When it comes time to choosing the ideal annuals for your front porch, deck or landscape- it’s easy to be drawn to blooms based on their colour, their smell, or even their attracting abilities for specific pollinators. However, what is most important when choosing your plants, is the location you plan on keeping these flowers, and the amount of sunlight they will be receiving throughout the day.
Full sun annuals are plants that are heat-loving and in some cases drought tolerant. The more direct sunlight these plants receive, the more flowers and foliage you will see! If you’re a gardener that loves big, vibrant flowers in your yard, then sun-loving annuals are the plants for you!
This week we wanted to highlight 3 Full-Sun Annuals that are still bringing delight in our greenhouses today! Let’s start off with…
Portulaca
An Anna’s favourite, Portulaca or Moss rose is distinguished by its succulent like leaves and flowers that resemble miniature roses. These beautiful, fast-growing and low maintenance flowers are great as a hanging basket, placed in your favourite planter/pot, or added into your rock garden as ground cover! Known to be heat and drought tolerant, Portulaca will bloom from early summer to frost all while attracting butterflies to your yard!
Portulaca Care and Maintenace:
- Deadhead: Regularly to encourage continuous blooming throughout the growing season.
- Fertilize: 20-20-20 water-soluble every 2 weeks or apply slow-release pellets every 6-8 weeks.
- Soil: Well-drained loose soil is best.
- Water: Water the base of the plant, avoiding blooms, only when the top of the soil is dry.
Salvia
Another sun-loving annual, Salvia offers vibrancy and height with their stately stalks and almost constant blooms! A great addition to your garden bed as a border planting or perfect for a planter, Salvia will attract both butterflies and hummingbirds to their nectar-rich blooms! Another heat/drought tolerant low maintenance annual, that is super easy to grow and smells delightful!
Salvia Care and Maintenance:
- Deadhead: Regularly to encourage continuous blooming throughout the growing season.
- Fertilize: 20-20-20 water-soluble every 2 weeks or apply slow-release pellets every 6-8 weeks.
- Soil: Well-drained loose soil is best.
- Water: Water when soil is dried out, extra on especially dry/hot days.
Vinca
Simplistic beauty, the Vinca is a classic crisp flower with glossy green leaves that offers a non-stop show of flowers. Blooming from Summer until Fall, this heat, drought and wind tolerant plant is a fast grower and a perfect filler! Ideal for container or ground gardening, we love the idea of bringing out the contrasting colour of the eye of the vinca flower by pairing them with a flower that matches! A low maintenance flower that will attract butterflies and never stop looking terrific!
Vinca Care and Maintenance:
- Deadhead: Not required for continual blooms.
- Fertilize: 20-20-20 water-soluble every 2 weeks or apply slow-release pellets every 6-8 weeks.
- Soil: Well-drained loose soil is best.
- Water: Water whenever the top inch of the soil feels dry. Avoid overwatering as they are susceptible to root rot.
