Strictly speaking, fertilizing annuals isn’t necessary, but for best performance, it’s highly recommended. Remember, annuals are high-energy plants that respond impressively if you fertilize them regularly.
The effects of adding plant food can be dramatic but not instant. Keep an eye on your annuals for a week or two or even three before concluding that you’ve given them enough.
By and large, annuals lap up nutrients eagerly and use this extra nutrition to produce more and healthier growth and to bloom like gangbusters. So you’ll be amply rewarded for your efforts!
Sufficient water is always important for growing plants, but even more so for productive annuals; consider it fuel for the ongoing show. Moisture hydrates the roots, plumps up the leaves, makes buds swell and open, and sustains the flowers. Don’t allow your annuals to wilt before being revived or they’ll be stressed out and unable to perform their best. Regular watering is ideal. Keep the following in mind when setting up a watering schedule for your annuals:
- Spring watering: If your area gets normal, drenching spring rainfall, your newly transplanted-into-the-garden annuals may not need supplemental water from you. But remember how important early watering is — it encourages the roots to gain a foothold in their new home before the plant can properly turn its attention to growth and flowering. So water on day one and keep an eye on things in the ensuing days and weeks.
- Summer watering: Established annuals tend to be pretty tough and often forgive your watering lapses. But they’ll certainly be healthier and look much better if you give them water at regular intervals and nurture them through periods of drought.
- Fall watering: In some areas, rainfall may take care of your annuals at this time of year. But if not, continue to water as needed so your annuals look terrific right up to the finish line (the first frost). Your best watering methods depend on how many annuals you have and how close together they are. Options range from a gentle spray from a watering can to soaker hoses to a sprinkler. Watering in the morning hours is best so the water can soak in and hydrate the annuals through the hot midday.
Annuals are simple to plant. Just follow the label directions for spacing, and dig a hole deeper and wider than the root ball. Add some compost to the hole or mix the native soil with organic matter. If desired, you can add some dry fertilizer in the planting hole and water it in, or you can fertilize the annual after .
Annuals are most frequently sold in market packs, in which six or so plants are each in separate cells. Merely turn the pack upside down and gently push each plant out of its cell from the bottom. Don’t pull them out from the top because the stem may break off from the roots. After removing the plants from the packet, plant them in the ground so that their rooting mass is slightly below the soil surface. Firm the soil around the plants and then water them in well.
By and large, annuals are resilient plants that tolerate a wide range of growing conditions. But some have preferences for more or less sun, and these specialists allow you to dress up such areas for maximum impact.
Planting in the sun
Full-on, warm sunshine inspires many annuals to grow robustly and generate loads of flowers. You can always tell if a sun-loving annual isn’t getting enough light, because its stems become leggy and lean toward the light source, and flower production is disappointing. So let them have it! How much is enough? Six to eight hours a day suits most. My favorite annuals for sun include cosmos, nasturtiums, zinnias, marigolds, and cornflower.
Planting in the shade
Banish gloom in your yard’s dim and tree-shaded areas with shade-loving annuals. Plenty do just fine in shade. Indeed, their flowers last longer without the stress of the sun beating down on them. White and yellow flowers really add sparkle, individually or massed. My favorite annuals for shade include tuberous and fibrous begonias, impatiens, and torenia. If your shade areas have poor soil or are laced with tree and shrub roots, don’t despair. Instead, just display the plants in pots, setting them here and there or in clusters. Or dig holes in the ground and stick the plants — pots and all — in the hole. Doing so makes changing them out easy, too. (A clever idea: Hook hanging baskets over tree branches and fill them with shadetolerant annuals.)
Of course you can plant later in the season! Plant and replant all summer long if you want and into fall if you garden in a mild climate. As long as the plants are willing and able to grow and produce flowers, why not? Because blazing hot weather is stressful, avoid planting during such spells or at least coddle the newcomers with plentiful water and some sheltering shade until they get established. A dose of all-purpose fertilizer (applied according to the instructions and rates on the container) may also hasten latecomers along.
The majority of annuals are frost-sensitive. In other words, a freeze can damage or kill them. Frigid temperatures also make annuals much more susceptible to disease damage. If these small plants are damaged by cold, they may never quite recover. Don’t risk it: Plant your new annuals in the ground only after all danger of frost is past. The same goes for plants you’re putting in containers (though you can bring the pots indoors on chilly nights if you have to).
Gardening fever hits us all on the first warm spring day. But warm air isn’t necessarily what you’re waiting for — warm soil is. If the ground is still semifrozen or soggy from thawing cycles or drenching spring rains, it’s better to wait another week or two. No, you don’t have to take the soil’s temperature before proceeding. Just remember the wise advice of garden author Roger Swain: Don’t put plants in a bed you yourself wouldn’t be willing to lie on!
If you live in an area with a long growing season, you can go ahead and sow annual seeds straight into the ground, secure in the knowledge that they’ll sprout, grow up, and start pumping out flowers, all in plenty of time. This approach is generally easy and cheap. Gardeners with shorter summers can either start seeds inside or buy seedlings.
Freezing weather kills or at least severely damages most annuals. Therefore, the trick is to know your last spring frost date and your first fall frost date —these dates bookend the annual-gardening year. (If you don’t know, ask an employee at a local garden center, a more experienced gardener, or someone at the nearest office of the Cooperative Extension service. Note that the dates are averages; they can vary somewhat from one year to the next.)
