Awesome and Always Available Annuals

​​Annuals seem to get a very bad rap from some gardeners.  Right now, they are coming in by the pallet full at your nurseries and big box stores.  You know what these plants are.  You have seen them at the entrance to gated communities, developments, shopping centers, and public buildings.  They are usually in geometric beds and lined up like little soldiers – tallest in the back and shortest in the front.   They might be swapped out twice a year.  Fall plantings include Pansies (Viola wittrockian), Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria), and ornamental Kale (Brassica oleracea).  Ummm.  Is Kale an annual or a vegetable or an annual vegetable?  Soon, you will see new plantings of Begonias (Begonia semperflorens), Geraniums (Pelargoniums), and annual red Salvia (Salvia splendens) to last through the spring and summer.

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Snapdragons can bloom all winter long

​What exactly is an annual?  An annual is a plant that grows, flowers, and sets seed in one year or season.  They might be fall flowering annuals or spring flowering annuals, but they flower for a long time until they just wear themselves out.  Some will re-seed and there are hardly annuals that will occasionally live for several years such Pentas (Penta lanceolata) or Angelonia (Angelonia augustifolia). In Florida, these plants are considered tender perennials.  A hard freeze here will kill them or at least damage them severely.  My Pelargoniums die back late summer and revive in the cool Fall temperatures with a little judicious pruning by me and lots of fertilizer.  Annuals in containers are heavy feeders.  The constant watering in our hot summers leaches out the nutrients pretty quickly in planters.

Pentas - pollinators love them

Pelargoniums are one of my favorities -- either in the ground or in a container

​Do not be afraid to use annuals as a great filler plant in your garden.  I plant seeds of Zinnias (Zinnia elegans) and Marigolds (Tagetes spp) between my perennials.  Pollinators love them and when they are done, I just pull them out and compost the remains.  By that time, they do not owe me anything.  There are new colors and new varieties that come out every year.  Absolutely try Tithonia (Tithonia rotundifolia) if you wish to attract pollinators.  Also known as Mexico sunflower, this plant comes in a tall or a shorter variety (Fiesta del Sol) and the orange flowers are a butterfly magnet.  One small packet of seeds and you will be on their most favored list.
 

Red Zinnias make me happy!

Marigolds are coming in more colors - try these white ones for a contrast

Zebra Longwings love Tithonia

For color and interest at a very low cost, do not “pooh-pooh” annuals. Buy them either by the six pack or in seed form.  You will get a lot of bang for your buck.
 
Happy shopping and hope that those trucks from the growers continue to deliver goodies.  It is starting to be that time of the year.
 
​As I write this, it is 80 degrees!