Amy Brothers — Cold-tolerant annuals can be planted now to give your garden a boost of flowers and color that will last late into the fall. These “companion plantings” are an excellent addition because little else in the garden is blooming.
Annual flowers allow gardeners the means to experiment with relatively inexpensive plants on a seasonal basis. If a new design is desired, gardeners simply can plan the changes for the next growing season. These annuals are unsurpassed for adding flowering color to beds or borders, in pots or containers on the patio or deck. They also may be used for cut flowers, in rock gardens, window boxes, hanging baskets, screens or as temporary fillers and ground covers.
Annual versus perennial
The term annual refers to plants that are grown for only one season. You usually plant seeds in spring or summer, or purchase plants started in a greenhouse. A true annual completes its life cycle in one growing season and then dies. Because their primary concern is to complete the reproduction process, annuals bloom for an extended period of time trying to produce as much seed as possible before dying. This extended bloom time makes them an excellent addition to your landscape. With the right planting schedule, annuals can provide nearly year-round color.
Annuals differ from perennials, however, because perennials complete the reproduction cycle year after year so they are more likely to bloom for only a short period of time. Perennials grow back from the roots or stems each year. Perennials vary in winter hardiness because many have minimum temperatures that they can survive.
Perennials in the Southern United States may not be hardy enough to survive the winter in a Northern state. Some of the ornamentals we plant in Oklahoma are used like annuals but they actually are perennials not adapted to survive our harsh winters. Other perennials may display low or erratic winter survival rates such as dianthus, dusty miller and mealy cup sage. Thus, they are generally not dependable as perennials in Oklahoma’s conditions.
This is why some of your “annuals” you planted last summer may emerge the next spring healthy and full of life after a mild winter. Or sometimes seeds produced by annuals will sprout and grow the following year.
Annuals also have different levels of heat and cold tolerance. Some of the cold-tolerant plants that are outstanding for fall planting include:
n Ornamental Cabbage.
n Dusty Miller.
n Ornamental Kale.
n Pansy.
n Snapdragon.
Annuals typically are used in flower beds or as borders to enhance a perennial garden. In smaller beds, annuals may constitute the entire planting, whereas in borders they add continuous color at or near the front of the bed, which may contain perennials, ornamental grasses or even woody ornamentals. Annuals fill bare spaces and add color to dull areas. For example, when spring-flowering bulbs cannot be removed, annuals can be inter-planted for cover after the bulbs.
So, if you are not quite ready to give up your garden for the year, fall annual plants are an excellent way to hang on to your summer passion a little longer. Be sure to analyze light levels in areas to be planted so you can purchase plants adapted to either sun or shade. Removing spent flowers — known as deadheading — helps the floral display to appear more attractive and can stimulate a greater number of blooms.
(Amy Brothers is a horticulture educator for the Oklahoma County OSU Extension Service.)
Features
Planning now can keep your landscape colorful all fall
- Features
-
-
High self-esteem, reward system can backfire
The media recently reported “new” research findings to the effect that rewards often backfire and self-esteem is not the wonderful, uplifting personal attribute once thought. As a result, schools are rethinking their teaching and classroom management philosophies.
-
When rooms talk, it’s time to remodel
I think I might need a keeper. Every room in this house is screaming at me (some more loudly than others), and the cacophony is driving me nuts. You know how it goes. You spruce up one room (in my case the kitchen), and every other room in the house clambers for its share of TLC too.
-
Seminar focuses on pet allergies
Paul DeMars, DVM, Community Practice at Oklahoma State University’s Boren Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, will present a Pet Care Seminar at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the McElroy Hall Auditorium at the corner of Farm Road and McFarland on the Stillwater OSU campus.
-
Canadian Carnaval is cool carousing
Yes, I have the coolest job in the world — and I visit some really cool places. But the spot that takes the Popsicle is Québec with the Carnaval de Québec and the Hôtel de Glace.
-
Wobblers syndrome is chronic, progressive
Q: I have an 8-year-old dog that is three-quarters Doberman Pinscher. He always has been quite active and healthy until about a month ago when he began showing slight signs of weakness and stiffness in his hind legs, but didn’t exhibit pain. He’s worse now.
-
Today’s children are being mis-educated about their feelings
Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of England, once said, “One of the great problems of our age is that we’re governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas.”
-
Purging of high heels brings despair
If you recall, last week I promised that you had heard the last of my New Year’s purging of closets and cabinets.
-
Why does my dog eat his own poop?
Q: My dog Max has suddenly started eating his own poop, and I find it totally disgusting.
-
Good Eats
PORK CHOPS WITH ORANGES AND PARSLEY
-
This is the season for citrus
I was born and raised in South Florida and often tell people that I have orange juice running through my veins.
- More Features Headlines
-
High self-esteem, reward system can backfire
