How to plant annual plants and decorate them with a garden

The life expectancy of annual flowers is small - by the autumn of their colors there is no trace. But in such a short time they manage to become the most vivid and unique decoration of the garden. How to grow annual plants and how to make your garden truly colorful?

Conditions for planting

In annual botany, plants are called that bloom in the same year when they were sown. But in the conditions of gardening in our climate, annuals can become plants that simply can not survive the harsh winter, although in warmer conditions they can live more than one year. Therefore, they are grown as annual plants - they are sown every year. These colors include petunia, snapdragon, verbena, tobacco, heliotrope, lobelia, cineraria.

As a rule, annuals reproduce by seeds. Many of them have a relatively long growing season, so they are advised to sow early. Such crops and bloom earlier, and the seedlings they have obtained more powerful. Thus, carnation, begonia and lobelia can be sown for seedlings already in January. Asters and verbena can grow in March. The end of April is a good time for portolac, zinnia, castor-bean, and cosme. Nasturtium and Ipomoe are recommended first to germinate, and then sow in flower pots with nutrient soil. Plant these garden flowers-annuals in the open ground only in mid-May - after the threat of spring frosts passes. In mid-May, you can also plant poppies, eshsoltsiyu, calendula and alissum.

In many annual plants, seeds are predisposed to attack by fungi. Therefore, before planting in the open ground, it is recommended to pickle them in a solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per liter of water). It takes five minutes to process.

To get earlier shoots, the seeds of lion's pharynx, poppy, levkoy, marigolds, resids and many other plants are recommended to soak in clean water until they "wake up" - this can be seen by the appearance of salivary foam. The soaking process can take from 6 to 24 hours. After that, the awakened seeds are dried a little and sown on the already prepared places. When sowing, the area with soaked seeds should be moistened so that the sprouts do not die. Very small annual plants (poppies, tobacco, lion's owl , etc.) are advised to sow, pre-mixed with sand - so that the crops are evenly distributed. Mix should be in the proportion of 1 to 10: 1 gram of seeds per 10 grams of sand.

Annuals as a garden decoration

One of the virtues of annual flowers is their universality. They can be planted both in groups and in single plantings. Low annuals can be an excellent backdrop for large, flowering plants - such as castor oil or decorative sunflower.

Annuals can be curb (carpet) and high. Both can be a good decoration. The main thing is to arrange them harmoniously: carpet plants - in the foreground, and high - in the back. Beautiful floral carpets can be obtained from grannies, the flowers of which are similar to the flowers of chamomile. They please with their colorful views from the middle of summer to autumn. In addition to grilling, there are other carpet flowers. Annual garden plants, such as Iberis, Begonia, always flowering, stunted marigolds - are also capable of forming beautiful floral carpets.

From annual plants you can make and excellent floral compositions. Very well combined plants of different shades of the same color or close among themselves. So, to a flower bed with the basic dark blue color it is possible to pick up plants lilac-pink or violet - such as a sage, a lavatera, a petunia, an ageratum and a celoma. To the red flowers (poppy, salvia, verbena), yellow and orange are perfect - such as radiant marigolds, eshollations, marigolds, snapdragons. Excellent look contrast compositions, in which the colors intensify each other: yellow and violet, orange and blue. Try to plant annual plants so that each of them can show itself, and then your garden will turn into a floral tale.