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"Man does not live by bread alone ...", which means that, in addition to practical benefits, and sometimes even help in survival, from time immemorial, the personal plot has served for resting the soul and body, pleasing the eye. Ornamental plants and flowers do the best with this task. Since they carry in themselves not only purely aesthetic pleasure of frozen beauty, but also living energy that changes every moment and is capable of delivering many minutes of joy and pleasure to those who know how to discern and appreciate it.
Among decorative flowers, annuals are especially fond of gardeners. Indeed, many of them, due to their unpretentiousness and the ability to bloom non-stop (unlike most perennials) for several months in a row, are able to decorate your garden with bright splashes of all colors of the rainbow from June to the onset of frosty weather.
True, most of the annuals require growing in late winter and early spring indoors as seedlings. But for many, this process becomes so exciting that every year they want to grow as many different varieties of annuals as possible.
In addition, some flowers are easily grown by direct sowing in the ground in April - May, depending on the weather conditions in your area.
Use of annuals
Annuals develop and bloom, and, therefore, serve as a decoration for your site for only one season. On the one hand, this seems to be a disadvantage, because they cannot be forgotten, like some perennials, and they must be sown and planted again every spring. But, on the other hand, what a boundless scope for creativity it gives.
After all, you can experiment endlessly with planting flowers, every season, changing their location and coming up with all new original ideas for their placement. The most traditional places where you can place annuals are:
- Flower beds;
- Flower beds;
- Curbs;
- Hanging baskets and pots;
- Landing along the tracks.
But, besides this, annuals can be used almost anywhere, for example:
- In the garden to decorate the beds and protect vegetables from intruders from the insect world.
- Near nets and transparent fences to create a wall invisible to prying eyes for the summer period.
- Near walls, fences, compost heaps, garbage dumps and other places that are unsightly for the eye, flowers will disguise their uncomfortable appearance.
- As a curtain from the sun, if you let them curl on a horizontal surface located at a certain height from the ground.
- To decorate the concrete part of the yard, annuals can be planted in various original containers: cans, pots, tanks, baths, car tires, old shoes, and even in a broken washing machine or refrigerator.
- Annuals can decorate old stumps by cutting holes in them, as well as planting them with a carpet. in the shadow young or with a thin crown of trees.
Classification of annuals
In the sea of a variety of species and varieties of flowers of annuals, it is not always easy to navigate even an experienced gardener. And beginners usually get lost and buy and grow plants, seeds that came to hand in the store and seemed attractive in the picture. Such an approach may, at best, not bring the desired decorative effect, and in the worst case, annuals may disappoint with poor or late flowering, or even not come up and disappear at all. Therefore, you should first figure out which flowers are optimal for both the conditions of your site and for your specific purposes.
Height
So, annuals, first of all, differ in the height of the bushes. Exist:
- Carpets or undersized flowers (up to 20-25 cm);
- Medium-sized plants (from 30 to 65 cm);
- Tall annuals (from 70-80 to 200 cm).
Among undersized annuals blooming all summer, the most popular and unpretentious are alissum, viola (pansies), iberis, echium, mattiola two-horned, ever-flowering begonia, lobelia, verbena, phlox drummond, mesembriantemum, dimorphoteka, gatsaniya, nemesia, purslane and others.
The second group of flowers includes the vast majority of unpretentious annuals, such as: calendula, cornflower, clarkia, godetia, balsam, cosmea, coreopsis, nigella, arctotis, salvia, zinnia, cellozia, statice, escholzia and many others.
There are not so many flowers in the third group, but they impress with their appearance: amaranth, mallow, lavatera, sunflower, tobacco, malopa, foxglove.
It should be noted that many of the most popular flowers such as, Snapdragon, annual asters, marigolds, annual dahlias, carnations, have many varieties that are very diverse in size. From the most dwarf varieties, no more than 20-30 cm, to medium-sized flowers and, finally, giants over 80-100 cm in height.
By the duration and timing of flowering
It is important to distinguish between annuals according to the timing and duration of flowering. The overwhelming majority of flowers of annuals differ in the duration of flowering (more than three months), but some bloom for only a month or a month and a half. But, they are easily renewed by sowing seeds.
The record holder for the duration of flowering is viola (pansies), which can bloom from early spring to late autumn, and if favorable conditions are created, it can bloom all year round.
At the other end of the line is Malcolmia, which blooms for only a few weeks, but its seeds can be scattered literally anywhere and after 50 days, pretty flowers will appear in this place.
It is necessary to be aware that most of the so-called biennials (daisy, forget-me-not, lacfiol, bell, lunar) also bloom only for a month or two. But when they are sown in the second half of summer, most of them bloom already at the end of April - in May, that is, during the period when none of the annuals is still blooming.
Among the long-flowering annuals that bloom already in June, the following species can be noted: alyssum, godetia, cornflower, golden blossom or keeled chrysanthemum, escholzia, echium, tar, nasturtium.
Almost all other common annuals bloom from July until frost.
By the duration of the growing season
Since annuals are propagated mainly by seeds, it is important for gardeners to distinguish between three groups of flowers according to the duration of the development period from sowing seeds to the appearance of the first flowers. Since depending on the duration of development, the timing of sowing seeds is determined.
Late flowers, develop from 130 to 180 days, and require sowing for seedlings in January-February. These are Shabo carnation, ever-flowering begonia, verbena, lobelia, petunia and others.
Medium flowers, develop from 90 to 120 days. The seeds of these flowers can be sown from early March to mid-April. Among these annuals, the following flowers stand out: aster annual, levkoy, snapdragon, ageratum, zinnia, tobacco, sweet peas, godetia, Drummond's phlox, marigolds, chrysanthemums and others.
Early flowers develop from 40 to 70 days. These annuals can be sown directly into the ground in late April or May. These include: alissum, calendula, cosmea, clarkia, lavatera, malcolmia, two-horned mattiola, gypsophila, escholzia, nigella, limnantes, nemofila and others.
By type of use
It is also very important to distinguish between annuals according to the type of use, because it depends on where exactly one or another flower can or cannot be planted.
On this basis, all unpretentious long-flowering annuals can be conditionally divided into six groups.
Beautifully blooming
This group of annuals is probably the most numerous, since it is for the design of various flower beds and mixborders that many annuals are intended. A subgroup of the most beautiful flowers, which are most often specially grown for cutting, because their flowers have the ability to persist for a long time in bouquets placed in water.
Such flowering annuals include:
- Agrostemma or cockle
- Arctotis
- Aster annual
- Goldflower or keeled chrysanthemum
- Kosmeya
- Dahlia annual
- Carnation Shabo
- Godezia
- Gaillardia
- Annual rudbeckia
- Venidium
- Zinnia
Decorative deciduous
It is interesting that some plants can serve as a real decoration of the site, not only due to their beautiful flowers, but also due to their painted leaves, bizarre shapes or dimensions. Some of them are typical annuals:
- Ornamental cabbage
- Cochia
Others, by their nature, belong to perennials, but because of the love of warmth, they are grown in gardens of a temperate climate, like annuals.
- Irezine
- Castor oil plant
- Coleus
- Perilla
- Cineraria or sea grass
Dried flowers
This category includes annuals, which can be used not only to decorate the site, but also for winter bouquets and floristic compositions.
These include:
- Acroclinum
- Gelichrizum
- Statica or Kermek or Limonium
- Gypsophila
- Lunnaria
- Nigella Damascus
- Xerantemum or dried flower
- Scabious
- Molucella
Climbing plants
There are not many climbing flowers among annuals, but nevertheless the choice of plants is large enough to be used for vertical landscaping in a wide variety of conditions.
These include:
- Sweet pea
- Bindweed or morning glory
- Nasturtium
- Kobei
- Decorative pumpkin
- Thunbergia
Carpet annuals
These undersized flowers are able to form carpets in different parts of the garden. Some require dry, sunny locations with poor, well-drained soil. Many of them are able to grow even on sand or stones: alissum, ankhuza, dimorphoteka, escholzia, gatsania, iberis, malcolmia, limnantes, mesembriantemum, purslane.
Others prefer more richly fertilized soils and can grow even in partial shade. These include ever-flowering begonia, balsam, lobelia, nemophila.
Potted flowers
This group includes beautifully flowering perennial plants, which during the winter period are rather easily preserved at home.And with the onset of warmth, these flowers are often planted in containers, balcony boxes or pots to decorate the site in the summer months.
This group includes:
- Balsams of different types
- Ever-flowering and root begonia
- Coleus
- Geranium or Pelargonium
- Calceolaria
- Schizanthus
Conclusion
The variety of annuals or flowers used for summer planting is so great that everyone is quite able to choose their own taste and color, suitable for specific purposes and plant conditions. Perhaps after reading this article, you will be able to avoid many of the mistakes that are inevitable in the absence of experience.
