Using Annuals in the Springtime Flower Garden
The weather is warming up. Every time you walk into a store, you are looking at row after row of pots of flowers. Flowers in all kinds of colors and styles. Even if it’s not the actual flowerpots, colorful posters and pictures assault your eyes. You start dreaming about your very own flower garden, so you pick up a few pots to take home. More than likely those pots of flowers contain annuals.
So now you have annuals. What are they and what do you do with them? An annual is a plant that goes from seed to seed in one year. That means you, or someone else since you likely bought the plants already blooming, planted a seed in late winter in a pot. Now it is growing and blooming. After those lovely glorious flowers go by, they will start to create seeds so the whole process can start over again next year. Just so you aren’t surprised, some hybrids do not set seed.
Okay, the basics out of the way, how are you going to use these annuals to create your own little flower garden? Most homes will already have some foundation plantings and a lawn, so there’s lots of green around your home. Use those flowers to brighten up your home and provide some color. Think of the flowers as a spice you are adding to the landscaping to add some spark to the basic ingredients.
Annuals are great for adding color to your basic landscaping of trees, shrubs and lawn. Even better is that if you don’t end up liking the colors you brought home this year, next year you can try flowers in different colors. Let’s say you bought some yellows and reds and planted them about this year. Later on you decide that those are just not the colors you want – too hot. Next year you could purchase some blues and whites and the look will be totally different. That is what’s great about annuals. You can change the look and color scheme from year to year.
Let’s not forget the patio or deck. Add to the delight these flowers can bring by creating your own little flower garden right on your deck. It’s real easy to add some color and beauty with annuals in different pots, planters and hanging baskets. And see what kinds of funky planters you can use to increase the fun.
Apartment dwellers can also create their own little flower garden by adding annuals in pots and hanging baskets to a balcony or porch. Who says you have to own a house to have a little brightness in your life? You can place the annuals in your own pots and baskets yourself and get soil under your nails as well, even if you don’t have a large yard for a flower garden..