What are your favorite annuals?

[treedimensional]

Oh thank GOODNESS someone wants to discuss annuals! Or anything ornamental, for that matter. I'm a huge ornamental gardener, and I can hardly WAIT for spring.
For small containers, I like Pentas, Geraniums, Portulaca, Petunias, and Calibrachoa. For landscaping, I like Pentas, Coleus, Begonias, Caladiums, Impatiens, and Alocasia/Colocasia. Lantana is fairly hardy here, but for you it may be a very large annual... love Lantana too.

[Redpoppy]

I love fuschia but I think they are more for hanging planters, at least where I'm at. I always search for a red centered one to attract hummingbirds.

[hausfrau]

I have excellent luck every year with nasturtiums. I also like potted geraniums and begonias.

[nicolewi]

(lurker; zone 5) I love lantana, the way they change color as the flowers age and they attract hummingbirds and butterflies. I love a potted hibiscus for summer. Penta. Sweet potato vine to accent big planters.

[2curlydogs]

90% of my landscaping budget each year goes to planting new trees, perennials and then our edibles.

But I generally get a large mixed hanging basket for our deck. I like Sweet Alyssum, begonia, petunia, geranium, nastrutium, etc. in our patio planters. Out front where it's mostly/part shade I do coleus and gardenia. One of these years I'm going to put celosia in. I put marigolds and other stinky annuals in the veggie garden because bugs.

ETA: Zone 5b here.

[fairygodmother]

I'm in 6b, too - howdy neighbor! For annuals, I like lantana, too, but I've mostly been planting perennials so I have less to replant each year. My front gardens are all in purples, yellows, and white... I've got sunflowers, lantana, and purple coneflowers -- that I can recall.

Not what you asked --but if it helps -- on our DC board, we have a resident landscape designer. In a thread we had going last year about the sad and untimely demise of monarch butterflies, she shared these tips for native VA plants that would feed the butterflies (but not attract them for predators, like butterfly bushes to - who knew?):

Full sun, wet, HOST PLANT Monarch: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=276790&isprofile=1&chr=23&cn=1
Full sun, dry, HOST PLANT MONARCH: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=276792&isprofile=1&chr=23&cn=1
Full sun, really adaptable moisture, HOST PLANT MONARCH: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=276924&isprofile=1&chr=23&cn=1
Adaptable sun, Food source: Asters (In deep shade a super easy one is Eurybia divaricata /white wood aster: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=h170 I also like a lot: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b550 or the 'October Skies' cultivar
Full sun,dry: Coreopsis verticillata: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=c260
Part-sun, full sun; wet, HOST PLANT: www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CHGL2
Full sun, adaptable soil (has a shorter cultivar): www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=292660&isprofile=1&chr=23&cn=1
Part sun, HOST PLANT: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=281674&isprofile=1&chr=23&cn=1

Here's a bit more: www.gardenswithwings.com/what-is-a-butterfly-garden/host-plants.html

[treedimensional]

Feb 22, 2016 11:38:46 GMT -5 fairygodmother said:

I'm in 6b, too - howdy neighbor! For annuals, I like lantana, too, but I've mostly been planting perennials so I have less to replant each year. My front gardens are all in purples, yellows, and white... I've got sunflowers, lantana, and purple coneflowers -- that I can recall.
In a thread we had going last year about the sad and untimely demise of monarch butterflies, she shared these tips for native VA plants that would feed the butterflies (but not attract them for predators, like butterfly bushes to - who knew?):

What does this (bolded) mean?

[memenee]

For shade I do lots of coleus and impatiens.

For sun I love zinnia and geraniums.

[fairygodmother]

Feb 22, 2016 21:12:19 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

Feb 22, 2016 11:38:46 GMT -5 fairygodmother said:

I'm in 6b, too - howdy neighbor! For annuals, I like lantana, too, but I've mostly been planting perennials so I have less to replant each year. My front gardens are all in purples, yellows, and white... I've got sunflowers, lantana, and purple coneflowers -- that I can recall.
In a thread we had going last year about the sad and untimely demise of monarch butterflies, she shared these tips for native VA plants that would feed the butterflies (but not attract them for predators, like butterfly bushes to - who knew?):

What does this (bolded) mean?

treedimensional I am on my phone and can't see bolded - what was your emphasis on?

[2curlydogs]

Feb 23, 2016 8:03:47 GMT -5 fairygodmother said:

Feb 22, 2016 21:12:19 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

What does this (bolded) mean?

treedimensional I am on my phone and can't see bolded - what was your emphasis on?

"plants that would feed the butterflies (but not attract them for predators, like butterfly bushes to [sic]"

FWIW, my understanding wrt Buddleja davidii isn't that it attracts predators but that it can be invasive in certain zones and it doesn't serve as a host plant, only as a nectar source.

ETA: To expand upon this, if you are in a zone where it dies back (like where I live), you can mitigate the spread or invasive tendencies of the plant. 

As far as the complaint that it only serves as a nectar source, so are the asters and coreopsis that were listed. So I don't see that complaint as holding water, provided you are also including host plants in your garden.

One should be aware, if you are going to do this, that milkweed - the only host plant for the monarch - is toxic to both humans and animals. It should be handled with caution when the sap is exposed and planted in locations where you can monitor access to it for children, pets, etc.. Tactile exposure can causes rashes and ingestion can cause shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, muscle spasms, and death. 

[FormerlyRR]

Feb 21, 2016 20:20:49 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

Oh thank GOODNESS someone wants to discuss annuals! Or anything ornamental, for that matter. I'm a huge ornamental gardener, and I can hardly WAIT for spring.
For small containers, I like Pentas, Geraniums, Portulaca, Petunias, and Calibrachoa. For landscaping, I like Pentas, Coleus, Begonias, Caladiums, Impatiens, and Alocasia/Colocasia. Lantana is fairly hardy here, but for you it may be a very large annual... love Lantana too.

I love all of these. I am in Zone 9B, so some of these sadly require daily watering and I can't guarantee that. 

Feb 22, 2016 9:35:26 GMT -5 hausfrau said:

I have excellent luck every year with nasturtiums. I also like potted geraniums and begonias.

I love all the different varieties of geraniums that I have seen, rather than the traditional red ones. I had one a few years back that I think was called Martha Washington and it was soooo pretty. 

Feb 22, 2016 9:42:42 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

(lurker; zone 5) I love lantana, the way they change color as the flowers age and they attract hummingbirds and butterflies. I love a potted hibiscus for summer. Penta. Sweet potato vine to accent big planters.

Sweet potato vines are my favorite "spiller" plant. Particularly the black version that blooms. 

[treedimensional]

I am planning on trying some Cleome this year. I'm forever looking to make my pollinator buffet irresistable.

[2curlydogs]

Can we make it a board rule that you have to list the Zone hardiness of the plants? Because I just went thru treedimensional's list and was like "OOH PRETTY!" and got all excited and then found out some are not even CLOSE to being hardy in my zone. LOL

[treedimensional]

Feb 23, 2016 16:45:21 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Can we make it a board rule that you have to list the Zone hardiness of the plants? Because I just went thru treedimensional 's list and was like "OOH PRETTY!" and got all excited and then found out some are not even CLOSE to being hardy in my zone. LOL

They are not hardy in my zone either! That's why they're ANNUALS. If they were hardy, they'd be perennials.

[2curlydogs]

Feb 23, 2016 21:41:25 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

Feb 23, 2016 16:45:21 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Can we make it a board rule that you have to list the Zone hardiness of the plants? Because I just went thru treedimensional 's list and was like "OOH PRETTY!" and got all excited and then found out some are not even CLOSE to being hardy in my zone. LOL

They are not hardy in my zone either! That's why they're ANNUALS. If they were hardy, they'd be perennials.

Yes, but they don't even bother to sell some things here because our summers, overnight, can get down into the 50s on cooler nights.

We had one summer a few years ago where we had the heat on over the 4th of July weekend cause it was in the 40s and 50s during the day.

[munkii]

Feb 23, 2016 22:53:03 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Yes, but they don't even bother to sell some things here because our summers, overnight, can get down into the 50s on cooler nights.

We had one summer a few years ago where we had the heat on over the 4th of July weekend cause it was in the 40s and 50s during the day.

That sounds depressing.

We've had good luck with salvia coccinea (it even grew back one year!) and sunpatiens. We're 6a.

[Deleted]

(Lurker, 6b)

I saw a daffodil blooming today! And a forsythia bush last week!

I moved to a 6b from a 4 last December, so my internal clock for planting things is all off. But I'm so excited. We get a $150 discount on the rent on our house (disclaimer: renting from my parents) in exchange for landscaping the place. The house is a 1920's craftsman with a fabulous front porch. The yard was such a disaster when they bought the house that they tore everything out and started over. It's currently bluegrass in the front with big empty flower beds and a large gravel parking area in the rear.

Last weekend I planted perennial bulbs from Costco (what the hell-- we'll see if they work out!) I've got peony, daylilly, phlox and gladiolus in the ground. I'll ad white Annabelle hydrangeas behind them (the beds are 8' deep). I may add ho woods behind the hydrangeas.

For annuals on the porch, which faces east and is in the shade, I'm thinking trailing lobelia, sweet potato vine and maybe potted ferns. Eek-- I'm so excited!

[treedimensional]

Feb 23, 2016 22:53:03 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Feb 23, 2016 21:41:25 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

They are not hardy in my zone either! That's why they're ANNUALS. If they were hardy, they'd be perennials.

Yes, but they don't even bother to sell some things here because our summers, overnight, can get down into the 50s on cooler nights.

We had one summer a few years ago where we had the heat on over the 4th of July weekend cause it was in the 40s and 50s during the day.

That's pretty restrictive. You can't use coleus, but geraniums, calibrachoa, and fountain grass should work.

[2curlydogs]

Feb 24, 2016 8:01:13 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

Feb 23, 2016 22:53:03 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Yes, but they don't even bother to sell some things here because our summers, overnight, can get down into the 50s on cooler nights.

We had one summer a few years ago where we had the heat on over the 4th of July weekend cause it was in the 40s and 50s during the day.

That's pretty restrictive. You can't use coleus, but geraniums, calibrachoa, and fountain grass should work.

I've done coleus before, but it was probably warmer that year. 

It all depends. USDA zone says 5b but.. well. It's WI. Some years are hotter than Hades and I get 200+ jalapenos off a single plant. Some years we're lucky if we get days in the 80s (much less 90s).

Still, I might poke about more this year. See what else I can find. If I have any budget left over from the other projects. :S

[treedimensional]

2curlydogs That's nuts. I plant coleus every year and in my experience, it is the first thing to perish when temps dip below 50. Not hardy AT ALL....

[2curlydogs]

Feb 24, 2016 20:28:29 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

2curlydogs That's nuts. I plant coleus every year and in my experience, it is the first thing to perish when temps dip below 50. Not hardy AT ALL....

Huh. Maybe that's why mine looked so ragged? I thought it was getting to much sun where I had it.

I shall have to experiment this year! Our house also creates a variety of microclimates, so maybe it would do well in another spot. I love the look of it.