A Summer-Long Punch of Color: Growing Annuals in the Garden

A bed of mixed annuals including tender perennials, summer bulbs, seed grown flowers and colorful grasses.

A bed of mixed annuals including tender perennials, summer bulbs, seed grown flowers and colorful grasses.

Annuals have certainly come a long way since the humble red geraniums and simple zinnias of the past.  These days, nurseries are overflowing with mounds of colorful and exotic flowers of every size and shape.

So whether you’re looking to create a lavish window box, add a little curb appeal to your front walk, or  just fill in a few gaps between your shrubs and perennials, an infusion of annuals may be just what your garden needs to get it from now to wow!

Technically, “annuals” are plants which complete their life cycles (grow, flower, set seed, and die) within one year or growing season. They include flowers, vegetables, herbs, ground covers, and vines. Plants labeled “tender perennials” are best treated as annuals in our hardiness zone, as they will likely not survive our winters and, therefore, will not return the next year as true perennials will.

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Ready, Set, Plant! Tips for getting your garden off to a great start

Stacks of lush spring plants are hard for just about any gardener to resist!  Before buying, don’t forget to read plant labels and make sure conditions in your garden and the plant’s cultural requirements are a match. (Photo by Joe Scarlata)

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Jumpstarting Spring: Starting Seeds Indoors

After enduring months of bleak outdoor landscapes, the long ramp up to spring can be tough on gardeners — leaving us itching to get our hands in the dirt and just plant something. Inhospitable as the outdoors may still be for tender plants, there is a tried and true antidote for gardeners’ particular brand of spring fever: sowing seeds indoors.

Annuals get a great head start on flowering when they begin life indoors. Pictured above are ‘Profusion’ zinnia, which are very easy to grow from seed–even for beginners.  (Photo by Elena Kyuchukova)

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