>We will be creating a few quite large borders this year, and one of the challenges is to ensure that everything fills out nicely from this first summer, meaning that at least for this year we will be growing more than a few annuals.
Eventually I’d like to move towards a more self-reliant plant profile in the beds and borders. I don’t mind doing a bit of weeding but if we grow mainly plants that last from year to year, the garden will be less reliant on me spending time planting and sowing each spring.
Sure, some annuals are just too good not to have, and I fully expect that this season’s foray into annual sowing will leave me with a few new favourites, and that’s fine as long as the garden will still look lush and full if one year no annuals are sown.
I can already see that cosmos get great reviews and it looks like a large-impact annual that will be able to beef up the borders and provide long-lasting bloom, but what other annuals, I wonder, are easily grown outdoors from seed, provide large impact either through bloom or foliage and can manage more or less on their own from the moment the soil hits the ground?
Tough criteria to live up to, I guess, but I already have some great candidates purchased, like cosmos, malope and sweat peas.
>Begonia, Coleus, and Nasturtiums 🙂
>There are so many things you can do! Nasturtiums for sure! And calendulas, in your cool climate. Can you grow zinnias there? They are soooo easy, and germinate very easily from seed. And there are different types for different purposes. Ammi for a soft, cloudy look? And all of those are good for providing flowers for some vases in the house as well.Finally, consider getting some dahlia tubers. Yes, you need to dig them up and replant them each year, but they get bigger and bigger, they give you beautiful flowers in all shapes, sizes and colors, and they really kick in at the end of the season when other things are starting to fade.It's been fun to read about your plans for your garden. I'm jealous! I am living in a city right now, and only have a 3.5m x 7m plot to grow a few vegetables and cut flowers.
>I'm intrigued by coleus, and nasturtiums are already on my list, in spite of dismal results last year. (I was, though, a bit haphazard about sowing them last year, so with a bit more attention I'm sure I can grown them here.My mother and grandmother always have calendulas in their vegetable garden – for cutting and to attract pollinators – so I'm glad you reminded me. I've already bought zinnia seeds; they always grow well in my mother's garden without any attention whatsoever.And dahlias… I only want hardy plants in the garden, really; all that digging up and storing is too much of a hassle for me, but we already have 4 dahlia plants in pots in the courtyard and there might be more this year. I really love them and bringing a pot indoors is less hassle than digging up the tubers. Also, Deborah… I don't mean to brag, but the planned borders will probably cover more ground than your plot. Which is kind of daunting, considering that they are still just lawn and will remain so until the drainage project has taken place in April.
>Zinnias! Absolutly. For the back of the border, Amaranthus of various sorts: Amaranthus caudatus, 'Love-lies-bleeding', if only once, for the name. Cleome or Spider flowers for the back or mid-border – pastels, great for bouquets. Shorter things for the front: Forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica, often re-seed themselves, their little burr like seed pods are persistent. Also small and wonderfully fragrant; Mignonette (Reseda odorata) and Night Flowering Phlox, which is not a phlox at all & whose botanical name escapes me. (I'll look it up & get back to you). Oh yes! and Clarkias, another wonderful cut flower. If you like grasses there are some wonderful, black & purple leaved millets that are fun to grow (annual Panicums). How about annual poppies? What we call Iceland poppies (Papaver croceum), or the red Flanders poppy (Papaver rhoeas), or our California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica – I know, what a mouthful). I'm getting carried away here.
>I'm a complete newbie gardener and tried a bunch of annuals this year. The petunias were the EASIEST thing ever. They seemed to thrive on neglect or care. I also did very well with dianthus (sweet williams) and Alyssum. My impatiens were a huge flop and I just planted begonias a few weeks back – also flopping! Good luck – cant wait to see what you do.
>La Cartonaria: Wow… I will definitely be googling images and descriptions of that lot! We do have forget-me-nots already in the shade under the woodland corner, and I've got some red poppy seeds that I harvested from a nearby meadow last year – I suspect it is what is known as the Flanders poppy.Barbie/Christine (which of you is it, I wonder?): Petunias might be more for a pot in the courtyard, as we (especially my husband) would prefer taller plants in the beds, but for the courtyard they would look stunning! Same goes for Dianthus, though they would have just enough height to hold their own in the front of the borders, I think.
>My favourite annuals are Marigolds, the French type and the Pot Marigold (Calendula) type. Both these come in a huge range of shapes sizes and colours these days, but mainly warm reds, yellows and oranges.
>Mark, while the pot marigold reminds me of my mother and my maternal grandmother – both of whom I love – the French marigold rather reminds me of my paternal grandmother with whom I never had a great relationship. And for that reason alone, tagetes (French marigold) is highly unlikely to find their way into a garden where I have any say.We are, after all, allowed to be sentimental and irrational about plants!
>Just out of interest, your border will be completely annuals or do you include perennials too? If just annuals do you change types every year?
>Hi Soren, I guess you are restricted growing annuals when you are not starting them off in the greenhouse. This does make Nasturtiums and Sweet peas the obvious choice. Lavatera mont blanc at three feet tall with the purest white flowers also does well. Oh and there are so many Sunflowers, Nigella love in a mist is another very easy annual to grow. However in the long run, I am now with you regarding permanency.
>Petra, we're aiming for perennial borders, but we just don't have enough plants to fill the borders this year, which is where the annuals will come in handy. And we might continue having a few annuals in between the perennials, since there are some great ones out there… Alistair, sweet peas are always a favourite of mine because they will stand just about anything. When we took over the garden there was literally sweet peas growing in parts of the lawn! And as for nasturtiums… I'm going to give them another go this year and see if they fare better. Sunflowers, though, seem to be very popular with the deer, so I'm not so sure about those. I have one packet of seeds and will dutifully sow them in the area least likely to be raided by deer, but we'll see… Love in the mist will depend on whether my mother has any seed I can have; she has them in the kitchen garden and I'd like to have the descendants of the plants I grew up with.But permanency indeed! And less maintenance, I hope; with the right sort of perennials there should be little cause for weeding, especially with my weed-tolerant disposition.
>Dahlia 'Bishop's Children' is easy to grow from seed and gives you a lot of flower. I always grow cornflowers, as easy as Comsos, combine well with them and great for cutting. Likewise scabious, lots of different colours available, and easy. I love to grow some Euphorbia – often oblongata – for some bulk and acid green contrast to the flowers. Verbena bonariensis for height and long season of interest – plus it self seeds and often behaves as a perennial. Finally, couldn't be without Californian poppies. I've also found that Knautia macedonica and Nepeta flower from first year if sown in March and then you begin to have some perennials in place, but cheaply. Enjoy! Such fun, albeit daunting. Oh, and lavendar can often be bought cheaply at this time of year so you could start edging a border with it and then take cuttings to edge more – quick and easy way to fill space with flowers, scent and pretty foliage. Good luck!
>Hi Janet,Thanks for your suggestions. I actually already have seeds for the cornflowers and dahlias, and I've been dithering about verbena but your recommendation might just swing the vote. And lavender indeed! I've actually been planning to buy some cheap pots of lavender as part of my effort to ensure that the garden not only offers colours and structures but also scents. (And for the vegetable patch, taste!)