Spring Annuals

We put the first round of spring annuals out on one of our resort properties this week. Typically, we don't plant annuals in big blocks unless they are in prime spots around entrances, signs, or statues. Annuals can really take away from the natural beauty of a space if they are put out in the open, so we try to restrict them to areas where they can have more architectural impact, but still tell the story of the seasons as they are changed out.

We also try to make sure that we syncopate them. Nature doesn't plant in matching big blocks or sausages. If there are ten in one spot there should be several in other, a few a little farther over, and maybe even one where you don't suspect. The way the weight of the colors fade in and out can help guide you through the landscape from one point of impact into another theme or room and to the next point of impact. If trees and shrubs provide the beat to the song, flowers are more like the tone, and how they are used creates the melody, and when they conflict with each other or the landscape they can really screw up the pitch.


People often ask me the best place to plant flowers, and I usually reply wherever a weed might grow. I often find that someone will get far more pleasure out of a few pansies where there is a missing stone in the sidewalk, than they will from five hundred in a circle in the middle of the driveway. I try to plant my annuals as nature would its wildflowers, where ever there is enough bare ground, light, and moisture to make them grow. This helps sustain the space they are in. It keeps the weeds out by occupying the space, and eliminates some mulching by shading the ground.

Inherently annuals pose a sustainability problem in that they have to be replanted every year, or in most cases three times per year. We try to reduce this impact in a few ways. In the early spring and fall I try to throw in some lettuce or other ornamental greens where there might not be enough sun to grow something like that once the trees are fully leafed out. In the summer rotation I might replace that with a Hosta or Astilbe that would stay up until it freezes in the fall. Planting those perennials for later seasons eliminates two rotations of flowers, Those rotation average about six to eight dollars a square foot so this can really help move toward sustainability.

We also recognize that while the properties grow, so does the number of places that might like flowers, so we always try to replace some of our annual space with shrubs or perennials when we switch things out. While we want flowers everywhere, we don't want to overwhelm our selves or our clients with the overall amount they have to care for. Whenever possible we try to make sure that the plants do more to take care of the space that they are in than we do to take care of them. If it doesn't it is not a sustainable solution.