Get Ahead With Hardy Annuals

For spectacular border plants that virtually look after themselves, hardy annuals take some beating – and now is a great time to sow them, says Val Bourne

- Val Bourne

WHETHER it’s butterflies, bees or hoverflies, when it comes to attracting pollinators, there is nothing quite like a hardy annual. And there’s a very good reason for that: these one-year wonders have to be pollinated so they can set seed and produce the next generation of plants.

Hardy annuals are great for edging borders. Alternatively, they can be allowed to drift through an area and fill in the gaps – as they do among the roses and phlox in my cutting garden – or planted close to vegetable beds. I simply couldn’t do without them. Some of mine are left to self seed; others – the overenthusiastic ones – are carefully culled, with the results then sown in trays and later bedded out.