Re: Overwintering annuals

In a message dated 10/13/02 8:21:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mtalt@hort.net 
writes:


> 
> I'd rather not see a separate "annuals" list myself.  There are so
> few true annuals grown 

Me,too.

An annuals list would include all kinds of things, bulbs, tubers, tender 
perennials or generally those things that are grown outdoors in the summer 
and die when the temperatures go below freezing in the nights.

I think that many of this class of plants are grown in containers, tubs, 
pots, etc.

Nearly all perennial gardens have these plants mixed in so in some sense of 
the word they are the purview of the perennial gardener.  They turn up here 
all the time.  One suspects the perennial gardener is the person who expects 
most of the garden to return each spring but has less hardy plants as well. 
Nearly everybody is storing potted plants now and some gardeners store them 
in the hundreds.  Gardens are basically perennial plantings (also shrubs and 
trees) with other classes of plants added.

The much respected author Gertrude Jekyll who promoted the perennial border 
now appearing in it's many newer forms was not above adding new and tender 
plants to the border when a bare spot appeared.  I think it is mentioned in 
one of her books that potted greenhouse hydrangeas were kept for that 
purpose, also the tall marigolds.

The true annual is not always a good subject for a perennial gardener because 
it has a short life, dying when seed is produced.  Nigella is one which self 
seeds so the dying and replanting is not a chore hence often mentioned in the 
perennial area.  Many others have short bloom seasons, need new planting each 
year and one does not see them mentioned here - the Linarias are one.  
Annuals are here, as a rule, in the context of the perennial grower.   
Annuals as a subject are usually in trial gardens where they have a terrific 
one time bloom and are over.  

I would try overwintering once or twice on any plant that attained some size 
or is hard to find again or needs yearly seed culture to keep.  

Just recently I have read that the many blue -sold as annual - Lobelias may 
seed and be found now in the garden.  Here that would mean the seed fell out 
of some container.  It was said that they can be potted and will bloom all 
winter with sufficient light, the new plants.  While this is not perennial 
information, it would be coming from the perennial garden where my "annual" 
Lobelias live.

There is probably no annual gardener amongst homewowners. The mixed garden is 
the more common I would think.   In the newest of Philips/Rix books, 
"Annuals", the plants covered are annual, biennials, perennials, and some 
that defy a category.  The subject is further confused by the many zones in 
the US.  Those of us in the north will call some rose bushes annuals, it is a 
tricky subject outside the botany textbook.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

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