Annual flowers are used primarily to brighten the landscape with abundant amounts of color. They are unsurpassed for adding interest to beds or borders or in pots or containers on the patio or deck. They may also be used for cut flowers, rock gardens, window boxes, hanging baskets, screens, temporary fillers and ground covers [text: University of Missouri Cooperative Extension].
Flowering Annuals: Characteristics and Culture, University of Missouri Cooperative Extension publication. Offered as a free pdf download, this site includes chapters on how to define an "annual"? types and special uses, starting seeds or buying plants, soil preparation, seeding outdoors, setting started plants, maintenance, insects & diseases, and uses of annuals.
Growing Annual Flowers, an 8-page PDF from University of Montana Cooperative Extension, includes content on planning flower gardens, starting plants indoors and caring for a garden. It also includes diagrams and table of ornamental and cultural characteristics of 73 common flowers.
Annuals on the website of the University of Minnesota Extension describes and lists hardy / half-hardy / tender annuals, provides a database to help choose annuals according to their design features, and includes links to general resources on plant propagation, training, pruning, mulching/watering, nutrition, weed management and insects/diseases.
Growing Annuals In Containers from Iowa State University Extension is a 2-page pdf that covers how to choose a container and growing media, recommended annuals for flowering or foliage, as well as fertiling and maintaining your container garden.
Annual flower trials at Cornell University includes images and data for hundreds of flower varieties.
Home Gardening on the Cornell Home Gardening website includes flower growing guides with detailed handouts on 269 annual and perennial flowering and foliage plants, as well as basic techniques for effective garden design.
Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance from Rutgers University Cooperative Extension. List includes both annuals and perennials that have shown resistance to deer pressure in their trials.
Last updated January 9, 2017