Annuals

At Harlequin’s Gardens, we love beauty, fragrance and color, and believe that we can provide a substantial palette of colorful and fragrant annuals for your gardens and containers that will fulfill many of your goals. One of the criteria for our selection of Annuals is that they are all or almost all Open-Pollinated (OP), so that you can save seeds or allow the plants to self-sow (more about this below). Therefore, you won’t find high-priced clonal, patented hybrid Callibrachoa or Angelonia on our tables. Beyond beauty, color and fragrance, some of the other qualities we look for are:

Pollinator support
Beneficial Insect Support
Edibility
Utility
Heat tolerance
Frost tolerance
Drought tolerance
Companion Planting benefits
Self-sowing capability
History

Why we sell starter-plants of Self-Sowing Annuals and Biennials:
Many gardeners have trouble starting colonies by sowing seeds directly in the ground. When you plant starts, you may be more likely to succeed in starting colonies of largely self-sustaining wild (or close to wild) flowers that can endure for many years in your garden without further input. Using a thick layer of organic mulch, such as bark mulch, shredded redwood or shredded cedar, can prevent the seeds from reaching the ground and sometimes prevent light from penetrating thus inhibiting germination.

We recommend a finer material such as our ‘Fine Wood Mulch’ or ‘Soil Pep’. This is especially good in a fertile and irrigated garden space where Calendula, Scarlet Sage, Honeywort, Cleome, Cosmos, Nasturtium and more will thrive and colonize by self-sowing.

Fine-textured gravels, such as Squeegee or Pea gravel make excellent mulches where you want to allow self-sowing dryland flowers to colonize. Some of these beauties are Desert Bluebells (Phacelia campanularia), Bachelor’s Button (Centaurea cyanus), Larkspur (Consolida sp.), Persian and Peony-flowered Poppies (Papaver somniferum and paeoniflorum), California Poppies (Eschscholtzia californica), Borage (Borago officinalis), and Four O’Clocks (Mirabilis jalapa).

These are a few of our favorite flowering annuals. Stop by to see our full selection.

Self-Sowing Hardy Annuals

Some customers wonder why we are selling starts of self-sowing hardy annuals like Larkspur, Rocky Mt. Beeplant, California Poppy, Peony-flowered Poppy, Sweet Alyssum and Desert Bluebell. Shouldn’t they be grown from seed sown directly in the garden? The answer is Yes, they certainly can be, and if you find a source for the seeds and sow them at the optimal time, usually in the fall, you can get great results. But some gardeners report having little or no success with direct sowing: their timing is off, the seeds are watered in and then dry up and are no longer viable, critters eat the seeds, etc. [Read More]

BRACHYCOME ‘BLUE SPLENDOR’ (Swan River Daisy)

Annual, OP
This showy, profusely blooming daisy from Australia is a compact flowering plant with attractive, fern-like foliage and masses of brilliant blue daisy-like blooms. The bushy, mounded plants grow to 8-10” tall and blooms profusely through the summer and into the fall. Brachycome flowers are fragrant and attract bees and butterflies. Prefers rich, well-drained soil and tolerates some drought once established. Perfect for containers and hanging baskets in full to part sun

CALIFORNIA POPPY ‘GOLDEN WEST’

Annual, OP, Bee favorite
Introduced in 1907 heirloom ‘Golden West’ has cup-shaped flowers of sunny yellow with orange centers and petal-backs. This selection of native California poppy is larger flowered but similar to the original that Spanish explorers encountered by the million, calling its native land ‘the land of fire’. Thrives in full sun, needs very little water once established, self-sows, and is very often perennial at mile-high elevation. 8-12” x 6”

CALIFORNIA POPPY ‘MIKADO’

Annual, OP, Bee favorite
Deep orange satiny petals with scarlet backs grace this heirloom variety. Burnished four-petaled flowers and sea-green, finely cut leaves look beautiful in masses, perfect with blue cornflowers in any well-drained soil. Native Americans used the sap for toothache, and it’s recommended for its analgesic properties. If bloom slows, cut back for another flush of flowers that continue until a hard freeze. 1936 heirloom. Self-sows and is very often perennial at mile-high elevation. Very drought tolerant & easy, 8-12”x6”.

CALIFORNIA POPPY ‘MISSION BELLS’

Annual, OP, Bee-favorite
Mission Bells is a flowering mix of brilliantly colored, saucer-shaped, double or semi-double, orange, yellow, white, red, and pink California Poppies, selections of the California native wildflower. The finely divided foliage is bluish-green, the plants grow fast and bloom all summer long. 8-12”x 6”.

CANTERBURY BELLS, Blue (Campanula medium)

Biennial, OP heirloom
If you like to grow cut flowers for bouquets, this one’s for you! Each plant provides masses of large, vivid purply-blue flowers on 18 to 36” tall scapes, from late spring through mid-summer. And Canterbury Bells are among the longest-lasting of cut-flowers. The only caveat is that you need to wait until their second year of growth to get flowers. First-year plants grow a low rosette of foliage. Definitely worth the wait! Grow in sun or part-shade in fertile, well-drained soil. Planting a group together helps plants support each other without staking, but in windy locations stakes may be needed. Plant 12-15” apart. Cold-hardy to Zone 5.

CLEOME ‘CHERRY QUEEN’

Annual, OP, Bee, Butterfly, Hummer favorite
Deep carmine pink buds open to lighter pink blossoms, giving an airy appearance because the stamens and pistil protrude several inches beyond the petals. Massed together, they have a charming, old-fashioned look (it is an heirloom variety). Cherry Queen blooms atop sturdy 4’ stalks in summer and fall for up to 12 weeks. If pinched when about 6” tall, each plant will branch out to produce a half dozen or more blooms. Self-sows and tolerates heat and humidity.

CLEOME ‘ROSE QUEEN’

Annual, OP, Bee, Butterfly, Hummer fave
Deep rose buds open to lighter pink blossoms, giving an airy appearance because the stamens and pistil protrude several inches beyond the petals. Massed together, they have a charming, old-fashioned look (it is an heirloom variety). Rose Queen blooms in summer and fall for up to 12 weeks. If pinched when about 6 inches tall, each plant will branch out to produce a half dozen or more blooms. Self-sows and tolerates heat and humidity.

KIWI BLUE HONEYWORT (Cerinthe major)

Annual, OP, Bee favorite
Its almost steel blue-green foliage, sensational deep blue bracts and small purple flowers make a wonderful impact in the garden or containers. Early in the season the plant resembles a garden pea but as stems lengthen they branch, producing showy blue flower bracts with small purple bells that seem to grow out of the leaves and stems. Very attractive to bees, heat-tolerant through summer and hardy down to at least 23 degrees F. Cool nights in fall produce even deeper blue color. Plants bloom continuously from spring to fall. This self-sowing plant drops its large pea sized seeds in late summer and early fall and will grow in and around the same patch for years. Easy to grow in sun/part shade, low maintenance. To 18-24”h &w.

TALL BLUE LARKSPUR

Annual, OP, Bumblebee, Butterfly, Hummer favorite
Blue Larkspur is a very hardy annual wildflower, native to S. Europe and Eurasia, but widely distributed in the US as an introduced species. The ¾” blooms can vary in from pale to deep blue and purple, and sturdy branching stems to 4’ or more deliver quick height and sumptuous color over a long season. If spent flowers are removed, it blooms for several months from late April on, and can provide masses of cut-flowers. Grow in sun, in well-drained soil with some compost added for happiest plants and exuberant bloom. Self-sowing, very drought tolerant, and deer resistant (CAUTION: alkaloids in seeds and aerial parts are toxic to mammals).