Annuals

Guide to Annual Flowers

There are many varieties of annuals available at nurseries. Annuals are plants that complete their whole life cycle in one growing season. In other words, they sprout, grow to maturity, bloom, drop seeds, and die in one season. The next season, the seeds sprout and begin the cycle again. Marigolds and Zinnias are examples of annuals that tend to grow well in warm climates. Sweet alyssums and nasturtiums prefer cooler weather.

Some annuals drop enough seed so that they will behave like perennials and reliably grow back in the spring. Others need to be replaced each spring as their seeds are not as hardy. Snapdragons and Cosmos tend produce a large quantity of seeds that will survive through the winter and produce new plants the following growing season.

Many perennials grown in regions with extreme winters can be considered annuals because they will die back due to the hard frosts in the fall. We refer to these perennials as “tender perennials.” Examples of tender perennials are impatiens and lantana. If you use tender perennials in containers, you can move them indoors so they will live through the winter.

These ultra thin-but-tough nitrile gardening gloves let you feel what you’re doing while weeding, thinning, pruning, even picking up individual seeds.