Royal Creations Blog

Hardy Annual Color for Mother’s Day

It has been a long, hard winter, and landscapes are greening up and coming to life this spring.  Now that we are getting past the chance of overnight frost, you can use hardy annual color to brighten your outside living space in time for Mother’s Day.  There are several annuals that can be planted now to bring some color to your landscape after a tough winter season.  Here are five of our favorites that tend to do well in our climate during the summer season.  

Begonias (Begonia x benaratensis)  

Begonias have pretty flowers May through September. It is treated as an annual here because it is sensitive to frost.  The BIG SERIES is new for 2021.  Begonia x benaratensis is a hybrid wax begonia.  It has a compact, mounding, bushy habit with dark green to bronze leaves.  The flowers are in shades of white, pink, and red.  There are also bicolor plants.  The BIG Series flowers earlier and tolerates heat better than other begonias.  It can be grown in the sun, partial sun, and dappled sunlight.  Begonias are poisonous to humans, cats, dogs, and horses, so be aware of where you place them if you are a pet owner.  Hanging baskets could be a safer spot.  

Salvia (Salvia officinalis)  

Salvia is in the mint family and has very fragrant leaves with spikes of densely packed flowers in blue, purple, pink, red, white, and yellow.  It attracts bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies.  Salvia is low maintenance and loves the sun.  They require well-drained soil, so work well in raised beds.  Sage is also a type of Salvia that grows into a nice bush about 4-5 feet tall.  The blue flowers smell good, too.  If you remove spent flower stalks it will cause the plant to bloom longer.  Sage is drought-resistant.  

Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri)   

Impatiens are originally from Tanzania and Mozambique.  They are planted as annuals here because they can’t tolerate the cold of our winters.  Impatiens are short plants.  Most of them top out around 18 inches.  Impatiens grow best with morning sun and afternoon shade.  They will tolerate full shade but won’t flower as well.  They will not tolerate full sun. Impatiens bloom May through September.  The leaves are dark green to bronze to variegated.  The flowers come in many colors:  white, pink, orange, red, violet, and purple.  Impatiens are easily available in cell packs from most nurseries.  

 
Sunpatiens  

Sunpatiens are impatiens that have been hybridized into a plant that will thrive in full sun to part shade.  It also tolerates hot and humid weather that would kill regular impatiens.  These plants want evenly moist, well-drained soil, so do well in containers and in raised beds.  They are very low maintenance.  Sunpatiens plants come in three size categories: compact, spreading, and vigorous.  The compact and the spreading both do well in containers.  The vigorous need to be planted in a flower bed as they spread out and grow fast and would outgrow a hanging basket quickly.  

Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas) 

Ornamental sweet potato vine is the same species as the sweet potato tuber.  The ornamental one has just been bred for its leaves, not its tuber.  This vine thrives in the full sun but will tolerate part shade.    These vines are grown for their leaves, which vary depending on the hybrid.  They range from almost black to chartreuse green or variegated.  Depending on the cultivar, sweet potato vines can be anywhere from 5-10 feet long so make sure you plant it somewhere that it doesn’t overrun the plants in its path. This plant can be toxic to dogs and cats, so beware.  

Growing Annuals In Containers  

You can plant any of these plants in containers, ranging from hanging baskets to large showy pots.  Most containers look best with several different kinds of plants in them.  Gardeners talk about plants as thrillers, fillers, or spillers.  You need all three in a mixed container.  Thrillers are the spotlight plant that pulls people’s eyes toward them.  Fillers are the background plants that fill out a container.  Spillers are plants with a trailing habit that flow over the edge of the container.  Usually, there is only one thriller and one or two spillers in the container, and fillers make up the rest of the plants.  

Plants in containers need to be watered more frequently.  They also heat up faster.  Be sure you fill your container with plants that have the same water and fertilizer needs, or some of them will die.  It is also a good idea to get a container large enough to hold a good amount of soil.  The more soil in the container the longer it will take to dry out.  We also recommend using packing peanuts or gravel in the bottom of the containers to improve drainage.  

Planting hardy annual cover is work.  If you don’t have the time or don’t know what to get and where to put it, Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can help.  We can plant the annual flowers for you.  We can also help you decide what to get and where it would be the most effective in your landscape.  We will even maintain the plants and pull them out when they are spent in the fall.  Contact Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping now to schedule your consultation and have your landscape brightened up this season.