By creating an annual garden there’s a chance to make each year’s planting different and that’s what makes growing annuals so exciting. Explore the design elements of color, texture and shape in combining plants to create a visually appealing garden. See Annuals for Difficult Sites.
The Annual Garden uses true annuals as well as tender perennials that do not survive the winter in this area. Information provided on the plant selections sign inform the public of plant characteristics including whether the plants are easy to grow from seed or whether they must be purchased.
The color scheme for 2017 was orange, mahogany, lime green and yellow. New and familiar plants are evaluated for height, width, maintenance requirements, bloom size and color. This year included annual plants that had never been used before in the garden such as Pennisetum glaucum, Millet Jester, and Petunia hybrida, African Sunset. Tender perennials are also considered and evaluated using these criteria. These tender perennials, mostly zones 9 -11, would die if left in the ground over the winter. In the use of tender perennials, the garden familiarizes the public with unusual plants that do not ordinarily grow in this zone. New to the annual garden this year was tender perennial Cosmos atrosanguineus, Chocolate Cosmos, zones 10-11 and Cassia didymobytra, the Popcorn Plant.