Plan seasonal care and management

Using Color

Annual flowers can provide landscaped areas with more seasonal variety and colorful accents than most other plants.

The key to success with annuals is to plant only the area that can be adequately cared for.

Remember, color can have more impact on the landscape than any other design element.

However, nothing has a more negative impact than a poorly maintained color area.

Soil Preparation

Soil preparation is perhaps the most important aspect in maintaining seasonal color areas.

This begins with the addition of large quantities of organic matter to obtain optimum aeration, drainage and water holding characteristics.

Generally speaking, beds should consist of at least 50 percent organic matter for best results.

In addition, bed areas should be raised to a minimum of 4-6 inches to avoid "drowning" during wet, rainy weather.

Since organic matter can be difficult to re-wet after excessive drying, a wetting agent can be used to achieve uniform water distribution throughout the soil.

When to Plant

Wait...don't try to jump the gun on planting. Most spring annuals can't be planted until after the danger of killing frost has passed; refer to the chart on hardiness for more details. Many warm season plants, such as periwinkles and caladiums, can not tolerate cool soil temperature. Delay planting until the medium reaches 70 degrees.

Discard any plants that may have reseeded themselves from last season.

They'll be less vigorous and may not resemble their hybrid parents.

If it's not possible for you to plant right away, keep plants in a lightly shaded spot and be sure to water them as needed. If possible, it is best to plant on a cloudy or over cast day or late in the day to reduce transplanting shock.

Planting

When planting, dig a hole slightly larger than the root ball, set the plant in place at the same level at which it was growing, and carefully firm soil around the roots.

An application of soluble fertilizer, high in phosphorus, should be made after planting. A fertilizer such as 20-10-20 mixed at the rate of 0.5 pounds per 100 gallons of water will cover 400 square feet. Do not apply fertilizer to dry soil.

Watering

Deep, infrequent watering is generally better than frequent, light watering, since the former encourages deep root growth. Don't allow plants to remain for extended periods in puddles of standing water.

This situation encourages root diseases and overwatering symptoms such as yellow leaves.

Water annuals about as often as turf. Refer to the individual plant descriptions to see which plants like more or less moisture than average.

Foliage should be kept dry if at all possible during watering. Soaker hoses work best.

However, if you must use overhead sprinklers, water disease prone annuals (zinnias, calendula, grandiflora petunias and stock in particular) as early as possible in the day so the foliage will dry off before night, lessening the chance of disease.

Manicuring

Many annuals, chiefly begonias, impatiens, coleus, alyssum, ageratum, lobelia, vinca, salvia and others, require little additional care. Their flowers fall cleanly from the plant after fading and do not need to be manually removed.

Others, such as marigolds, geraniums, zinnias, calendula and dahlias will need to have faded flowers removed. This is known as "deadheading" and not only keeps plants attractive but also discourages disease and keeps plants from going to seed so the plants will produce more flowers and look tidier. Deadheading can be done with pruning shears or sometimes with the fingers.

Annuals are generally trouble free under proper cultural conditions.

However, there are some common pests to be on the lookout for.

Don C. Wilkerson Texas A&M University

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