Houston Annual Flowers

Were should you plant annual flower beds?

To make the greatest impact, annual flowers in the residential landscape could be planted at the door entry, in bowls or at the street. The emphasis is more on the size of the color grouping rather than exact location although you do want to create a balanced look throughout the yard. In a commercial landscape the obvious is at entry signs although sometimes the color interferes with seeing the simplicity of the sign, so one suggestion is planting groundcover directly beneath the sign and color in large groupings at the edge of marques.

There are so many possible color combinations, how should I choose?

In choosing annual flower colors, keep the color palette simple and contrast colors rather than planting riots of the same color. For example, you may be planting all pansies in a full sun winter bed in which you could choose blue and yellow or blue and white. Just by simply alternating two colors you create wonderful visual excitement. If you are alternating two different color plants, referring to our example above, use snapdragons for height and blue and yellow pansies for the lower level. Also, make the snapdragons all pink or one color to create a “base” color or foundation. Remember less color generally creates more orderly beauty in arranging a color plant bed, the eye will pick up a mass of red cyclamen as having much more impact than one white, one pink, one red so keep it simple, bold and powerful.

What annual flowers will do well in the sun or shade and for how long will they last?

Annual flowers and perennial flowers will perform consistently for about a 3 to 4 month period depending on seasonal weather conditions in Houston. This means consistent blooms with no decline in performance. Here are a list of annual color plants that will do well in the sun and plants that will do well in the shade. Whether a sun or shade garden, it’s important to have excellent drainage:
• Flowers for the sun: Petunias, pansies, strap variety caladiums, plumbago, lantana, dianthus, snap dragons and salvias.
• Flowers for the shade: caladiums, begonias, cyclamen and violas.

Is there anything special I need to do to the ground so my annual flowers grow well?

In order to be successful and get the most out of your annual flowers keep these items in mind:
• Bed preparation to include incorporating organic matter into the native clay and tilling until it’s easy to work with a small trowel and contains no clumps.
• Good drainage and water coverage have an irrigation system that has even coverage. You may also need a drainage system to ensure oxygen getting to the roots.
• Regular fertilization about every six weeks to insure constant blooming cycles
• Dead heading or pinching off the flowers that have died should be done to encourage profuse blooming.
• Prune back plants that get rangy and stop blooming.
• Ensure that the flower beds are weeded weekly.
• Till the mulch every two weeks so that you keep the exchange of air and water flowing into and out of the soil.

Being successful with annual flowers takes some knowledge and experience of color combinations, seasonal color plant section, and bed preparation as well as a regular landscape maintenance program to be successful in our difficult climate. Call today to schedule an appointment with one of our Exterior Worlds’ designers or consultants!!!