By Linda Wiggen Kraft
January is the time to plan and dream about the annuals of upcoming flower gardens. Our gardens are full of beautiful annuals every year. Most of them are native to warm distant climates. I couldn’t live without zinnias, petunias, sunflowers, and many more. As it turns out sunflowers are native to most of North America, but the others are not. Most native annuals aren’t sold in garden centers as already growing plants. If you’d like these annuals in your garden they will have to be grown from seed. Seeds can be planted indoors, or outside when weather permits. They will bring color, pollen and food for wildlife.
A friend’s garden inspired me to recently plant Snow-On-the-Mountain (euphorbia marginata). Lovely variegated foliage brightens the garden. Brown-Eyed Susan, a biennial, always surprises me where it will bloom as it reseeds itself throughout the garden. There are always new plants to try and these natives are worth a try.
Here are some suggestions for native annuals, and two biennials, that are worth planting from seed. Many of them will reseed after becoming established, so with no gardener effort, they will be present year after year.
American Bellflower (Campanulastrum Americanum): A woodland gem, this plant brightens shade gardens.A biennial, which means the first year it only grows a rosette. The next year a tall stem ranging from 2-6 feet tall will bloom with many delphinium-like five petaled sky blue flowers.
Basket flower (Centaurea americana): Thistle like flowers grow in sun and part shade. The purple flower grows two to five feet tall in dry or moist soil. Seeds can be directly planted in fall for spring germination.
Blue gilia (Gilia capitata): These blue flowers look like tiny globes. These alliums look-a-likes grow two feet tall and blooms early spring and summer.
Brown-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Triloba): Two to four foot tall bushy plants filled with quarter sized yellow brown centered flowers. This plant is my favorite rudbeckia which reseeds all over my garden and brightens many spaces. It is a biennial that means the first year is a rosette and the second the flowering plant.
Firewheels (Gaillardia pulchella): Firewheels does well in heat and drought. Flowers are similar to daisies and coneflowers. The flower petals are orange near the center and yellow at the edges.
Golden Tickseed (Coreopsis tinctoria): Sun loving small daisy like yellow and burgundy flower petals brighten sunny areas. Usually about two feet tall, a pollinator favorite.
Lemon beebalm (Monarda citriodora): Pollinators love beebalm. Its white and purple/pink flowers blooms for a long time. The entire plant has a lovely smell when brushed against. It mostly likely will reseed once established.
Phlox (Phlox drummondii): the annual phlox grows in whites, pinks, purples and reds. Growing one-foot tall, the fragrant flowers are delicate heads of multiple petals.
Snow-On-the-Mountain (euphorbia marginata): A two to three-foot-tall white edged foliage plant brightens any garden. Its flowers are small, but the foliage is beautiful enough. It works alone in a vase or as a great filler for other blossoms.
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus): Sunflowers come in many sizes and colors. Easily to grow and quick growing, they are best planted directly in the garden. Even bird seed sunflowers will bring a branching flower filled six-foot-tall beauty. Simply throw some seed into the garden in the winter for the birds and a few will grow.
Swamp Marigold (Bidens Aristosa): Small yellow flowers create a cloud of airy delight. Blooms later in summer.
The easiest way to find seeds is through an online search. Missouri Wildflower plant nursery sells many different annual seeds. Prairie Moon nursery in Minnesota also sells many. If the specific plant name is known, simply type in the common name, botanical name and the word seeds. Different online seed companies will show up.
Linda Wiggen Kraft is a landscape designer of holistic/organic gardens. She is an artist and creativity workshop leader. Her ceramic jewelry and pottery are available online and at www.gardendistrictstl.com. Find out more, subscribe to her blog and Instagram at www.creativityforthesoul.com Call her at 314 504-4266.