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Welcome to Wingard’s Annuals
An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical location (ie, USDA Hardiness Zone), and may not correspond to the four traditional seasonal divisions of the year. With respect to the traditional seasons annual plants are generally categorized into summer annuals and winter annuals. Summer annuals germinate during spring or early summer and mature by autumn of the same year. Winter annuals germinate during the autumn and mature during the spring or summer of the following calendar year. These are but a few varieties that we typically have in stock year-round. Please note that supplies of specific items may vary, so you may wish to call ahead to check availability.
Dianthus Spp.
The perfect annual for early spring color, Dianthus blooms in white and shades of pink, rose, lavender and includes bicolor flowers as well. You can plant dianthus in any sunny location, in the ground or in a container. This cheerful little flower with delicate fringed petals is not only colorful but fragrant as well, carrying the sweet, spicy scent of carnations.
Senecio spp.
Not grown for its flowers but its silvery and soft foliage, Dusty Miller is an attention grabber in the garden. It is available in wide leaf and lacy, cut-leaf forms. Dusty Miller is and easy-to-grow, frost and drought tolerant annual that looks great in any garden or container. The silver-colored foliage makes Dusty Miller a great transition plant to bridge uncomplimentary colors in the garden.
Chrysanthemum spp.
Planting Mums in containers, the garden, and the landscape seems to be a yearly rite of passage to usher in the fall season. Mums will give you a great bang for your buck, often returning from year to year. There is great diversity within this plant group from flower size, shape, and color. This, alone, will keep you from ever getting bored of mums. Mix and match colors and styles for a little diversity in the autumn landscape or plant in large drifts of all one color for an eye-popping display. Well-drained soil is necessary if you would like your mums to return year after year.
Brassica oleracea
Closely related, ornamental cabbage and kale are practically interchangeable and make the perfect companions for other fall blooming annuals and perennials in autumnal containers and planters as well as in the front of garden beds and borders. Growing low and wide, with colorful leaf patterns in hues of green, pink, red, purple, and white, these two plants are perfect replacements for summer annuals that are past their prime. The differences between the two are slight with ornamental kale having a looser or more open habit. Ornamental kale may also have feathery or fringed leaves adding extra texture in the garden. Flowering cabbage and kale will continue to delight all through the fall and winter seasons and into the spring.
Viola x wittrockiana
Pansies are ideal for fall, winter, and spring color. Unfazed by the cooler temperatures, even heavy frost, pansies give you a great bang for your buck. Tuck them into window boxes, planters, hanging baskets, garden beds, anywhere you want to add a touch of long-lasting color to take you through the colder months. And how can you resist their adorable flower faces?
Antirrhinum majus
So much fun in so many colors! Snapdragons are a classic cool-season annual with each floret of the tall flower spike looking like a dragon’s mouth, and when pinched, will snap its “jaws”, making it an all-time favorite of children and adults alike. Easy to grow, snapdragons will give you a vertical accent where it is desired in the annual garden and in containers.
Viola spp.
The annual viola is a smaller relative of the pansy offering the same long-lasting, winter-hardy, colorful and silly faced flowers but more of them than what a larger pansy plant offers. Their small size makes them perfect for planting where they may be viewed up close such as in a window box or atop a stone wall where they may be admired frequently.
Delicate looking cyclamen have proven themselves to be anything but! Planted in a shady location, directly in the ground or in any type of planter or pot, spring and fall blooming cyclamen have unusual, shooting star like flowers that sit atop beautifully patterned leaves. Flowers bloom in shades of pink, rose, purple, and also white. Woodland settings and shade covered planters are best for this plant. Avoid full sun and over watering. Frequently going dormant in hot weather, cyclamen should be given a shady and cooler spot to prolong its blooms. And don’t worry, with proper care, your dormant cyclamen will bloom again in the fall.
