These easy annuals will flower for weeks on end
Many of the plants we grow are for our daytime delight, but it’s important to think about those long summer evenings when (hopefully) we can sit outside and enjoy the calm warmth at the end of the day.
Plants that produce nighttime scents are wonderful to grow along well-lit pathways and seating areas, so we can enjoy their perfume as we sit and chat and mull over the day that’s been.
One such easy-going plant is night-time stocks, a hardy annual widely grown for its pretty mauve and white flowers and the phenomenal fragrance they release at dusk.
Not only do they delight gardeners, they also provide nectar for moths and other night-flying insects, which in turn bring the bats, vastly enriching the biodiversity of your plot.
Because they develop strong tap roots, stocks are best sown directly into a sunny patch of soil with good drainage.
Clear the area of weeds and stones and rake the soil to a fine, crumbly tilth before wetting it with a watering can with a fine rose (sprinkler) attached.
Scatter the seeds thinly, cover with a little more soil and add a label. You can thin any seedlings growing too close together when they emerge.
Stocks grow to 60cm (2ft) tall, so you can give them support by sowing other hardy annuals such as cornflowers and poppies with them – this will also create an attractive display.
To prolong their growing period, sow batches of seeds every few weeks. They are relatively untroubled by pests and disease, though slugs and snails may target young seedlings so protect them with a barrier of wool pellets.
Then pull up a chair and enjoy the scent of summer!
We’re in the pink!
Annual mallow brings a burst of colour
- Annual lavatera, or mallow, is an easy-to-grow plant that will grace the garden with a profusion of satiny, hot pink flowers.
- Sow the seeds thinly in trays or pots of dampened seed compost covered with a lid or sealed in a plastic bag (don’t forget to remove these when seedlings appear).
- Keep the compost damp and well ventilated as the seedlings develop, watering from the base and avoiding dampening the young plants.
- When they are large enough, transplant the seedlings to their own pots or modules of peat-free compost and grow them on before hardening them off and adding them to your garden when the frosts have finished.
- Lavatera does best in fertile soil that drains well and is in a sunny spot.
- It will also grow well in containers of peat-free compost, but make sure they don’t dry out and are fed fortnightly with liquid tomato feed after the first flower buds appear, as the potassium it contains will encourage improved blooming. Deadhead as the flowers fade.
WHATS ON
18 Apr:Plant Hunters’ Fair, Whittington Castle, Castle street, Whittington, Shropshire, SY11 4DF, 10am-4pm.
18-20 Apr: The Garden Show, Firle Place, Firle, Near Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 6LP. 10am-5pm.
18-20 Apr: Isle of Wight Spring Art & Garden Fair, Northwood House and Park, Ward Avenue, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 8A, 10am-5pm.
19 Apr: Alpine Garden Society Cleveland Show, Hurworth Grange Community Centre, 41 Hurworth Road, Hurworth Place, Darlington, County Durham, DL2 2BN. 11am-3.30pm.
19 Apr: Pop Up Orchid Plant Sale, Townley Hall, the Fulbourn Centre, Home End, Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, CB21 5BS. 10am-4pm.
19-21 Apr: The Suffolk Garden Show, Trinity Park, Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8UH.
19 Apr: Spring Plant Sale at Kilmacolm, Outside Kilmacolm Library, Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, Scotland, PA13 4LE. 10am-noon.
19 Apr: Plant Swap, Community Hub at Manchester Craft and Design Centre, 17 Oak Street, Manchester, M4 5JD. Noon-1pm.
20 Apr: Plant Hunters’ Fair, Dorothy Clive Garden, Willoughbridge, Market Drayton, Shropshire, TF9 4EU. 10am-5pm.
20 Apr: Spring Plant Fair, Burrow Farm Gardens Dalwood, Axminster, East Devon, EX13 7ET. 10am-3pm.
21 Apr-5 May: Tulip Festival, Pashley Manor Gardens, Ticehurst, near Wadhurst, East Sussex, TN5 7HE.
25-27 Apr: The Newark Garden Show, Newark Showground, Lincoln Road, Coddington, Newark, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, NG24 2NY.
26 Apr: Specialist Plant Fair, St Michael’s C Of E School, North Road, Highgate, London, N6 4BG. 9.30am-2pm.
26-27 Apr: Spring Live! 2025, South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex, RH17 6TL.
27 Apr: Plant Hunters’ Fair, Cholmondeley Castle, near Malpas, Cheshire, SY14 8HN. 10am-5pm.
27 Apr: Clare Garden Festival, Ennis Showgrounds, Showgrounds Road, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland.11am-5pm.
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