There are certain times of year that benefit from the planting of short-season annuals; short-season annuals have a shorter life than other annuals and a fairly-narrow temperature tolerance during their peak. These annuals aren’t intended to thrive in extreme conditions or weather, but rather to serve other colorful purposes in your landscape.
Maintain a beautiful look and fill your garden with short-season annuals:
Create Diversity
Short-season annuals allow you to create diverse displays and utilize flora and foliage that is not typically seen in gardens and landscapes widely. Buying these types of flowers gives you a much wider selection to choose from.
Change Things Up
Short-season annuals allow you much more versatility and the ability to continuously change things up in your landscaping and curb appeal. This may be particularly prudent for businesses or commercial properties.
Fill Gaps
These short-season annuals can fill in gaps or camouflage problem spots in your garden, bed, or landscape. They serve as a great ‘place-holder’ to cover up empty spaces while you wait for other plants and seedlings to mature and spread.
Choose Annuals
You can see why consumers want to buy annuals for their outdoor spaces, even though some seem to have a very short life span. Some of the options that you have in this region include:
- African daisies bloom before rainy days of mid-summer and the chillier weather of fall. These bring a pretty white, apricot, and yellow pop to your springtime gardens.
- Calendula does better in cooler temperatures during autumn and fall. This yellow flower is related to the aster family and is often dried for potpourri, décor, and handmade beauty products.
- Geraniums are hardy enough to tolerate the heat of summer, though they are finicky about when they bloom. Cover them up and protect them during the winter and they can survive for the following year.
- Marigolds bring an autumnal touch of color to your garden and they are exceptional easy to grow. Plant these short flowers in late summer, early fall for colorful blossoms until the first frost.
- Petunias are another welcome sight to your gardens, and when you plant in September, you can see colorful blooms until late fall.
- Sweet alyssum does well in this region and the flowers are actually little clusters of white, pink, and purple flowers. These stay short in stature and can be used as a border or accent flower for your spring or fall displays.
Remember that short-season annuals that have a limited growing season, usually confined to just spring or fall, and sometimes both seasons in moderate climates, like the Carolinas.
Consistency is Key
When your aim is continuous bloom and year-round color, consistency is key. It may be most prudent to hire a landscaper for year-round maintenance, planting, and design of your outdoor spaces, particularly if you have a large property, business, or commercial site.
If you believe short-season annuals could solve your landscape conundrum, contact the professionals at Terra Bella Garden Center, a local garden & landscape design center here in Charleston. They will identify which flowers, foliage, and features are best for your distinct greenspaces, and enhance your property’s curb appeal in the process.
