I’ve been doing a bit of looking ahead and thinking about the half hardy annuals that I will sow later in the spring. Half hardy annuals I think of as the flowers that add a bit of pizazz to your plot, many are lovely and vibrant and they will extend your growing season right into autumn.
So what is a half hardy annual? Well its a flower that grows, flowers and sets seed in one season but that are susceptible to frosts. So either they need to be sown after the risk of frost has passed or sown undercover and kept protected and then planted out after the frosts. I tend to sow them in late March or early April, and keep them in my unheated greenhouse or if they prefer a bit more heat on my bedroom windowsill. I prick out and pot on as needed and plant them out mid to end of May. They may need hardening off before planting out which just means bringing them out of the greenhouse or warm windowsill in the day and taking back indoors overnight, do this for a week or so. This is just so that they don’t get a shock from being in a toasty environment to getting planted out in the big wide world outdoors and keeps them growing more smoothly.
It includes some of my favourites, Sunflowers, Phlox, Rudbeckias, Cosmos, Zinnias and Nicotiana. Some I sow earlier than others as they can be a bit slower to grow and get to flowering size, these include Phlox, Rudbeckias and Scabious. Others are super speedy and quickly germinate and grow, like Cosmos and Nicotiana. More information of specific sowing instructions see the Higgledy garden seed sowing guide.
Sunflowers, who doesn’t love them, even if you are one of those weird people that don’t like yellow flowers (Controversial!) surely everyone can find room for a sunflower. They come in a wide range of colours with, some might say, more tasteful colours like primrose yellow, red, copper and I love the peachy apricot colours. I grew ‘Ruby Eclipse’ last year and fell in love, but this year we are stocking a new variety, excellently chosen by Higgledy Gemma called Helianthus ‘Summer Lovin’ which has shades of cream with shades of dark pinks and red suffused through. Gorgeous.
Rudbeckias, another yellow flower! But again this comes in many shades, here at Higgledy we sell the glorious ‘Marmalade’ which is a gorgeous warm yellow with a big brown ‘nose’ in the centre of the flower. It goes lovely with vibrant colours of Zinnias, Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’ and Nicotiana. There is also Rudbeckia ‘Irish Green’ which has a bright green ‘nose’ in the centre, which I think would go lovely with Dill ‘Mammoth’ or Nicotiana ‘Lime’. Myself I’m a sucker for the rich varied tones of yellows, browns and sandy shades of Rudbeckia ‘Sahara’ which goes so well with Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’ and Cosmos ‘Apricotta’.
Zinnias, I love them but they need sunshine and warmth to really do themselves justice and I don’t have a huge amount of areas in my garden with full sun but if you can find them the right spot and once they get going they are fabulous. I tend to sow these in modules, as they don’t like too much root disturbance, so then I can just either plant them directly from the module or pot them on into 9cm pots. The other thing I’ve found is that they are very tasty to slugs so I do try and get my plants to a good size before planting to give them a better chance. Last year the star of my Zinnias was ‘Purple Prince’ that was just glorious and mixed well with lots of other flowers.
Nicotiana, so good as adding a filler to your bouquets and they just keep on flowering, so just keep picking. I’ve also found them pretty resiliant to drought they don’t need masses of watering. Also many of them are scented including Nicotiana ‘Sensation’ which comes in a beautiful range of colours with quite large flowers, Nicotiana ‘Lime’ a fabulous acid-green form and Nicotiana affinis, pure white flowers. But my favourite is Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’ which though is not scented but has slightly smaller flowers than the other forms and adds some daintiness to your bouquets.
Cosmos, these are a must have for me, they are just THE best cut flower in my opinion. I’ve written about my love for Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ here but I love them all. Cosmos ‘Purity’ is such a strong plant, it gets big so needs some support but you will be cutting from it for months. Cosmos ‘Sensation’ and ‘Fizzy Rose’ give you a wonderful range of pinks and reds. There is nothing more beautiful than a big bouquet of Cosmos for me. I’m trying a couple of new varieties this year too so will see how they do. They are super quick to germinate and grow so you need to bear that in mind which you are planning to sow them as they will need to be kept frost free, so don’t sow too early unless you have the space to grow them on.
Scabious are fabulous flowers for cutting, I’ve found they can be quite slow to grow so I sow them fairly early and pot them on till they are a good size and plant out after the frosts. I love the rich dark black flowers of Scabiosa ‘Black Knight’, I’m also growing a lovely rich red form called ‘Merlot Red’ and a peachy apricot form called ‘Fata Morgana’. Scabiosa ‘Ping Pong’ I grow for its amazing seed head which is so good for drying and keeping for autumn and winter arrangements.
Aster ‘Ostrich Plume’ they remind me of jelly tots some how, the colours and that big yellow centre just full of fun. Big shaggy flowers, they need a bit of space and support but these Chinese Asters are great for bringing late colour to your plots.
Phlox I’ve already written about how much I love these here and can’t wait to get them going this year. Definitely going to try and have a good patch of these for cutting.
So there are a few of the half hardy flowers that I’m planning to grow on my plot this year. Can’t wait to get started. But I’m holding out a bit longer before sowing.
We also have a bundle offer for a collection of flowers to add some vibrant colours to your cutting garden. Have a look at the Higgledy Garden Sunglasses Bundle!
Higgledy Anne
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