Seems like it's been wet and dreary up here for the last three weeks - we should be very close to making up for the precipitation shortfall very soon.

I'm mostly a perennial gardener, but rediscovered the real joys of annuals a couple of seasons back - so reliable for continuous bloom whereas with perennials there's a certain amount of waiting.

My absolute favolite annuals are statice, lisianthus, Dianthus Chinensis (will often perennialize), petunias - prefer the Dreams series but might try the Waves, alyssum, hybrid verbena, geraniums, portulaca, summer "Harlequin" dahlias, cosmos, impatiens, snapdragons, coleus, and zinnias. I only grow the zinnias from seed, everything else I'll buy in flats from various places when I start my garden crawl late in April.

I know a lot of people do mail order for seeds and annual plants, but even though that would be a source for something usual not available locally, I prefer being able to put a plant with some size in the ground; and the choice of locally available plant material seems to get bigger and better every year.

My favorite annuals are coleus, though petunias, strawflowers, and cosmos also usually find their way to my garden. Diamond Frost Euphorbia was also a good grower for me this summer.

I have about 60 or so containers, so I love annual flowers.

I ration the more expensive varieties: wave petunias, calibrachoa, verbena, and anything else you might find in a "Proven Winners" pot in spring.

It was a very good year for containers and I did not grow anything that I did not like. But I was boycotting a few things from past years: Hybrid Nemesia (never seem to make it through the summer) Gaura (never enough flowers) Bidens (just not good habits) and New Guinea impatiens which just don't seem to like me.

I will put bedding plants in containers as well, of these I am most pleased with profusion zinnias and all the coleus that I tried. I also have some "Red Plume" annual gailardia that out-did themselves this year.

If I had a failure this year it was my Ivy Geraniums, they never really got going and they got that corky fungus early on and never came out of it very well.

Thanks for the thread, it reminds me to start my note taking for next year, I am sure there will be yet another rainy day before I forget it all.

I can't wait to see what all of you use in your gardens for annuals. I have concentrated on filling my gardens up with perennials in the past years and have not dabbled much in annuals. The ones I do grow are:

Zinnias, I have both the miniature Zinnias and the larger flowered Zinnias.

Cobaea scandens (cup and saucer vine). This is a fascinating vine. The cup starts out white and turns this magnificent royal purple and the saucer on the bottom is white/green. Very cool vine. I have to start this one early or I don't see bloom.

I also, have grown the pansies and petunias and various varieties of coleus.

This year I want to start many annuals (hopefully in my greenhouse) one I will be looking for is Cuphea also known as 'Tiny Mouse'. I seen these this summer while visiting gardens in Minnesota. The little darling flowers look like little mouse heads. How adorable. I have to have this annual. ha ha.

I will be watching the lists you provide to add more annuals to my wish list. Thank you for starting this fabulous post.....

One more thought. I have hummingbirds that pass through my gardens every Fall. They are here for a good month or more. I am gong to increase the number of petunias in my gardens along my paths next year to hopefully entice this little jewels to stay around all summer long.

I use perenials for folliage, any flowers are just lagniappe. The powerhouse for color in my gardens have been put into annuals. This year I fell in love with the Lantanas. They just amazed me with the continous blooms. The Bantana Series just blew me away. I planted them about 18" apart and ended up with a flowering hedge all summer into fall. No deadheading and perfectly formed. I am definately taking cuttings from these babies. I also had the "ham and eggs" variety these were really butterfly magnets, all summer they flocked to this one in droves. It's another keeper. I used the Wave Blue petunias in my siberian iris bed for color after thier blooms finish. This year I was a little disappointed with them. I will have to add more compost to the bed before it goes to sleep for the winter.
I have been searching on the net for different flowers to fill in around the little shrubs till they grow I put in basil dill and other herbs to share with the butterflies. Next spring I am going to try my hand with more seeds rather than bedding plants. Since I am no longer working I now have more time than money (it's always something isn't it?) Maybe even winter sowing!
I have to add though the plant that I really loved this year was a huge WEED I forget the name of it but it sure did add texture to an area that needed it.