If the owners managed to buy a summer cottage in winter or spring, then it is quite difficult to improve it in a season. True, you will plant the beds, but it is difficult to break beautiful flower beds, because many plants begin to bloom and acquire decorativeness only by the second year. The only option is to buy or grow annual flowers for the flower bed on the windowsills. Their growing season is so short that many plants start blooming as early as May. The main thing is to correctly combine and select varieties so that the flower beds look spectacular throughout the season.
When buying seeds of annuals, you need to tune in to the fact that your flower bed will bloom not earlier than mid-May, even if you grow seedlings at home, on the windowsills. With direct sowing in the ground, the plants will bloom even later – by June. And the reason is not only that most annuals give their first flowers 40-45 days after seed germination. The rate of maturation of plants will also be influenced by the weather. If May turns out to be cold, in frosts, then the sprouted sprouts will be easily damaged, stop growing, and their growing season will increase. Even the most unpretentious marigolds do not like the contrasts of night and day temperatures. Therefore, gardeners have an unspoken rule: to plant seedlings only after the end of the May frosts, and if they were sown directly into the ground, then cover them with spunbond or other non-woven material at night.The only option to make the flower beds bloom in April is to arrange them with beautiful annuals in pots and containers. Seeds are planted at home in containers from the beginning of January in order to get vigorous seedlings covered with flower buds by the end of spring.
A flowerbed of pots can stand in this form until the beginning of June, and then all the seedlings are transplanted into open ground
For these purposes, ampelous petunias, calendula, lobelia and marigolds are well suited. They begin to sow them in the middle of winter, and to speed up the growing season, the seedlings are additionally highlighted until March. Already at the end of April, beautiful flowers will bloom in pots and containers, which can be displayed in flower beds during the day. True, by the evening, the beauty will have to be hidden in the veranda, so as not to freeze.
Some cunning summer residents, who arrange small flower beds in this way (up to a meter in diameter), manage to save the plants by not dragging them back and forth. To do this, they build a kind of wigwam from wooden stakes, a high pole and lutrasila:
- First, a pole is hammered in the center of the flower bed (certainly round!).
- Around it, they fill the space with containers with flowers, installing them in several tiers.
- Pegs are driven in along the edge of the flower bed.
- Lutrasil is sewn from two canvases in the form of a wide sleeve, whose diameter should be slightly larger than the diameter of the flower bed.
- The top of the sleeve is tied to the upper point of the pole, and the lower part of the shelter is straightened on pegs and pressed to the ground with pebbles.
- For the day, the lower part of the shelter is rolled up and tied to a pole.
To make such a structure look aesthetically pleasing during the day, you can hide the lutrasil in a bright linen cover, putting it directly on the pole. It seems to be a lot of trouble. But having made a wigwam once, you will use it for several seasons.
In the first picture, the flowerbed is closed with lutrasil and pressed with pebbles, in the second, the shelter is tied to a pole, and the stones act as a border, located between the pegs , which has a long flowering period. Today, many varieties have been developed with different flower colors, therefore, having bought several bags, you will decorate the area in the form of bright color spots. The most spectacular are miniature flower beds in the form of circles or squares, randomly located on the lawn.
You can use the following annuals for a mono style flower bed:
Option # 1 – Ageratum
It begins to bloom from the end of May and does not stop until the October frost. Densely planted plants resemble a terry rug because they bloom very profusely. Ageratum is absolutely not afraid of moisture, but even weak frosts can spoil the decorative effect of the leaves. It grows up to half a meter. The best varieties for mono flowers are dwarf (10-30 cm). It should be borne in mind that the degree of growth also depends on the illumination. In partial shade, the ageratum begins to stretch upward, reducing the number of flowers, but lengthening the stem.
The square shape of mini-flower beds, filled with fluffy ageratum bushes, is in perfect harmony with green inserts from lawn grass or ground cover plants
The following varieties are suitable for color spots:
- White bouquet (up to 25 cm high). The color of the flowers is naturally white;
- Blue mink (up to 25 cm high). Color – blue-blue;
- Kalinka (up to 20 cm high). Color – burgundy red;
- Raspberry (up to 20 cm high). Color – crimson;
- Pink ball (up to 25 cm high). Color – pink-lilac.
If there is a desire to create multi-colored spots, then you can plant a variety of “treasures of the Aztecs”, where seeds of different colors are mixed.
Color spots from different varieties of ageratum, scattered throughout the site in the form of miniature flower beds, will look decorative until winter
Option # 2 – Alyssum (Lobularia)
This is a ground cover plant that fills the offered territory with a dense carpet up to 20 cm high. Even weeds rarely break through it. It has an incredibly pleasant, honey aroma, so for those who keep hives, it is very beneficial in terms of feeding the bees. Dislikes fresh organic matter and acidic soils. In dry summers it requires watering. Blooms from June to late autumn.
The following varieties are used for monoclumbus:
- «Pink rug». It takes root better if grown in seedlings, and then transplanted into the ground. The flowers are small, pink in color.
- “Snow carpet». One of the most unpretentious varieties. It reproduces well by planting seeds directly into the ground, and next summer it will sprout by self-sowing, if you do not pull out the bushes for the winter, but do it in early spring. It is very densely covered with small white flowers and looks like it was doused with milk.
- «Gold placer “or” Golden wave». Spectacular bright yellow variety. Unlike the previous ones, it does not creep on the ground, but grows like small balls. Therefore, the flower bed will have an undulating relief.
- «Magic circles». Light purple inflorescences look very decorative. Dislikes heat and reacts to it by stopping flowering. In a summer like this, alissum can shed leaves and flowers. In this case, gardeners recommend cutting off the aerial part so that young shoots can take root. By August, the plant will bloom again and will delight until winter.
Even after the first October frosts, most of the flowers and leaves of alyssum will remain “alive” until the final cold snap sets in.
Even narrow gaps in rocky hills can be filled with different varieties of alissum, although it is better to sow seeds in such places than to dive seedlings
Option # 3 – Salvia
An excellent option for flower beds framed by shorter annuals. The plant itself has a height of up to 40 cm, 20 of which are in the inflorescence. It blooms for a very long time, until late autumn, but it has a long growing season. For the salvia to bloom, at least 3 months must pass. Therefore, the only option for growing it is by seedling on windowsills or in greenhouses, followed by planting on flower beds.
Salvia has a huge number of varieties of different colors, but in flower beds no more than two tones are usually combined so that the flower garden does not look too colorful
To cover a not too decorative stem, it is better to frame the beds with salvia with some kind of undersized plant, for example, cineraria.
Bright red salvia, framed with silvery cineraria, looks solemn and impressive, delighting the owners with flowering until late autumn, but both annuals require early sowing of seeds
If you need to create a flower garden in the form of thin streams running along the paths or framing the patio area, then undersized marigolds are ideal. Not everyone knows that this plant can be cut into a geometrically even shape. At the same time, it does not in any way reduce the degree of flowering, maintaining its decorative effect even after the first autumn frosts.
Marigolds will not only decorate any flower bed, but also heal the soil, because they emit special phytoncides that kill parasites and fungal spores
Purslane thrives on unfertilized and poor soils. The peculiarity of this undersized plant is the needle-like shape of the leaves, which together look like a furry herringbone. But the flowers are large, bright, and when closed (before the rain) resemble rosebuds. This plant can be used both in alpine slides and along the edges of a mixed flower bed.
Purslane flowers look stunning both open and closed, and from the moment of flowering they give out a large number of lush double flowers
