Selecting annual flowers for your garden

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Annual flowers, such as petunias, are a wonderfully inexpensive way to add a lot of "zing" to your tropical paradise. I bought a six-pack at Lowe's yesterday for $1.98. There is no reason to buy them any bigger, and it is a waste of money to do so. Also, to pick out the best six-pack, look for the smallest plants you can find, with as few blooms as possible. It's good to see some of the blooms starting, just to be sure that you are getting the right bloom color, but you don't want big, overgrown, full-blooming plants.

I know that this doesn't seem logical. At the nursery your eye goes to the largest and biggest-blooming plants, and that would seem like the best value. But it isn't. Please let me explain.

What you are looking for in an annual flower is freshness and youth. Think of it like buying bread. The big, overgrown plants with lots of blooms have been sitting around for quite a while. The little ones are from the new shipment. When you transplant them, remember that they must stay alive with a very limited root system. A lot of foliage and a lot of blooms while they are getting established in your garden can be fatal. Look for plants that are small and tight.

If there are fully-open blooms on the plants when you transplant, cut them off. I know it's hard! But keep in mind that you are helping that tiny plant to survive in it's most vulnerable time. Once it's established, it will grow big and strong and have plenty of blooms, I promise!

More about planting annual flowers here in Arizona in this post.

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