From early spring to the first frosts, unpretentious flowers of the same year delight us with their beauty. Their main advantage for gardeners is the ability to create new compositions every season, transforming the garden or the territory of a country house in accordance with their mood and taste.
Having picked up annuals with different flowering periods, you can arrange a flower bed or lawn that will delight with a riot of colors all season. For summer cottages, one-year-old flowers are most often grown in seedlings, forming unusual and bright group plantings.
Classification of annual flowers
When creating a flower garden, it is important to choose and plant plants correctly. To facilitate this process, we will introduce you to popular annual garden flowers. Names, photos, their flowering time - all this will be in our review.
Dwarf plants (up to 25 cm high):
- petunia (June - September);
- lobelia (June - October);
- marigolds (July - September);
- scented tobacco (June - September);
- ageratum(June - September);
- gazania (July - September).
Short species (up to 35 cm):
- nasturtium (July - September);
- verbena (July - September);
- zinnia (June - September);
- calendula (June - September);
- aster (July - October);
- escholcia (June - September).
Medium variety:
- mattiola (July - September);
- snapdragon (June - September).
Tall plants (80 cm and above):
- delphinium (June - August);
- dahlias (July - October);
- stock-rose (July - September).
Climbing plants:
- Ipomoea (June - October);
- bindweed (July - September).
Some of the listed types of annuals differ in height, depending on the variety (for example, aster is short, medium and tall).
Organization of flower beds
Now it is already difficult to surprise someone with a traditional flower bed, on which flowers of the same age grow. Today, flower beds that are diverse in structure, method of cultivation and shape, which without exaggeration can be called a work of art, are gaining popularity. Owners of household plots and summer cottages sometimes create real masterpieces from these plants.
Amateur floriculture does not require complex special training, physical costs, on the contrary, it inspires and soothes. Equally important is the fact that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get started. At the initial stage, youall you need is a plot of land, seeds and, of course, the desire to grow beautiful annual flowers. But this is only the beginning of an interesting journey. Such a hobby as floriculture captures, and soon the flower beds become insufficient, and experienced flower growers invent a wide variety of types of flower beds.
Flowerbed
And we will start a short review with a traditional flower bed, which is considered the usual and one of the most common types of flower garden design. This is a small piece of land, which is given the correct shape, and is limited around the perimeter by a low curb or fence. Unpretentious annual flowers feel great on such an island - they quickly adapt and show resistance to local climatic conditions.
However, the selection of varieties and planting have some features. The fact is that the flowers in the flower bed are planted in the form of a repeating pattern or pattern, taking into account the combination of the color palette (shades either contrast or harmonize). The effectiveness of such a planting is achieved not thanks to individual flowers, but due to group compositions.
Rabatka
This is a regular rectangular area up to one and a half meters wide and several times longer than the width. Usually such flower beds are created parallel to the garden paths. Unpretentious and beautiful same-year-old flowers of the same height are planted on them. In addition, rabatka can be planted with plants of the same variety.
If you want to plant plants of different heights, then plant higher ones along the central axis of the plot. Given the ease of arrangementsuch a flower garden and the lack of financial costs, summer residents prefer this type.
Mixborder
A new and more modern type of flower garden design, which came to us from England. It is an elongated area. A feature of the mixborder is the ability to combine different annual flowers, herbaceous and woody plants in a limited area. They are arranged in loose groups.
Experienced flower growers consider the top of the skill of plant selection to be the periodic replacement of the center of the composition after the end of flowering of some and the flowering of other specimens. As a rule, mixborders are arranged between the path of the site and the fence. Curly annual flowers and taller specimens are planted closer to the fence.
Flower containers
This type of design is not yet as common as landscape designers would like. The creation of original compositions from one-year-old flowers, photos of which can be seen in floriculture magazines, is considered a promising method for designing plots. It allows you to create magnificent flower arrangements that perfectly complement each other, combine them by flowering period, inflorescence texture and height.
But it is especially important that the containers can be periodically moved, thereby changing the composition - this is a kind of mobile flower garden. To create original contrasts, we recommend combining annual flowers with ornamental foliage plants. The decisive role in this case is played by the color of the composition.
Now let's introduce you to popular annuals that are very easy to grow on the site, even without experience in floriculture.
Scented Tobacco
This plant, which came to us from America, is an indisputable decoration of summer flower beds. These annual flowers are widely used due to their various colors and spicy persistent aroma. Fragrant tobacco is thermophilic. Seedlings of one-year-old flowers of this species are planted in the ground in May, when night frosts are already completely excluded.
Depending on the variety, the plant can reach a height of thirty to eighty centimeters. The main advantage of these flowers can be fully appreciated late in the evening, when flowering buds open and the air is filled with amazing aroma.
Bindweed
Very popular plant, which is a climbing vine up to four meters long. Ornamental plant lovers most often use two varieties: tricolor bindweed or Mauritanian bindweed. Both forms are semi-shrubs with creeping shoots, the length of which does not exceed fifty centimeters.
The color of the flowers is varied, but blue and purple shades are more common. The plant looks impressive in discounts, mixborders or hanging planters.
Ipomoea
One-year-old flowers, photos of which you can see below, belong to the bindweed family. This is a heat-loving vine that grows up to 2.5 meters. Great appearance to the plant givefunnel-shaped large inflorescences, painted in blue-violet tones. They look great against the green foliage.
Plant this plant with seeds in the ground or seedlings in the northern regions. Ipomoea prefers brightly lit areas protected from drafts. It is necessary to consider supports for weaving.
Petunia
Well, these same-year-old flowers, in our opinion, do not need special advertising. Petunia is undoubtedly one of the most commonly used plants to decorate not only gardens, but also flowerbeds in city squares and parks. Flowers differ in a variety of colors, they can be simple and terry. The plant is characterized by unpretentiousness and long abundant flowering almost to frost.
Seedlings are planted in a permanent place. Looks great in containers, mixborders and hanging planters. The disadvantage of many ornamental species, including petunias, is the loss of parental qualities in the collected and sown seeds.
Zinia
Often, summer residents and gardeners call these same-year-old flowers majors. The most common are two varieties: pompon (Lilliputian) and dahlia. This beautiful annual is quite compact, but some varieties have tall branches. The inflorescences are a magnificent basket with a diameter of up to fifteen centimeters of various colors.
Blossoming ends with the first autumn frosts. It is valued by flower growers for its unpretentious care and attractive appearance. It is preferable to plant these plantsseedlings, although seeds can also be used in the southern regions.
Ageratum
Semi-shrub herbaceous plant with pale blue or white flowers. It should be planted in well-lit areas in nutrient soil. The plant is thermophilic, so it is not recommended to sow seeds directly into the ground: it is more expedient to grow by seedling method.
After planting, the plant does not require special care. Ageratum is used for planting in containers or mixborders.
Tagetes
Gorgeous single-year-old flowers: unpretentious, without seedlings grown marigolds belong to the Compositae family. Bushes are medium-sized, their height depends on climatic conditions and varieties. The foliage is dark green, the flowers can be of various shades - from yellow to brown.
Sown seeds in the ground after the completion of spring night frosts and sharp drops in temperature. The first shoots appear after ten days. In early July, the plant actively blooms. It easily tolerates transplanting, so you can plant seedlings that are too thick.
Verbena
Probably you are interested in what kind of same-year flowers professional flower growers prefer? One of them is verbena, which, due to its amazing decorative qualities, is an exquisite addition to flower arrangements. Inflorescences come in various shapes: paniculate, carpal, corymbose with small flowers of different shades.
In addition to open ground, you can grow this plant in containers and hangingpots. It tolerates short-term cooling and drought without problems, but loves sunlight very much.
Nasturtium
These flowers come from America. They prefer good lighting and warmth. The height of the dense fleshy stem reaches fifty centimeters. The flowers are round and regular in shape and have a pleasant delicate aroma. This plant should be planted in seedlings. It is sensitive to spring cold snaps and is quite difficult to transplant. It is better not to fertilize the soil, otherwise there will be more greenery than flowers.
Calendula
This is a bushy compact plant of medium height, with inflorescences that are round baskets of orange, red and yellow. Seeds are sown directly into the ground, seedlings appear in a week. Calendula is unpretentious, grows both in open areas and in partial shade. In addition to decorative qualities, it is valued for its medicinal properties, which are successfully used in medicine in the form of various preparations.
Snapdragon
Subshrub of medium height. It depends on the selected variety. Spike inflorescences are located on long stems. Flowers can be yellow and white, pale fawn and pink, numerous shades of red. For more active branching, it is necessary to pinch the tops of the stems during the growth stage.
Gazania
Short plant with deep green basal leaves. Inflorescences are single baskets up to ten centimeters in diameter, consisting of reedflowers. The flowers are red and orange, yellow, with dark spots at the base. It is used to create decorative compositions. Gazania is a heat-loving plant that is planted in open flower beds.
Lobelia
Very delicate one-year-old flowers (we posted a photo in this article) belong to the bellflower family. Hanging or creeping stems no more than fifteen centimeters high. The flowers are small, purple, white, red, but more often blue-blue.
The plant does not tolerate drafts and shaded areas, prefers loose and sandy soil with a high level of moisture, not very saturated with fertilizers. Grown by seedling method in boxes or containers. In open ground should be planted in early June.
Features of growing annuals
Although these plants are undemanding to care for, each of them has its own characteristics that should be considered. For example, the order of planting - some species can be sown with seeds in a permanent place, others need to grow seedlings. In this case, seedlings can be grown from seeds on their own or bought in specialized stores.
If you want to grow annuals from seeds, you need to understand that the success of growing depends on their quality (decorative, germination). A feature of annual flowers is the exactingness of the quality of the soil and sunlight. In this regard, the flower garden must be created in well-lit areas withlee side.
Prepare a light soil - a mixture of black soil with peat and sand. It is usually prepared in late autumn, when the flowering period ends. Fertilizers are applied in the spring during digging, or it can be done right before planting.
Caring for a flower garden is usually not a problem even for people who are inexperienced in floriculture. Watering is carried out in accordance with climatic conditions. In dry and hot summers, watering is carried out in the morning (before sunrise) or in the evening. After heavy rainfall, the soil must be loosened so that a crust does not form.
We must not forget that flowers, like other cultivated plantings, are susceptible to various diseases and pests, so experts recommend periodically spraying the plant with special preparations for preventive purposes.
