Cheap thrills!
Hardy annuals put on a brilliant display of colour all summer – for just a few pounds
HARDY annuals are a remarkable group of plants that offer gardeners the opportunity to create eye-catching displays for next to nothing. It might sound too good to be true, but for the price of just a few packets of seeds you have everything you need for an entire summer’s worth of colour.
The likes of glamorous Californian poppies ( eschscholzia) and pot marigolds ( calendula) with their cheerful, sunny blooms are ideal for sowing now to add interest next year. Most varieties will provide a long-lasting display, often from the start of summer until the first frosts of autumn.
Apart from being a cost-effective way to fill entire beds or borders from scratch, seeds can also be used to plug gaps around plants or scattered into cracks within paving. If you fancy a constant supply of fresh flowers to display indoors, some varieties are perfect for a dedicated cutting patch. As their name suggests, hardy annuals are plants that like to live fast and die young – they germinate, flower, set seed and die within a year of sowing. The horticultural term ‘hardy’ indicates that their seeds and even top growth are tolerant of chilly conditions over winter.
Don’t confuse them with summerflowering bedding plants like lobelias, busy lizzies and petunias. These are known technically as half-hardy annuals, plants that are fine outdoors during the clement months of the year but will give up the ghost if temperatures fall below freezing.
There’s a massive range of hardy annuals available. Garden centres carry a select number of lines at this time of year, while mail-order seed companies offer a bewildering selection. Look out for separate sections dedicated to relevant species in catalogues or for the acronym HA marked on seed packets.
Cerinthe, coreopsis, cornflower, gypsophila, poached egg plant and quaking grass are commonly found. Apart from straight varieties, seed companies offer mixes that perform a specific purpose, such as attracting bees or that boast blooms suitable for cutting.
One of my favourite hardy annu
als is love-in-a-mist (nigella), whose white, blue or purple flowers are carried above a mass of feathery foliage. The blooms are followed by large, inflated seed heads that are ideal for cutting, drying and displaying indoors, or will continue to add interest outdoors into winter.
Probably the best loved of all hardy annuals are poppies. Among them are single-flowered, soft-coloured Shirley poppies and the many varieties related to our scarlet, common field poppy. Opium poppies are one of the showiest types around, offering single and double blooms in a multitude of shades.
Hardy annuals prefer a sunny or partially shaded spot and aren’t particularly fussy about the soil type, as long as it’s free-draining. Ensure seeds germinate evenly by forking over the ground and raking to leave a fine finish. Aim to do this a week or so before sowing, giving the soil time to settle.
A great way of transforming a large patch of soil is to mark out a paisley-style pattern on the surface with sand. Sprinkle seeds thinly into each section and rake lightly to cover. Sow a different flower in each, using smaller varieties at the edges and larger plants in the middle or towards the back.
It’s easier to pick flowers in cutting patches if they are grown in straight lines. Make a shallow, ½ in-deep channel with the corner of a rake using a builders’ string line as a guide. Trickle seeds thinly along the base, cover with soil and water gently with a can fitted with a sprinkler head.
Once seeds germinate, seedlings will need thinning out so they are not overcrowded. Start by hoicking out a few seedlings when they are about ½ in tall, leaving 1in between plants. Repeat this process several weeks later, this time leaving 6in between the remaining plants.
Water plants well during dry spells and provide support for taller varieties in the spring – for a natural look, push some twiggy sticks i nto the ground around plants. Hardy annuals are potent self- seeders, so either remove plants at the end of the season or allow them to shed their seeds for a repeat performance.