Annual Plants Add Constant Color To Your Backyard Garden

I daydream of a lush, plant-filled garden that produces enormous amounts of beautiful flowers that bloom continuously from early Springtime to Autumn’s end. I imagine myself with basket and pruning shears in hand, surveying the bountiful garden. I search for scented herbs with their wonderful aromas, flowering plants displaying cheerful blossoms, colorful, attractive and interesting foliage plants. I envision an abundance of growing treasure to select from, and snip off dozens and dozens to bring inside to arrange in a beautiful bouquet, or two, or three!

Ah, but I daydream . . . or do I? While some plant varieties may not bloom their entire life cycle, it is possible to attain constant color in your backyard garden by including annual plants into your landscape and garden design.

Annuals . . . What Are They?

What exactly is an annual plant ? An annual plant is a plant that will germinate, grow, flower, and then die in a single year or a single season. You may be familiar with popular flowering varieties of plants such as Geraniums, Impatiens, Marigolds, Petunia and Zinnia. Examples of annual herbs are Basil, Dill, French Tarragon and Lemon Balm. Coleus, Dusty Miller, Ipomoea (Sweet Potato Vine) and Strobilanthes (Persian Shield) are colorful samplings of annuals featuring interesting foliage displays.

Although an investment in cultivating annual varieties of plants is one that does not endure from year-to-year, the dividend is apparent in their easy affordability. They succeed in providing their lucrative payoff with instant color to the selected growing location in your backyard garden.

To further protect your investment, I recommend applying a layer of mulch to your garden and landscape plantings.  Mulching your landscape and garden has many time and labor saving benefits.

Annuals are the perfect solution to provide continuous color to an area of the garden that is not producing any at the time. While slower growing neighboring plants are still maturing to their blooming period, annual plants can fit in and fill that bloomless void.

With the addition of annuals in your landscape, it is possible to always have something colorful blooming there for you to enjoy. The choices are almost endless. They can be planted in just about any area that your garden dictates . . .a full sun location, part sun/part shade spot to full and dense shade. There are beautiful annual plant options for whatever your specific needs may be.

Here is a listing of some of my all-time favorite annuals that provide me with constant color . . . and delight! Consider adding these awesome annuals to your backyard garden.

Ageratum

Centaurea (Bachelor’s Button)

Basil

Begonia

Calibrachoa (Mini Petunia)

Celosia

Coleus

Cosmos

Dill

Dusty Miller

French Tarragon

Fuchsia

Geranium

Gomphrena

Impatiens (Single & Double)

Ipomoea (Sweet Potato Vine)

Lemon Balm

Lobelia

Marigold

New Guinea Impatiens

Oxallis (Shamrock)

Portulaca

Pansy

Pentas

Petunia

Salvia

Snapdragon

Strobilanthes

Verbena

Zinnia