Annuals

An annual is a plant that completes its life cycle in a single growing season. Compared to perennials, which can come back year after year but are often slow growing, annuals are fast growing, which means you won’t have to wait long to see some bright color in your garden! While some are tender annuals, meaning they don’t enjoy cooler temperatures, others are hardy annuals and can thrive throughout the colder months.

Many of our favorites, like Chrysanthemums and Violas, are considered fall annuals, meaning they bloom during autumn and offer seasonal color.

How to Incorporate Annuals Into Your Garden

If perennials come back each season, you might be wondering why one might opt for annuals. Annuals are beautiful in their own right, and because they are often fast growing, make for great filler or temporary plants in your garden. For example, in the fall or winter months, you might think you have to forgo color in your landscape due to the cold weather, but this is not the case! Pansies and Violas, for example, prefer cool seasons. So while we wait for the warmer early spring months when many perennials begin to bloom again, we can still incorporate annuals into our gardens to fulfill our seasonal color needs.

For some, committing to a perennial plant is a difficult decision (after all, they do come back!). With annuals, you can experiment with your garden and see what colors work best according to the season. If you don’t like the way one flower looks next to another, no harm done! Just replace it with a different option next time around.

While many only last a single growing season, some, like Geraniums and Calibrachoa, are able to survive indoors during winter months. The process of gathering cuttings from an annual and bringing them indoors during winter is known as “Overwintering” (see our blog – How to: Overwinter Your Annuals). For this reason, perennials are not the only gift that keeps on giving!

Non-Flowering Annuals for Sale

Annuals come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, even including some that don’t produce flowers. Non-flowering annuals include plants like Coleus, Croton, Ornamental Peppers, Caladium, and Dichondra. Although non-flowering annuals only live for one growing season and do not produce flowers, they make up for their lack in blooms with bright, eye-catching foliage.

If you are looking to add texture, color, and movement to your garden, there are many great non-flowering plants that help accentuate other flowering plants, fill hanging baskets and containers, or even border the garden beds in your landscape.

Vegetables and Herbs for Sale

Among our favorite annuals are delicious vegetables and herbs. Veggies like Beets and Brussels Sprouts, along with herbs like Sage and Lavender, can be grown from our very own gardens! Growing delicious vegetables and herbs is easier than it sounds and a great way to save money and be more environmentally conscious.