Annuals

Annual plants are here-today, gone-tomorrow party girls. They may have just one season in the sun, but what a season: they flower for an incredibly long time and are invariably so spectacularly beautiful you'll lose your heart to them.

We stock two kinds of annual in our garden centre in Basingstoke: hardy annuals to sow direct from March onwards, and half-hardies to sow under cover as they don't like frost. Here are just some you'll find in our garden centre.

Hardy annuals:
Ammi majus: lacy white flowers over feathery foliage
Poached egg plant (Limnanthes douglasii): cheery yellow-and-white flowers
Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena): starry blue or white flowers followed by architectural seedpods
Ladybird poppies (Papaver communtatum 'Ladybird'): scarlet papery petals each with a black blotch
Nasturtiums: abundant red, orange or creamy flowers over rounded leaves

Half-hardy annuals:
Cosmos 'Purity': clear white daisies with yellow centres on long stems
Zinnias: pompom flowers in brilliant scarlets, yellows and purples
Swan river daisy: profuse mauve daisies tumbling over pots and baskets
Nemesia: another perfect container plant with pretty, delicate blooms
Tobacco plant (Nicotiana): charming open flowers in pink, cream and green over big leafy rosettes

Please ask the staff in our Basingstoke garden centre for more information and advice about choosing and growing annuals.