Capturing the joy of mid summer: the fun of growing hardy and half hardy annuals
Reasons to do it:
Butterflies and bees will love it, as well as humans
You can cut flowers to make homemade bouquets for the house and to encourage a succession of flowers
Seeds aren’t expensive compared to mature plants so you can have fun and experiment
Mid to late April is a good time to sow hardy annuals direct into the soil, a raised bed or clear border is ideal.
I experimented last April by direct sowing a mix of annuals in this bed within a client’s kitchen garden. The bed had previously been used for growing dahlia’s but they had succumbed to a virus and my client fancied a change.
Early August 2023; Orange Emilia javanica in flower in the foreground
Once the bed had been cleared of dahlias and weeds it was dug over and raked to a fine tilth. Then the seeds were scattered on the surface of the soil and watered in. Then it was a case of some occasional weeding and editing where the planting was too dense but largely sitting back and enjoying the show. There were quite a lot of seeds that popped up that were already in the soil having come for our homemade compost - including lots evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) and some perennials such as Verbena bonariensis and biennials such as Verbascums thapsus and Digitalis purpurea.
Last year I sowed:
Agrostemma ‘Ocean Pearl’
Daucus carrota ‘Black Knight’
Emilia Javanica
Nigella papillosa ‘Midnight’
Nigella papillosa
Matthiola ‘Vintage Brown’*
Nicotiana ‘Bronze queen’*
Nicotiana ‘ Lime Green’
Cosmos ‘Apricotta’
Cosmos ‘Purity’
Cosmos ‘Yellow Garden’
Orlaya grandiflora*
*The Nicotiana and Orlaya weren’t very successful and if doing those again I would probably sow in seed trays in the greenhouse first and prick out rather than direct sow
The border in September 2023
This year I’m trying:
Scabiosa stellata, 'Sternkugel’**
Zinnia elegans, 'Queen Red Lime'
Calendula officinalis, 'Indian Prince'
Calendula officinalis, 'Canteloupe'
Calendula officinalis, 'Sherbet Fizz'
Callistephus chinensis, 'Duchesse Apricot'**
Cleome hassleriana, 'Violet Queen' **
Cleome hassleriana, 'White Queen' **
Cosmos bipinnatus, 'Purity' **
Cosmos bipinnatus, 'Kiiro' **
Craspedia globosa
Cynoglossum amabile, 'Mystic Pink'
Gypsophila elegans, 'Covent Garden'
Gypsophila elegans, Mixed
Limonium bonduelii **
Linum grandiflorum var. rubrum
Matthiola longipetala
Nigella hispanica
Papaver rhoeas, 'Angel's Choir'
Papaver rhoeas, 'Pandora'
Papaver somniferum, 'Lauren's Grape'
Phacelia tanacetifolia
** I’m sowing these in the greenhouse and will plant them out when it’s warmer