Twigs from my garden

Not since the Beatles sang about living in a yellow submarine or Donovan crooned, "I'm just wild about Saffron ... " has the color yellow been so hot! At least in the garden and nursery scene. In case you doubt me, let me titillate your tendrils. (By the way, if you remember those songs, you have just dated yourself to about my age!)

Lemon Zest Petunia

Frankly, I was unaware of Lemon Zest petunias until last summer. Viva claims its Lemon Zest "leaps out of the landscape," likening it to a yellow highlighter. I wouldn't go that far, but I can imagine it acting as a coy background to many other flowers and colors including purple salvia and multicolored lantana. Lemon Zest will grow in a mound or droop artistically from a container or window box, so it is a versatile flower that will cool its color in the presence of brighter flowers, yet will give a gardener an alternate choice other than plain old white. If you have ever grown white petunias, you have probably noticed they tend to "pink out" as the flowers age. To maintain the best color and maximize flowering of Lemon Zest and other petunias, you should fertilize them regularly. Gardening hint: Petunias require about twice as much plant food as do other flowers because they are such prolific bloomers.

Yellow Clematis

Clematis has long been a faithful standout standard in the traditional garden, but this year we will be seeing this tremendous trellising flowering in yellow! The delicate flowers of Clematis tangutica are lantern-shaped when they first open, and then flatten out as they mature to about 2 1/4 inches across. Just to add to the wow factor, yellow clematis flowers have a coconut fragrance, which makes their tiny Japanese lanterns even more exotic. Yellow clematis blooms from June to September and, as with other clematis, should either be trellised or planted to climb seductively over other flowering shrubs with "head in the sun, feet in the shade" for best results.

Primrose Lilac

Now here is a new variation on an old theme, which you will also be seeing at the garden centers, although the name belies - even contradicts - the color. Springhill Nurseries says of Syringa vulgaris Primrose, "The rare ... yellow Primrose Lilac is much sought after, yet seldom found." Blooming in spring with other lilacs, but in a soft shade of yellow, this gorgeous 10-foot shrub is vigorous and requires little maintenance. I can just see this variety in tandem with a lavender lilac. As Springhill's Web site puts it, the green leaves of the bush are "the perfect backdrop for the intensely fragrant blossoms." Do not be disappointed. The first year, the blooms on Lilac Primrose are yellow-white; the yellow intensifies as the plant matures. Lilac Primrose will grow best when planted in full sun in well-drained soil.

I recommend when you plant a lilac you think of it as a bushy tree or you will not be prepared for the height and breadth of this magnificent shrub. The mature traditional lilac makes an excellent privacy bush for a secluded spot in the garden. If you want a foundation plant, look for a smaller less pretentious variety, such as Miss Kim lilac, which will give you the same fragrant flowers but in a considerably smaller space. Old-fashioned, but never out of style, lilacs are beloved for their perfumed scents that grace the springtime air, so place any lilac where its fragrance can waft into an open window.

Golden Sedum

Finally, I entice you with a yellow groundcover, golden sedum (Sedum kamtschaticum). It is described as low-growing, six to nine inches high, smothered with bright yellow, star-shaped flowers that bloom in late spring to early summer. Since it is a succulent, it is an excellent choice for hot, dry sites in a garden border or as a fill in plant in the flowerbed.

Now, hopefully, these yellow bloomers have mellowed your gardening spirit. I would love to tell you the history of hybridizing the yellow rose, but I will save that interesting story for yet another day.

Master Gardener Tip of the Week

Our woods are full of honeysuckle bushes - now blooming, both yellow and pink - that escaped the landscape and naturalized. While they are beautiful, they just do not belong there. Honeysuckle is now considered a non-native invasive species in our Ohio woodlands.