When you visit your neighborhood garden center or nursery, the wide selection of flowers in every shape and color can be a lot to take in. To make choosing easier, it helps to understand that some flowers are annuals—they bloom for one season and need to be replanted next year. Others are perennials that return season after season. Each has its pros and cons, so here are a few tips to help you decide what to plant this year.
Know Your Hardiness Zone
Before you start picking plants, it’s smart to find out which hardiness zone you live in. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map makes it easy to identify your zone and shows which perennials are most likely to thrive in your climate. Most perennial plant tags at nurseries will list the zones they suit best. You can still plant warm-zone perennials in cooler areas, but once winter hits, they’ll die off and won’t return next season.
Benefits of Annuals
Annual flowers bring a variety of benefits to your garden:
- Long blooming season: Annuals grow and finish their life cycle in a single season, producing blooms for weeks or even months. Favorites like petunias, zinnias, geraniums, and begonias can keep your garden colorful from late spring through early fall.
- Instant impact: “They’re great for done-in-a-day projects when company is coming, and you need to make those porch planters and window boxes shine in a hurry,” says Linda Vater, author of A Year of Garden-Inspired Living and garden expert for Southern Living Plant Collection. Many annuals are already in bloom when you buy them, giving you fast, eye-catching results.
- Try something new: With no long-term commitment, annuals let you experiment with new colors and designs. They’re ideal for filling in gaps or temporarily covering bare spots while you plan or save for a permanent plant. Annuals also work perfectly in containers that you update every year.
- Lower upfront cost: Annuals usually cost less than perennials, making them easier on your wallet at checkout—even though you’ll need to replace them each season.
Benefits of Perennials
While annuals deliver quick color, perennials offer lasting rewards:
- Year-after-year beauty: Perennials keep coming back, making them excellent anchors in flower beds and reliable garden staples.
- Better investment over time: Even though perennials might cost more upfront, they often save money in the long run since they don’t need yearly replacement.
- Seasonal interest: Some perennials, especially woody or semi-woody types, bring visual appeal all year. “If four-season interest is a priority, seek out perennials that offer evergreen foliage or interesting branch structure,” Vater recommends.
- Less watering: Once established, many perennials need less water than annuals. Opting for native varieties can make watering even less of a chore.
Mixing Annuals and Perennials
Though both have unique advantages, combining annuals and perennials often creates the most dynamic and beautiful garden displays. Using both lets you enjoy continuous bursts of color while building a solid, lasting framework for your flower beds. You can tuck annuals between taller perennials to brighten up empty spaces and add extra vibrance.
“Texturally rich foliage from perennials looks terrific in the context of showy blooms from seasonal annuals,” Vater says. “And smaller annuals benefit from the visual volume of larger, established perennials when planted together.”
To create a balanced look, spread annuals throughout the garden instead of placing them all in one area. This technique helps guide the eye across the entire space, creating harmony and avoiding visual clutter in just one spot.
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