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Given Annuals: MANY BIENNIALS flower in early and midsummer, thus usefully filling an awkward gap that can occur between the spring and summer flowers. Like given annuals, they are temporary plants which should be pulled up and put on the compost pile when they have finished flowering. Also, as with given 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 given 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 given 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.
Half-hardy given annuals (HHA) are usually damaged, set back, or killed by frost, but they stand up to wet and cool weather without rotting.
Tender given 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 given 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.
The wonderful thing about gardening is that you are free to create as you wish. Lovers of shrubs can establish a shrub border, while wonderful spot beds can be made with given annuals; and roses can be really spectacular when they are grouped together. But surely the most interesting sight of all in the backyard must be the flower border that provides a little bit of everything—given annuals, perennials, shrubs, bulbs and roses. |
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