Top 10 favorites

1. nigella
2. cosmos
3. nasturtium
4. sunflower "Autumn Beauty"
5. snapdragons
6. old fashioned vining petunia
7. evening scented stock
8. zinnias
9. dahlias
10. glads

Lessee, my container garden is turning into mostly perennial too, but I do love these annuals and plant them whenever I find room. The only two I don't have this year are the begonias and the plectranthus:

1. Impatiens
2. Coleus
3. Nicotiana
4. Torenia
5. Lobelia
6. Calibrachoa
7. Morning glories
8. Fibrous begonias
9. Plectranthus
10. Fuchsia

Looking over everyone's lists, I'm wondering how you start your annuals--in greenhouses, light set-ups in spare rooms/spaces, direct sow outdoors, or winter-sowing, for instance?

My annuals from seed are so tiny that it is often too late for decent bloom by the time I get them into the garden... (and I think I need a greenhouse--think of how much $$ I would save! ha, ha!)

That's how I feel, Tabasco. Jack grew a lot of lobelia but as we hardened plants off we had one hot afternoon and almost all of them fried.

hi tabasco, Until this year, I've always had such good luck with direct sow, but this season I'm a little disapointed. I planted a lot of seed, and a lot of seed didn't come up, I think I'm just so excited about getting to grow this year, I started to early ( I think ). I have almost always ' direct sow ' ( mostly because I don't have room in the house for much of anything ), A fellow DGer sent me some Welcome seed, an assortment, and some of her stuff is doing well, celosia, zinnia, some peppers, millet. All of the seed I got from Parks has failed to germinate "direct sow" . Probably not their fault. I have a few poppies it looks like coming now. But "usually"I have pretty good luck with it. OH! and I swear I'm not stalking you, it just seems we are interested in some of the same topics!!!! LOL.......and unless I get to see moss rose in someone elses garden, I may not get to see it this year.

I just finished seeding mine - a few weeks later then I wanted, but I had other projects. Half of these pots will be moved once they are past the thinning out stage.

Al - you make me wonder if you've heard of the word "relax".

I start from seed and wintersow everything. Except glads. :)

Some of these flowers take a long time before they begin to bloom. I started geraniums in late Jan or early February, and just a few are beginning to bloom. Meanwhile, my neighbor brought home two large planters with big beautiful red geraniums that are much larger than mine. In order to have flowers like that this early in the year, I would need to start around thanksgiving.

Anyway, my top ten in no particular order are:

geraniums
impatiens
madagascar vinca
petunias
dusty miller
lantana (too far north to be a perenial)
rudbeckia
marigolds
pansies
snapdragons

Actually, I lied. I love geraniums. They are my favorite annuals.

No order but currently I like:

Pansies (new one Karma Blue Butterfly is still looking great @ 95 degrees)
Alyssum (smells like fresh hay and honey to me)
Lobelia (blue shades)
Portulaca (I love the bright flowers and long season in hot weather)
Cosmos (I like the orange shades more than the pinks)
Linaria (magenta and gold)
Petunias
Snapdragon
Linanthus French Hybrids
Nicotiana Marshmallow

T&M is currently having a half price sale at their site--I wonder if that effects Value Seeds?

This is my first year with a load of annuals and I am enjoying reading the posts.... I don't have a Top 10, but have some comments and questions.

Al, What do you do with all those pots?

Tabasco, Same here! HOW do people get all these annuals blooming by seed in time to have flowers? I had flats and flats and flats I started indoors under lights...no problem. But the wintersowed ones were just so tiny and the garden center 6 packs were so big and blooming....yes, I bought lots and lots, even tho I had the same things here in seedlings.

Dmac, I love the magenta and gold Linaria, too. (photot below) I am so happy I bought the seed. Am happy I sowed every one of the 100 seeds in the pack, but most of all, I am so happy I only broke the milkjug seedlings into 4 pieces, because if I had planted them at the suggested 4-6 inches apart, I don't think I'd even SEE them in the garden!

Right now the electric blue Larkspur should be blooming, I had at least 50 or more of them, but I think they got eaten by the humongous calendulas...not sure what happened to it, but it is nowhere to be found and I honestly forgot where Iplanted it because i had sooo many little WS seedlings, I was just planting them by the dozen to get them in the ground and get my patio back. I had visions of it blooming with the poppies.

Suzy

Suzy - some of those pots just stay there, the driveway is real wide. Some get moved around to other locations once they are closer to flowering.

The linaria is beautiful Suzy! I direct sowed in the spring in a 4 or 6" pot and just let them be very thickly grown--I did collect some seed as they petered out. Some seed fell to the pot beneath the flower heads and during our insanely warm winter I actually had brandnew blooming linaria and even the dahlias kept going.

They don't look too good right now -- did yours flop all over? It's like the flowers are too heavy for the thin stems or else they don't get enough sun, not sure. But the colors were so fabulous with the golden yellow daffodils I don't even care.

Suzy

I had mine sitting in a larger pot surrounded by more upright/stiff plants that sort of supported them. They would have been very floppy if I had tried to set them apart. The softer colored mixes like Northern Lights didn't seem to grow as tall, so they didn't look like they were going to flop. I hadn't thought about pairing linaria with the daffodils! I'm moving on from a pastel phase and bright bold colors are calling to me.

1. Blushing Susie Vine
2. Morning Glory
3. Lantana
4. Cleome
5. Cosmos
6. Petunias
7. Lantana
8. Red Nicotiana
9. Plains Coreopsis in drifts
10. Sunflowers

Teri

My favorite combo taken late October last year.

Oh, Roses r Red, Thanks for bringing up this old thread!! Love your vines, too!

Lot's of my favorite DG posters are on this thread and I haven't heard from them or seen their posts in ages (since DG got so disjointed with so many forums, that is), anyway, Hi, to all!

It's interesting too to read through everyone's top ten annuals. Some of them I have tried and others I need to!

Right now my top ten are:

tithonia
zinnias
tropical milkweed
cosmos
morning glories
orlaya
touch me nots

I guess I only have seven right now!

I like these because I grew them from seed, so I've bonded with them. And most of them are for the butterflies or hummers.

Happy gardening. t.