Is Planting Annuals a Waste of Time and Money?
The Petunias got ahead of me. I swear, I’m never buying them again. The darned things take way too much maintenance, with the constant watering and the pinching off of the sticky, spent blossoms, and last week I just didn’t have the time or energy. The pots have all started to go to seed. Now they’re just setting blooms at the very tops of the stems, and by next week will be straggly, ugly, pale green messes.
But in the afternoon light yesterday, they looked so spectacular, that my heart melted in forgiveness.
But I’m not giving them another chance to break my heart again next year.
No matter how stunning they are in the sunshine, with their translucent network of veins, and their delicate trumpets blaring all of that fine color into the day.
"In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside; we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves, and the stacks of grain, and the bare clusters of the grape, there is the field of a wholly new life, which no man has lived; that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women. In the hues of October sunsets, we see the portals to other mansions than those which we occupy."
~Henry David Thoreau
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:28 am
Oh, come now. It’s like saying all those snotty noses I wiped… those stinkin nappies I changed… what a waste of time!
Hardly
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:20 am
I am very anti-annual. When I was about to give birth to my first, my husband was outside planting annuals instead of doing all the nesting projects I wanted him to do, and I kept saying “What a waste! they’re not even perennials!” Ah well. My FIL was telling me he likes them for special occassions, because you can throw them in for a burst of color and then pull them out when the event’s over. Heh.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:18 am
If you want to try again next year, you could consider the Wave petunias–they are hear resistant and you don’t have to pinch off the stickies.
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:52 am
Waves and Supertunias and Surfinas are all supposedly “self-cleaning” but I always pinch those little dried mummies off anyway because they bother me.
That said, I think you can probably cut your petunias back by half and rejuvenate them, can’t you?
They are very beautiful… especially with that veining backlit so nicely like you showed them in the second picture…
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 am
Forgot to answer the question in the subject line. I don’t think so, necessarily. Self-seeding annuals are pretty economical–I haven’t planted ruby orach, verbena bonariensis or purple-leaf amaranth this year but am enjoying them all. I can’t wait for my nicotiana sylvestris to bloom, too… I’m going to save seeds from them and try again with them next year.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:03 am
I love amaranth, and keep meaning to plant a great big patch of that with mullein. I love the look of it flipping the yard the bird. I’ll give cutting back the petunias a try, thanks for the suggestion. Off to google the other self-seeding annuals you mention. I have so much to learn!
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:07 pm
My bowl of pansies was dug up and destroyed by racoons (I assume)! It made me very sad. But I did enjoy the bright yellow blossoms for a month or so. And I have a pretty bowl of purple annuals (not sure what they are) by the front door that makes it look all homey and makes me happy. I don’t think they are a waste of time, as long as I think of them as a splurge and use them sparingly.
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
That is the trick of annuals - just when you are ready to pull up the plant and call it a day, they give you a spectacular show.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:22 pm
You already know how I feel about this topic…
July 24th, 2007 at 11:40 am
I used to think ANYTHING that you couldn’t eat was a waste of time, but I really like the way my driveway looks now with the Wave Petunias bordering it. They’re very hardy and they don’t need much in the way of upkeep. I suppose they’ll have to be replaced with some pansies come Fall, I can’t imagine having two strips of mulch until the snow covers it all up.
July 24th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
i hear you on the annuals…i’m going for more perrenials so i don’t have to buy so much each year….the petunias i did this year created the most lovely and amazing bloomfest for about 2 weeks and then blech…don’t know what’s wrong with them.
they were outstanding though when they were on but give me some lavendar and i’ll do sunflowers every summer.