Topic: Annuals - good, bad and indifferent

[Georgie]

I grow very few annuals (or plants treated as annuals) these days but two that have impressed me this year are Thunbergia and Heliotrope which I'm growing for the first time.  On the other hand my Ipomoea Alba (Moon Flower) and Swan River Daisies have been very slow and I'm about to give up on my Calendula because it looks so pathetic.   

So what has worked and not worked for you?

G x

[saddad]

I have grown Thunbergia for the first time and very pleased with it. Calendula are a doddle by comparison (well here at least) is it to hot for them?  :-\

[sunloving]

Hi
Well as always the sweetpeas are fabulous, i think its the fact that they are so hardy means that you rarely fail to get a good show. Nicotianas are looking fabulous to

Wash outs for me have been my daturas and the black eyed susans and the hollyhocks died a slow death with rust!

oh well theres always next year!
x sunloving

[Georgie]

I have grown Thunbergia for the first time and very pleased with it. Calendula are a doddle by comparison (well here at least) is it to hot for them?  :-\

No I don't think so, it hasn't really been that hot except for just a couple of days.  I can only put it down to dodgy seed.

Oh well, Sunloving, at least your scented annuals are doing well.   :)

G x

[valmarg]

My favourite is busy lizzies.  I will admit to cheating, insofar as I buy plug seedlings from seed catalogues (usually Dobies or D T Brown).

They make wonderful hanging baskets (a ball of colour),  and in the garden they make a rich splash of colour.

I also like antirrhinums.  Madame Butterfly is one of my favourites.  Quite tall, but beautiful double flowers.

valmarg

[hopalong]

Nicotinias and petunias are great. Morning Glory is supposed to be annual, I think, but keeps coming back in the same place each year, by a south facing wall.

[Amazin]

Good - Laurentia doing well. I grew some from seed and  then bought some plugs from T&M - mine are doing better than theirs so far. Sweet peas also going great and mini sweeps too. Sunflowers starting to rocket.
Bad? - Well, for me it's not so much which plants did badly as which got eaten before they could do anything at all!
Indifferent - Moon Vine.
 
Hopalong, your Morning Glory is probably self seeding - they're notorious for that.

[flowerofshona2007]

Anthiriums are brilliant, sweetpeas smell fantastic , 10 week stocks not doing bad.
Waste of time where nolana !
I never grow lobellia so where the few plants have come from is a mystery but they are doing well :)

[Fraxinus]

I have been having a fantastic season for my sweet peas; lots of rain!! I sow them at the end of January indoors and plant them out in April. My calendulas are the best ever this year too; I bought new seed in the Spring so that may be the key.
My nasturtiums aren't great; have had to net them from our wascally wabbits which is not ideal!!
I tried a packet of Suttons Fragrance Mix which had a nice variety of interesting seedlings; the rabbits got some of them  :( but the rest are coming on a treat! Best sunflowers this year too (Suffolk Herbs F1 Sunbright); new seed is a must (and protection from whatever eats them when newly planted out).
I found cosmos a really successful annual in previous years, a pity I ran out of seed this year!!

[grawrc]

i just wish the wabbits would go for my flowers and leave my brassica alone!!!!! :'( :'( ;D

[Fraxinus]

Hi Grawc,
The rabbits were so desperate for my brassicas they gnawed two different holes through my plastic netting!! Poundstretcher's chicken wire (£3.99 for 10 m) is the only way forward! Having said that I heard today from another plotholder that the rabbits burrowed under her wire netting!

The good news is that they don't eat calendulas!  ;D

[Georgie]

Hi Grawc,
The good news is that [the rabbits] don't eat calendulas!  ;D

Pity, they'd be welcome to mine.   ;)  ;D

G x

[GrannieAnnie]

The sweet peas were a treat this year, my first time growing them and loved the aroma.
The big pink zinnias are doing fine and we counted 13 Tiger Swallowtails on them this afternoon.
Small, pale zinnias (Persian Carpet)  aren't worth the trouble.
Tithonia hasn't flowered yet! Nor has Moon flower or some of the morning glories.
Strangely, half of the Purity White Cosmos have grown about 5+ feet tall and only have one or two flowers. They are extremely bushy taking up lots of room also so they've earned a one-way ticket to the compost pile. Now what to plant in the gaping holes?

[Amazin]

Now what to plant in the gaping holes?

Japanese Anemones?

[Pesky Wabbit]

Nasturtiums  Mmmm
Calendulas   Yuk - far too stringy.

I prefer carots to brassicas. So next year ....

[Georgie]

Lots of votes for Sweet Peas I see.  I do love them but they always seem to get powdery mildew here.  Each time I grow them I say 'never again' but I can't hold out for very long!   ;)

G x

[GrannieAnnie]

LOL! :D  WHat didn't work for me?!  My carefully tended and trained - up- a - trellis "morning glory" finally flowered-
and turned out to be bindweed! 8)  They don't call me the dullest tool in the shed for nothin'. ;D

[Deb P]

What has worked really well is bunging some Nasturtium seeds underneath the brassica beds. I got the idea from someones gallery pics (sorry, can't remember who and the gallery section is still not working for me to have a look!) Not only does it look very attractive, it helps suppress weeds underneath the stalks. I'll try and take a photo today if I remember!

[grawrc]

Yes I have nasturtiums along my boundary fence with my neighbour - any weeds that emerge get pulled out and the rest are neatly concealed until the autumn! ;)

[thifasmom]

LOL! :D  WHat didn't work for me?!  My carefully tended and trained - up- a - trellis "morning glory" finally flowered-
and turned out to be bindweed! 8)  They don't call me the dullest tool in the shed for nothin'. ;D

Hi everyone,
GrannieAnnie if i'm not mistaken i think morning glory and bindweed are of the same family so don't sweat yourself you mean't to grow its cousin right! ;)