Flowers are a classic favorite that bring instant color to your home. They look beautiful as flower borders or in containers around your porch, patio, or near your front door. If replanting into a larger pot, use quality soil. When planting in the garden, dig a hole, set the plant and fill hole with soil. Keep well-watered until the plant is established. Water well when dry, and check often during hot, dry weather. Fertilize regularly. Annual flowers grow for one long season, often into the fall, then die with the onset of freezing weather. ... Annuals are a great way to change the look of your garden from year to year, and they tend to have a longer flowering period than perennials The key to gardening success is to help nature do what it wants within the limits you set. But unless you're happy to embrace total chaos, careful planning is needed to get the most out of your plants and the space available to grow them in. Choosing the right range of species for your local conditions is vital. But there's a more basic consideration when putting your growing plans together - it's important to know and understand the life cycles of the individual plants you choose. Annual plants complete their entire life cycle in a single growing season. The seed will germinate, and then develop a root system, stems, and leaves. Once mature, the plant will flower, produce seeds, and then die off. The newly produced seeds will then stay dormant until the cycle begins again next season. It's important to note that although this process will always be completed within a year, it can also be much quicker. Some vigorous species, such as dandelions, can produce several generations within a single season. However, these highly productive plants are still classed as annuals. One obvious gardening advantage of annual plants is speed of growth. You'll see the success or failure of a new seed type within a few short months, rather than waiting several years for full maturity. This offers gardeners plenty of scope for experimentation and variety - if something doesn't work this year, there's always next. However, a more practical benefit is that annuals tend to pack a lot of activity into their relatively short life cycles. They have one shot at producing the next generation, and usually go all-out to achieve it. Because of this, annual blooms such as marigolds can flower repeatedly over a long period, giving season-long interest in a border. Likewise, annual vegetables such as zucchini or runner beans will fruit again and again to produce an abundant harvest for as long as they survive.
