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Annuals again - or not?

25 comments


As this is the time of year when we are ordering or buying seeds for next year, I decided to look back and see which annuals had been successful and which I would have to think twice about before growing them again.

It will be obvious to those of you who have looked at my photos as to which was my absolute favourite this year – Godetias. For the price of the packet, of seeds they have given me great pleasure with the variety of colours and patterns on the petals – (and they are still flowering now!)

It wasn’t hard to decide that from now on I shall plant the Butterfly Antirrhinums instead of the more usual ‘snapdragon’ shaped flowers. Every one that flowered was beautiful.

I have self-seeding Californian Poppies in the garden, but I planted another packet which turned out to have a lot of different colours ranging from cream to deep orange, with a very pretty pale pink one.

I still have annual Rudbeckias flowering at the moment. These germinated so easily that I had far too many – and gave lots away to friends and neighbours. The colour range is great, too, they are yellow, orange, edged red, and almost brown. They glow in the sun. Another ‘yes’ for next year!

Nasturtiums are always good – they also have the useful habit of seeding themselves. I planted red ones this year along the edge of the grass and they are still blooming away!

I had success with my sweet peas, green Nicotiana, Cleome and Calendula ‘Orange King’. The Nicotiana sems to ‘go’ with everything, so I grow some every year.

A new one which was successful – to my surprise as the packet was out of date – was the Poached Egg Plant. I sowed these along the border edges in several places and got good germination and lovely two-tone flowers. They are supposed to seed themselves, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Having Nigella that seeds itself every year, I thought that purple ones would be lovely to fill gaps in my back garden, and that once I had them like the blue ones, they would be there each year with no cost or hassle. WRONG! When the few that germinated finally flowered, they were minute – only 4" tall with tiny flowers. The seedheads are just appearing but look very different to the ‘usual’ ones. I can’t imagine them self-seeding.

The seeds that I shall have to think about seriously are the new ‘Summer Sorbet’ Escholzia. I had no seedlings from the first packet I sowed, so I tried again and got the grand total of ONE plant which had ONE flower on it! I suppose it might surprise me and produce babies from its seed pod but I am doubtful, somehow. It was such a beautiful, double, ruffled flower, though!

And now we come to the awful mistake! Yes, the red Cosmos that wasn’t. Not only did they turn out to be a bright orange colour, but they were also much, much shorter that expected. Planted towards the back of the borders, they were hidden behind the taller flowers instead of soaring up over the top for all to see and admire. A definite No-No for next year.

I know what I shall be growing next year – well, I expect I’ll try something new as well. What did you grow and what will you buy – if you haven’t already?

More blog posts by spritzhenry

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Comments

 

great blog Spritz and beautiful photos.
next yr i want more wildflowers in the garden. i grew loads of foxgloves from seed this yr so hopefully i will have loads of those next summer

31 Oct, 2008

 

Interesting that not every packet of seeds performed as you had planned. It's definitely one of the fun things about gardening ~
the surprises ! :o)

31 Oct, 2008

 

The summer sorbet is very atractive. Pitty only one grew. They'd look lovely in a border.
I like the orange cosmos too. It would look nice in the right place.
You had so many diferent Godetias I'm not surprised you'll be growing them next year.
I hope I'll be better organised next year and have my garden sorted out so that I can concentrate more on the plants.
Some pleasant weather would help too for a change.

31 Oct, 2008

 

~with you on all of the above Hywel~!

31 Oct, 2008

 

What a strange growing season it was!!! I planted escholzia (California Poppy) and nothing happened!...it could have been the seed...(sometimes bargains aren't bargains) The surprise of my summer was the nigella... I'm certainly going to get more seed for them...blue ones too! I had the same experience with plants disappearing because they didn't grow to the height they were supposed to!...I was scratching my head...trying to figure what was wrong with my large bed...but realized I made an error by planting asparagus in the middle...should have put it closer to the front edge of the bed(I love the ferny green, as well as the veg) because I was afraid to dig and cultivate when adding the corms and rhizomes for fear of disturbing it. I'm looking forward to this winter's work on thewebsite...filling up my garden blog with observations, etc. and deciding on a strategy for next spring's move... (Not looking forward to that, but on the up-side...there's a chance to start all over again!)

1 Nov, 2008

 

Those godetias are lovely, i think i'll be having some of them, enjoyed your blog.

1 Nov, 2008

 

I enjoyed this blog Spritz, lovely photo's.

1 Nov, 2008

 

Beautiful pictures, Spritz, I like all your flowers but was quite taken especially with the 'poached egg' plant!

1 Nov, 2008

 

A very interesting blog Spritz, I'll certainly make notes and look for the green nicotiana especially. I also love the look of the butterfly antirrhinums!

I didn't realise rudbeckias were so easy to grow from seed, another for my list!

1 Nov, 2008

 

Great summing up of your annuals Spitz, a wonderful guide for all. I think they are all my favourites. The Poached egg plant will definately seed. I had them in a big triangle out on the lane they were a real carpet every year, but sadly they have gone now as every one insisted on parking their cars on them, I did not have the heart to tell them and as they died back each year, they were not to know. Consequently, they eventually gave up the goast!!! My Uncle was a gardener in a big house and had a wonderful garden of his own. My Aunty always brought flowers when she came to visit and one of the favourites were the poached egg plant. She would dig up a big lump of them and put them on a deep plate which she kept watered in the centre of the table, then when they finished flowering would take them back out and re plant them. A Lovelt table centre decoration.

1 Nov, 2008

 

Great blog, and beautiful pics, you have given me food for thought, the godetias will certainly be on my list, such pretty colours, thanks again for a most informative blog.

2 Nov, 2008

 

Thanks Spritz. i don 't grow many Annuals, but next year its Godetia for me. Jolly useful Blog.

2 Nov, 2008

Sid
Sid
 

Another lovely blog, Barbara. I used to grow lots of annuals, but over the years I've kept on shoe-horning in more perennials and now there's not much space left for annuals - your blog reminded me that I miss them! :-)

2 Nov, 2008

 

Do you think I could negotiate a discount on packets of Godetia seeds from one of the seed companies for the publicity I'm giving them? LOL.

2 Nov, 2008

 

It was a very strange year for the garden my godetia which usually do well were very disappointing however I had beautiful dahlias and loads of nasturtiams until the frost got them last Tues,also lost my chrysanths this year so got to start again with them,my cosmos were also very short Spritz so guess mother earth playing tricks in your garden as well as mine.lol

3 Nov, 2008

 

Lovely photos Spritz. I wish I lived nearer, I would come and (pay to) see your garden. Telme is right about poached eggs. They will seed. Boy will they seed. I am sure they will soon be on DEFRA's hit list as an invasive plant. But they are easy to control. I lost mine (used as ground cover) for 3 years whilst I was re-designing. But they are back this year, before the redesigning is even finished - LOL.

John.

3 Nov, 2008

 

Lovely, Spritz! I, as you know, choose plants to suit a theme, and always have plenty of annuals. One that I can never do without, like yourself, is Rudbeckia, and our varieties for next year will be "Cappuccino" and "Chocolate Orange". On the Nasturtium front, we'll be having "Maharajah" and "Black Velvet", and Calendula "Indian Prince". I like Nigella, too, and have found one called "Choc Ice". Our list goes on and on.....!

3 Nov, 2008

 

Great Blog Spritz, I was always very jellous of your Godetias, i did'nt get even one out of the pack i sowed, i also did'nt get any luck out of the Californian poppies i think i got one plant that did'nt do very much atall. i had some lovely Snap dragons too, mine were monarch mix, i have saved some seed off them to re-sow. but i think i will also get some of the open antirrinham that you had this year Spritz they were very lovely. also another defo for me will be the two variety of pot marigold that i had this year, 'sherbert fizz' and 'Art shades' both were lovely and some are still flowering now. i know that some of you had problems with them this year, but mine were really good, so seed has been saved for them. also the opium poppies that you sent to Brooke were stunning! thanks for thoughs, i have saved lots of seed to re-sow them again. the sunflower 'claret' that Brooke grew were lovely at first, but they came under real attact from blackfly so never reached there full potential. but i think we will give them another try. i also had some lovely 'shirley' poppies which i will sow again next year. i sowed some 'frosted queen' cornflower that i think i got 2 plants from, they were nice but i think i will plant some blue ones in there place next year. my Nigellia were also very good so i have seed for them. i have also bougt a few new ones to try out next year already, 'Black Scabious' - which i think is perennial,'Coreopsis - Quills & Frills' 'Red Cornflower', and Cleome Rose queen'. but to be honest have'nt done much shopping for seeds as yet, there are a few others i have been thinking about, but want to see how much room i have in my greenhouse, come early spring.

5 Nov, 2008

 

Lovely pictures. I'm thinking of getting some Limnanthes to underplant my whitecurrant, it's supposed to be a good companion (at least Bob Flowerdew thinks so).

I had some nigellas grow tiny and some huge from the same sowing. I think it was just a case of plant competition and being shaded out for my 'runty' ones - could the same apply to you?

5 Nov, 2008

 

Good theory, but wrong, unfortunately, Elleme. I planted them in the sun in my back garden. Strange seedheads, too, now they've got to that stage. They look like little tiny horns, not 'bubbles' like the blue ones have. I am not at all sure that they will seed themselves.

5 Nov, 2008

 

Hi - this is my first comment on a blog. As a newcomer please excuse my ignorance. I am not entirely sure what an annual is. I would probably embarrass myself if I mentioned something that was not even an annual. Thanks to this blog I now know of the names of some beautiful annuals that I am inspired to try. Thank you for your time and effort creating this blog and the interesting comments made in response. I particularly liked Telme8’s contribution and was left wondering whether the poached egg plants are edible. I was so impressed with the blog I thought it would be interesting to start a blog myself. As I am lacking in plant expertise I think I would have to write about something I can do – collect garden rubbish. You probably call it weeding. I however unknowingly remove the plants as well! Has there been a blog already about composting? What do you do with the annuals when they have finished flowering?

7 Nov, 2008

 

Hello Gardeningfriend ~
An annual is a plant which only lasts one season and then you plant seeds to grow the same plant again the following year. Not very technical but it is a start to answering your questions !

I'm so glad you are enjoying GoY.
Please ask away.
Write blogs. Make comments.
Everyone is here to help :o)

7 Nov, 2008

 

Hi Gardening friend. Welcome to GoY. No, poached egg plants are not edible, they are called poached egg plants because of the yellow and white flowers. When annuals finish flowering then it is usual to compost them, in many cases after taking off any seeds for the following season or allowing them to spread their own seeds. Not that packets of seeds cost a fortune but why buy some when your own plants are quite happy to supply them free.

Only got on to GoY about 4 weeks ago myself (although I am not a novice gardener) so I don't know if anyone has blogged 'composting'. I imagine they have and a longer standing member may know.

John.

7 Nov, 2008

 

John ~

In four weeks you've made lots of very useful contributions to GoY. I'm glad you joined. :o)

Putting the words COMPOST or COMPOSTING into search in top right corner, brings you to lots of compost-related topics on GoY.
I hope this helps.

7 Nov, 2008

 

Hallo Gardeningfriend - welcome to GOY! Please don't be embarassed at anything you don't know or understand! That's one of the reasons that GOY exists, to help each other.
Thank you for your kind words about this blog - yes, it took a while to write and choose the photos, but I enjoyed doing that and I'm glad you found it helpful.

7 Nov, 2008

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