How to Mix Annual Plants With Others Like the Experts:

Aals be used to great advantage mixed with pnnials and shrubs. One big advantage that aals have over pnnials is that they tend to flower over long periods, often throughout the whole summer. So, in a mixed border, aals provide a permanent thread of color.

Their temporary nature also be put to good use. Often it will take several years before shrubs or pnnials reach their final spread, and dur this time th will be areas of bare earth around these nts. Aals readily be used h as attractive temporary fillers until the ot nts eventually use up all of the spaces.

Aals also add a touch of lightness and almost frivolity to an otwise staid border. For example, a border predominantly full of shrubs, perhaps nted for their intst leaves, be enlivened by massed nts of bold summer aals in front of and in between the shrubs. Each type of nt will complement the ot.

Aals make wonderful container nts, whet in tubs, window boxed or hang baskets. They usually last the whole season, provid constant attractive color through regular water is a must for continuous flower. Once the season is over, you completely change your scheme for the follow year simply by chang the nts. You might perhaps try hot oranges and reds for one year, followed by softer, cooler blues and whites the next.

Since most aals grow and flower within the year, hardiness may not see, to be an important factor to take into consideration, but it be if you n to grow your own aals from seed. Hardly aals be sown outside and will withstand late frosts, but half hardly or tender aals must be raised under glass and not nted out until after the risk of frost has passed. Alternatively, half hardly or tender aals be sown directly wh th are to flower, but again only after the threat of frost is over.