Sow What? Annuals For Winter Color!
By Bob Chapman
Serious gardeners plant perennials, right? Well, yes and no. Perennials are planted for the beauty they show year after year but many have short blooming periods. The following annuals are planted in September to bring season-long winter color to the garden. Gardeners can vary the colors in the garden every year by planting easy-to-grow annuals from seed. Imagine a garden filled with bright, cheery flowers that you have raised, all the way from sowing the seeds, feeding and watering them. The flowers that you plant from seeds this month are showing one and all the wondrous display of color. A bonus: many annuals are superb cut flowers!
Here's a selection of popular winter-blooming annuals for mild-winter climates that are favorites among those gardeners who love to dig in the soil, plant seeds and watch them mature into bursts of bright, colorful blooms.
Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima). Alyssums are available in dwarf sizes as well as the normal sizes (up to one foot high and as wide). The white, lavender or rich violet purple flowers have a sweet honey fragrance and will bloom from seed in six weeks. Use as a border plant, as bulb cover and in mass plantings for a spectacular effect. Grows readily from seed from the original plantings and can become a weed in some areas.
Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica). Forget-me-nots are not tall (6-12 inches high) but spread to 2 feet wide. The delicate blue flowers with a white eye are almost one-half inch wide and cover the plant in masses, making it one of the more noticeable plants in the garden. Blooms profusely from late winter through the summer. It is self-sowing and can become a weed.
Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus). These natives of the Mediterranean region hardly need describing, being so well known. The scent of the blossoms has been made into perfumes and the colors now available would make Grandma envious. Can be either grown as knee-high or as a climbing vine needing support. Old time gardeners learned to soak the seeds overnight before planting to hasten germination. There are three varieties available: spring-flowering (Cuthbertson), summer-flowering (Galaxy) and winter-flowering (Spencer or Early flowering Multiflora). You'll want to purchase the seed for the season you are planting (the seed packets will tell you) so make sure you get the right variety before planting.
Johnny-jump-up (Viola tricolor). This colorful plant blooms soon after sending up the first set of leaves and then blooms continuously all season long. Johnny-jump-ups can grow to 12 inches high and as wide but usually are smaller than that. Great for colorful borders or in mass plantings. Usually sports blue and yellow flowers but can be had in violet, blue, white, yellow, lavender, mauve, apricot, orange, and red, all with or without the traditional markings on their "faces".
Larkspur, also called the annual delphinium (Consolida ajis). These upright, easy to grow annuals will reach 4 feet high and 1 foot wide. The blossom spikes feature 1-1 ½ inch wide flowers in white, shades of blue, lilac, pink, rose, salmon, carmine and blue and white bicolors. Some recently introduced strains feature larger flowers and doubled blossoms. Larkspurs are heat-tolerant, but seeds can be sown in winter for earlier bloom next spring.
Lobelia (Lobelia crinus). This annual originated in South Africa and is great for edging or borders. Lobelia grows to 5-9 inches high and up to one foot wide. It is also available in a trailing form, ideal for hanging baskets. The plant blooms from early spring to frost in most moderate climates but in some mild winter areas will continue blooming all season long. Flower colors range from light blue to violet (the most common forms) but are also in white, reddish purple or pink. Best grown in full sun.
Calendula or "Pot Marigold" (Calendula officinalis). The pot marigold (it derived its name from earlier uses as an herb in cooking) grows really well to about a foot high and 1 ½ feet wide. This easy-to-grow cool-weather lover features orange, bright yellow and shades of apricot and cream 2 ½ inches-wide daisy-like blooms. The leaves are long, narrow and somewhat sticky to the touch.
Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus). Among the best flowers for cuttings, making a colorful addition to the holiday décor. Snaps range from the very tall to dwarf species and feature a wide variety of colors. Use as bedding plants, or use the taller strains in the back of the flowerbed. Some gardeners even use the dwarf strains for edgings.
Clarkia or Godetia. This California native (also called "Farewell to Spring") should not be overlooked by gardeners. Strains are available that grow to 21/2 feet high, but the most common varieties available grow to about six inches tall. The bright, cross-shaped, cupped, pastel-colored flowers are about 2 inches wide.
Stock (Matthiola incana). This old-fashioned favorite originated in the Mediterranean and features gray-green leaves and lots of spikes of very fragrant flowers of white, pink, red, purple, lavender, blue, yellow and cream all winter long. Varieties are available that grow from one foot to three feet tall. Some varieties are double-flowering but all varieties are widely used in flower arrangements.
Pansies (Viola wittrockiana). The familiar and trustworthy pansy, with its distinctive face, should not be overlooked this winter. There are many, many strains available and in colors too numerous to mention. Pansies grow to about six to ten inches high and about as wide and make excellent borders or foreground plants. Although these are perennials they get pretty raggedy by midsummer so treat them as annuals and take them out in late spring. To prolong blooming, pick off the faded flowers and don't let them go to seed.
California poppy (Eschscholzia californica). Our California state flower and a native plant, makes an excellent contribution to the winter garden. The bright, cheery color, so familiar to all is difficult to equal. Strains are available now and you can plant our poppies that have pale yellow and white to deep orange. Sow seed where the plants are to grow as they are difficult to transplant.
Tips and suggestions:
- There may be several choices of seeds available in each variety of flowers. Look carefully at the picture on the seed packet to ensure purchasing and planting the flower you desire.
- Many seed racks in stores or nurseries do not carry all the seeds anyone would want, but you'll find plenty of sources of mail order flower seeds on the internet.
- For complete success in growing annuals from seed, carefully follow the instructions on the packet concerning the time of planting, the depth to plant the seed (or the covering of the seed) and the spacing and thinning needed after the seedlings emerge and reach about 1-2 inches tall.
- Determine where you will want the mature flowers to bloom. For instance, planting the seed of really tall plants in the front of the flowerbed may hide your medium or low growing plants.