ANNUALS & CONTAINER ACCENTS

Some plants are annuals by habit, meaning that each individual plant only lives for one year regardless of its growing conditions. In nature, these plants use their short lifespans to make seeds so the next generation will live on. Other plants simply can't survive the winters here, but still bloom beautifully through the summer.

While each annual has its own specific care needs, there are some general rules. Make sure they are getting the right amount of sunlight and water for their preferences, and that they have good drainage. Removing blooms once they start to fade encourages the plant to put energy into making new blooms instead of trying to make seeds. Fertilizing regularly ensures that the plant has all of the nutrients it needs.

It may have grown back from seed, or it may be a tender perennial sold as an annual. Many annuals can spread by seed, and a few will seed themselves all over your garden unless you remove the spent flowers consistently. We also sell certain plants as annuals if they are only marginally hardy here and don’t consistently overwinter, even though they can live for multiple years in the right conditions.

Not necessarily. Many annuals can be grown from seed — just plant them in the spring, right where you want them to grow. With heirloom and open-pollinated varieties, you can even save seeds to plant the next year. Some plants in our annuals section, such as geraniums and begonias, can overwinter with special care. Some annual varieties have been bred so that they don't produce seeds at all. These varieties do need to be purchased each year. 

Our annual selection changes quickly to keep up with the seasons, so that you’ll always find the freshest and most beautiful annuals at any time of year. Check out our year in the garden page to get an idea of which seasons will bring which annuals, and give us a call to check for the latest availability updates.

Snowdrops, tulips, daffodils, and other spring-blooming bulbs can come back year after year — so it's fair to wonder why they're on this page. While many people plant dormant spring-blooming bulbs in the fall, the ones you'll find this time of year are already planted, sprouted, and about to bloom. Transplanted in the late winter, these starts make beautiful accents for containers or annual beds. If you want to keep your pre-rooted bulbs for years to come, you can wait until the foliage dies all the way back, then dig up the bulbs and plant them deeper, as you would plant any dormant bulb. However, many gardeners choose to treat them like annuals and simply enjoy them for a single season. Check out our bulbs & seeds page if you're looking for dormant bulbs.