The easiest and quickest way to ensure that your garden is popping with colour through spring is by planting your annuals now from seedlings for a fabulous display. Here are a few of our favourites
Sweet Peas
Sweet peas are a favourite of ours, with their gorgeous scent producing blooms. I like to plant them in pots with a plant support for them to wind themselves through, making an impressive column of fragrant colour. Plant in a sunny position with a rich moist soil and make sure you have something for them to climb up. I like to attach some chicken wire to the fence for them as a support, or put a couple of stakes in the ground and run chicken wire between them as a climbing frame. Fertilise weekly with seasol or powerfeed for gorgeous blooms. They are fabulous cut flowers and make beautiful posies.
Primula
Such an easy to grow annual that looks beautiful and produces masses of lacy blooms. Plant in full sun to part shade areas and water once a week with seasol or powerfeed. Primulas are fantastic in pots as well as being great fillers in the garden with reliable flowering. Colours range from white through to pinks and mauves. Plant into well composted soil in the garden or use terracotta and tub potting mix for container planting.
Ranunculus
Ranunculuses are one of the best for creating eye-popping colour. Producing masses of brightly coloured and large double flowers, they look spectacular when planted along pathways and as groups in garden beds. Usually bought in bulb form, you can now also buy them in seedlings which makes it easier for those of us who missed out on bulb-planting time. Plant them in full sun or a part shaded area with well composted soil, and feed weekly with seasol or powerfeed to help create lush plants with strong stemmed blooms.
Polyanthus
The cheerful colours of polyanthus nestled among their deep green leaves make any garden come alive with colour. With a low growing habit you can plant them in full sun to part shade in moist well drained soil. The colour palette is vivid with reds, yellows, pinks, purples, in all varying shades and tones and usually with a contrasting centre. Perfect in pots as well, planted into terracotta and tub potting mix. Fertilise weekly with seasol or powerfeed.
