In Defense Of Annuals

Note for the novice:  Annuals are those flowers that you have to plant each year.  Perennials are those which come back on their own.

Annuals.  Those lovely things that often tend to flower profusely throughout the growing season.  They come in amazing colors, are bred to flower like crazy, and have such huge curb appeal that many hardware and home decor stores now carry plastic versions of the popular varieties for the less than green thumbed.  In early spring our local nurseries bring out their first vibrant annual displays of pansies, and in a steady, choreographed march we get petunias, zonal geraniums, snapdragons, etc. until fall when we get mums and less-than-perennial designer asters.  In comparison, the perennials on display are often between stages of floral display, but people seem to fly on past the flats of color and toward the 8 dollar coneflower pots.  In some ways, this is a great thing, but in other ways the preference towards perennials is marked more by confusion than by common sense.

Consider the following lines:

The beginner/casual gardener:  

"Annuals?  Why would I want to waste money on things that won't grow back?"

"I want the plants that come back every year, you know, the ones where you don't have to do anything to them once you plant them."

The experienced gardener:

"Annuals are so common and boring."

"I'm after perennials rather than annuals because they will keep improving and expanding every year.  I want this garden to look old and well-developed.  I don't want to stare at mulch all day."

The hippy:

"Hey man, what about the pollinators?  Grow native and let the bees thrive!"

We've all been there, each one of us finding some comfortable place in the statements above.  Money and the environment tend to drive our gardening direction, and annuals always seem to be a luxury best reserved for the truly obsessed plant people.  After all, those highly bred petunias won't be back next year, nor will they provide the best, if any, food for the bees and butterflies.  They also tend to be everywhere...

But then again, so do a lot of perennials.  Many houses have foundation plantings of hostas, hydrangeas, black-eyed susans, (don't get me started on pachysandra), etc.  If they don't, odds are that the home gardener is a bit insane, and like your author, is so plant mad that the place is a buffet of almost gross looking variety.  Additionally, they might also be into the natives, which might mean that there are periods where nothing is in flower, or, worse, is "let wild" and looks unkempt. 

So?  Who cares what people think?!  I enjoy my garden and keep it the way that I want to.  Society is overrated.  Screw the neighbors!

The 80% of you that are still reading are doing so because you are clearly shameful sycophants to societal whims.  OR, you actually care not only about your landscaping, but about its place in the larger local landscape.  Gardening, even for the socially unconcerned, has elements of community attached to it, however small.  When we work in our gardens and try to make them more than just a mowed lawn with a few shrubs attached, we are partially doing so because we want to make our little corner of the world more appealing.  Hell, aside from the law forcing us to, most of us mow our lawns for that very reason.  We also tend to weed for the same results, and sometimes, we even show up with a flat of snapdragons.  Then something funny happens: the neighbors do it too.  Then you both start bumping into each other at nurseries and stealing seed catalogs from your respective mailboxes, all because a little color drove you the good kind of crazy. 

Annuals, you see, are great little accent pieces that can keep the flowers going in between our other proud blossoms.  If nothing else, they can also help distract the eye from a messy bed, spent perennials, etc.  As noted, you can start in chilly spring with the pansies and end when you thought your nursery visits were over in the fall by planting mums.  They are window dressing...

 they spread cheer and color...

and they provide slow season support to our local mom-and-pop nurseries; that pansy flat you buy in the first week of April may be the most encouraging thing to happen to the manic owner concerned with both the bills and the preparations driving them up the wall. 

Note: Orange pansies were purchased at Mike's Garden (South Lyon), blue and golds at George's Livonia Gardens (Livonia).

They also give you something to do in the garden, with near instant results, at otherwise less than visually impacting working times.  On the extreme end, you might find that you actually like using them, and may just turn into a crazy Victorian with carpet beds of the colorful little things.  Annuals are powerful like that!  (Note: Don't be afraid to try this, even while I encourage diversification and definitely going native).