It’s a while since I did a Top 10 list so I thought this
week is as good as any to put one together.
I’m having a look at the joys of growing annual plants this week, which
seems really late in the season to be doing it. That being said, I have only
just put my annual bedding out into containers…In June! Who’d have thought it,
garden centres are still selling multipacks.
Top 10 Annual Bedding
It is actually impossible to do a top 10 on plants as it’s
all down to personal taste, colour preferences, location soil, time you are
prepared to look after them and a host of other factors that need to be taken
into consideration. For this reason I’ll
stress that it’s my list so feel free
to disagree. I enjoy a heated debate.
I have bought quite a few packs of annuals this year and
only grown a handful from seed. I find that the specialist growers do a far
better job than myself and buying them in packs gives me an opportunity to buy
less of one type and more variety. I
have quite a few old rusty containers to fill and I do like a bit of variation.
1. Begonia
One of the most versatile summer bedding plants, Begonias
are well loved for their large flamboyant blooms in a wide range of colours,
and their ability to thrive in both sun and shade. Flowering continuously throughout
summer up to the first frosts, Begonia bedding plants can be upright or
trailing and are suitable for beds, borders, hanging baskets and window boxes.
I have a few corms so I didn’t have to buy annuals this year.
2. Sweet peas
Sweet peas make fantastic cottage garden bedding plants. Let
them scramble up obelisks, wigwams or netting where they will reach heights of
1.8m (6') or alternatively try dwarf sweet peas for groundcover at the front of
beds and borders. I have bought some delightful fragrant types for the beds and
in this case I grew them from seed as I get more for my money this way.
3. Busy Lizzie
Incredibly valuable for shadier beds and borders, Impatiens
summer bedding plants produce large flowers in a range of fruity colours, from
pinks to reds through purples and white. New Guinea Impatiens have replaced the
previously popular Impatiens walleriana due to Busy Lizzie downy mildew, but
share the same desirable characteristics – a long flowering period, bushy
mounding habit and a preference for partial shade. Forming big spreading
plants, Busy Lizzies are superb for ground cover in beds and borders or will
quickly fill patio containers with colour up to the first frosts.
4. Geranium
A common bedding plant and one I have quite a lot of. These
sturdy, sun-loving plants are well suited to hot, dry conditions and flower all
summer through to the first frosts. Pelargoniums, commonly known as Geraniums,
are versatile bedding plants for summer and include trailing, climbing and
upright varieties which are perfect for beds, borders, patio containers,
hanging baskets and obelisks. I find they are really useful in baskets as they
tolerate dryness.
5. Antirrhinum
Much loved for their architectural flower spikes and
incredibly long flowering period, Antirrhinums have fascinating mouth-like
flowers which open when squeezed, making them a particular favourite with
children. If you’re looking for bedding plants that attract bees, Antirrhinums
are a good nectar source, being most popular with bumble bees. I tend to put
these in containers as they are tall and structural.
6. Lobelia
My sister in laws favourite. The dainty flowers of lobelia
create wonderful dense waterfalls of colour in hanging baskets and containers,
or grow the upright varieties for edging beds and borders. Easy to grow and
long-flowering, they complement any summer bedding scheme and look particularly
pretty mingling with bedding plants in hanging baskets.
7. Petunia
Petunias are popular for their large trumpet flowers in a
fantastic array of bright colours and patterns, including stripes and picotees.
These vigorous half-hardy annuals can be trailing or upright, and look
spectacular spilling from hanging baskets, window boxes and containers, or
massed in beds and borders. They are my guilty pleasure!
8. Rudbeckia
Annual rudbeckias, also known as coneflowers, make robust
and cheerful garden bedding plants. Particularly useful as late summer bedding
plants, rudbeckias flower from July through to October .Not only do they look
fabulous in the garden, rudbeckias also make excellent, long-lasting cut
flowers for a vase indoors.
9. Fuchsia
The fuchsia flower is a beautiful, exotic flower with
striking two-tone colours and a favourite for my fire buckets. The fuchsia
flower is quite unusual with regard to its shape and the fact that they are
really delicate. These beautiful flowers are great just about anywhere in your
garden. However, you will find fuchsia growing best in hanging baskets on the
patio.
10. Verbena
I’ve sort of saved the best until last. If you’re searching
for long lasting blooms that perform during the hottest days of summer heat,
consider verbenas. The annual or perennial types both ensure summer flowers
when planted in the sunniest and possibly driest area of the garden. I have them
in nearly all of the pots and their tolerance to drought and mildew make them
perfect ‘Plant and forget’ plants.
