PROCTOR'S TIPS: Rejuvenate patio plantings

DENVER - Perhaps the summer has taken its toll on your potted patio plants. With several months of outdoor living ahead, rejuvenate them using late summer and fall flowers and foliage.

Your local nursery has a fine offering of great midsummer beauties that you may have overlooked this spring.

It's easy and rewarding to revamp a container that's seen better days. First, decide what plants still look great. Next, pull out the sick, dying and dead plants. Spring bloomers that perform best in cool weather may be looking pretty poorly. Pansies, lobelia, nemesia and million bells may be well past their prime.

Depending on their condition, some can be cut back radically and still make a comeback in a few weeks. A shot of fertilizer can work wonders with this treatment.

Then add newly-purchased plants in prime shape. At the moment, black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) are looking great. These bold, brassy daisies come in beautiful shades of gold, yellow, maroon and orange. 'Prairie Sun' is especially appealing with bright gold petals and a chartreuse center cone.

If you didn't pick any patio dahlias earlier in the year, they're in fine form right now. Some gardeners have trouble with the types with plain green leaves. The ones with bronze foliage seem to be largely immune to this disfigurement. Dahlias can be saved from year to year.

After frost, cut the foliage back and store the tubers in a cool, dry place. I just stuff them in loosely-tied plastic supermarket bags and put them in a dark basement room. Check them every month or so to make sure they haven't shriveled.

Flowering maples (Abutilon) are also looking beautiful at the moment. The hibiscus-like flowers come in a rainbow of colors and the plants can easily be saved this fall by moving them to a sunny window. This small tropical shrub will keep blooming until snow flies; move it indoors before the first frost.

Other tropical plants that can also be saved from year to year include pineapple lilies, mandevilla, bougainvillea, blue potato tree and hibiscus. Most of these plants are on sale at most garden centers, so you can actually enjoy them this season and not need to replace them next year.

A striking addition to container grouping is ornamental millet (Pennisetum glaucum). The variety 'Purple Baron' has dark burgundy foliage and showy, dark seed heads. It's a fine companion for black-eyed Susans. Chickadees and sparrows will certainly visit the plants when the seeds ripen.

Don't hesitate to add perennials to container groupings. Coneflowers (Echinacea), hummingbird mint (Agastache) and hardy hibiscus are reaching their best shows. The showy sedums are also budding up. Brick pink 'Autumn Joy,' hot pink 'Brilliant' and white variegated 'Frosty Morn' make very long lasting impact - well into winter - on the patio or in the garden. Mums and asters are also beginning to bud and show color.

For the longest-lasting displays, buy them when just a few flowers are open. Later on, after they've finished flowering, transplant them to a permanent spot in the garden.