I am Surinder Chadha, I live in Old Tappan in northern New Jersey. Gardening has been my hobby since childhood. In Old Tappan, we are overrun by deer, chipmunks, and squirrels, who do not make growing flowers easy. Most of the annuals I plant are in more than 150 12- to 24-inch planters on the deck, which is about 7 to 8 feet high. It may be hard to believe, but deer will come up on the deck if we don’t close the gate.
We have seen Surinder’s incredible collection of enormous houseplants before (click here), and here we see those same plants taking a little summer vacation outside, which is a great way to give them optimum conditions to thrive and get big.
Rows and rows of containers of annuals bring tons of color and avoid the deer. New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri, annual) dominate on the top of the railing.
Tons of red flowers from begonias (Begonia hybrid, annual) and salvia (Salvia splendens, annual) echo the red tones of the crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia, Zones 7–10) blooming next to the deck.
Not ALL the annuals are in containers. Here, masses of vinca (Catharanthus roseus, annual) bloom. This annual loves full sun, blooms well through extreme heat, and is deer and rabbit resistant. Its only weakness is that it doesn’t thrive in wet, poorly drained soils.
In this section, petunias (Petunia hybrids, annual) in various colors and a yellow-leaf sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas, annual) dominate.
Beautiful containers frame this door.
Beautiful coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides, looks like the variety ‘Chocolate Mint’)
Check out how enormous that same coleus got later in the season.
Wax begonias (Begonia semperflorens, annual) are dependable, easy-to-grow plants that bloom nonstop in full sun to light shade.
The genus Begonia is enormous, with many wonderful varieties. The looks to be one of the Dragon Wing varieties.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.