Flower Power - How To Plant Your Garden For Year-Round Blooms

A flower garden can give you a romantic and fragrant feast for your ears, nose and mouth. It can also add bright colors to brighten and deck or patio. The key is to understanding what the annuals and perennials are, and then planting the ones that match your available sunlight and water requirements.

Annuals

Steps:

Make sure to remember that annuals grow bloom, set seed, and die in one growing season. These typical do that is spring to fall. In the mild climates of the earth, some annuals grow and bloom through winter. Some popular examples are petunias, zinnias, and marigolds. These flowers generally produce the maximum bang for your dollar.

Choose cool-season annuals, such as Iceland poppies and pansies for spring and fall displays.

Select warm-season annuals, such as impatiens and marigolds, for ones that bloom from late spring to early fall.

Make sure to purchase the seeds from the nurseries or catalogs. Starting from a seed is less expensive, but takes longer and is more labor extensive. However, some annuals grow better when sown as seeds directly in the ground. Some others, such as petunias and begonias, take a discouragingly long time to grow from a seed. Seed-starting kits are available at garden centers or from online dealers.

Give a plant what it needs to grow, in terms of sun and shade. Make sure to examine them for healthy green leaves and avoid seedlings with many yellow leaves. Select the plants with mostly unopened flowers. Try and avoid any that are root-bound, with wads of brown roots coming from the bottom of the container.

Perennials

Steps:

Make sure to choose perennials if you wan plants that live for many, many years. Just know that some die back to the ground in winter and reappear in the springtime. Some perennials may remain green all year long, with all the different climate changes.

Shop for the perennials can be done nearly all year around. Starting perennials from seed takes, time, and some seeds germinate only with very special care, so it may become a special project. But during late fall, winter and early spring, many of these flowers, such as phlox, may display no top growth, so it may look like you are buying a pot of soil.

Try and plant most of your perennials in early spring or early fall. The earlier in the growing season you plant them, the smaller the container and less expensive the perennial will be for you. Perennials in four-inch pots may look smaller, but they are actually easier to grow in a garden than the larger perennials.

Neighborhood nurseries and some garden centers may offer a very limited variety of perennials. Be sure to check out perennial dealers with mail order or direct-mail catalogs. Some specialties that these dealers may have that you can't find at your local nursery are salvias, daylilies, and geraniums.

Buy the flowers in bloom, if you want to be sure of the color of the perennial.

Overall Tips:

Some easy-to-grow annuals include, marigolds, sunflowers, impatiens, and zinnias. Try and save some money by sowing nasturtium, cosmos, sunflower, and California poppy seeds directly into the garden in spring. Make sure to keep the flowers moist until they are established in the soil. However, for a quick colorful effect in the summertime, try and look for sales on annuals that are potted in gallon-size containers. Some fail-safe perennials for sunny spots are coneflower, daylily, yarrow, and Shasta daisy. In addition, for shade, try the bleeding heart, hosta, Japanese anemone, and hellebore. You can also increase your supply of perennials by dividing them and transplanting them. The best time depends on the type of plant, but you would normally do this in fall or spring.

SEASON: Early Spring

ANNUALS: Plant cool-season types such as Iceland poppy, snapdragon, stock, calendula, and larkspur. Make sure to look for short, stocky plants in four or six-packs. Choose plants with or without flower buds, but with few or no open flowers.

PERENNIALS: In bloom, look for, peony, daylily, penstemon, Shasta daisy, and delphinium. Make sure to look for 4-inch or one-gallon container. The plants should have their leaves and some will have flowers. Make sure to cut off all dead flower stems.

SEASON: Mid-spring to Midsummer

ANNUALS: Make sure to plant warm-season types such as, marigold, lobelia, salvia, petunia, and impatiens. Look for one-gallon container.

PERENNIALS: In bloom: daylily, peony, Shasta daisy, penstemon, and delphinium. Look for four inch or one gallon container. These plants should have leaves and flowers, but cut off all dead flowers and leaves.

SEASON: Late Summer to Early Fall

ANNUALS: Plant these warm-season flowers such as zinnia and salvia. In hot climates try and take a break from planting more annuals.

PERENNIALS: In bloom: joe-pye weed, salvia, and black-eyed Susan. Make sure to watch out for wilted plants. It is OK if they aren't blooming when you buy them, they will bloom next year.

SEASON: Fall

ANNUALS: Plant cool-season plants: calendula and pansy. Start with small pots or seedlings.

PERENNIALS: In bloom: chrysanthemum. Be sure to watch out for sales at your local nursery.