All-season color - flower gardening

Sunset, Sept, 1994 by Lynn Ocone

What's in bloom: cool-season annuals and perennials, ranunculus.

May

What to plant: perennials, Madonna lilies, tuberoses, tuberous begonias; then, at month's end, the majority of the warm-season annuals.

What's in bloom: cool-season annuals at their peak; perennials and self-sown warm-season annuals.

June

What to plant: tuberous begonias.

What's in bloom: dahlias, Madonna lilies, warm-season annuals, tuberous begonias, perennials.

July & August

What's in bloom: warm-season annuals, heat-loving perennials, dahlias, Madonna lilies, tuberoses, and tuberous begonias, all at their peak.

PLANTS FOR ALL SEASONS

Cool-season annuals for fall planting and blooms in fall, winter, and spring: alyssum, Canterbury bell (biennial or annual), Chrysanthemum paludosum, delphinium (perennial treated as annual), larkspur, lobelia, pansy, snapdragon, stock, viola.

Warm-season annuals for spring planting and blooms in spring, summer, and early fall: blue bedder salvia (lives on as perennial), Chrysanthemum paludosum, cosmos, golden fleece.

Spring perennials: alstroemeria, coreopsis, delphinium, Mexican evening primrose, society garlic.

Summer perennials: alstroemeria, busy Lizzie (Impatiens wallerana), coreopsis, gloriosa daisy, Mexican bush sage, Mexican evening primrose, society garlic.

Autumn perennials: coreopsis, gloriosa daisy, Mexican bush sage.

Self-sowing volunteers: alstroemeria, alyssum, busy Lizzie (Impatiens wallerana), Chrysanthemum paludosum, cosmos, larkspur, lobelia.