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My how the Clematis has grown!

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clematisjackmanii3

I took this photo of the Clematis Jackmanii in July 2003. Believe it or not there are probably at least three small roses in the flower bed below that clematis.

These days – that clematis now grows over the roof of the garage on the left, and spreads at least 10 feet more to the right. It’s HUGE.

The little roses that I’m telling you are in that photo – that you can’t really see, are now as tall as the fence or taller.

Here’s a photo of two of the roses just a bit to the right of the above photo this year. All my roses are four to twelve feet tall this year. It’s amazing how much they’ve grown in just a few years.

parade climbing rose

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Glorious Annuals

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Annuals are usually grown to provide color. Since they are only temporary plants in many gardens – if they are always treated as such, they tend to thrive anywhere. Annuals permit gardeners in cold areas to briefly ignore the prospect of inter bleakness and inject a touch of tropical summer color into their gardens.

Annuals are subject to all the normal climatic considerations – wind, salt spray, and summer heat – but they are remarkably resilient plants that carry on flowering under most conditions, except severe cold.

Tender annuals must be planted in spring, after the last frosts, with a view to summer and autumn flowering. However, the so called hardy annuals are often planted in the autumn and left to over-winter for spring flowering. Pansies, Sweet William and Iceland poppies are among the best known hardy annuals. It’s true that the majority of my Pansies (provided they survive the heat of summer), Sweet William (pinks, dianthus) and Iceland poppies often do survive our Canadian zone 6B/ USD zone 5B winters.

With careful planning- depending upon your zone of course, it’s possible to have blooms almost all year round. I tend to have blooms outdoors in my garden from perennials, annuals, bulbs and rhizomes from Mid-March well into November; and indoors my plants such as Thanks Giving and Christmas Cactus, Jasmine and amaryllis give me blooms inside through November to March.

Obtaining Annuals and Perennials for your garden

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When you are first establishing a perennial garden you will probably buy all of your plants from a nursery, garden center or an online mail order gardening company. However, one of the great advantages of perennials is their ease of propagation. By the end of the first season you will have quite a few large plants ready for dividing.

I’ve divided my Hostas, Rudbeckia (Daisies), heuchera and astilbes several times. Some perennials, such as peonies, will grow for many years without needing to be divided. Some, such as peonies, will grow for many years without needing to be divided, and may not recover quickly once broken up, but to maintain their vigor most perennials need dividing at least every three years.

Many perennials can also be grown from cuttings, usually of the fast growing spring shoots.

Annuals must be raised from seed. You can do this for yourself or buy ready to plant seedlings from a garden center. I’ve found that by growing several of my annuals from seed I tend to have access to a wider variety of types of annuals and or colours as opposed to the offerings at most garden centers and nurseries which tend to sell the most popular varieties of annuals.

For small quantities, raising your own seed is seldom cheaper than buying seedlings, but if you have large beds to plant out, raising your own plants often represents a considerable saving.

Seed sowing and germination are usually fairly straight forward. In many cases the seeds may be sown directly where the plant is to grow in the garden bed. Some annuals need to be started in late winter or very early spring indoors in order to be large enough to plant out come late spring or early summer.

Most perennials and bulbs are planted in early autumn or early to mid-spring, whereas annuals are often started indoors in February or March and planted as seedlings from mid-May through June; or purchased as seedlings in late April and May and planted out after the last frost.

Enjoy your lovely garden.

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