- 1). Check soil drainage. Many of the annuals grown in gardens are reasonably tolerant of a wide range of conditions, though most will perform best in a sunny, well-drained site. If your soil is very heavy, you can improve the drainage by adding plenty of horticultural grit or sand. This is especially helpful in a very wet or sunless site which might be prone to water logging.
- 2). Place the annuals in a sunny place. Annuals are sun lovers but light shade is fine for most annuals, but if it is very deep shade, you will be limited in your choice of plants. Foxgloves, for example, may succeed. And, busy Lizzies are also worth trying. Lizzies are one of the few plants that will give a really colorful show in a shady spot and they are also happy in sun.
- 3). Visit a garden center to see their selections of annuals. If you want to make things easy for yourself, particularly if you are new to gardening, you will probably do well to choose from the many plants that are widely available in garden centers, or those that you see flourishing in other people's gardens. One reason to choose garden centers annuals popularity is usually their reliability because often these are the plants that will flower for a long period, suffering few problems.
- 4). Decide on a scheme before planting. Annuals are adaptable plants. You may choose to use them simply as flowering plants mixed in with perennials in the border - this can be a good way to create a cottage-garden effect, particularly if you allow the plants to self sow randomly. They can also be used as temporary fillers in a more planned mixed border.
- 5). Create bedding patterns. Many gardeners prefer to create bedding schemes made up entirely of annuals, and this is an ideal way to create a formal design. Whichever way you want to use annuals, their ephemeral nature means that you can tryout a different scheme each year. Since annuals offer such a wide range of bold, bright colors, as well as more delicate, subtle ones, there is plenty of scope for imaginative self-expression.
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