Finally, the last part of the Annual Events series – good news for those of you who like annuals and even better new for those of you who are getting tired of them by now. This one focuses on annuals and tender perennials with outstanding foliage paired with other terrific foliage or flowering plants.
In Annual Events – Part 1, I showed some of my favorite annual-based groupings for summer interest. While I’m waiting for spring to decide it’s really here, I’m thinking even further ahead and reviewing some color-rich combinations for fall. The shot above, of the middle path in the front garden, contains several of my must-have annuals and tender perennials, including ‘Profusion Orange’ zinnias and several selections of sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas): ‘Sweet Caroline Light Green’, ‘Sweet Caroline Bronze’, and ‘Sweet Caroline Purple’.
Signs of spring are finally starting to appear here in southeastern Pennsylvania. Just yesterday morning, I heard the pre-dawn twitterings of the first woodcocks as they migrate through here in March, and new shoots are popping up even through the soggy soil. Still, it’s going to be a while yet before there’s a lot of color to enjoy outside, so I decided to delve into my photo archives to get some ideas for combinations that I may want to revisit, and I’ve selected a bunch of my favorites in the hopes that they may help to brighten your day too. They cover a range of color themes, but they all have one thing in common: one or more annuals or tender perennials as the stars of the scene. There are a lot of them, so I’ll show just the summer combos here and save the fall and foliage pairings for follow-up posts.