GARDENERS FIND THERE'S ANNUAL FOR EVERY LIKING

In the past few weeks thousands and thousands of little holes have been dug in gardens to plant newly purchased annuals and other plants that are available at every garden center and many grocery stores at this time of the year. Annuals lead the list of sales at this planting time because of their diverse use and quick and colorful addition to the garden.

From African daisies to zinnias there is an annual for every garden. Their rapid growth, abundant and long blooming flowers, wide range of colors and easy growth has made them favorites of many gardeners.

The easiest way to have a low maintenance flower bed is to select flowers that take care of themselves and have similar requirements for growth. Transplant species requiring similar moisture requirements into the same bed. Plant dusty miller with petunias, or portulaca because they prefer somewhat dry soil conditions, rather than impatiens, which grows best in moist soil.

The natural cycle for annuals is to bloom, produce seeds and to die, all within a year. Once the flowers fade and the seed pods begin to develop, many flowering annuals are no longer motivated to continue to produce flowers. To stimulate continuous blooming, it may be necessary to cut back or pinch off existing blooms once they begin to fade.

This process is called "dead-heading." Some flowers need to be regularly dead-headed, such as marigolds, snapdragons and zinnias. However, alyssum, agertum, begonias, impatiens, portulaca and vinca are flowering annuals that do not require dead-heading, and these flowers require less time for the busy gardener.

Also, some annuals require pruning to become bushy or to avoid becoming spindly, while others are natural basal branching. Grandiflora petunias, snapdragons and zinnias should be cut back to stimulate lateral branching, preferably when they are being transplanted. Excellent low maintenances choices are multiflora petunias, nicotiana, verbena and vinca because they naturally remain bushy.

Always read the label of bedding plants. Last year we found a pink petunia that was a delight, but there was no name on the label other than, "dwarf branching pink petunia" and neither was the name of the company where it was produced on the label. Looking for it again this year is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Match plants to similar light requirements. Plant a tuberous begonia or coleus in full sun and they will burn up. Put them in a semi-shady area and they should grow beautifully. Put celosia, cosmos or petunias in the shade and they will stop blooming altogether.

One of the most frequent questions we receive is, "What will grow in the shade and bloom and give color for summer?"

For gardeners who want to grow flowers under trees or along a wall that cuts out sun, there are a number of plants that flourish in the shade. Many inherit this ability from wild flowers that bloom on the dark wall of dense forests. Three most popular ones are wax begonias, impatiens and coleus. New Guinea impatiens will grow best in filtered shade or with some morning sun.

One of the most outstanding annuals that thrives in our hot, dry summers is gazanis, that grow best when the temperature is in the 80's and 90's, and need full sun with dry soil. Doesn't that fit our Southeast Missouri climate and soil conditions?

Gazanias grow profusely in San Miguel, Mexico, and are a delight because they are used as a border plant. They are natives of South Africa. Their stalks rise only 6 to 10 inches from the ground and bear single daisy-like blossoms in bright yellow, gold, cream, orange, pink or bronze red, each with a dark rim around the center. Their blossoms close on cloudy days and at night so they are not too satisfactory as cut flowers, but a delight in the flower bed in the hot, hot summer.

Another favorite flower is nicotina with its heavy pleasant fragrance in the evening. It is anything but hazardous to your health as is its relative, commercially used tobacco. Nicotina will grow in any garden soil in full sun or light shades, and comes in white, red, and unusual shades of wine, chartreuse and chocolate. We prefer the scarlet ones in hope they will attract hummingbirds.

Another favorite is gloriosa daisy, often called gloriosa brown-eyed susans, because of their resemblance to the wild flower. However, they are larger and are wonderful long lasting cut flowers.

Other easily grown low-maintenance annuals include cleone, coreopsis, phlox, sweet alyssum, the enormous varieties of marigolds, verbena, gaillardia, larkspur, cornflower and love-in-a-mist.

Annuals inherit their versatility from their ancestors, the wildflowers that gave birth to our modern flowers, and still bloom all over the world.