Plant flowering annuals in containers for your entryway; add them along the walkway for a cheery welcome; or use them to perk up bland landscaping. You have three choices when it comes to buying annuals.
- Buy seeds and sow them directly where the plants are to grow and bloom.
- Buy seeds and start them indoors and then transplant the seedlings to the garden later.
- Buy transplants of varying sizes (from small plants in six-packs to larger ones in gallon cans). Most often, buying transplants from local nurseries is the easiest approach. You can also buy transplants of annuals by mail and, in doing so, enjoy more choice.
Starting annuals from seeds offers a couple of big advantages:
- You save money if you're doing a lot of planting.
- You get a much bigger choice than with seedlings sold at the nursery.
A nice thing about buying transplants at the nursery is that many annuals can give your garden instant color because they are already in bloom. Nursery transplants come in a wide assortment of package sizes, from four-packs to gallon size, as shown (not to scale) in Figure 1.
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Figure 1: Annuals come in a variety of nursery containers. |
 | Many plants that bloom easily from seed can reseed themselves and come back year after year on their own. Most annual wildflowers reproduce themselves this way. Toward the end of the season, let annuals such as alyssum, calendula, cosmos, forget-me-nots, marigolds, pansies and violas, sunflowers, vinca, and zinnias go to seed for a garden full of volunteers next season. Such volunteers won't necessarily be exactly the same as last year, especially if they are seeds of hybrid varieties. For instance, the colors of the volunteers may fade or revert to the common color. But unless you're a really expert gardener who wants a particular variety, these mongrel volunteers are just as good (and best of all, they're free!). |
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