I started transplanting annual flowers (petunias) this morning. Well, I started and finished because we only need 200 plants this year for around the top of the stone wall and here and there in the garden for a bit of season-long bloom.
Note: annuals are a perfect plant for carrying gardens through dull spots in perennial bloom times.
Doug Green
This year, I decided not to add too many new perennials to the gardens. I want to focus on finishing the hardscape – the fences, irrigation and other backbone “stuff” a good garden needs. And then I’ll return to seriously collecting perennials for both the gardens and the surrounding rock walls.
I am also adding several Rudbeckia and Echinacea species (they’re germinated and awaiting transplanting as I write) in large clumps in the garden. Yeah, I couldn’t resist big, bright daisies.
Note that having large clumps of one species or variety is an excellent way to create a marvellous show. A single flower – perennial or annual – in the garden looks lost – a clump looks much better.
The one tip I’ll pass along to beginners or intermediate gardeners is to never, ever handle a seedling by the stem.
When you are transplanting annual flower seedlings, handle them by the leaves.
- If you handle them by the stem, you may bruise the stem and these may not heal quickly (or at all)
- If you handle them by a leaf and you hurt it – oh well, the plant will quickly produce more
- But however you handle them, do it as gently as you know how.
For more information on flowers here on this site, click here
And if you really need to know how to start and grow your own plants, click here for my ebook, “Free Plants” on plant propagation for home gardeners