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Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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Posted by
proudgrma Zone 5 (
My Page) on
Mon, May 21, 12 at 10:33
| I like to use some annuals to "fill in" my perennial gardens and give them full summer color. My question: what annuals do you like to use that give dependable color, not too much work, and fit in with a perennial look? I'm mostly looking for plants which grow 15" or shorter. Any photographs which show this are much appreciated. Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| Vinca/Periwinkle Flower and Melampodium are my fav's. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| I'm liking your idea of Medallion flower. Little work, pretty color. Thanks. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| I like to do that too. I use impatiens in the shade garden, but grew a little tired of them and this year put in some small begonias. Have used vinca in the sun. It self-seeds here so I have new plants every year. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| Coleus work everywhere for everything :) |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| I don't think there is a "wrong" answer to the original question, since it's more a matter of taste/personal preference. As long as you select plants that match the cultural conditions you should be fine. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| Love coleus, but it gets pretty tall, at least for me. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| I like feathery airy annuals in between perennials. Cosmos 'Sensation' (a short cultivar of Cosmos bipinnatus) and the shorter cultivars of Cosmos sulfureus are very pretty in between perennials. I also use some herbs like Cilantro and fern leaf dill which have feathery foliage and pretty delicate flowers and don't grow too tall. Monarda citriodora is a gorgeous pink/lavender annual bee balm that works well between perennials. Salvia coccinea and Salvia 'Black & Blue' look good intermingled with matching perennials. For taller perennials, Verbena bonariensis works very well because it has long stalks and sparse foliage. Cleome looks pretty but the full sized version can get pretty big - I think there's a shorter cultivar now. I would dig up some pictures but I'm on the Macbook and the photos are on the desktop. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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I like to use 'blue horizon' ageratuum with white and blue/violet perennials. They also match well with the violas
I like. They are also nice with pale yellow and white. 'Uproar' zinnia looks nice with 'blue fortune' Agastache and white Casa Blanca lilies. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| Wow! Lots of good ideas. I love cosmos and may use seed, also picked up some bachelor buttons. Tall ageratum make a great cut flower, too. I will look up uproar zinnias.Thanks for all the help! |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| I use violas, begonias, gardenias, impatients, marigolds, and pansies. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| I wouldn't have thought about using herbs, like dill, to fill in - I love that idea! This is my second year using Profusion series Zinnias. I found some of the Apricot already started this year. They were blooming machines until very late in the fall last year. Another that I have found I can't live without is tall Angelonia. There is a very dark purple cultivar - it seems I never find it properly tagged, so I don't know the name and just have to luck up on it. Found it this year. V. bonariensis is perennial here. It has become one of my very favorite plants. So easy to work in just about anywhere! I also just learned this year that it is ridiculously easy to root. I took one stem and cut it into sections, put on a little rooting hormone, stuck them all in the ground, watered maybe 2 or 3 times, and they have all taken. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| In fall, I sow seeds for larkspur, poppies, cornflowers, nigella (self-sows now) to put color in the garden until my summer perennials kick in. I'm in zone 7b. Verbena bonariensis is perennial for me, too. I allow it and rose campion to self-sow and then as the "more important" perennials bloom, I pull out what I don't want, cut back to prevent seeding in some areas or leave to self-sow again where wanted. Dame's Rocket is not on our invasive list here, so I do the same with it, too. Cameron |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| The Profusion Zinnias are wonderful. I bought just a few of them this year, but the darn critters ate them all. Now I can't find them except at Steins, and too expensive for a tiny 3-pack. They really ARE blooming machines. Has anyone seen them at the discount chains? I want to replace them. |
RE: Filling in a perennial garden with annuals
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| There is a shorter Verbena bonariensis though I love the tall one. Buenos Aires and Lollipop are shorter. |
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