In the garden: Some Spring Annuals

I recently gave a talk at a favorite local nursery, Annie’s Annuals & Perennials, about growing your own bouquet and featuring spring annuals. I talked about how to plan for a succession of blooms that are excellent in the vase by relying on annual and perennial plants, and various shrubs and trees. I confessed that I had strayed somewhat from annuals — if I was going to nurture something from seed or nursery, it seemed a better investment to have them stick around for more than one season. But the pendulum has swung back. I missed these beauties. The fact that they only have the one season lends them to prolific production, and because cutting will only get you more blooms, I am much more generous with my secateurs. I was also enjoying a number of their self-seeded offspring, and it became time to “reseed” as it were with some new varietals. For those who missed it, here is the list I put together for the talk. The criteria was (1) I like them and (2) they were available in the nursery to plant now.

PLANT RECOMMENDATIONS

Perennials

·        Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian Peach'

·        Alonsoa meridionalis 'Apricot' "Mask Flower"

·        Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Beauty'

·        Mimulus 'California Sunrise'

·        Eschscholzia californica 'Alba'

·        Eriogonum nudum 'Ella Nelson's Yellow'

·        Geum quellyon 'Red Dragon'

·        Nepeta tuberosa

·        Heuchera maxima "Alum Root"

·        Helenium puberulum

·        Linaria purpurea 'Peachy'

·        Linaria purpurea 'Alba'

Annuals

·        Calendula officinalis ‘Strawberry Blonde’

·        Clarkia unguiculata ‘Woodland Clarkia’

·        Clarkia concinna "Pink Ribbons”

·        Coreopsis 'Cosmic Eye' "Tickseed”

·        Gilia tricolor “Bird's Eyes”

·        Gilia capitata "Blue Thimble Flower"

·        Gilia capitata 'White'

·        Gilia tricolor "Bird's Eyes"

·        Gilia tricolor 'Alba'

·        Lathyrus odoratus 'April in Paris'

·        Lathyrus odoratus 'Enchante'

·        Lathyrus odoratus 'Nimbus'

·        Layia glandulosa

·        Nicotiana alata 'Lime Green'

·        Nicotiana alata x sanderae 'Crimson Bedder'

·        Centaurea cyanus 'Black Gem'

·        Nasturtium 'Salmon Baby'

·        Nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll Dark Blue'

·        Orlaya grandiflora "Minoan Lace"

·        Agrostemma 'Ocean Pearls'