What easily grows in one place can be difficult in another. I have tried to make a list of the hardy annuals (the ones you can seed directly in the garden) that grow well at Roche Fleurie where summers are short, but quite sunny and warm, with usually enough rain. As well I have made a list of some hardy annuals that have never done well for us, hoping that readers for whom these grow well might be able to tell me how to go about growing them.
For a few years, I had to seed California poppies every year to get them. However, in the fourth year or so, they finally settled, and now I can now count on them to come back on their own, no longer needing to seed them in the spring. There is even some variety among the lot. And I now need to pull up quite a few that grow in the paths.
Annual poppies. like the single and double Shirley, do quite well. But they have to be seeded each year.
However the species poppies, the ordinary bright red field poppy (Papaver rhoeas), does self seed.
Papaver somiferum also does well. Single ones come back on their own but not the doubles which disappear if they are not reseeded each spring.
My experience with Love-In-A-Mist (Nigella damascena and the taller hispanica) is similar.They will self-seed moderately, but they mostly revert to their original blue with some white, but no pink.
Annual candytuft (Iberis umbellata) I like very much and is easy in our garden. However, it has to be reseeded each spring.
The same things goes for bachelor's buttons (Centaurea cyanus). I am surprise they do not do better, since our main weed in the field outside the garden wall is a bachelor's button, the spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa).
I had a strange experience last year with garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus). I have grown them for many years in our present and former garden, but whether short, tall, white or pink they have never self-seeded Last summer some tall bipinnatus, both pink and white did volunteer! Do they self seed in your garden? I am surprised they did because it was a first in many years of growing them. I wonder if, without knowing it, I was not growing a more rustic variety. I have also grown the orange one (Cosmos sulphureus) and Coreopsis tinctoria. I save seeds of these in the fall and start them in the spring.
Nasturtiums do grow well, but I find they are not as easy to start from seed as you would think. I often end up buying some already growing.
Datura do well, but they have to be started indoors because if you wait for them to come up on their own, they will do so, but far too late in the season.
This year I am trying a hardy annual I have never grown before, Malcolmia maritima, a cabbage family plant. Have any of you grown it?
Zinnias: I am of two minds about them. I like them but can see the point of people who say they look as if they were made of plastic. They grew fine in our old garden but are difficult to grow from seed in the new one. I expect it is because the old garden got hotter than the new one.
Sunflowers do OK but I must confess that although I love the flowers, I resent the fact that when you pull out the dead plants in autumn, half the soil in the bed seems to come up with the roots (soils is a precious commodity here on an alvar), and the woody stems are a pain to deal with.
And now for failures.
I have never managed to grow mignonette (Reseda). Is it that they like a cooler summer? I tried twice in the old garden, once in the new with seeds from different sources but to no avail.
The same is true of poached egg flower (Limnanthes douglasii). Perhaps the summers are not hot enough for this Californian. I should try again since it is supposed to do well in poorly-drained clay soil, and, God knows, there is a lot of that here.
Clarkia is yet another failure. I expect that for Clarkia the problem is the opposite: the garden gets probably too hot. Do you grow any of my "failures", and if so, to what do you attribute your success?
_Fotor_Fotor_Collage.jpg) |
| Some hardy annuals |
_Fotor.jpg) |
| California Poppies |
For a few years, I had to seed California poppies every year to get them. However, in the fourth year or so, they finally settled, and now I can now count on them to come back on their own, no longer needing to seed them in the spring. There is even some variety among the lot. And I now need to pull up quite a few that grow in the paths.
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| Shirley Poppies |
Annual poppies. like the single and double Shirley, do quite well. But they have to be seeded each year.
However the species poppies, the ordinary bright red field poppy (Papaver rhoeas), does self seed.
 |
| Double Papaver somniferum |
Papaver somiferum also does well. Single ones come back on their own but not the doubles which disappear if they are not reseeded each spring.
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| Nigella |
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| Annual Candytuft |
The same things goes for bachelor's buttons (Centaurea cyanus). I am surprise they do not do better, since our main weed in the field outside the garden wall is a bachelor's button, the spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa).
 |
| Garden Cosmos |
I had a strange experience last year with garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus). I have grown them for many years in our present and former garden, but whether short, tall, white or pink they have never self-seeded Last summer some tall bipinnatus, both pink and white did volunteer! Do they self seed in your garden? I am surprised they did because it was a first in many years of growing them. I wonder if, without knowing it, I was not growing a more rustic variety. I have also grown the orange one (Cosmos sulphureus) and Coreopsis tinctoria. I save seeds of these in the fall and start them in the spring.
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| Nasturtium |
Nasturtiums do grow well, but I find they are not as easy to start from seed as you would think. I often end up buying some already growing.
Datura do well, but they have to be started indoors because if you wait for them to come up on their own, they will do so, but far too late in the season.
This year I am trying a hardy annual I have never grown before, Malcolmia maritima, a cabbage family plant. Have any of you grown it?
Zinnias: I am of two minds about them. I like them but can see the point of people who say they look as if they were made of plastic. They grew fine in our old garden but are difficult to grow from seed in the new one. I expect it is because the old garden got hotter than the new one.
Sunflowers do OK but I must confess that although I love the flowers, I resent the fact that when you pull out the dead plants in autumn, half the soil in the bed seems to come up with the roots (soils is a precious commodity here on an alvar), and the woody stems are a pain to deal with.
And now for failures.
I have never managed to grow mignonette (Reseda). Is it that they like a cooler summer? I tried twice in the old garden, once in the new with seeds from different sources but to no avail.
The same is true of poached egg flower (Limnanthes douglasii). Perhaps the summers are not hot enough for this Californian. I should try again since it is supposed to do well in poorly-drained clay soil, and, God knows, there is a lot of that here.
Clarkia is yet another failure. I expect that for Clarkia the problem is the opposite: the garden gets probably too hot. Do you grow any of my "failures", and if so, to what do you attribute your success?
We occasionally have self seeded cosmos appearing as for limnanthes we have a carpet of them come up every year. I think they would be difficult to get rid of now.
ReplyDeleteBut what would you say are the requirements for Limnanthes? Why do you think they like about your garden?
DeleteI started with six plants which seemed the hardest part that is getting the seeds to germinate. I moved the plants under shrub roses as ground cover. They flower and I leave them until the tops grow dies back and shribels up and the just remove it. The ground is more of less left. Its rough soil that isn't fed or watered or dug. They plants have already produced this years carpet.
DeleteYou're right Alain: what grows well in one place that doesn't grow in another. I tried to grow poppies that is said is to easily grow but they don't grow in my garden at all. Other you show as Nasturtium,Iberis and Nigela it's very hardly to grow here , the seeds die in wintry soil.
ReplyDeleteHappy gardening!
Some of my favourites! I love the ones that self seed. We have perennials poppies and they spread all over the place.
ReplyDeleteI love Love in a Mist - you have inspired me to plant a few more annuals this year - I don't normally bother because unless they self-seed, they are a chore - hence why I am a perennial fan. But I've planted some candytuft alongside my usual cosmos and zinnia (yes, I love the plastic flower!) and a good few others as well. Love your photos :)
ReplyDeleteI love the ones that seed themselves without any work from me! Hardy annual seed gets saved and sown direct, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteWell, you can't beat poppies! Eschscholzia was a failure for me last year, guess it was even too dry for them under the lime tree. Reseda should be easy to grow. If you're out for scent, why not try Matthiola incana? It's one of my favourites and the night flying moths are mad about it too.
ReplyDeleteI suspect Limnanthes don't like seed packets! Self sown seed is extremely easy. Get a friend to give you a dead clump when it has ripened its seed and scatter it round at that time in August!
ReplyDeleteI suspect sowing now with other hardy annuals means its been in its packet too long. Self sown limnanthes seed germinates in August when seed is fresh and soil is warm
Roger
I was thinking the same thing as Roger - a bit like primroses. As I said my first plants were difficult from seed but then self seed prolifically which would fit with the theory that the seed needs to be fresh when sown.
DeleteThank you Roger and Sue.
DeleteThat must be it. The seed has to be fresh. Perhaps if I found seeds in a foil packet they would germinate. Otherwise I will have to find someone who grows it (it is not very common around here).
I'm not very much into an annuals, but I absolutely have to have cosmos! I love it. It has selfseed massively like weed on my vegetable plot, but not every year. Maybe it depends on winter?!
ReplyDeleteNow I'm thinking to try Verbena bonariensis for bees and butterflies, wich certainly acts as annual in our climate. But I hope for some selfseed. Do I have a hope?
I like Verbena bonariensis and it does very well for me (but there are many people who say it gets mildewed, topples over and is invasive). It acts as annual in cold climate but it self-seed in my garden. You are warmer than we are so it would probably self-seed for you. In my garden it is about 1 metre tall, but in warmer places it gets much taller.
DeleteYou are probably right about cosmos self-seeding. It might depend on the winter or snow cover.
You've got many flowers I haven't tried. I'm surprised that California poppies do well for you. For some reason cosmos don't do well for me.
ReplyDeletePink and white cosmos self-seeded in my garden last year, too! The calendula self-seeds, but doesn't always get to flower before winter. The summer savory and dill always come back; they grow near the public walk, and pedestrians smile at the sight of them.
ReplyDeleteI think the nasturiums need a lot of heat and infertile, well drained soil but I've never had much luck with them, either. Zinnnias are definitely heat lovers. I'm not familiar with your failures but seed my California poppies in the fall for spring bloom. I'm hoping for love in a mist flowers this year. I threw out a lot of seed so hopefully I'll get lucky.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good post. It really depends on soil conditions for certain plants. I have tried California Poppy each year too and they are resisting my soil. I toss in whatever I get free from growers and see what happens. Some years a nice surprise and other years nothing. I am going to try Nigella and Nicotiana this year.
ReplyDeleteI don't grow many annuals but I do grow Cosmos, it never self seeds though. Opium poppies, Verbena bonariensis, Nigella, Larkspur are all reliable self seeders here.
ReplyDeleteIn my garden, cosmos self-seeds every year. I didnt even know that it's so easy to grow it. The second year I grew it, I was suprised that I didnt have to sow seeds again :)
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that for you in Poland Comos always self seed and for Tistou in Estonia they sometimes self seed massively. In the West, Sue in northern England says they self seed occasionally. For all the others who commented on cosmos, they do not self-seed. I doubt it is due to winter weather as for Chloris in relatively mild suffolk, as well as for Sheri in cold eastern Ontario, they never self-seed. I expect the strains readily available in Eastern Europe have a tendency to germinate more readily than the strains available in the West.
DeleteI always grow some cosmos and don't find they self-seed. Being lazy, I just buy a few little plants each spring. What, no Cleomes? They're another standard for me. They do reseed, but tend not to bloom until late in the season.
ReplyDeleteI have some Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate to try this year (Persicaria orientale) and also Hyacinthe Bean (Lablab purpureus), both new to me. Have you grown them? Sheri.
I have tried Hyacinth beans. The flowers are nice but not spectacular. The pods, especially the red ones, are very attractive and last a long time. I once tried Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate but I had no luck. It is a plant a bit tricky to place since it is so tall.
DeleteI have bought cleome but from seeds I find they have to be started too early.
P.S. I let the birds plant the sunflowers. If they come up in odd places I don't like, I just pull them while they're tiny.
ReplyDelete