The Clash is making a super-hot fashion statement for Spring 2015–no surprise given the tidal wave of throwback-to-the-Seventies looks. But will jarring colours work in the garden, too. Oh, yeah. Two of the plants I trialled on behalf of Proven Winners last year were Supertunia® Black Cherry Petunia hybrid and Vermillionaire™ Cuphea. The petunias had decadent, deep red flowers with a sexy, contrasting black throat. The cuphea, commonly called firecracker or cigar plant, flung up stems covered in bright orange blooms that looked, yes, like teeny cigars. Both types of plants prefer full sun and are heat tolerant and as I saw them sitting together in their little, temporary containers I thought, wow, why not? I paired them up in various pots and positioned them wherever the garden needed a jolt of colour and texture, including our hot, sun-soaked patio which they didn’t seem to mind a bit. These petunias have a stronger upright habit than a lot of Supertunias so they can be used as a centerpiece in mixed container plantings rather than just as a spiller. My petunias mounded up and gushed over each containers rim and the cupheas sprayed out in a perfect counterpoint to accent the petunias. I loved how this surprising duo created quite a sophisticated-looking container planting but loved even more that both plants were very low maintenance. No deadheading needed on either. I’ll be planting this hot combo again this year.

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I had one Cuphea in it’s own blue pot (bottom left) but the pots filled with both Cupheas and Black Cherry Petunias were hands down hits. Photographed in July, 2014.

The Supertunia Black Cherry Petunias continued to bloom abundantly all hot summer long. Photographed in September, 2014.

This hot duo continued to perform well into the fall. Photographed in October, 2014.

Just before the first really hard frost, I moved the biggest container of Cuphea and Petunias to the back garden to enjoy it in the last rays of late afternoon sun.