I will not take up all the 1958 annuals, partly because you can see many of them yourself on these pages and partly because I have yet to test all of them.
But be assured that any annual from a leading horticulturist is good to excellent. And be assured that with them, your next year’s garden will be the brightest yet.
Growers work years, often 8 or 10, to give you great annuals, and without annuals, your garden would be poorer and dimmer. They take up the burden of color early in summer and blaze undaunted until frost.
Excellent Edging And Bedding Plants
Ageratums
I value ageratums for their blue flowers and compact growth and consider them ideal edging or bedding plants.
One of the best is Blue Mink. It is somewhat taller than average (9” inches) but dwarfs enough for most purposes.
Each plant, uniform in habit, tight and compact, makes flower heads 2” to 3” inches across and is a solid mass of color.
Alyssums
Alyssums are also excellent edging plants, particularly the dwarf (4”-inch) violet Royal Carpet and white Carpet of Snow.
- Little Gem, a white dwarf, has been a standby for years.
- Tetra Little Gem, improved and very dwarf, with considerably larger flower trusses and individual flowers.
Fairy Mixed Candytuft
Fairy Mixed Candytuft, in white, pink, rose, crimson, lavender, and purple, is also small and compact.
It makes a flat, even cover 8” inches high loaded with flowers till frost.
Best Begonia “Pink Profusion”
Begonias, which give an abundance of bright flowers, are wonderful bedding plants. One of the best is Pink Profusion.
Plants with deep pink flowers and bronzy foliage are vigorous. They reach 8” inches, start blooming in July, and literally cover themselves with bloom until frost.
Globe Mixed And Twinkle Dwarf
Recently dwarf phlox have boomed as bedding plants. Globe Mixed and Twinkle Dwarf Star Mixed are compact 8-inch mounds loaded with flowers.
Twinkle, the newer of the two, has star-shaped blossoms in many colors, including:
- White
- Pink
- Rose Pink
- Rose Red
- Salmon Pink
- Carmine
- Lavender
Individual flowers, about an inch across, some tipped with a contrasting color, are borne in clusters 2” to 3” inches across.
Vinca Little Pinkie
Another attractive bedding plant is vinca Little Pinkie. About 10” inches high, it is uniform in growth and has 2”-inch flowers that are rosy pink with a rose-red eye. It flowers lavishly over a long period.
Most Satisfactory Celosias “Forest Fire”
One of the most satisfactory celosias for bedding and edging is Forest Fire which makes 4”- to 6”-inch plumes of a bright orange-scarlet.
Hearty plants, 17” to 20” inches, produce flowering stems in profusion and make a brilliant show.
Marigolds
Marigolds almost make the late summer and fall garden. The new Ft hybrid, Climax, available in either gold or orange, is very healthy and uniform in growth.
It is 27” to 30” inches that flowers heavily, starting in early August and continuing till frost.
Flowers generally are large, 4” inches across, and very double. A few are smaller. Although there is this variation in flower size, the overall effect is beautiful.
New Variety Crackerjack
Crackerjack, another new variety, 32” to 36” inches tall, offers very double flowers 3” to 5” inches in diameter, beginning early and going strong late into the season.
It is a cheerful blend of orange-gold-yellow.
Petite Marigold Varieties
This year’s Petite strain of early and heavy-flowering marigolds is very dwarf (8″ inches), compact, and uniform.
Each plant makes a small mound covered with double blooms 1″ to 1 ½” inches across.
- Petite Gold is a clear gold.
- Petite Harmony, a mahogany red with goldcrest.
- Petite Orange, uniform orange.
- Petite Yellow is clear, sunny yellow.
You can get a mixed blend, too. These are remarkable for their dwarf, uniform habit, earliness, floriferousness, and splendid bedding plants.
Petunias: Most Popular of All Annuals
Petunias are probably the most popular of all annuals. As a result, great wide varieties are being introduced this year.
Maytime, the F1 hybrid with large, fringed light salmon pink flowers is truly outstanding. Robust, uniform (10” to 12” inches), and spreading, it produces quantities of winsomely fringed flowers 3” inches across.
Cool, rainy weather sometimes reduces flower production, but Maytime, even so, gives a good account of itself.
Large-Flowered Petunias
Other fine, large-flowered petunias are the following:
- Fire Gleam – the fringed, deep salmon
- Fire Dance – fringed, yellow-throated salmon scarlet
- Scarlet Bonfire – gold-throated salmon with wavy margins
All bright 12” or 15” inches stand up to the elements. Fire Dance is more affected by cool, rainy weather than the other two. Normally all produce flowers galore.
Multiflora Petunia
Glitters, an F1 multiflora petunia, is red and white. The ratio of red to white is somewhat variable, but the effect is always electric. It is another healthy, uniform (to 12” inches) floriferous one.
Four Desirable Petunias
Four other desirable petunias are the following:
- Red Satin, with 2 ½” inch vivid scarlet red flowers produced in quantities;
- Alpha Red, very like Red Satin;
- Pink Satin, the 1958 multiflora Ft hybrid with deep pink flowers 2” to 2 ½” inches across;
- Alpha Rose, also an Ft multiflora, a deep carmine rose with a yellow throat.
Giant Flowered Choice Mixed
Penstemon is less common but no less desirable. Giant Flowered Choice Mixed in maroon, purple, pink, violet, solid, and blended with white throat, grows 21” to 26” inches high.
It made several cuttable stems 9” inches long per plant and topped with gay flowers about 1” to 2” inches across.
Gloriosa Daisy
Last year’s rudbeckia Gloriosa Daisy, spectacular in the garden and wonderful for cutting, is golden, yellow, or bronze with a mahogany center.
Strong, uniform plants make stems 30” or more inches long and end them with 5- to 6-inch flowers from early in the season till fall.
Snapdragons
Like them, snapdragons are as good for cutting as they are showy in the garden. The Fi and F2 hybrids have uniformity, stamina, and floriferousness.
Usually, they are from 24” to 36” inches high, depending on the variety, and very even in growth.
Flowers are large, about 1 ¾” inches across, and borne on long, shapely spikes 6” to 9” inches. Both F1 and F2 are excellent. They come in ivory, pink, red, yellow, and lavender.
Giant Cactus-Flowered Types
The newest zinnias are the giant cactus-flowered types with large (4” to 5”-inch) flowers, curled and ruffled.
Some of the most recent varieties are the following:
- Mandarin Red, orange-scarlet
- Kismet, orange salmon
- Rosalind, rose pink
- Lavender, rose lavender
- Purple, rosy purple.
Mandarin Red, Lavender, and Purple are more vigorous than the other two. These three become 24” to 30” inches high; Rosalind and Kismet are 18” to 24” inches, but the flower size and form are the same.
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