Our Suggestions for Annuals to Plant in Your Garden this Year

Annuals produce big, beautiful, and bright flowers that bloom all season long, if properly cared for. Annuals also add form and texture. When deciding which ones to plant, you have a lot of choice in plants to consider but they can be grouped by the degree of light exposure in your garden, the color of the flowers, or the height and the spread of the plants. Here are some beautiful annuals that will work in almost any garden.

Marigolds

Plant the Tall African variety; their color and fragrance make them a must for any garden. They come in shades of yellow and orange to add in bright tones. Your Lawrence Park Complete Garden Care will plant them after the frost from seedlings. When seeds are planted after frost, they flower in the late summer. Dwarf marigolds will grow to about 20 cm.

Petunias

They might be pedestrian – everyone has petunias – but they are so worth growing because the fragrance is so lovely that not even a lily can contend with it. This classic will grow well in the sun, and come in an almost limitless array of colors, from deep pink and purple, to multi-colored, to white and red. The height and spread range is quite large, with 30 cm spreads and 1.2 m height is not uncommon. They are planted as nursery seedlings after the first frost.

Snapdragon

Another exceptionally late bloomer, this frost resistant annual will never let you down. Snapdragons add strength to any bouquet with their sturdy and long stems. And they will add some dramatic height to your flower garden since they grow to about 75 cm. They come in gorgeous colors, too, from bright reds to plants with color variation on each flower. We sow the seeds in late spring after the risk of frost has passed.

Coleus

These are stunning plants with foliage second to none. Their red to purple leaves do well in in the sun, but the lighter leaves, green and pale pink, salmon, orange, yellow and white, like the shade. They can grow from 15-45 cm, and spread 15-30.

Sweet Alyssum

These are tiny, wonderfully fragrant flowers that do well in partially shaded gardens. They grow 5 – 25 cm, and will spread from 20-30 cm. They come in a variety of colors, from pink and rose, to mauve and white. They help to control aphids and other pests, so they can be grown under roses. They need to be started indoors in February to be planted in May; or, they can be seeded them in April, but after the last frost.

Impatiens

For some reason at the end of the summer season, when the weather turns cool, your impatiens will start to bloom and bloom and bloom some more for a gorgeous flurry and last gasp of color in your garden. They flower in coral, red, white, pink or other combinations of colors. Like Sweet Alyssum, they will grow in semi-shade. They are small medium-size, from 15-45 cm, and the spread will depend on the variety.

Ready to fill your garden with these (and even more) colourful flowers? Contact Lawrence Park Complete Garden Care today.