by Lisa Truesdale
annuals are a great way to add pops of color
IF YOU’RE LONGING for a garden area that is more French country romantic than desert chic, with rich, lush color lasting throughout the season, annuals are the answer. Despite the term, “annuals” don’t actually bloom annually. In the garden, annuals are plants that complete their entire lifecycle in a single growing season.
Compare that to perennials, which faithfully regrow year after year, and there’s no reason to ever consider adding annuals to your garden, right? Not so fast, says Lynn Payne, president of Payne’s Nurseries in Santa Fe.
“Annuals are equally as important to any garden or gardener as any other plants,” she says. “Annuals are the true workhorses of the garden, giving us so much pleasure for so little effort.” Here, Payne and two other local experts share their reasons why gardeners shouldn’t overlook annuals:
Annuals bloom longer. Unlike perennials, easy-to-grow annuals don’t need to expend precious energy establishing root systems to survive the winter. All their energy goes towards blooming—which they do prolifically, all season long. Annuals are ideal for saturating your yard with splashes of color, says Dave Mitnik, backlot manager at Rehm’s Nursery and Garden Center, especially in bare spots where your perennials haven’t filled in yet, or for experimenting with color combos before committing to perennials. “Annuals give your garden a muchneeded color boost, a focal point of interest,” he says. “One annual our customers flock to is portulaca. This succulent flower is extremely heat-resistant, making it a great candidate for those hard-to-grow sections of the yard, like places with full sun exposure.”
Annuals don’t care about hardiness zones. So, you’ll find a plethora of choices, although Albuquerque and Santa Fe gardeners do play favorites. “Some of the more popular annuals here are geraniums, petunias and marigolds,” says Payne, “although these hardly scratch the surface of all the different varieties and colors available.” Payne and Mitnik both like calibrachoa (million bells). “They come in many different colors, have petunia-like flowers, bloom like crazy and don’t need to be deadheaded,” Payne says.
Annuals do well in containers. You can plant them directly in the ground to fill in around perennials or plant them in pots and strategically place them in the garden, along walking paths, at the front door or anywhere you want a splash of color. To maximize the beauty of your annuals when planting in containers, Teresa Edens, a local master gardener, suggests combining “fillers, spillers and thrillers.” The thriller is a specimen plant, such as a gallon-size geranium. Fillers are intermediate plants in the middle of the container, like dahlias, marigolds or nemesia. “Spillers are low-growing, fluid plants that like to languish on the edge of your container, such as bacopa and alyssum,” she says. Give some thought to the flower colors you choose, advises Edens, and to the containers themselves. Choose a bloom palette you love and mix with patterned and solid-color planters. Edens loves Talavera pottery but also mixes in solid-colored ceramic pots and plain terra cotta. “Then, you’re not limited to any specific color palette.”
Annuals attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Payne explains that because of their bright colors and longer-lasting blooms, they’ll naturally attract more pollinators throughout the summer.
Edens shares one final reason for embracing annuals and container gardening:
“I love the instant gratification. Forget seeds. They take too long to be beautiful!”
resources
Paynes Nurseries
Rehm’s Nursery & Garden Center
