Annuals: How to Grow Them in Your Garden

Annual plants complete their entire life cycle, from seed to flower and back to seed again, all in one season. Because their time is limited, annuals bloom with gusto, often for months on end. A number of perennials also are willing to grow as annuals, particularly semitropical plants, such as lantana, four-o’clock, and sweet potato vine. Many gardeners simplify this matter by referring to all plants that are easily grown for a single season as annuals.

Care-free annuals are the workhorses of the garden, providing reliable foliage and flower color from spring to fall, and throughout winter in mild climates. Early-blooming, cool-season annuals, such as pansies are perfect companions to spring-flowering bulbs and flowering shrubs. With the onset of summer, you can switch to heat-tolerant, warm-season annuals including marigolds, salvias, and zinnias.

The majority of bedding plants that fill stores in spring are annuals, so it is hard to imagine an easier way to kick off a colorful summer than to buy a few, prepare a suitable bed, and pop in these ready-to-grow plants. Many of the annuals sold as bedding plants are compact dwarf varieties, bred to need little maintenance and grow as well-behaved subjects in gardens, containers, and window boxes. They bloom for months and you can just toss them on the compost heap at season’s end, and you’re ready for next year.

Although annuals are, by definition, one-season wonders, they sometimes self-sow, making replanting unnecessary. The best of these are charmingly informal plants, such as forget-me-nots and poppies, that surprise us by cropping up in new places, and delight us with the bonus of free plants.

The more you try, the more of these care-free garden performers you’ll fall in love with, and the more ways you’ll find to use them. The annuals listed in the following articles will look good for an extended period of time without fuss or bother. Easy, fast, and inexpensive, they are ideal for busy gardeners.