Annuals are one of those luxuries that call to us in the spring and we are quickly seduced with their colourful palette after a long cold winter!! But don’t think I’m dissing annuals....they are a quick fix to energize us perennial gardeners like ‘a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down’. There is no question that gardening can be/is HARD WORK!! So why do we do it? Maybe because the reward is not only the feeling of a job well done, fresh air and exercise but it also becomes a little bit of an extension of our personality.
I admit that there are some very sturdy annuals out there that can take pretty much anything the summer throws at them including wind, rain and sometimes blistering heat for weeks on end. We will always have a soft spot for them!! Generally speaking though they do require a little more love and care than is required by the ‘tough as nails’ perennial plant.
So if those eye catching annuals are the icing, perennials are the cake! Remember what it’s like to set aside your shoes and socks and experience the sweet smelling comfort of fresh mown grass on bare feet or the delight of collecting a bouquet of wildflowers to grace an impromptu picnic. Those are the perennials we take for granted. Many of us have taken it a step further to intentionally design a garden bed of perennials. It can become a bit addictive actually. In our one short growing season perennials change constantly in the garden to surprise us and renew our appreciation for the blending of different colours and textures. Problem is that that garden always seems to need a little bit of tweaking so it does keep us on the quest for finding that perfect plant that fits that particular niche in our landscape....so to all of you out there who enjoy dirt under your fingernails, happy hunting!!
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