Choosing And Growing Successful Plants

Annual Perennials

A perennial that can be treated like an annual sounds a contradiction in terms, but many tender perennials are treated as annuals.

More uncommon are hardy perennials that sill flower in the first year if sown early enough under glass. You can have the best of both worlds with these plants.

Hardy perennials that will flower in the first year if started early enough are usually grown in the herbaceous border, but some can also be used in annual beds.

Plants to try include the following, but note that the variety can be important: some varieties have been specially bred to flower quickly from seed. Those particularly useful for summer bedding schemes include achillea, coreopsis, lobelia, and osteospermum. The others are best used as gap fillers.

Achillea 'Summer Pastels'

Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise'

Delphinium 'Dwarf Magic Fountains

Mixture', 'Pacific Giants Mixed'

Eccremocarpus 'Tresco Hybrids'

Leucanthemum x superbum (formerly Chrysanthermum maximum) `Snow Lady'

Eriophyllum `Sunkiss'

Lobelia 'Cinnabar Rose', 'Compliment Mixed', Tan Scarlet', 'Orchid Rose'

Michaelmas daisy 'Composition Mixed' Osteospermum hyoseroides

Platycodon grandiflorum 'Blue Pygmy'

 Polemonium caeruleum 'Blue Pearl'

Salvia Farinacea

Unlike the popular red salvia, with blue flower spikes, this forms a useful contrast to other plants. Good in containers or in a mixed bedding scheme. Height: 30-45cm (1-11/2ft).

Varieties To Look For

'Victoria' has dark blue flowers. 'Strata' has blue flowers on greyish spikes.

Soil And Site

Well-drained soil, in sun or partial shade.

Propagation

Sow seed in warmth under glass between mid-winter and early spring.

Tagetes Erecta

African marigold, American marigold

The colors and flower size are bold and brassy: large double blooms in shades of orange and yellow (occasionally white). The foliage has a pungent smell, but only when handled or crushed. Older varieties were often tall, but there are dwarf varieties shorter than 30cm (1 ft) and compact enough for containers. Dead-head regularly to improve the appearance and prolong flowering.

Height: 30-90cm (1-3ft).

Varieties To Look For

The Inca series (available as separate colors or as a 42 Above: Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise is easy to flower, and can be treated as an annual. If deadheaded often, it will flower from early summer to the first frost, from a late winter sowing. That's performance for a perennial.