Let's Talk Annuals...in October? — The Ottawa Garden Club

Your annuals should be at their best about now...well, until a killing frost, so look at them in September/October in you garden to see how you can improve the show for next year.

I have never planted many annuals in our garden, relying instead on the structure and bloom times of perennials to carry the show. But some annuals are real workhorses and I do use them liberally all up and down the border to bring continuity and flow to the space. Repetition of an annual is a good way to achieve that.

And remember, it is easy to plant annuals around fading bulb foliage to cover the yellowing leaves, and then when it comes time to plant bulbs, you can just put them in where the annuals have been.

Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

Number one favourite annual is Salvia farinacea, but more specifically Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'.

**The colour “Victoria Blue” goes with everything!**

We were taught in horticultural classes at Algonquin College to buy annuals without bloom, or just with one or two so you could be sure of the colour and also so you could pinch the tips out before planting and not sacrifice many flowers. With this Salvia, you really want to make sure the flats have been properly labelled as you will get every version of purple/blue as well as white Salvia, even when the tag in the flats promise, so convincingly promise, that they are all ‘Victoria Blue'! Some of the other colours are ok, but not only is the colour of Victoria Blue superior, but I also think the plant itself has a nicer structure than the others.

And this is a good annual to pinch the tip of when you plant it as it then branches out and makes a great little bush for the front of the border or just back from it. Plant it no closer than about one foot from the edge, however, so it does not fall into the grass.

This plant doesn't self-seed. By fall it is starting to become more woody because it is a sub-shrub in warmer climates. Think of lavender. Woody at the base, then newer , softer shoots coming from the top, but in Provence, the lavender is more of a shrub with better growth year-long. Here, it is definitely an annual.

Verbena bonariensis

Used extensively in Europe and Québec, it is only recently being appreciated more and more elsewhere. There are many different verbenas for gardens, including trailing types for containers which are often chosen for their long bloom time and rich jewel colours. But this one is very different.

This annual looks like a stick person...not substantial, but instead a lanky annual which tilts in the wind and attracts everything from Monarch butterflies to goldfinches and myriad pollinators looking for seed and nectar in late summer into October. It's fun to watch the goldfinches weigh the branches down as they feed and then tip them back up when they fly away. I had two monarch butterflies here on the verbena for weeks, and the hummingbirds can't resist them either! Hard to imagine that this is such a pollen magnet, as the flowers are minuscule, but a magnet it is!

This is a plant which can be massed in the garden or planted here and there for a purple, hazy film of colour across the entire border. They can be planted at the back, the middle, or even fairly close to the front of a bed, as long as they don’t fall too much into the grass. Everyone asks about this plant, but not many nurseries carry it yet. Call your favourite nursery in the fall and ask if they could bring them in for you come spring.

And, even better, this wonderful verbena is an enthusiastic self-seeder. It has masses of seed on it right now, seed which can be scattered in the fall, or collected and stored in paper bags, then sprinkled out in the spring, or, even more simply, just allowed to do its own thing by falling to the ground around its base.

A must-have annual!!

Teeny wee flowers! Often in nature, the smallest and plainest pack the biggest punch, either for fragrance or nectar production. Humans have bred in, or out, smell and size or shape. Simple is really special.

**Seeds from Verbena bonariensis. Gazillions of them!**

Cleome hassleriana - Spider Flower

I use some of these, but not many, and now I have grown Dahlias, the Cleome might cede their place so i can squeeze in a few more Dahlias..... Although......those spider flowers are pretty special! I'll decide next spring when we have a better idea of what will be available.

Cleome is a tall but airy plant which comes in white, pink and a deep pink/purple. The flowers are unusual as are the seed heads in late fall which seem to be attached . It is best planted in groups of 3 or 5 (or more) towards the back of the border, in full sun, and they like to have lots of water during the really hot weeks of the year, or their flowers wilt. There is a smaller version which one sees every now and again, but I have never seen a magnificent planting of them, somehow. I think they were made to be tall!

Another self-seeder, Cleome holds its seeds in horizontal seed pods which look like wonderful haricot verts on a stem, shooting out horizontally from the stem. When the perfectly round little seeds are ripe, the pod bursts open to scatter those seeds far and wide. They take some time to germinate, but provide a lovely surprise when they do begin to bloom.

**That’s why they call it Spider Flower…all those eggs! Note the tiny black seeds.**

Dahlias

I rediscovered Dahlias this spring at Roam Flora, which promises over 80 varieties come early December(roamflora.ca). I used to grow them about 30 years ago, but after several years of hungry earwigs eating their way through the plants, I Found them too discouraging. But this summer I was seduced by the gorgeous dinner plate flowers I saw on roamflora's web site, and they certainly put on a good show this past couple of months! Huge blooms, fabulous colours, fantastic structure in each flower . Early on they were a bit eaten by earwigs and Japanese beetles, but nothing on them since then.

Now, dahlias are not exactly annuals...they produce tubers underground during the growing season, and have to be dug up in the fall, divided (with an eye attached to each tuber) and stored in vermiculite or peat moss and kept dark and dry over the winter. But what a variety of flower forms, colours and sizes. There is a dahlia (or 20) for everyone! As mentioned, I chose to try the huge ones, and, while I have loved their exuberance, the growing advice which came with them was right on...you can't just use any old stake for that size of dahlia. Next year will see sturdier stakes if I go for the big ones again.

Here's to spring!!!