Enjoy full spectrum of color with annuals

Annuals are herbaceous ornamental plants that provide a diverse, inexhaustible spectrum of color throughout summer. Because these soft tissue, tender plants germinate, grow, flower, set seed and then freeze (in Spokane) in one year, they must be replanted anew each spring once frost danger has past.

Flowerbeds become instant showcases when setting out annuals that are flaunting their first blooms. Annuals currently available at nurseries were germinated six to eight weeks ago in greenhouses, and can now safely be planted outside.

Read labels carefully, ensuring that the requirements of chosen annuals coincide with microclimates within your yard. Labels should, at minimum, list height/width, sun/shade and water requirements. Many, however, are now including color wheels for selecting contrasting or complementary shades to make garden design easy.

Each year, horticulturists persistently cultivate new varieties of all-time favorite annuals to compete for the year’s top picks in new plants. Evaluated by experts and touted by gardening magazines each spring, a select few make headlines.

One 2006 All American Selection winner is Zinnias “Zowie! Yellow Flame.” This new semitall zinnia shows off 3- to 4-inch semidouble blooms with yellow-edged petals and scarlet/rose center.

Another AAS winner is a stunning flowering tobacco, Nicotiana x sanderae “Perfume Deep Purple.” Plant this one close to the patio and enjoy a profusion of purple, sweetly scented flowers on nice attractive foliage.

Petunia addicts will love Petunia grandiflora “Limoncello,” a 2006 Fleuroselect Quality Mark winner. This flashy petunia with deep lemon centers blending to creamy lemon edges will brighten containers and gardens until frost.

Building on the simple beauty of traditional cosmos is another Fleuroselect winner, Cosmos bipinnatus “Double Click.” Just imagine unfaltering, graceful cosmos-shades of rose, white, and pink on semidouble to double blooms with delicately fluted petals.

For our drought-prone region, creeping zinnia has been improved with the Sanvitalia hybrid “Sunbini.” This mounding creeping zinnia with ½-inch true yellow flowers is a must for containers that take heat.

These, as well as other new for 2006 annuals should be available at area garden centers and nurseries. Additionally, many annuals like cosmos, flowering tobacco and zinnias can be sown from seed directly into the garden now that danger of frost is past.