Let’s face it: The latest fashions aren’t for everyone. While some people can carry a trendy look fabulously, others only end up feeling a bit awkward. By the same token, the latest and greatest in annuals aren’t right for every garden. When it comes time to plan out your annual plantings, think about how the forms, flowers and textures of the species you’d like to include will fit in with their surroundings – including your home and companion plants.
While low-growing plants like
zinnia are diminutive in size, their color can be vibrant and demand full attention.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
The spectrum of annual flowers includes both the giant and the wee. Each is suited well for use in your garden, be it in a house-high row or spilling from a 4-inch pot.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Kyle Chesser
If you’ve got a shade arbor, a gateway arch or other overhead structure, vining plants like
morning glory or scarlet runner bean are a good cover choice.
Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler
Start by imagining how the annuals you like would look alongside your house. Do you have a stately Georgian manor with a manicured lawn? Even though you may love the lithe and airy forms of wildflowers, you probably shouldn’t turn your stately front yard into a cottage garden. Instead, consider neat, low-growing annuals.
Also keep in mind the scale of the structures and landscape your annuals will adorn. A three-story Victorian would completely overpower a wee plot of pansies. Conversely, a thicket of elephant’s ear will overwhelm a cozy bungalow. And if you plant cosmos at the edge of your deck, will you even be able to see your lawn?
The dimensions of your yard dictate annuals of a certain stature. A huge yard, for example, will accommodate tall plants easily. In fact, anything smaller than a sunflower may not be seen at all. That doesn’t mean, however, that small gardens must only be filled with pint-sized plants. Low-growing annuals can actually make a small yard seem larger, and tall annuals can lend a feeling of privacy and coziness.
Try to imagine how your plants will look alongside one another. An attractive flower bed or border combines plants of different shapes, heights and textures to create pleasing harmonies or contrasts. The traditional English border, for example, combines spiky forms with rounded ones – a reliable formula for nearly every garden. Planting low-growing annuals in front of taller ones (another English border basic) creates a pleasant variety and hides the legginess of taller plants. Height issues can be practical, too: Jumbo-sized annuals planted next to knee-high perennials will create so much shade by summertime that blooms on the smaller plants will fade and their foliage will become spindly.
Think also about the forms and textures of your flowers and foliage. Do you want the airy, fernlike leaves of cosmos at the back of your border, or would the more solid foliage of mallow make a better background? Would you like a cloud-like groundcover of love-in-a-mist, or would fleshy-leaved periwinkle be more suitable?
Your home’s architecture and your already-existing garden space can help guide your choices, giving you clues as to choices for your annual plantings to adorn them. And once you’ve figured out your annual plan, you can start the fun part: planting!
