I do like constant color in my garden and want something to always be in bloom. So I do tend to add lots of annuals each year because they give so much color.
This year I have already planted a flat of impatients, two flats of snapdragons, a flat of violas, a flat of marigolds, and some cell packs of verbens, nasturtiums, annual daiseys and more. I still have another flat of violas to do and a flat of zinnias that I bought yesterday and will plant today. Plus I still need to buy at least one flat of portulacas and start more (different) zinnias from seeds I already have. Just waiting for it to be warm enough to start zinnias outside.
My favorite annuals are zinnias and then I also just love impatients, snapdragons, marigolds, cosmos, verbena, nasturtiums, violas, portulacas, petunias and Four O'Clocks.
I also love sunflowers and mexican sunflowers, both of which I start from seed myself most years. And the Four O'clocks usually self seed. This spring I have California poppies which are annuals and self seeded for me.
I tried direct sowing annual lupine seed this spring and I have lots of little plants growing. Never tried them before.
Another great thing about annuals that works for me is that if I start a new garden area or redo an exhisting one and then don't know what to do to finish it I just fill it with some annuals until I can get around to perrenials the following year or until more inspiration hits me. Sometimes the annuals are just so great in a spot that I never do anything more, just keep replanting annuals in the same area. Always works for summer long color. I just love those annuals.
Annuals do a lot for me.
Here are my marigolds all planted in front of those lilies. I got a really pretty one called Bonanza Bolero.
I love annuals but I just can't afford to keep buying them. Your marigold and lilly bed should be stunning!
It should be nice when it fills in. Before I had lilies there I used to plant cosmos in the back and some marigolds in the front.
I had bought a flat of State Fair Zinnias yesterday and got that planted today also. I have all sorts of fancy zinnia seeds to start but since I start them outside have not done so as yet. Zinnias like it warm to germinate.
I only do a few annuals each year and they have to be big and bold. I prefer to garden with perennials and have a wide assortment of plants in my gardens, so something is always blooming. I'm moving away from beds that contain just one or two kinds of perennials. For instance, I've no longer have a canna bed. The cannas are scattered throughout my gardens, as are daylilies and irises, and such. I go for the cottage garden look now and am trying to layer in all kinds of perennials in each bed for all season color.
I've also found that a good perennial groundcover, like creeping sedums or saxifraga can make empty space look pretty. So I do a lot of different groundcovers. Then if a bed isn't full enough, I can add in a bird bath or some pretty statue.
I also do a lot of grasses, short and tall, because they're beautiful even without blooms. And I love my Arkansas Amsonia, yarrows, and bronze fennel. The ferny foliage is always attractive. Even the foliage on peonies is beautiful all season.
I grow a lot of herbs and mints too. So the scents in my garden are always a delight. It's not just about blooms for me but a mixture of fragrances, textures and colors.
Buying annuals annually can be rather expensive. And I get attached to my plants. I hate to see them die forever in the winter. The few annuals I do grow are:
coleus
potato vines
Balsam (touch me nots) - they reseed
amaranthus - many kinds - they reseed
morning glories
sword bean vine
Black Pearl ornamental pepper
marigolds in with my veggies
Here's a section of my garden that is all perennial, but most of it is daylilies. I'm working on adding more perennials to it and scattering the daylilies into other beds. I noticed last year that when the daylilies were done, it was kinda boring. I do have about 6 or 7 different kinds of grasses in this area and will be adding more this year. I'm also going to use my edible pepper plants as "decor". Peppers always add color and I don't really have the space for a separate veggie garden. So I'll just mix them in. If I have some big enough spaces, I may plop in some of my tomato plants here and there too.
Your garden is really lovely and I always love to see daylily blooms. I have hundreds of daylilies myself as well as many other perennials and blooming shrubs as well as my many, many roses. So I usually do have a full season of bloom from early spring bulbs until fall. But adding the annuals only makes for more color and constant flowers. I like a garden full of both. It works for me.
I do like big showy annuals. I'll probably never stop gowing my 7 ft purple leafed amaranthus or the exotic coleus. But my entire yard is a garden. I don't have time to plant and replant each year, so I limit the annuals. I'm also trying to cut back on the daylilies. I have about 500 cultivars and I love them, but I'm trying not to add more unless I remove some.
I have some wonderful miniature roses that I love for 3 season color. They're the first to bloom and the last to stop blooming for me. I've been able to gather a bouquet of them even in Dec. I divide them frequently so I can scatter them about for more color. One day I'll focus on rooting roses, but for now, I have my hands full trying to fill the bare spots with more perennials.
I do want to add in re-seeding annuals, like zinnias, sunflowers, larkspur, nigella, etc, particularly in my large butterfly garden. I'd like for my gardens to fairly self-sufficient at some point where I only add the occasional unusual plant. I've got to get to the point where my gardens don't require 60 hrs a week. I hope this year to get it all squared away and get to the maintenace stage. I'm really looking forward to having garden parties and to sitting on my porch and painting my gardens on canvas. Hopefully soon!
Just adding the marigolds in this garden area already perked up the lily bed and gave it lots of color. Plus I made my own hanging basket using some double impatients. Another annual.
Looking from the back way thru the daylilies and lilies, you can see that I only use the annuals to add season long color to some areas of my garden beds.
>> Buying annuals annually can be rather expensive.
I'm really cheap: buying perennials even once seeems expensive to me! So I've been struggling to grow Delphiniums, Salvia and Penstemon from seed.
Looked at that way, starting annuals from seed suddenly seems so easy that it's fun and rewarding! And I can start a few indoors early, for earlier color, and then also start a bunch outdoors later, for easy later color.
This way, while I'm grumbling at petunias and other teeny tiny sees to hurry up and SPROUT indoors, already, I have a few zinnias, cosmos, violas and marigolds merrily shooting up and branching out, convincing me that I DON'T actually have the green thumb of death.
One of these years, I'm going to have SOME kind of cold frame, and start annual plants for neighbors.
Corey
Perennials come back year after year, so you have the initial investment and after that, they're free. When they multiply, you have more free plants.
Reseeding annuals are also a wonderful investment because they keep giving year after year too. I allow my annuals to directly reseed in the garden or I collect the seeds and scatter them where I want them. Then I don't have to tend to them or transplant them.
Amaranthus are some of my favorite annuals and of course they produce a zillion seeds. This one has purple foliage and blood red blooms. It gets a massive 7ft tall in just a couple of months. The butterflies love it too.
Amaranthus??? oh my!!! I think I'm in love!!! Gotta get me some of those!
Butterfly, Did you snip the amaranthas to get so many side shoots? Most of mine grew straight up then had the plumes. I had some that were over 6' tall. I love the 'love's lies bleeding' amaranthus, I have had some very tall pony tail amaranthus.
I have to bring in soil to my new yard next door, (I bought the house for the yard) the yard is bare except for a young plum and apple trees. I can't wait to get started. Over an inch of rain in the last 2 days, I can't seem to get get things done d/t the weather.
I have started many seeds, petunias, coleus, zenias, merigold, ornamental pepper, flowering tobacco and a few more. I can't wait to get them into the ground. I also have seeds to scatter. Hopefully my DH will get my photo program loaded on my laptop soon.
Love the yards and flowers. I could be in the garden all day if I was allowed, Work does not allow.
Marie
Marie, I don't snip the Am. I just let it do it's thing. I have a little longer growing season than you do, which may be why it has so many side shoots. The one pictured is called "Upright Love Lies Bleeding" since its plumes are pretty erect instead of drooping like the regular LLB.
Psychw2, dmail your addy and I'll send you some seeds gathered from my garden last year. It makes a gazillion of them. And it's even more impressive in person--definitely a plant you can "look up to". LOL Makes great cut and dried flowers too.
NancyAnn