Flower Power: Annuals & Perennials

“You can really create a mood with your plant selection,” noted Judd Griggs, vice president of operations, Smallwood Design Group, Naples, Fla.

The desire for an aesthetically pleasing landscape drives many residential and commercial clients to explore annual and perennial installation, he observed. Infused with garden magazines, consumers are more aware of planting possibilities and are stretching their imaginations. “Their level of interest and understanding is higher, and they’re really demanding more unique things,” Griggs noticed.

“Annuals and perennials have become a really hot topic on the residential side, and it’s a way to please your clients,” he added. “On the commercial side, I’m seeing clients use color on a competitive basis to attract more shoppers. At the office level, they feel that color will attract more tenants and allow them to charge higher lease rates. And corporate clients use the plants to create a nice working environment for their employees.”

More clients are calling for innovative annual and perennial plantings, producing an easy-sell installation for contractors.

COST AND CARE. Certainly, customers will not find a shortage in plant variety, with countless annual colors and boundless perennial blooms available to mix, match and mold a desirable landscape. However, though clients might be willing to step outside the traditional design box, contractors should take measures to understand a client’s expectations.

Rick Christensen, landscape division manager, Teufel Nursery, Portland, Ore., suggested showing customers color photographs of the annuals and perennials they are considering for their landscape so there aren’t any surprises after the installation is complete.

“The clients have in their mind what they’re expecting, but they aren’t always able to articulate it,” he explained. “Too often, what we install is not what the client is thinking of.”

A satisfied customer is an educated customer. This is why Christensen communicates in advance the costs and maintenance requirements, including fertilizing, watering and replanting, so that clients are aware of the plants’ needs. This knowledge is an essential before customers can begin to “get creative,” he noted. (See sidebar below).

“When the decision is made to put in a large display of annuals, we let the customers know that the cost is not just installation,” Christensen stressed. “There is a cost ramification they will live with.”

Annuals’ and perennials’ plant care needs can be deceiving. Many homeowners assume that perennials are an inexpensive, low-care alternative since they do not need to be replaced on a yearly basis. This, however, is not the case, Christensen warned.

“We see a lot of perennial plantings, but they are not quite as maintenance-free as you hear,” he noted. “Certainly, there’s not the cost of replacement, but perennials do need grooming and deadheading, and a display will only last so many years before you need to redo it.”

Perennial plantings are less expensive to maintain than annuals, whose bold, bright blooms last only one year, Christensen said. This cost savings motivates some customers to favor perennials. He suggested a mix of both types of plants, so the bloom times overlap and the display is lively year-round. As perennial plants mature, the owner might choose to scale back annual plantings. “Perennials only have a color display for a limited period of time, so if they want supplemental color, I resort to annuals,” he noted.

CONTAINER CREATIONS. While cost is a consideration for some clients, contractors must ask other key questions when assessing a property, noted Jim Downie, sales, Pleasant View Gardens, Loudon, N.H.

“The list is endless,” he described. “What are their likes? Is the property a summer home, because you don’t want to plant a lot of early spring plants if they won’t show up until the Fourth of July. Do they want to attract butterflies or hummingbirds? Do they like the cottage garden effect or bold colors? Do they like little maintenance or do they not mind maintenance?"

The answers to these queries build a sort of “property profile” for a contractor before he decides which plants to install, Downie noted. Understanding a client’s expectations allows a contractor to choose the proper plants for the property. And lately, requests are not so conservative, he added.

“All the rules are breaking and everything is going in together now,” he said, explaining that containers mixing various plant types - even herbs and vegetables - are gaining popularity.

“As time gets tighter and tighter these days and as our yards get smaller and smaller, people are mixing perennials, annuals, herbs and vegetables in mixed container situations so they can have all of the things they want without the work.”

Instead of dedicating sections of a landscape to particular plants, many homeowners are taking this potted approach. Containerized plantings do not require the space or time a garden demands, Christensen noted.

“Container plantings allow flexibility in that you can add color or interest to areas where you don’t have a bed,” he explained. “In entrances to buildings or around pool areas in apartment complexes - there are a lot of places where containers can be used.”

Here, again, low-maintenance features can be misinterpreted, Christensen added. Because the roots are above the ground, containers dry out very quickly and need to be watered generously. When the weather is hot, soil dries out faster, and when temperatures are cold the roots are exposed to the extremes, he continued.

Christensen suggested integrating containers with the property’s irrigation system where possible, or alerting a crew of the plants’ watering needs so they can care for plants manually with hoses or watering cans.

The container trend, however, has opened up a market for a variety of planter options, Griggs added. “The choices are not limited to terra cotta pots,” he commented. “There are different manufacturers producing containers now that look very traditional.”

Mixed hanging baskets are also popular among clients, Downie noted. Wrought-iron Shepard hooks staked in the ground also provide an eye-catching floral display. Here, too, homeowners gain the visual benefits of a garden with smaller-scale maintenance, cost and time obligations.

PERSONAL PICKS. Some clients don’t mind spending time outdoors and enjoy the opportunity to flex their green thumb. Large sections of perennials and ornamental grasses and mixed displays with numerous plant varieties allow customers to personalize their gardens. No two displays generate the same feel, and homeowners can design the landscape to reflect their vision, Griggs noted.

Contractors must consider the client’s design intent - their mental picture - when selecting plants, he added. “If you have a formal landscape and you’re trying to bring in a lot of perennials, it’s not going to give you a formal look - it’s a softer look,” he explained, stressing the importance of carefully choosing varieties for a project. “The variety and different heights give you the informality.”

To add interest and individuality to a landscape, Griggs recommended combining plants. “Combining is a really good way to extend the blooming time and fill in the gaps in perennial gardens,” he added. “Spot annuals in areas and they will bloom from the time they’re planted until the first, hard frost. This is a great way to integrate both, and then you end up having a continual profusion of color the whole season, which will add more diversity to your garden as well.”

Besides simply mixing annuals and perennials, Griggs suggested paying attention to the type of foliage on plants to create different textures in the display. He noticed the increased use of ornamental grasses to add a selection of texture and color.

“You can play up dark green and coarse textures against fine-textured, wispy grasses,” he described. “The play of the different textured foliage against each other really creates something spectacular.”

Texture and height of plants form a spatial element to the display that intensifies with soft shades and splashes of color, Griggs said. “You can make the landscape very strong with colors like reds and yellows and oranges - bold and eye-catching,” he noted. “Or you can make it subdued.”

White gardens counter the bold, bright landscapes and can be striking at night, Griggs added. White, green and blue tones capture a calming effect. Chad Corso, vice president, Corso’s Garden Center, Sandusky, Ohio, said these moonlight gardens are one among several customer requests for original landscape options. Water gardening is also drawing attention, especially for those who spend time outdoors and find the sound of gurgling water appealing, he noted.

“We’re putting a lot of water features into gardens - fountains, ponds and waterfalls surrounded by perennials to make it look natural,” he described.

Homeowners who prefer sight over sound might install a wildlife garden enhanced with annuals and perennials that attract butterflies and birds, Corso suggested.

And for those troublesome high-traffic areas that always get beat up, some customers are choosing to plant a new perennial that is tolerant to foot tampering, can be installed between stones or in patio block sand on walkways, and handles light, moderate and heavy traffic, depending on the type, he explained. Most of these “steppable” plants are low-growing and compact with small leaves, including thyme and sedums.

BLOOMING VALUE. Customers’ impressions and intentions for annual and perennial displays vary as much as the plants that bloom on their properties. While some will keep it simple, others lean toward elaborate - “bigger is better,” Downie observed.

“People like instant gratification,” he noted. The same time constraint that leads clients to choose containers or baskets over gardens or large displays is the pulse that pushes consumers to crave instant results.

“Don’t save the customer money by getting little six-pack annuals and making a poor display,” Downie added. “If you’re going to plant some annuals and perennials, get some bigger sized material and they’ll see it, they’ll like it and they’ll feel they got a good value.”

Contractors also see this value when installing annuals and perennials, noted Joseph Boarini, head grower, Grande Greenhouse, Indianapolis, Ind. These plantings will enhance the worth of a homeowner’s property while providing profits to the landscape company, he added.

“From a commercial landscape standpoint, they provide a lot of color for the effort, and that makes it very profitable,” he said. “They increase the property value and make it look nicer. Annual and perennial plantings give you flowers to cut and bring inside.”

Christensen finds value in individuality - the factor that drives many customers to play with perennials and annuals in their landscapes. By supplying different annuals to his customers displays each year and involving customers on creative choices. His competitors, who install the same plants each year, do not have this innovative edge, he said. “There’s so many wonderful combinations that we try to come up with different looks every year.”