A Little Houskeeping Goes a Long Way

Deadheading a Hydrangea Shrub with Pruners.

Everyone, including plants, needs a little spiffing up from time to time. In addition to basic light, water, and nutrition, a few snips of the pruners is all it takes to keep annuals and tropicals attractive and productive. Removing spent flowers, severely blemished leaves, and damaged shoots will instantly give plants a healthier appearance. Because it is a plant's mission in life to set seed and reproduce, deadheading most plants will also encourage mor blooms. With true annuals, deadheading is imperative. If you let the set seed, they are done for. The good news: many of the plants we call annuals are not true annuals. They are tropicals that can not survice cold winters, and they keep right on trucking for the summer whether you remove the spent flowers or not.

Although it is not necessary, pinching plants with branching habits like coleus, lantana, castor bean or tomatoes will encourage bushier, fuller growth. When you remove a tip of a stem it triggers side shoots to start sprouting. This technique will reduce the plant's overall size, keeping it more compact, but with the payoff of a lush appearance. Many times pinching can be handy when you are trying to keep enthusiastic growers from overpowering a planting and its bedfellows. Once you get the hang of it, you will be amazed at how easy it is to manipulate a plant's growth and keep it in scale with smaller or slower-growing neighbors. All it takers is a simple snip of the stem.

Annuals and Tropicals, Worth Their Weight in Gold

Although they only last one season, annuals and tropicals are worth their weight in gold in the garden. They rarely take a breather from the time you set them out until the first hard autumn frost zaps them. Their fabulous foliage and abundant blooms seamlessly thread plantings together with rich colors and textures. Because most annuals and tropicals are fast growers and flowering machines, they need good, fertile soil (or regular feedings) and occasional pinching and deadheading--a small prices to pay for such big rewards.

Once you get the hang of it, choosing the right tender gems for your garden is easy. Begin by selecting flower and leaf colors that echo those already present in your woody plants and perennials. As you become more comfortable and adventurous, experiment with bold, contrasting color combinations. Likewise, pick plants that will provide a mix of distinct coarse, medium , and fine textures.

As with the term perennial, the word annual defines a plant's life cycle. True annuals sprout, grow, form flowers, produce seed, and die all in one year. Over time, plants that are not cold hardy to an area (and must be planted every year to be enjoyed) have been lumped into this category-even though they are truly perennial in their native habitat. As a result, exotic plants that just do not like the cold are sometimes called tropicals and tender perennials as well as annuals. If it dies in the winter in your area, go ahead and call it an annual.

Large tropicals are the ultimate botanical eye candy. Their exaggerated features get lots of head turns, making them the perfect seasonal specimen plants. Most of the big guns want full sun, regular moisture, and of course plenty of nutrients. If you are planting these beauties directly in the ground, start them out in good loam that has been fortified with compost and perhaps a slow-release fertilizer. If you are growing them in containers, start them with a granular slow-release fertilizer and give them a light feeding of diluted water-soluble fertilizer every few weeks during the growing season. Most soil-less container mixes contain very few nutrients. Growing these plants in containers is often the preferred method. In pots, they can be easily moved around, slipped into borders and brought inside to overwinter.