Add Architectural Variety to Your Selection of Summer Annuals

Most gardeners enjoy incorporating annuals into their gardens. Many annuals offer interesting foliage as well as flowers, and larger annuals are gaining in popularity as they offer architectural variety to the landscape. Perennials, ground covers, shrubs, and trees take years to achieve mature size and spread, and many gardeners are not content with the empty space as they wait for their plants to mature. Using annuals can help alleviate these conditions as annuals grow rapidly compared to perennials and can change the landscape in as little as a couple of weeks. I have started using annuals in containers to add season-long color and variety to my landscape, but mostly, I greatly enjoy being able to change my mind as I garden from one season to the next. In addition to the flowering, many gardeners are also using annuals for their diverse texture and plant form.

One of the most popular trends is the use of tropical or tropical looking plants. Tropical plants are very heat tolerant which makes them a perfect choice for Missouri summers. Tropical plants typically have large or boldly shaped foliage and flowers and often display colored or variegated foliage. These traits ideally suit tropicals for use as focal points when planted with masses of colorful trailing annuals such as lantana, ornamental sweet potato, fan flower, million bells, verbena, or even petunias. Some interesting tropical plants that work great in the Columbia area include angel’s trumpet, banana, caladium, cannas, castor bean, elephant ear, dragon-wing begonia, mandevilla, bougainvillea, hibiscus, fuschia, and dracaena.

Canna, caladium, castor bean, and elephant ear have tremendous size variation, and the foliage is very decorative. Elephant ear and caladium grow well in both sunny and shady locations, and their colorful foliage makes them fantastic focal plants for containers. Elephant ear can even be grown in water containers as it prefers constantly moist soil conditions. There are many new varieties of fuschia available that make wonderful accent plants in hanging baskets. Fushcia prefer shade, thus making them ideally suited for hanging under the deck or overhang. Dragon-wing begonia are more sun tolerant than most begonias and are well suited to come indoors for the winter as well as hibiscus, mandevilla, and bougainvillea. There is a new hibiscus available that offers maroon colored leaves which makes a very colorful addition to your collection of summer annuals. Elephant ear and canna bulbs can be dug up in the fall and stored as bulbs for re-use the next growing season.

Another elegant plant that offers a wide range of leaf form and color is coleus. The dazzling array of contrasting colors make this plant a great choice whether tucked in amongst perennials, placed in front of the bed or border, or planted in a container. Many coleus have multicolored leaves that combine purple, red, green, white, and yellow all on one leaf. This combination of colors makes coleus extremely versatile for any type of landscape. Coleus prefer to be kept evenly moist, but they grow well in both sunny and shady locations.

Ornamental grasses are also widely used in containers and can add tremendous texture variety with their long slender leaves. I cannot think of a more showy plant than purple fountain grass for use in the center of large containers. When in flower, the heads add tremendous beauty against the dark, purple leaves of this grass.

The above list just barely hits the overwhelming list of annuals available for use in the landscape. The beauty of landscaping with annuals is the ability to change style, texture, and color of your home landscape from year to year. You cannot achieve this versatility with perennials. Try container gardening, and I guarantee you will never get bored.

Mary Kroening, Missouri Master Gardener Coordinator and UMC Horticulturalist, (573) 882-9633