Spring flowers: our favorite cool-season annuals to plant this fall

Sunset, Oct, 2004 by Sharon Cohoon

Ah, lovely October. It's the season for leaf raking, pumpkin picking, cider sipping, and tailgate parties. And, if you're smart, it's also the season for planting winter- and spring-blooming annuals. I know, I know: Your "think spring" instinct doesn't kick in until March. But plant now anyway. Your cool-season annuals will grow stronger and bloom longer than if you wait until spring.

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The five annuals described on page 70 are especially good performers. They'll pump out flowers nonstop as long as the weather stays cool.

Where winters are cold, plant dianthus, pansies, and poppies now. These hardy annuals will establish roots in fall and winter, then explode into action come spring. (In colder climates, wait until spring to plant the other annuals listed.) Where winters are mild, you can have "spring" flowers in fall and winter too. In addition to the three listed above, you can plant tender annuals like nemesia and stock.

So put down that rake and head to the nursery.

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NAME AND DESCRIPTION         LANDSCAPE USES            OUR FAVORITES

Dianthus. Members of the     Since most dianthus form  The Telstar
genus Dianthus, carnations,  attractive green or       (shown at right)
Chinese pinks, and sweet     blue-green mats of        and Ideal strains
William are usually grown    foliage, they look best   are strong
as annuals. All are cold-    in the front row, where   performers, and
hardy and have a long bloom  they can be appreciated.  both come in a
period. Greenhouse-grown     * Plant them in front of  wide range of
carnations reach 3 to 4 ft.  blue-flowered catmint,    colors. Flowers
tall, but the varieties you  delphinium, foxglove, or  of 'Cinnamon Red
find in nurseries usually    salvia.                   Hots' and
grow 12 to 14 in. tall.      * Grow them beneath       'Pinkie' are
Sweet William is slightly    roses in compatible       intensely
taller--20 in.--and Chinese  colors.                   fragrant.
pinks range from 6 to 30     * Use them to form a
in. Flowers of all three     ribbon of color in front
are pink, red, or white,     of low-growing conifers
often with intricate         or shrubs.
markings in a second shade.  * Plant them in a window
Many types have a clovelike  box with stock for twice
scent.                       the spice.

Nemesia. This low, mounding  Its masses of chalice-    The Sunsatia and
annual blooms so profusely,  shaped flowers are        Sundrop strains--
you barely notice its        produced for months at a  the former is
narrow leaves. The flowers   time and come in an       pictured at right
look like small snapdragons  ever-widening choice of   in yellow--are
and are sometimes lightly    colors, making nemesia a  good performers,
scented. In areas with mild  top-selling spring        as are two older
winters and summers,         annual.                   varieties, 'Blue
nemesia blooms nearly year-  * Use it to edge mixed    Bird' and
round; elsewhere it puts on  borders.                  'Compact
a strong show until          * Plant it among spring-  Innocence'.
temperatures soar. Blooms    blooming bulbs.
come in many colors;         * Grow it around mixed
pastels predominate, but     plantings in large
shades of plum, red, and     containers to soften the
bright yellow are becoming   pots' edges. Or plant
more common. Plants range    one of the cascading
from 6 to 16 in. tall;       forms, like Sunsatia
forms vary from compact and  Lemon, by itself in a
upright to loose and         stately urn.
cascading.

Pansies and violas. These    Their low, mounding       The red Dynamite
Low-growing plants (6 to 10  habit makes pansies and   Blotch, shown
in. tall) with five-petaled  violas extremely          opposite, is new.
flowers are top sellers      versatile. Use them in    We also like the
year after year for good     mass plantings, along     Crystal Bowl,
reason. They deliver lots    the edges of mixed        Majestic Giant,
of blooms over a long        borders, in rock          and Ultima
period, come in a huge       gardens, along paths,     strains; in
range of colors--both        and alone or in           violas, try the
solids and bicolors--and     combination with other    Baby-face or
bloom through winter in      plants in containers.     Sorbet strains.
much of the West. The        * Combine blue pansies
large-flowered, faced        with orange and yellow
varieties may catch your     Iceland poppies in beds.
eye first in nurseries. But  * Use yellow and orange
when planted en masse,       violas to edge a bed of
nonfaced, single-colored     leaf lettuce.
varieties are often more     * Plant violas as covers
striking. The original wild  for freesias, hyacinths,
pansy--Johnny-Jump-Up--      or sparaxis.
still charms us too.

Poppies. With their silky    With their tall,          Angels' Choir
blossoms, poppies are the    leafless stems that       Shirley poppies
ultimate show-offs. While    dance with every breeze,  are notable for
some kinds have big, rowdy   poppies are graceful      their wide range
leaves, making them          companions to many        of colors. We
difficult to use well in     plants.                   also like
small gardens, our           * Grow orange Iceland     Champagne Bubbles
favorites--alpine, Iceland,  poppies with blue         Iceland poppies
and Shirley poppies--are     pansies, or pastel        and, for windier
more delicate. Shirley       Shirley poppies with      areas, the
poppies grow 3 ft. tall and  Antique Shades Sorbet     shorter, sturdier
produce 2-in.-wide flowers   violas.                   Wonderland
in bright solid colors,      * Pair salmon Shirley     strain.
bicolors, and pastels.       poppies with Apricot
Iceland poppies are shorter  Beauty tulips, or rose
(1 to 2 ft. tall); flowers   Iceland poppies with
are cream, orange, pink,     Pink Impression tulips;
rose, salmon, yellow, or     underplant either
white. Alpine poppies,       combination with forget-
which do best in cold        me-nots.
climates, are only 5 to 8    * Use red poppies like
in. tall.                    'American Legion' to add
                             sparkle to silvery dusty
                             miller.

Stock. This mainstay of the  Because one of the        Trysomic Seven
cut-flower industry is also  nicest things about       Weeks and Ten
an excellent spring bedding  stock is the intense      Weeks strains are
plant. Many strains of       fragrance of its          good for their
Matthiola incana are         flowers, plant it where   early bloom; try
available, ranging from      you're most likely to     the Vintage
less than 1 ft. tall to as   smell it. Combine taller  strain for its
much as 3 ft. tall, and      varieties of stock with   unique colors,
from 10 to 16 in. wide.      plants that are looser    like Burgundy
Flowers are single or        in habit, such as         (shown at for
double, 1 in. wide, and      nemesias, so they don't   right) and
come in a range of colors,   look so primly upright.   copper.
including cream, mauve,      * Grow stock alone in
pink, purple, red, salmon,   small pots, as pictured
violet, and white. All have  at far right, for
a wonderful spicy-sweet      portable scent.
scent. Evening scented       * Fill a window box with
stock (M. longipetala        it.
bicornis) has an even more   * Mass it in beds for a
powerful scent.              showy display and
                             knockout scent.