On annuals

Zinnia, calendula, marigold and nasturtium

Every year, I plant rows of annual flower seeds. They get to be about 4" tall and then I scatter them willy-nilly all around the vegetable and perennial gardens. Usually, they don't do much all spring and summer: they kind of limp along, and, especially when interplanted with the veggies, I wonder "why did I devote the space to these wimpy things?" Well, it is because in late summer and all fall these things go NUTS.

Color and pollinator attraction is why they're in the veg gardens. In the perennial gardens, they act much like spring tulips and daffodils do: they tide things over as the clumps of green perennial leaves just sit there, flowerless. It's a good way to keep visual interest going, as your eye flits from color blotch to color blotch.

And then interesting things do happen. Look at what this calendula is doing (normally they're just single dark-eyed daisy-like plants). Isn't that just weird?