Planting Annuals in the Fall
Planting annuals for the fall and early winter season is a fairly new practice.
About ten years ago pansies were reintroduced to gardeners.
This old fashion plant has become wildly popular since then.
The newer varieties were bred to be more heat tolerant than the pansies your grandmother grew.
This expanded their season to bloom far into spring.
They do so well, they have changed spring planting times by blooming prolifically until hot weather begins.
Pansies will bloom during warm periods in winter and the established plants flower prolifically when it is still to cold to plant summer annuals.
Here in Virginia they bloom into June.
Many gardeners, seeing their beds flowering freely, do not want to pull them up to start summer plants and so will postpone spring planting until their pansies begin to fade.
Seeing the success of pansies, plant breeders have improved many plant varieties to expand this fall planting phenomenon.
Agyranthemum, calibrachoa, and osteospermum are all examples of once obscure plants that have moved into the gardening mainstream.
Perennials like huechera,with multicolored foliage,and grasses all add structure are combined to create distinctly autumn plantings.
Unlike pansies that survive winter, these fall annuals are frost tolerant and will eventually succumb to cold temperatures.
Because they grow for a shorter time, they are best used in containers where they will create the desired autumn effect.
Having followed this fall planting process for several years, I find that the perennial plants will reappear in spring and grow the following summer.
I have many large containers on my patio; this method makes spring planting quick and easy.
By using perennials in containers, I only have to add a few selected annuals in spring.
I also like the effect of always having some mature plants in each container even in early spring.
I urge gardeners to fall plant a few of their containers this autumn; start where they will have the greatest effect like near doorways or on patios.
Begin to see each container as a mini garden, which continues through out the year, and only requires a little work in spring and fall.
About ten years ago pansies were reintroduced to gardeners.
This old fashion plant has become wildly popular since then.
The newer varieties were bred to be more heat tolerant than the pansies your grandmother grew.
This expanded their season to bloom far into spring.
They do so well, they have changed spring planting times by blooming prolifically until hot weather begins.
Pansies will bloom during warm periods in winter and the established plants flower prolifically when it is still to cold to plant summer annuals.
Here in Virginia they bloom into June.
Many gardeners, seeing their beds flowering freely, do not want to pull them up to start summer plants and so will postpone spring planting until their pansies begin to fade.
Seeing the success of pansies, plant breeders have improved many plant varieties to expand this fall planting phenomenon.
Agyranthemum, calibrachoa, and osteospermum are all examples of once obscure plants that have moved into the gardening mainstream.
Perennials like huechera,with multicolored foliage,and grasses all add structure are combined to create distinctly autumn plantings.
Unlike pansies that survive winter, these fall annuals are frost tolerant and will eventually succumb to cold temperatures.
Because they grow for a shorter time, they are best used in containers where they will create the desired autumn effect.
Having followed this fall planting process for several years, I find that the perennial plants will reappear in spring and grow the following summer.
I have many large containers on my patio; this method makes spring planting quick and easy.
By using perennials in containers, I only have to add a few selected annuals in spring.
I also like the effect of always having some mature plants in each container even in early spring.
I urge gardeners to fall plant a few of their containers this autumn; start where they will have the greatest effect like near doorways or on patios.
Begin to see each container as a mini garden, which continues through out the year, and only requires a little work in spring and fall.
