Growing Annual Flowers

If you want plants that come come to flower quickly and provide a long season of blooms, choose annuals. They are among the most adaptable of garden plants, demanding little more than good light, sufficient water, and reasonably fertile soil.

Even if your conditions fall short of this ideal, you will likely find annuals that will work for you. In fact, some of the most striking annual gardens are found in what would appear to be the most inhospitable sites.

Annuals, as the name indicates, only live for a single season but do provide a colorful addition to your garden for the entire growing season. By choosing the right varieties you can have bright colorful flowers from early Spring to late Autumn. Most annuals bloom for the entire season.

They are well suited to complimenting your perennials or shrubs and filling in the spaces between these plants. You can change the way your garden appears by using different varieties of annuals every year. They are also best for cuttings to bring your garden indoors as well as drying for winter arrangements.

Annuals do best in full sun and soil that is not too heavy and wet, make sure your soil is well drained. Work some organic matter or compost into the soil prior to planting. This is also the best time to fertilize using a balanced formula designed for flowers.

While you can use seed to plant your annuals, it will take much longer to have those flowers you want. It is best to buy bedding plants from your local gardening center. They are usually inexpensive and their will be a large variety you can choose from.

If you do want to start from seed you should germinate the seeds 4 to 6 weeks prior to planting indoors in seed trays and then transplant your seedlings when the soil has warmed and there is no danger from frost.

Here are some general guidelines for planting and maintaining annuals;