Long Blooming Annuals

With summer's heat coming, Vicki Smith, a lifelong Horticultural professional, www.LGYP.com, has news about fantastic, low maintenance flowering annuals that make adding these lovely long blooming plants a breeze.

Woodbine, MD (PRWEB) May 24, 2007 -- With summer's heat coming, Vicki Smith, a lifelong Horticultural professional, www.LGYP.com, has news about fantastic, low maintenance flowering annuals that make adding these lovely long blooming plants a breeze.

Annuals are plants, primarily of a tropical nature, that live until the first hard frost. While they do need to be replanted each year in much of the United States, they reward the home gardener with such an abundance of flower power compared to many other types of plants that with a minimum of time of pot-up in containers or plant in the garden bed; it's simply worth it. The key is in picking the right type of annual so that robust blooming will continue throughout the heat of the warmer months of July and August.

With such lush growth annuals are heavy feeders. Using either a slow-release fertilizer at the beginning of the season or periodic diluted feedings in July and early August will ensure that the plants have the nutrients they need to continue to add the beauty the gardener is seeking. This important step is often missed with busy camp and vacation schedules. Today's specially formulated fertilizers can be an easy answer. Just be sure to read the label for dosing instructions.

Tremendous breeding work goes on around the world every year to produce bigger blooms, longer bloom periods, better disease resistance, more compact overall growth for smaller areas, increased drought resistance which also works well for container grown plants since containers dry out faster, etc.

Recommendations for annuals with nice, long bloom times includes: African Daisy (Gazania) which can be used for dried flowers; Bat faced or Red Cuphea, novelty plants growing in popularity as more people try them; Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea adds a nice, different color to beds and containers; Begonias include two main types, the tuberous or Reiger (B. x hiemalis) and wax begonia (B. semperflorens-cultorum); Cockscomb (Celosia) whose flowers remind of the comb or crest on a rooster's head; Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) which while still a fabulous plant for shade, has had much improved sun tolerance allowing more gardeners to use and appreciate the huge array of new cultivars of every imaginable variegation; Cosmos, whose lacy leaf texture adds a nice feature along with the pink, red, white and yellow flowers; and Creeping Zinnia, not botanically a Zinnia (Sanvitalia) that is very heat tolerant, making them also really good for hanging baskets and above ground mixed containers.

A plant making quite a splash in many new ways is Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' which may be an annual or perennial depending on where the garden is. This light, lacy texture and continual blooming has even been added to potted flowering plants such as Poinsettias at Christmas time for use in the home. As a succulent, its inherent ability to withstand dry conditions makes this ideal for use in decorative planters by itself or mixed with other annuals, perennials, shrubs or even tropicals.

Geraniums are garden staples whether it's the Ivy (Pelargonium peltatum) or Zonal (P. x hortorum) in nearly every color and shade. With intense breeding newer, novelty flowering shapes will be catching the gardener's eye; some looking like carnations or double-flowering asters. Impatiens are a must-have for many landscapes, from the shade-loving I. Walleriana, known also as Busy Lizzie, to quite sun tolerant New Guinea Impatiens (I. Hawkeri). To further clarify, the sun / shade tolerance issue depends a lot on where the gardener lives; both types benefit from partial shade in the heat of the south, where the New Guinea will grow nicely in full sun in more northern gardens.

Madagascar Periwinkle, known also as annual Vinca, Old-Maid, Rose Periwinkle and Catharanthus roseus loves the heat! Since also tolerant of dry conditions, this beautiful, soft-textured, tough plant will perform quite well in urns and flower boxes. Marguerite Daisies (Argyranthemum) work well as bedding plants and in containers adding their fresh yellow, lavender or white Chrysanthemum type flowers all season. Today's Marigold (Tagetes erecta and T. patula) cultivars work well for smaller spaces.

Nothing can beat Petunias for intensity of color, amount of blooms produced and overall toughness in the landscape. New breeding has produced such strong plants that are not at all fussy that people that quit growing petunias now won't have a year without some. Formerly the spent flowers had to be removed in order to get effective re-flowering. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. Growing successfully in raised containers, the home gardener can now get color and height. In particular, the 'Wave®' Petunia has grown in popularity so much at the grassroots level that it even has a fan club (www.wave-rave.com, click on 'Fan Club' in the pink shaded box) where consumers share usage ideas and success stories. Trailing petunias (Calibrachoa), not actually petunias botanically, look very much like smaller flowered petunias but cascade more, making them ideal for every above ground situation as well as tough enough to handle bedding plant use with reflected heat. Different breeders common names include descriptions like 'Million Bells®' and 'Superbells ®' which gives a real indication of the type of performance to be expected in the home landscape.

Scarlet Sage (Salvia splendens) and other Sage / Salvia hybrids add punch to the gardens with dazzling, brilliant color; Snapdragon breeding work has introduced much smaller growing varieties with flowers as big as older selections and even cascading types ideal for hanging baskets; South African Daisies, known also as Cape Daisy, Osteos and Osteospermum add their daisy-like pretty flowers in unusual petal shapes and colors that include butter yellows, melon and orange, pink, fuchsia, lavender, purple and white. Amazingly tough, consider adding at least one to a mixed container or window box for their heat tolerance.

Newer Verbena hybrids with cascading forms and lacy, fern-like foliage are good for edging and facer plants as well as for mixed containers where foliage and flower types are both important in the small space to be utilized.

It only takes a few minutes of time and minimal effort to gain incredible color all season. Visitors and friends coming to the home will feel welcome and admire the beauty too.

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