Hardy annuals are the dependable workhorses of the flower garden. They can be sown early, shrug off cold nights and often bloom for longer than you’d expect. Whether you’re filling borders, creating a cutting patch or just wanting quick colour, these are the seeds that make you feel like a confident gardener from day one.

Alyssum

Technically a perennial, Alyssum is treated as a hardy annual smothered in tiny blooms, much loved by insects. It is capable of surviving light frosts than could kill more tender plants. With its beautiful clusters of rounded fragrant flowers it has 4 small petals, and are very effective when lots are planted together.

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Ammi

Reminiscent of Cow Parsley which softens the verges of country lanes, Ammi is a tall annual that produces a froth of delicate white blooms that bring a simple, elegant feel to summer borders. Commonly known as Bishops Weed, its graceful stems rise above ferny foliage, lending themselves nicely to summer bouquets.

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Antirrhinum

Antirrhinum, or as most of us call them, Snapdragons are cheerful cottage garden plants, used as bedding to brighten up borders and containers. They're easy to grow and come in a range of different colours and heights, and therefore can be grown in a variety of situations. Attractive to wildlife, particularly bumblebees, they have a long flowering period, from June until October. Taller cultivars make good cut flowers and last well over a week in water.

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Bells of Ireland

Moluccella laevis (Bells of Ireland) has tall spikes of fresh apple-green bells arranged all the way up the stem. An outstanding foliage plant that adds interest to borders and bouquets. For the best results the seeds of Bells of Ireland need cold stratification to germinate. 

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Calendula

Easy-to-grow hardy annuals flower from summer through to early autumn, making them a great choice for summer borders and containers. The flowers are good for cutting, have edible petals and are also used by herbalists to make skincare products. Plants often self-seed from year to year. Calendulas are unfussy plants that do well in most ordinary garden soil, including poor, dry soil. They flower best in full sun, but also tolerate light shade.

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Cornflower

Cornflower is an easily grown hardy annual wildflower that is quick to grow and blooms in summer, bearing masses of pretty, ruffled flowers on slender wiry stems. While not native to the UK, it was introduced from the Mediterranean thousands of years ago and is considered 'naturalised'. The original species is beloved for its deep blue blooms, but there's now a wide choice of varieties in shades of blue, pink, maroon, and white. 

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Larkspur

A stunning cottage garden plant, adding height and colour to border displays. Larkspur flowers work well with roses, peonies and other tall growing flowers such as lupins and verbascums. Larkspur flowers are usually blue but they also come in mauve, pink, white and even red. They can be single or double, depending on the variety. Single-flowered varieties are loved by bees.

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Lavatera

Lavatera come in both dwarf and tall varieties, both with a nice bushy habit and the dark green leaves contrast wonderfully with the glistening flowers which come in so many shades. Lavatera fFlowers in the first year from an early sowing, attracting bees and butterflies as well as being a stunning cut flower. 

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Nigella

Nigella, also known as Love-in-a-mist, is a wonderful cottage garden plant and a great filler. The airy foliage makes a nice complement to broader leaved plants. Nigella is a short-lived plant and probably won't make it through an entire growing season. For continuous blooms throughout the summer, make succession sowings every three weeks. Once your plants have begun to scatter seeds on their own, you won't need to continue sowing.

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Orlaya

Orlaya makes an easy to grow, quick border filler. It gives lovely fern-like foliage and clusters of pure white flowers, similar to lace-cap hydrangeas, with its flowers composed of small inner florets framed by large outer ones, forming a pretty pattern which is reminiscent of lace-cap hydrangeas. Planted en masse, the luminous white petals have a shimmering effect, creating a soft haze which melds plant masses together, immediately capturing that romantic cottage garden vibe. Long straight stems and soft ferny foliage add to its appeal.

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Poppy

Poppy is the common name for plants in the Papaveraceae family. Within this group there are annuals, perennials and biennials. They include oriental poppies, peony-types, opium poppies, field poppies, Calfornia poppies, Icelandic Poppies, Welsh poppies and Himalayan poppies. Their summer flowers may be fleeting but whatever variety you choose they make a wonderful addition to the garden.

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Scabious

Scabious, also known as pincushion flowers, are easy-to-grow. They are button-like in shape and have petals that flutter in the breeze. Under ideal growing conditions, blooms can last from spring to the first frost, although they might slow down in the high heat of summer. Equally useful as a cut fresh flower or seed head, Ping Pong (our favourite variety) gives several handfuls of stems from a single plant alone.

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Sweet Pea

Grow beautiful and flouncy Sweet Peas from seed each year for their fragrance and for cutting, climbing them over obelisks or twiggy supports in borders or in a cutting garden. Pretty, pea-like flowers come in shades of white, pink, coral, red, violet and blue, some combining two colours. Pastel shades are especially popular and petal edges may be wavy or outlined with a contrasting colour. Sweet peas are easy to grow in any fertile soil that drains easily, in full sun. 

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Hardy Annuals to grow from seed

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