Every year, we plant a LOT of annuals throughout our Zone 6A garden here in Upstate New York. Some become instant favorites. Others make us wonder why we gave them valuable garden real estate in the first place.
So it’s time for our annual annual flower performance review!
This year, we’re joined by our friend Stacy Ling from Bricks ‘n Blooms, who gardens in Zone 6B in New Jersey. We rated some of the annuals growing in our garden on a scale from 1 to 10 based on flower power, performance, color, pollinator appeal, and whether we’d actually grow them again.
And, as you might expect, we did not always agree.
A few annuals earned nearly unanimous praise and have absolutely secured a place in our future gardens.
This one might actually deserve a 12 out of 10.
Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues Salvia produces loads of flowers, grows into a beautiful substantial plant, and is constantly buzzing with bees and other pollinators.
It also just keeps flowering. For us, that’s exactly what an annual should do.
Our verdict: 10+/10 — absolutely growing again.
Artist Blue Ageratum has become one of our favorite ways to create a low, tidy mass of blue-purple flowers.
We space ours approximately 12 inches apart and grow them on drip irrigation. Once established, they create an almost hedge-like effect and flower continuously in both full and part sun.
Our verdict: 12/10 — a permanent fixture in our garden.
Technically an annual in our Zone 6A garden, Verbena bonariensis has essentially made itself at home.
We originally planted it once, and now it self-seeds throughout the garden. Fortunately, unwanted seedlings are extremely easy to pull.
Its tall, airy flowers weave through other plants without overwhelming them, and pollinators absolutely love it.
Our verdict: 10/10.
Some of this year’s biggest winners were growing in our containers.
Superbells® Double Magic™ Grapefruit was an easy 10/10. Four plants filled a relatively small container with masses of colorful double flowers.
The new Superbells® Double Midnight Magenta™ was another standout, with an incredibly saturated flower color.
And Supertunia Mini Vista® Plum Vein joined longtime favorite Supertunia Mini Vista® Indigo on our must-grow list. We especially love the smaller flowers and vigorous growth habit of the Mini Vista series.
Another surprise favorite was Purple Queen Tradescantia. Its dark purple foliage added incredible contrast while its unusual growth habit moved both outward and upward through the container instead of simply spilling over the edge.
If you love Verbena bonariensis but don’t want it reseeding throughout your garden, Meteor Shower Verbena is an excellent alternative.
It stays shorter and tidier, blooms earlier, and doesn’t self-seed the way the species does.
We love both enough that we’ll continue growing them together.
Our verdict: 10/10.
One of our favorite discoveries this year was Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton.’
We first noticed this plant at the Chicago Botanic Garden and decided to grow it ourselves from seed.
It has a completely different look from our other verbenas, with wispy flowers, dark undertones in the foliage, and an almost mist-like texture when planted among other perennials and annuals.
Even better? Ours did very well with winter sowing.
Our verdict: 10/10. And now we want it everywhere.
Not everything earned a spot on next year’s shopping list.
Karalee® Petite Pink Gaura was one of our biggest disappointments. It produced very few flowers, looked somewhat ratty, and attracted rabbits.
For us, an annual needs to provide a season-long show, and this one simply didn’t.
Outshine™ Orchid Texas Sage was another disappointment. The flower color itself is gorgeous, but after its initial flush, it gave us very little floral display.
And our Lavender Queen pea flower vine simply took too long to get going. By the time it reached the top of its support, the rest of the container was already approaching its peak.
Sometimes a plant isn’t necessarily bad, it just isn’t right for the application.
Then there are the plants that landed somewhere in the middle.
We loved the flowers and fragrance of Aromance® Plum Honey Nemesia, although it naturally slows down during hot summer weather.
Surefire® White Begonia created an incredibly full hedge of white flowers and bright green foliage, but the dropped petals can make it slightly messier than some of our other annuals.
And Rockapulco® Rose Double Impatiens may deserve another trial. Stacy grows hers successfully in self-watering containers, which makes us think our inconsistent performance may be more about moisture than the plant itself.
That’s one of the reasons we love comparing notes with other gardeners. Sometimes changing the growing conditions completely changes how a plant performs.
If we had to narrow this year’s garden down to a short list of annuals we’d happily plant again, these would be near the top:
Of course, one of the most interesting things about gardening is that the same plant can perform completely differently from one garden to another.
Sun exposure, irrigation, soil, climate, and even your personal taste all play a role. That’s exactly why we love doing these annual reviews every year.
Watch the video above to see all of the annuals we rated, including plenty where the three of us definitely did not agree!
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