Many people want a low-maintenance garden, yet no garden is truly low maintenance, but some come close if you use trees and shrubs only, with a thick mulch surrounding them. Another possibility is an informal garden of easy-care flowering annuals.
Some of the best annuals are marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, salvia, cleome, nicotiana, and angeliona. The deer usually leave those alone. The rabbits like my small marigolds, however, but the deer have never nibbled on them because of their smell.
Cosmos and cleome and marigolds can be sown directly into prepared soil in your sunny garden beds in May, as can nicotiana, commonly called tobacco plant, but it is the flowering kind, not the kind used by tobacco companies. The one that has perfumed white flowers is Nicotiana sylvestris, and it blooms in both sun and shade.
Gomphrena is another easy-care annual. Buy plants of it and salvia (There are many varieties, both annual and perennial.) at local nurseries and plant in May. Don’t plant too early as the soil will be too cold and there is the danger of late frosts.
Zinnias should be planted last, in late May/early June as they really dislike cool soil. Plant these easy-care annuals in abundance, and you can pick bouquets of flowers all summer long.
This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on carefree annuals.
