Compact Snap Dragon

Gary Bachman: Not all snapdragons have to planted in the back row today on southern Gardening.

Announcer: Southern Gardening with Gary Bachman, is produced by Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Gary Bachman: Now if you don’t want to have big and tall snapdragons there are nice dwarf growing types. One of the best is the Montego series. Montego snapdragons will only grow up to ten inches tall and wide. Like their big cousins, there is a wide variety of colors. The colors of red, yellow, white, pink, and bicolor would be gorgeous lining the front edge of a flower bed. These plants are ideal for planting in the full sun to partial shade. The individual flowers are aligned neatly and tightly bundled on the many stems. And the flowers are big for the size of the plant, so it’s good that the Montego snapdragons have strong and sturdy stems. The flowers heads will stay compact, and not stretch in the warmer weather next spring.

Another good dwarf growing snapdragon is the Snapshot series. These plants will be a little shorter than the Montego reaching 6 to 10 inches tall but will spread up to 14 inches. There are plenty of flowers with soft pastel colors and bicolors as well as a mix that you can choose from.

I would be remiss if I didn’t at least write a little about the Twinny compact snapdragons. I like these plants because of their double flowers. Twinny Peach was an All-America Selections in 2010 and has gorgeous flowers shades of peach, yellow and light orange. The Yellow Shades selection has flowers that are a beautiful combination of orangey-yellows. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman for Southern Gardening.