In my own garden, I have typically avoided using annuals and relied on perennial plants to give me a season long display of colour and interest. Last summer, the intense heat and drought forced many of my perennials into early flower, destroyed many of the sensitive plants and left my garden looking somewhat spent by mid-summer. Since then, I have realized that annuals have a very important place, even in a naturalized garden such as mine. Annuals do an excellent job of bridging the 'gap of loveliness' which often occurs in perennial beds. They offer guaranteed colour all season long and are able to withstand the hotter summers we have been experiencing lately.
Annuals are native in southern climates and thrive under hot summer conditions.
Inadvertenly, I have always relied heavily on annuals, or plants which seed themselves annually, to keep the gardens in flower. Wildflowers such as the ox-eye daisy, buttercups, mallow and cosmos, to name just a few, seed themselves readily in and amongst the perennials. However they get there, they are a welcome sight and form some magnificent plant compositions. Along with the annuals which sow themselves in the garden, there is a vast selection of unique annuals available in the garden centre every spring. New varieties are introduced every year offering bigger blooms, brighter colours, taller growth habits, variegated foliage and the list goes on.