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Annual Flowers
Annual flowers can be categorized as hardy, half-hardy or tender. Hardy annuals are the most tolerant of cold weather. They can take light frost and some freezing without being killed. They are not, however, heat tolerant and have the tendency to decline and die with the onset of hot summer temperatures. Half-hardy annuals are able to tolerate periods of cold damp weather but are easily damaged by frost. Most flowers belonging to this category decline in the midsummer heat but may rebloom in late summer or fall. Tender annuals are those that are sensitive to cold soil temperature as seeds will rot instead of germinating. Another way of categorizing annuals is determining whether a flower variety is for cool or warm season. Cool-season annuals have their best flower production in the spring and fall while warm-season annuals have theirs’ during late summer. The main value of annuals to gardeners lies in the abundance of color that can be obtained with the wealth of flowers produced by each plant over a long period of time.
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The flower is the reproductive structure of flowering plants. Flowering time differ among plants. Annuals germinate from seed and then flower and die within a year. Biennials usually germinate in the spring, grow a circle of leaves close to the ground during the first summer and send up a flowering shoot on the second season. Perennials grow and flower for several seasons. However, local climatic conditions and the development of new cultivar and uses for specific garden flowers have blurred the distinction among these three types.