I'm not into planting flats and flats of annuals, so my solution is to plant
seeds of annuals that will self-sow in years to come. Through this method I
have permanent annuals in my garden, including california poppies, opium
poppies, shirley poppies, bachelor buttons, fleabane, allysum, larkspur,
cosmos, godetia, lavatera, four-o-clocks and this year have added some new
ones for me, including scarlet flax, linaria, nemophilia, and limnanthes. I
don't think the larkspur germinated for me, and neither did the annual
phlox, so I might need to try sowing those at another time of year. The main
trick is to remember what the seedlings look like, and not to be afraid to
thin ruthlessly when they are growing too close together. Also to weed them
out of the perennials and shrub areas.
I will plant the occasional small groups of petunias, lobelia, rock
roses, and impatiens - but not enough to qualify as major expenditures of
time, effort, and money.
"Bill Spohn" wrote in message
...
I noticed a question about annuals in another thread, and it got me
wondering
about whether I am the odd one out in having an almost exclusively
perennial
garden.

I just don't have time to spend on setting out annuals every year, as my
gardening hours are already over-subscribed by other more pressing matters
(weeding, mowing, carving out new beds etc.)

Other than a few favourite annuals, I just don't bother much with them any
more. Are there others who do the same?

Bill
Vancouver