle greayer.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Proven Winners.  I am not an employee of Proven Winners and all opinions are my own. See the other posts in this series.