Is your garden an annual chore?

By Julian Brandram

Do you depend on annuals to fill your garden? If so, it can cost you quite a lot of money, and for six months of the year, there is nothing to look at! 
Many people are using perennials now, they can flower for quite a long time and will go on for years without having to be replaced. They suffer from few diseases and don’t need any fertiliser so are ideal for organic growing. As they soon increase in size, you can lift and divide the plants to start a new flower bed or just give them away to friends.
Before you start planting dig out every single bit of troublesome weeds like dandelions, docks, couch grass, convolvulus and ground elder. If you don’t do this, they will continue to come up in the middle of your perennials and you will never be rid of them.

There are lots of good perennials but here are some ideas to start you off. Phlox come in a range of colours from white through pink and red and they have a pleasant scent. Hardy geraniums will often grow in some shade and are in similar colours to phlox. Look out for unusual varieties such as Ann Folkard, it scrambles over other plants and the flower is magenta with a dark eye. Or Buxton’s variety, this is a soft blue with a white centre, it is a compact, low growing plant good for growing in the cracks between paving. The Campanulas or bell flowers have blue flowers, many of them can be grown from seed. They can be up to 2 feet high or be low growing alpines. The onion family are called Alliums, the flowers are mostly dramatic purple balls on tall stems, peering out cheekily above everything else.

There are still some annuals which are worth growing, nasturtiums and canary creeper are quick growing annuals which will scramble over shrubs or fences. Nemesias are a mixture of lovely colours and have a very soft and informal feel.. Night scented stocks send a sweet perfume through the evening air, a lovely old fashioned smell!

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