You Should Grow More Hardy Annuals

If you hurry, there’s still time to plant some hardy annuals like the pansies, snapdragon, and Dianthus transplants above. 

They’ll bloom though spring rain, sleet, and snow; then peak in late May or early June. 

After that you can toss spent plants on the compost pile and use the space for summer flowers.   

It’s crop rotation for flower gardeners—Hardy annuals are an easy way to bring more blooms into your southern garden and have more than one season of flowers in your beds.

I grow them from transplant.  These came from the awesome Campbell Road Nursery (off Tryon Road in Cary) for just 10 dollars a flat. 

I also grow hardy annuals from seed.  The larkspur above were sown in the fall. 

These baby Nigella were raked in the garden in January.   As the weather warms, they’ll grow like weeds.   Hardy annuals are EASY, which means more newbie gardeners should them a try.   

Annual poppies, and sweet peas can also be grown this way in triangle gardens.  Any other suggestions.  What hardy annuals would you add to the list?

Fall Colors–Plus One Mum I Would Never be Without

I love this plant!

First the mum–I’m afraid it has no name.  Garden teacher and writer, Pam Baggett. who shared it with me many years ago  called it “Pass-along Apricot Mum”.  

For a while, I thought my flower was “Clara Curtis”.  But walking in my neighborhood today I notice that Clara had collapsed, while my mum is still going strong.  Clara is also more pink than apricot.  My  apricot mum  is prettier than Clara which means my mum still has no name.  

So  you’ll have to get it from me, or Pam or  blog-partner Melissa, or pal Kristen or one of  the other gardeners we have shared this wonderful plant with over the years.   

Make a note now–ask for the mum. 

Part two of this post–Fall Colors,  and I don’t just mean the leaves on the trees.   

Colors deepen as the sun slips to the south in the fall.

 Have you noticed  how rich the flower colors are this time of year?  Reds, purples and blues really shine in the lower spectrum light of Autumn. 

Penta and Perellia look stunning side by side

And  yes, it is time to put in the pansies, snapdragon, Dianthus and other winter annual transplants.  I always try to set them out before October ends.   But after the long hot summer, my flowers are finally thriving again. 

Coleus of many colors--

 They’re  so beautiful right now I can’t bear to pull them out.   

Maybe just one more week.

Skip Mums–What to spend your $ on Instead

Ok–if you really like those pots of mums all the stores have now–skip this blog post.  Gardening is about doing what you like–Not what I like or your neighbor likes.  It should be personal.  Otherwise just hire some pros to come in and do your yard. 

And in that vein, I don’t like those potted mums.  I’ve tried them–but always failed.    And while some people can make them work (en mass), not me.  Potted mums need too much water–look too formal–bloom and move on too quickly.   Planted in my garden–they look like hot house mushrooms and totally out of place. 

Here’s what I spend my money on instead:

Hardy annuals and biennials like–pansies, viola, snapdragons, dianthus, foxgloves.

Dianthus are planted in fall--stunning in springFoxgloves also winter over--the only way to grow them in NC

Winter vegetables like–collards, kale, mustard, chard

And the best value in gardening–a package of larkspur seed.  In Novemeber, rake them in open soil and enjoy lovely blooms in spring. 

Meanwhile to decorate my porch instead of mums–a bucket of garden foliage and grasses.  They’re free and they’ve looked good in this old pail for weeks.  (Check out the cool sign my friend Mandy sent me from France.)