Tall Annuals

I'd like to plant some tall annuals in the garden and hoped somebody here could recommend some good ones for me to sow in springtime. I want them tall for many reasons but mostly just to frame my garden, I do have seeds for medium sized and small flowers so they could maybe go in front of the big ones, make something of a gradient.

Bonus points go to any plants that:
- Attract bees, butterflies, insects or birds.
- Colourful or unique looking.
- Grows well in my cold Yorkshire climate.
- Reseeds for future years.

My first thought was sunflowers, which I already plan on growing. After that I considered foxglove, which look good, and teasel (A biannual yes but apparently the birds like them and they grow big, I'll allow just one exception.)
If you wondered why I want annuals it's because I'm moving in 54 weeks so I might as well enjoy some plants (this will be my first year doing 'real' gardening.) I will be planting perennials for the future too don't worry.

Any help or suggestions, especially if you've grown them yourself and know how well they grow would be fantastic. Thanks (again).
HBK.

 

Not a flower man myself, but a walking stick cabbage is pretty tall, you signed up for that one yet ? :D

Opium poppy & policemans helmet flower ?

 

Much forgotten are the Hardy Annuals but will give good rewards for a small outlay ..
A few I have grown in the past ..

Amaranthus ...Cleome ...Larkspur...Lavatera...Salpaglossis these are all quite tall ..

Dave

 

Canna's? You could take them with you ...

 

Rudbeckia, its a perenial but will flower well in their first year grown from seed, can grow to 3 foot tall and will need support, great winter interest too as it leaves behind seedheads...bugs are also attracted to them...flowers late summer until first frosts.

Steve...

 

Verbena Bonarensis is a tender perennial which I seem to lose over winter every year, so it would be ideal grown as an annual. It can get up to 2 metres tall but can be grown in the middle of the border due to it's 'see through' qualities. The bees and butterflies love it.

 

There are some beautiful Dhalias that you can grow from seed and are quite tall. You will need to lift the corms in the autumn and take with you. Some Snap Dragon varieties, Lupins. You could try some Gladioli bulbs which are quite cheap to buy.

Just a thought. Why not try a few perennials that you could lift and take with you? You could also try growing some in pots and sinking the pots into the bed. When it is time to leave, lift the pots and take them with you.

Hope I got my information right.

Chopper.

 

How about some Monada's? Roughly 90cm tall and bee's go bonkers for them, some are annuals but I don't know which ones.

 

"Why not try a few perennials that you could lift and take with you? You could also try growing some in pots and sinking the pots into the bed. When it is time to leave, lift the pots and take them with you"

Good ideas Chopper, provides a flying-start at the new property (depending what the garden will be like there - and if there will be enough time, during the stressful move, to attend to plants too ...)

 

I agree with Chopper and Kristen. There is no reason why you shouldn't grow some perennials. They are easy to lift. You can then just put them in a supermarket polybag with a load of soil, and as long as you water them and have drainage holes they will be happy for weeks on end.

On the annual front, I regularly grow Cosmos (tall varieties), Cleome and Tithonia rotundifolia. They are all tender, and Christopher Lloyd used to recommend sowing them on 1st May rather than 1st March. He said that if they were hit early in the season by a cold spell, they tend to sulk and not do well. Because the weather is warmer in May they catch up quite quickly. Mine were not that good in N Yorks last year as it was so cold. But in the past they have been splendid. My avatar is Cleome.

As SussexG says, Verbena Bonariensis is a perennial but will flower in the first year. I find it comes back well for me ( I never cut my beds back in autumn to give them a bit more protection), but even if the mother plant dies, there are always lots of seedlings. It needs a cold period before it will germinate, so now would be a good time to sow it in a seed tray outside - perhaps covered by a bit of glass to keep rubbish and stray seeds out.

A couple of similar see through annuals that I will be growing again this year are Atriplex hortensis. If you don't like it you can eat it - its a vegetable - common name Purple Orach. :hehe: And then there is Leonotis nepetifolia. If you don't like that you can smoke it :hehe: . Its common name is Little Marijuana (but quite legal). The Atriplex reached 7 feet and my tallest Leonotis was over 8 feet. They are both unusual and striking.

Other annuals I will be growing are Nicandra physaloides, and Solanum laciniatum (really a tender perennial). These are a bit more shrub like, but great fun and ideal for a pot. In a big pot they reach about 5 feet for me, but I understand that can grow taller under the right conditions. They are both half hardy but fast growers. They are probably better used as specimen plants than in a mass.