Our Suggestions for Annuals to Plant in Your Garden Next 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 choices in plants to consider, but they can be grouped by the degree of light exposure in your garden, the colour 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 colour 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 colours, from deep pink and purple to multi-coloured, 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 colours, too, from bright reds to plants with colour 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 colours, 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 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 colour in your garden. They flower in coral, red, white, pink or other combinations of colours. 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.

Find the Annuals You Need from Our Expert Gardeners

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