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Dispose Annuals: MANY BIENNIALS flower in early and midsummer, thus usefully filling an awkward gap that can occur between the spring and summer flowers. Like annuals, they are temporary plants which should be pulled up and put on the compost pile when they have finished flowering. Also, as with annuals, though it's easy enough to save seed of most kinds it is usually impossible to prevent cross-fertilization of different varieties, as a result of which home-saved seed produces only a mongrel population. The distinction between annuals, biennials and herbaceous perennials is not always clear-cut since sometimes varieties of one group can be treated as if they belonged to one of the other groups; hollyhocks (Alcea), for example, can be grown as annuals, biennials or short-lived perennials. However, to be sure of a regular succession of biennials it is necessary to sow seed every year at the correct season.
Common sense should rule your maintenance program. Remove dead or dying leaves, dispose annuals of annuals when they are finished blooming, and remove spent blossoms to encourage the production of new flowers. When seeds form, most plants are chemically triggered to stop blooming. Keep the garden weed-free. Even though this particular kind of garden is not for show, every weed is taking moisture, space, and nutrients from your chosen plants.
too, is a good time for cutting, but I would rather confront an awakening butterfly than a journeying slug.
Whenever possible, choose burgeoning buds and flowers just beginning to show pollen rather than older blossoms that have been trod upon by an army of bees.
Half-hardy annuals (HHA) are usually damaged, set back, or killed by frost, but they stand up to wet and cool weather without rotting.
Tender annuals (TA) come from the warmer parts of the world and need warm soil to germinate. They are killed immediately by frost.
Added to the classification of annuals are perennials, either hardy (usually from a temperate climate) or tender (generally from the tropic parts of the world), that will bloom the first year from seed.
Most seed packets today give full instructions for care and note any special treatment required. Most catalogs do the same. |
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