Hanging Annual Flowers

Before the last frost of winter, I pull the plants up and pick off individual blossoms that are still in good condition. Plant them from 12 to 18 inches apart if a massed effect is wanted.

This cultivar might be a little harder to get your hands on, but it would be well worth the covetous effort.For fast and prolonged color, try this green blooming annual. It needs full sun though it will tolerate some shade and will grow up to 4 feet tall.

They look especially lovely when paired with flowers of white or soft pastels like pink, peach or pale yellow or blue. Space plants 9 to 12 inches apart.For best results in preparing bells-of-Ireland for use as a dried flower, use only stalks on which...

The foliage is typical of most Zinnias and can get pretty leggy, but the bloom is what makes this one interesting. *Don't forget to click on the images to go to the Plant Files entry on each plant!‘Envy' is an interesting newer cultivar of Zinnia that...

More interesting reading about green can be found in Add a few to this year's garden for some happy-go-lucky charm. Green -- the color of youth and optimism -- is never more welcome than in spring.

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Of course, they'd have better odds of self-sowing if I didn't keep cutting so many flowers!There are other flowers to pick in the wild tangle growing around our little orchard: bright Zinnias, frilly Love-in-a-Mist, striped Mallow, tall Cosmos, airy Queen...

And sometimes if I was really lucky, there would be a few pink or white blooms amidst the blue. This effect is of course a result of the tannin content of the plant. They, too, had a common name for it calling it "hurtsickle" because of its tough stem,...

They are sometimes referred to as summer's bride because the blooms follow the path of the sun through the sky.Pot marigolds are a colorful, easy to grow annual. Here is a brief overview of the birth flowers and their meanings.

Edible flowers have been used for hundreds of years as flavoring and garnishes. They are also rich in nutrients: rose hips are very high in Vitamin C; marigolds and nasturtiums also contain Vitamin C, and dandelion blossoms contain vitamins A and C.

Although both rudbeckia and echinacea are referred to as a coneflower, rudbeckia can be distinguished from echinacea, or purple coneflower, by its leaves, which are hairy and coarse in texture.

In March, when the firstblooms burst forth from what used to look like dead sticks, it is indeed exciting, for a minute. Unfortunately, yellow puts me to sleep. I understand the color yellow is often masked by other colors present in flowers' pigments.

With any luck, they will be willing to share cuttings or seeds with you.Garden design is not difficult. A formal antique garden would be a graceful addition to any landscape. Did you know there are a variety of antique flowers?

Nurserymen try to guess the interest of the buying public, but flowers don't always sell as anticipated.That must have been the case last fall when my store had a table full of perennial Montauk daisies for 50 cents each.

Why not tell them of its reputed medicinal purposes as well. (White/Pink/Not the right red.)Foliage plants are a great addition as well. Or maybe not even blue at all! It's your garden, make it your own beautiful retreat.A person could even paint a bench...

They are simple and easy to grow but not something I would post images of online or shout from the rooftops that I grew. Pull off the lowest pair of leaves and the new little shoots growing in their care.

It was like a middle child. The coleus were always in a hanging basket above the others and always, always, there were some on the kitchen windowsill. So small and delicate, they seemed to disintegrate when I tried to pick them.

Produces lavish show of rich, mind-spinning, golden-yellow, daisylike double flowers. It asks for lots of sun and little water. Pollinator magnet draws discriminating butterflies, bees, and nectar-seeking hummingbirds.

They need to be deadheaded or you will have millions of little sunflowers in your garden next year. Castor bean is a classic plant with red, pink, and green tones. They sow themselves freely in warmer gardens, and they are a welcome sight for most gardeners.

Maybe this one would make a good part of a red-white-and-blue garden!To the left is Petchoa SuperCal 'Pink Ice', which is another mounding flowering plant which looks terrific in counters or in beds.

Place about six inches to nine inches apart for massing. Grow wishbone flower in partial to full shade. Sometimes gardeners purchase the same plant year after year because it performs well and adds consistent color from summer through fall.

The best plant to have in the landscape bed around the house in fall and during the winter months. They will burst in color early in the spring and keep color into early summer. Perfect companion of spring flowering bulbs.

Click onSubscribing members may also visit the Annuals forum by clicking Annual gardens "happen" every year like an annual company picnic. There you are wandering the aisles of the big box store or huge nursery.

In fact, however, it is an evergreen perennial where the winters are mild. They are usually propagated from cuttings, which accounts for the slightly higher-than-average prices. Like other herbaceous plants, trimming tired or leggy branches can encourage...

It actually produces the best and most prolific flowers in poor soil and excessively fertile soils can adversely affect the number of blooms. Growing rosy periwinkle in temperate zones usually results in a short season annual with three months of lovely...

If you wait too long, the pods will split and you'll lose the seeds.Drop the pods into a paper sack and place them in a warm, dry spot. Snip or pinch the pods when the petals drop from the blooms and the pods are turning from yellow to brown.

My two plants are now blossoming on eight stems, with more side branches developing day by day. I discovered that the leaves are not "trilobed" on the very young plants. Sow seed indoors eight weeks before last frost, covering lightly.Contrasts with ornamental...