Annuals
An annual is a plant that completes its life cycle in one year.
An annual plant goes “from seed to seed” and then dies off during the course of one growing season. It grows, spreads its seeds, and dies. The whole mission of an annual is to produce seed and propagate. That’s why you can get flowering plants to produce more flowers through “deadheading” (removing spent flowers before the seed matures). When you remove the flowers, the plant works to produce more flowers to do its job of spreading seeds.
Our Philosophy
The annuals found in our greenhouses here at Four Seasons are healthy, vigorous plants that are great when used as bedding plants, in baskets, or containers.
One of our passions is to find the new, interesting, and unusual plants you won’t find anywhere else, that also grow well in our area.
See, our goal is not just to sell you plants, but to help you create a healthy, thriving garden. Which means that if a plant won’t survive or thrive in our area, we don’t offer them to you at our greenhouse.
Important Information About Growing Annuals in Southwest Colorado
In our area, “tender perennials” are perennials that we grow as annuals. Perennials are plants that would normally return year after year. But some perennials are unable to survive our colder winters, so they end up acting more like annuals in your garden because they die off in one growing season.
For example: Pansies, lantana, and alyssum are tender perennials that we grow as annuals.
And in our area we consider other plants “hardy annuals”. This means they are able to withstand a little frost without being killed off. They will continue to bloom and set seed into the next year, but they will eventually expire.
Annuals are further divided into cool season and warm season. For example: Pansies will fade as the summer heats up while Zinnias won’t bloom until the nights stay warm.
Annual flowers give you the opportunity to start fresh and have a totally different garden every year.
When you’re ready to plan your annuals, come see us. Not only will we give an amazing selection of plants that work well in our area, but we will give you great advice to help your garden thrive.