Many consider landscaping with flowers a rewarding and effective hobby. By planting annuals you can enjoy blooming annuals all summer long. Annuals are easier to maintain and care for than perennials. Planting annuals in flower gardens is also a great way to extend your flowers’ seasonal flowering, resulting in an abundance of blooms throughout the year.

Planting annuals has its benefits as well as pitfalls. Although they usually take less time to mature and bloom than perennials, they do not last as long. If you are planting them in your flower garden, be aware of when they are most likely to bloom. Planting them too early will result in them blooming late in the year.

Many people plant annuals to fill out their flowerbeds, provide color in their landscaping or create a focal point in their yard. However, if you are planting them to brighten your home and keep the grass under control, then you should plant annuals in groups of four or five. The following are tips to planting annuals successfully in flower gardens.

Consider planting annuals in the spring just before the first frosts. Planting annuals with hardy annuals, such as freesias and tulips, in the spring will increase your chances of getting many blooms throughout the year. For instance, planting annuals with two freesias in the spring will produce more blooms than planting annuals with one tender annual, such as crabgrass, in the same spot in the fall. Tender annuals that are planted in the fall will usually flower in the winter and fade away before the spring frosts.

Consider planting annuals in the late summer or early fall. Annuals blooming in the fall provide beautiful color on the landscape, but they do not like the heat or the sun so they do not do very well in those environments. Other hardy annuals include some perennials, such as lavender, which will bloom all summer long. Some perennial flowers that bloom all summer also come back year after year, so they can be planted in the same place each year. Perennial flowers that bloom all summer include the bells of Ireland. Planting perennials that come back year after year in the garden is one of the best ways to conserve space and resources for your garden and to ensure that perennial plants stay healthy.

Do not forget to plant annuals in containers. Containers are perfect for planting annuals in because the annuals are able to tolerate the conditions in the container, although many half-hardy annuals, such as lavender, will not. If you are planting annuals in a container, be sure to plant them carefully so that their roots do not break the fragile edges of the container. Half-hardy annuals, such as lavender, will do very well in the full sun.

Some perennials bloom all through the winter. Sunflowers and some woodland flowers bloom all through the winter. These plants include buckeye, holly, hollyhock, ingress, poinsettia, and some shrubs. Be careful, though, if you plant these shrubs or flowers in the winter. Covering them during the winter could cause the flowers to die.

When you have decided what flowers that bloom all summer, then you need to consider how much time you want to spend caring for your flowers. Most annuals are quite easy to take care of, but the perennials are more hardy and require more diligence. Perennial flowers that bloom all summer usually do not need much attention throughout the year. You just need to water them once a week in the summertime, then keep them shaded during the winter months. If they are in containers, you may want to put some sort of guard on them to keep out insects, but other than that, no special care is necessary.