Every year, besides the old standbys, I try something new. If it succeeds, I will continue to grow it.
Datura Suaveolens
Among those I have tried and kept is (Datura) Brugmansia suaveolens.
It is easy to grow from seed, starting early indoors or directly in the garden after the ground is warm. Give it lots of food and about the same space you give a large-flowered dahlia, and it will flourish.
With its huge white and fragrant trumpets, as many as 100 to a single well-grown specimen, Brugmansia is interesting in the border or a large container.
I grew it in a sunny window for over a year. Incredible as it may sound, it bloomed every important holiday—Easter, The Fourth, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!
Godetia “Satin Flower”
Another annual I tried and kept is the satin flower (Godetia), which is easy to start indoors or directly in the garden. Plants of this expand and become quite bushy and loaded with flowers.
There are mixtures, but I like the pink ones best and grow them. Wherever petunias look well, godetias look better because you meet them so infrequently.
Nemesia
Nemesia is still another. This I always start in the house here in Maine. It transplants easily and becomes a mass of color that stays with you until a hard frost.
There is a mixture that produces white and yellow. Orange, pink, crimson, rose, and blue flowers that look like minute orchids. I plant it near snapdragons, petunias, calendulas, and sweet alyssum for color in the fall.
Incarvillea Variabilis
I got Incarvillea variabilis because I had already tried I. Grandiflora recipes and found it so desirable I had to see another species.
It is like a gloxinia in shape and comes in cream and all pink and rose shades. It grows about 2’ feet tall and, like nemesia, blooms until late autumn.
Starting New Annuals Indoors
I start all new annuals indoors, usually in egg boxes or small flats made of a tarred material. I keep the little flats moist until seedlings show. Then I move them to the light and keep them watered well but not wet.
Finally, I move them individually into small containers when they have one pair of true leaves.
One of the most important things in planting seeds indoors is giving them enough water at transplanting to prevent wilting.
44659 by Dorothy Holland