Many happy returns: self-sowing spring annuals make great additions to the garden; start them this fall for bloom year after year - Garden

When visitors stroll through Sunset's test garden in May during our annual Celebration Weekend, test garden coordinator Bud Stuckey notices what they pause to admire. The top traffic stopper year after year, he says, is a small patch of animals near the walkway. It's a mix of corn cockle, godetia, honeywort, and California poppies that came up on its own several years ago and has been self-sowing for repeat performances ever since.

"Wouldn't you know their favorite section of the garden would be the one I didn't create," says Stuckey with amusement--but not surprise. "I couldn't have planned better combinations. It never ceases to amaze me how beautifully nature does the landscaping."

In our case, nature took over where we left off. We had planted the annuals in a test bed, and when their season was over, Stuckey pulled them up and dragged them to the compost heap nearby. "The next year, their fallen seeds germinated and came up in the same spot," Stuckey says. "They looked so good together, I let them grow."

Something similar happened to Jo Casterline. Twelve years ago, she flanked her rock lined gravel path in Poway, California, with plants that thrive in fast draining decomposed granite and require minimal supplemental water. Among them were orange and yellow California poppies; their sunny blooms have returned every year since.

Now Casterline says her poppylined walkway "is the best part of my garden, and I don't do anything to make it happen. It just comes back, year after year." And because the poppies and other annuals die back each fall and come up the next spring, Casterline's pathway never looks the same two years in a row. "It's always a surprise," she says of the ever-changing color show.

Think of these kinds of annuals as polite reseeders. If you'd like to introduce some to your own garden, fall is the perfect time to start them in mild-winter climates. (In cold-weather areas, wait until early spring to sow seeds.) Ten of our favorite reseeders are listed on page 74.

Keep in mind that there's a fine line between a well-behaved reseeder and an aggressive pest, and the difference often depends on climate. Our list includes corn cockle, for instance, even though this wispy annual turns up on noxious-weed lists in some areas. It's a pest only in the Southeast; in the West we find it almost too polite--it reseeds rather sparsely.

Seed sources

Renee's Garden: www.reneesgarden.com or (888) 880 7228. Corn cockle, honeywort, love-in-a-mist, Shirley poppy, sweet alyssum.

Wild Seed: (602) 276-3536. California desert bluebell, California poppy, desert marigold.

Favorite reseeders

California desert bluebells (Phacolia campanularia). Bell-shaped, dark blue flowers; gray-green, coarse-toothed leaves. Grows 6 to 18 inches tan and wide. Sunset climate zones 1-3, 7-24.

California poppy (Eschscholzia californica). Satin textured, single petaled flowers, pale yellow to deep orange, on stems 8 to 24 inches long. Zones 1-24; H1,

Corn cockle (Agrostemma githago). Mauve-purple flowers with darker veins. Grows 2 to 3 feet tail and 1 foot wide. Good for cutting. Zones 1-24.

Desert marigold (Baileya multi radiata), Inch wide, bright yellow flowers: gray-green foliage. Grows 1 to 1 1/2 feet tall. Native to Western deserts. Zones 1-3, 7-23.

Godetia (Clarkia amoena). Single or double flowers in lilac to reddish pink and blotched or streaked with crimson. Grows 18 to 30 inches tall. Good cut flower. Zones 1-24.

Honeywort (Cerinthe major). Upper stems bear sprays of nod ding, tubular, violet-blue flowers: fleshy stems and leaves, Grows 2 feet tall and as wide. Attracts bees. Zones 1-24,

Larkspur (Consolida ajacis). Blossom spikes densely set with flowers in shades of white, blue, lilac, and pink above finely cut, ferny leaves, Grows 1 to 4 feet tall. Zones 1-24.

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena). Blue, rose, or white spurred flowers, followed by attractive seedpods (useful in dried arrangements). Grows 1 to 1 1/2 feet tall. All zones.

Shirley poppy (Papaver rhoeas). Single or double cup shaped flowers in shades of red, pink, orange, and white, including bi colors. Grows 3 feet tall. Zones A1-A3; 1-24 (best in cool summer areas).

Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima). Clusters of tiny, four-petaled white flowers on low mounds that grow 1 foot tall and wide, In mild climates, blooms nearly year-round from self-sown seedlings, Attracts bees. All zones.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Sunset Publishing Corp.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group