Bottom 10 Annuals
September 17th, 2013
I spend a lot of time telling people about my favorite plants and some of the best new or under-used varieties worth trying.
It’s not just me. Here’s what the pots of lobelia look like at Penn State’s Trial Gardens in August.
What I don’t spend as much time talking about is plants at the other end of the spectrum – the wimps, the bug magnets, the feeble bloomers, the uglies and the easy-to-kills.
Knowing those can be just as helpful at plant-picking time as knowing the latest and the greatest.
So for the next three weeks of fall-planting season, I thought I’d share my opinions on the dogs of the central-Pennsylvania landscape world.
I’ll start with my “Bottom 10 Annual Flowers” today, move on to my “Bottom 10 Perennials” next week, and finish off with my “Bottom 10 Shrubs” the week after that.
Just because a plant has made the list doesn’t mean I’m saying you should never plant it. It also doesn’t mean I hate these plants or that I’ll hold you in disrepute if I see any of them growing in your yard.
I’m sure your lists would be different. In fact, feel free to fire away with your own non-favorites by hitting the comment button at the bottom of this list.
The 30 plants on my three lists come from my own personal experience with them and the assorted faults and shortcomings I observed that were enough to convince me to cross them off my “would-plant-again” list.
So for what it’s worth to you, here’s my pick of Bottom 10 Annual Flowers:
1.) Pansies and violas. I can’t keep either of these out of the rabbits’ mouths for more than 5 minutes after I plant. Which is just as well because the ones I’ve struggled to protect fry to a crisp by July anyway… even the supposedly heat-tolerant ones.
2.) Lobelia. These dainty bloomers look so enticing in the greenhouse with their deep blue flowers. But like pansies, they don’t like our summer heat and at the least shut down flowering – if not croak altogether. At least the rabbits don’t eat them.
3.) Annual phlox. These don’t die in summer, but I wish they would to be put out of their misery. They flower great early in the season, then figure they’ve earned enough respect and just quit. In my opinion, too many other annuals bloom from May to frost to spend money on half-season performers.
4.) Gazania. Gesundheit. Besides the name that reminds me of a sneeze sound, gazania only open when the sun’s out. Their daisy-like flowers are beautiful and showy, but what’s the point if they’re going to stay shut half the season? Rabbits also find them tasty – open or closed.
5.) Nemesia. Here’s another flower that looks great in a spring pot with their orchid-like spiky flowers. By July, though, it’s in suffer mode. Breeders keep trying to come up with a variety that blooms as well in summer as in spring and fall, but I haven’t seen a winner yet. Go with angelonia instead for this style of flower.
6.) Dianthus. Same story as annual phlox. Nice in spring, sorry by summer. Also potential rabbit food.
7.) Red salvia. I never learn with this one. I keep buying them because they attract hummingbirds and have such cheery red flowers in May. But by mid-summer, the red has turned to brown and very few new buds are bringing up the rear. Some people have luck with these. I don’t. Blue salvia is way better for me.
8.) Snapdragons. Again, it’s the heat that shuts down flowering in summer. A few newer varieties do a little better than older types, but snaps have been consistent under-performers for me in summer when an annual really should be at its best.
I’m underwhelmed by this torenia. At least there’s one flower open.
9.) Torenia. The so-called “wishbone flower” got a little better-known as a shade alternative to impatiens, which got hammered by a deadly new downy mildew disease last summer. I tried torenia several times in past years and was always unimpressed at the species’ flower power. So I stopped planting them. Given the impatiens situation, I tried again this year and got the same result as before. This one has breeding potential, but no one’s come close to the jackpot yet, from what I’ve seen.
10.) Nicotiana. No worries with the rabbits eating flowering tobacco. But like red salvia, this one starts nicely out the greenhouse gate but quickly but doesn’t seem to have much of a game plan for continuing to produce flower buds in real-life ground conditions. A spattering of new blooms mixed among the browned greenhouse blooms doesn’t cut it in my garden.
So what’s better? Check out my Plant Profiles section for rundowns on a few dozen of my favorite annual flowers, including pictures.
Also see my list of Bottom 10 Perennials and my list of Bottom 10 Shrubs.
Love your bottom 10. I thought I just had a black thumb. Thanks
I must disagree with putting Torenia on your 10-worst list! This hardy plant blooms all summer, needs no dead-heading, and even pops up again the following year. I have it planted in part shade. It’s on my “must plant again” list for next spring.
I plant blue/purple Torenia along with Diamond Frost in my front porch pots every year. One pot is in total shade, the other two are mostly shade, with just a short amount of sun in the evening. The one in full sun has always been the best, but they have all consistently done well, and in fact are still blooming beautifully. This year I also tried the white; it does get a bit more sun, and it has been a great disappointment. Torenia is definitely my ‘go to’ shade flowering annual.
Pat,
I think that’s the key to torenia — growing it in pots where it can stay well watered and fertilized. A good experiment would be to try some in the ground and compare them to how the same ones do in pots. Thanks for the feedback…
Patti,
In the ground or pots? Maybe you’ve found a better variety of it than me. Or maybe it just doesn’t like me or my soil.
Okay, George. Now I really am done fighting with that lobelia . .. I think. The one time I saw them do wonderfully in a customer’s yard was basically in almost complete shade. I’m sticking with ‘Diamond Frost’ for those dainty blooms - awesome, as long as you give it some break from the sun.
What is it about that lobelia that keeps me wanting to try AGAIN the next year . . ??
I too love lobelia, but the one spot where it has done well (north side of the house) the rabbits discovered it; it doesn’t do well in pots in any location for me. I have tried a newer heat resistant lobelia with no better luck. Blue ageratum is a better choice although it’s not as pretty or as true a blue. Rabbits also loved Diamond Frost last year when I planted it in beds and not pots.
Sounds like you need to invest in a “Have a Heart ” trap for rabbits. Solved my rabbit problem.
I have good luck with pansies in my hypertufa planters.
Nancy,
What bait do you use for rabbits? They don’t seem to be as easy to trap as groundhogs or chipmunks.
Have lovely torenia all summer in pots. Some are in the shade…others in sun. I’ve found that constant watering keeps the blooms coming. I leave the nemesia in the pots after summer heat wilts them but keep on watering and they rebloom again in the cooler fall weather.
I tried Torenia for the first time this year (in the ground) & was very disappointed! Some were in partial shade & others in more sun & none did well at all. Bye-Bye, will try something else next year! Also was very disappointed in how some of the Portulaca did. Some were full of blooms & others not so much. I think I prefer dealing with perennials:)Although I’m curious to see what is on that list, I have a new planting of Lithodoras this year & they didn’t bloom as well as I expected. Grew nicely but very few flowers, maybe next year. Oh well that is the fun of gardening, you just never know!
Happy Gardening
George,
Pansies planted in the fall are far better than spring-planted ones. In the fall, they’re nice but when they size up in the spring, wow! They’re thickly covered with blooms from April to June. Wonderful among bulbs and on their own. When it heats up, they’re done and I pull them out. For good overwintering success, plant in decent soil in full sun.
This year I finally found a lobelia that flowered through the summer heat in my hanging baskets: ‘Lucia Dark Blue’.
Thanks for the feedback, Elizabeth. If rabbits aren’t an issue, pansies are definitely best planted in fall. I tried ‘Lucia’ in the ground in shade last year and it fried like all the rest before it. Could be the combination of a cooler summer and daily watering in a basket that kept yours going this summer. Either that or lobelia just like you better…
Hi George,
My torenia was planted in the ground in part shade with some morning sun.
Patti