Contrary to popular belief, not all annuals are little bloom-studded muffins. Hardly! Try to install annuals with a range of plant habits — variety is the spice!
Here are some good ideas for making annual diversity work for you in your garden displays:
- Small in front, medium in the middle, and tall in back: This tried-and true guideline works because plants don’t block one another from view, and the stepping-up effect simply looks great and adds dimension to your flowerbed. It makes a display look full and is especially effective in small or tight spaces. Thus, for island beds (in the middle of your lawn, say) or containers, you want small plants on the edges, then medium plants, and finally tall ones in the center.
- Repetition and balance: Plant so that one plant habit (or form) recurs at regular intervals in the display. This touch supplies continuity and naturally looks pleasing. Vary what happens between if you wish.
- Simplicity: The smaller the area is, the more important it is to avoid clutter. Use several or many of one kind of plant, together. Or stick to one sort of plant habit but vary the types of plants or the colors. Gardeners usually don’t combine annuals with perennials because when frost kills the annuals, big holes appear in the planting. However, annuals are great to add among smaller, newly planted perennials to provide fast color the first season. The following year, the perennials come into their own and fill the space once occupied by the annuals.
Some annuals like it cool
Some annuals have their origins in areas with colder winters and mild but not blazingly hot summers. Plant breeders have stepped in to improve these plants’ flower production (the more blooms, the merrier!), add new colors, and select for compact plant habit (shapes or forms). The result is a huge range of good, tough plants that even gardeners with shorter growing seasons can count on. Examples of favorite cool-weather annuals include cleome (spider flower), pansy, Johnny jump-ups (a type of viola), trailing lobelia, and calendula (pot marigolds).
North or South, cool-loving annuals are often a fine choice for the parts of your garden where shade prevails. The shelter of a fence, pergola , porch, or overhanging tree keeps the plants cooler, preserving their flower color, prolonging bloom time, and protecting the plants from drying out in the hot sunshine.
Southern summers are generally too hot for cool-season annuals. Enjoy them until late spring and then tear them out as they begin to flag and replace them with something more durable.
Lots of annuals thrive in hot summer weather, tolerating even periods of prolonged drought in style. Many annuals have this preference because their predecessors, or ancestors if you will, originated in warm, tropical climates with long growing seasons. All plant breeders did was capitalize on or preserve these qualities while improving the plants’ appearance or expanding the color range.
Some warm-weather annuals are actually perennial in some regions but are used as annuals in other areas because they’re not hardy there (they don’t survive the winter). For instance, snapdragon can be a perennial in the South but is used as an annual farther North. Some tropical plants are also commonly used for temporary display.
Examples of favorite warm-weather annuals include impatiens, Madagascar periwinkle, and marigolds.
Modern-day annuals are impressive indeed. They’ve been bred to produce abundant flowers and lush foliage throughout the heart of the growing season. They rush to flowering because their means of reproduction is by seed. And to get there, the flowers must come first. This great output guarantees bountiful garden color and also makes most annuals great for bouquets. By the time fall comes and seeds form (if they do, before frost), the plants are spent and die. By then, though, you should certainly have gotten your money’s worth! Annuals are very gracious guests.
Not surprisingly, a huge range of annuals is on the market, and more annuals arrive every year. Demand is market-driven, innovation pushes on, and the upshot is that you can choose from many, many different annuals — no matter where you live, no matter what growing conditions your garden offers. The variety of annuals allows you to find countless plants that are specific to warm or cool weather.
If you have a good idea how much watering your plants need but don’t want to or can’t be there, the water timer’s for you. Though no bigger than a coffee can, some of these gadgets contain a small computer that you can program for watering time and duration. Others have a clever intermittent feature that delivers the water in on-off cycles (for instance, five minutes on followed by a ten-minute rest) over a period of time (say, three hours) before shutting off automatically. This allows the soil to efficiently absorb the water with far less runoff and evaporation.
The fancy battery-operated types with all the settings are handy if you need all these features, but if you’re after simplicity and dependability, you can’t beat the spring-operated ones. One end of the timer attaches to the faucet, the other to the hose end — you have no batteries, no wires to worry about. Some timers are more elaborate (and expensive) than others, so have a clear idea of your needs as well as your technological savvy when you go shopping. You can find water timers wherever gardening supplies are sold, as well as at specialty greenhouse supply companies.
Water timers are most often used with professional installed sprinkler systems
Here’s another way to put your good hose to work: A hose-end sprinkler is designed to screw into a standard hose and rest on the ground wherever you drag it and set it down; it then delivers water in a spray pattern in the immediate area. Clever designers have come up with all sorts of nifty alternatives, so you should have no trouble finding a sprinkler you like and that suits the lay of your particular landscape. Here’s a rundown of the common ones:
- Fixed-spray sprinkler: These sprinklers are the simplest types and are perfectly satisfactory for watering small areas. They deliver a fine, soft rain, rather casually (that is, without a super-reliable pattern). Use them on the lawn or for watering flowerbeds and shrubs; they’re less effective under trees because they fling water up into the branches, where it’s neither needed nor especially appreciated. You may have to run the water on low or get a heavier model if it tends to flip over on its side or upside down, a common problem.
- Whirlybird sprinkler: A spring-loaded arm breaks the shooting stream of water into droplets as it snaps back into place, which makes this sprinkler revolve. This deceptively simple design can actually accomplish a very thorough watering job in a circular shape.
- Rain tower: The rain tower is just an impulse sprinkler like the whirlybird, but it’s elevated on an adjustable tripod contraption so it can water a broad circle. Therefore, it’s terrific for watering large areas of tall plants, such as a corn patch or vegetable garden.
- Oscillating sprinkler: You have to set or assign these sprinklers their job, which can be a full-yard swing from left to right and back again, or a half-swing to the left or right, or just a held, stationary position. Oscillating sprinklers are marvelous for watering lawns and broad plantings. Splurge on the more expensive units; they last much longer and offer a greater range of settings that can make your watering more accurate and efficient. Compared to a whirlybird sprinkler, oscillating sprinklers tend to lose a lot of water to evaporation.
- Tractor (traveling) sprinkler: The tractor sprinkler is a little more hightech, at least for a homeowner. The small water-driven tractor scoots slowly across a lawn, using the laid-out hose as a guide. Meanwhile, a simple revolving sprinkler mounted on top does the watering. Some models have three speeds, for lighter to deeper watering.
An awful lot of hose accessories are out there. Rarely are they expensive, so you can give one a try and see how you, and your plants, like it. Here are some of the common ones; they all screw onto the end of a standard hose:
- Watering wand: This gadget extends your reach for watering hanging baskets or irrigating the back of a deep flowerbed. The rose, or head, at the end of the wand delivers the water in a gentle, drenching spray. The watering wand is also nice for watering potted plants and seedlings if you keep the water pressure low so you don’t dislodge the little plants. Get a wand with a thumb-operated on-off valve so you can move from plant to plant without wetting things you don’t mean to or wasting water.
- Jet-spray nozzle: Usually brass, this tool focuses water into a strong, stiff spray. It’s ideal for hosing off muddy tools and boots or cleaning a walkway or driveway.
- Adjustable round nozzle: A refinement of the jet-spray nozzle, this nozzle can also deliver a softer spray right on down to a mist — all by twisting it until the water is coming out the way you want.
- Misting head: Though small, this tool can be a bit pricier because it usually comes in brass or brass-coated die-cast metal. It delivers water in a fine mist, nice for little emerging seedlings.
- Pistol-grip nozzle: Usually made of tough, UV-resistant plastic, this nozzle is a favorite among gardeners because you can vary the intensity of the spray by applying pressure to the trigger and thus use it throughout your garden.
- Fan head: This tool delivers a drenching sweep of water from its broad, broom-head-like end, making it a good choice for bigger watering projects like irrigating a newly planted shrub or rosebush.
- Multiple-head nozzle: These nozzles are showing up more frequently on the market. They have several types of nozzles built into one head and are quite handy.
