Annuals

Stop! Before you yank out all your annuals for non-performance, read this first.

Annuals sprout from seed, even if you buy them in a six pack - mature, flower, and set seed for next years plants all in one season. This takes a lot of food (fertilizer) and water.

The formation of seeds tells the plant that its life cycle is complete. To fool the plant, trim off the old blooms and fertilize! Keep doing this, and you will get continuous bloom cycles. Use liquid fertilizer on annuals. It gets down into the roots faster.

You can also spray the foliage which gives it another way to feed. Do this early in the morning or in the evening when the sun is not shining on the leaves or they may get sunburned. Don’t wait until the bloom cycle slows down, because it takes extra time for them to get going again. Feed every couple of weeks. This takes far less effort than planting new plants. Water annuals deeply, which encourages deep roots and your annuals will be able to better resist the summer heat!