When I was new on the gardening scene, all bright eyes and unchecked eagerness, you couldn't have paid me to grow annuals. (Well, ok, you could have. A girl's gotta eat.) Buy an uninspired flat of marigolds, work them into the ground, tend to them for months, and then they DIE? Not a chance. After all, I am a Serious Gardener. And Serious Gardeners can't be seen scurrying about with arms full of silly petunias. No! We growers with a more sophisticated palate only have room for the cosmopolitans- delphiniums, roses (obviously), really anything that needs staking, or spraying, or wrapping with burlap for the winter. Of course, bonus points for plants not readily available at your local nursery. And if it isn't hardy to your zone, even better! Salvia jurscii? I'll take two.
Admittedly, I am still drawn to plants that require some extra effort. There is something intriguing and sort of luxurious about flowers that are a bit harder to please- exotic, old-fashioned, richly fragrant. But when it comes to annuals, I have seen the error of my ways and am here to let you in on a little secret- these plants make you look like a pro. Unlike perennials, that generally have a relatively short season of bloom, many annuals will flower pretty continuously from spring right on through to autumn frost. In late summer when your perennials look limp and faded, annuals are showy crowd pleasers that are fantastic at adding pops of color to bare spots or difficult areas. Since annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season- meaning you plant a seed, it grows, flowers, and dies that same year- this is really their one shot at glory, and they mean to make the most of it. And aside from watering and a little deadheading, (both of which are negotiable- there, I said it), they are fairly low maintenance. Have I mentioned the cost yet? Because annuals are cheap. Especially if you grow them from seed. Spend a couple dollars on a seed packet and you can have swaths of blooms all summer long.
Scroll down for some of my favorites. (From top to bottom: geraniums, caladium, dahlias, and petunias.)
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| The climbing rose has stopped blooming, but those geraniums keep things looking pretty. |
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| Caladiums- brightening up shady spots! |
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| Dahlias |
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| Petunias doing their thing. |
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