Gardening Articles

Annuals and biennials are traditionally regarded as a quick and inexpensive means of achieving color in the garden. Although short-lived, a large number of these plants flower freely over many weeks and even months. You can use this profusion of color to create infinite patterns of beddings with plants that are planted to flower in succession.

The term annual describe a plant whose entire life cycle, from germination to seed production through death, takes place within on year. Those that are able to withstand frost are known as hardy annuals. Those that are not are known as half hardy and must be raised under glass and planted out only after all danger of frost has passed.

The term biennial describe the plants that need two growing seasons to complete their life cycle. In their first season after sowing they produce leaf and root growth that they overwinter and flower in the following year.

Still warm weeks of the mid autumn are a good period for some more planting. because the ground is still warm and usually have a good humidity also. So those are the ideal condition for the new plants to develop strong roots until winter.

This thing is useful for hardy annuals which bloom in early spring like one of the following: Columbine (Aquilegia Caerulea), Crinitaria (Aster Alpinus), Leopard's bane (Doronicum Orientale), Avens (Geum Coccineum) or Candytuft (Iberis Sempervirens).
If you want to plant those kind of plants now they will be able to settle and develop a strong root system until winter. So when the snow will melt they will start growing and in the mid and late spring you will have the most beautiful flowers.

If you will plant them only in spring, the plants will develop slow because the ground is still too cold and the flowering will be delayed and even less spectacular than the ones of plants that were planted in autumn.

It is also useful to sow hardy annuals in mid autumn under a cold glass, this will also give them an early start in spring. Sow several seeds per 13 cm pot and allow all the seedlings to grow. This will produce a bushy plant fast.