A colourful array for winters

Amarjeet Singh Batth

Advertisement

Winter annuals come in an endless array of colours and bring the feel of the season in the garden with their magnificent presence. An aesthetically planned garden with right choice of colour, shape and size of flowers always creates a magical effect.

Time to sow

The seeds for winter flowers are sown from mid-September to mid-October after monsoon recedes, humidity levels go down and the night temperature fall providing favourable condition for germination of seeds.

Seeds are raised on nursery beds about 15-20 cm high and 60-90 cm wide prepared in a small area under partial sunlight. A nursery medium can be prepared by taking one part of garden soil, one part of river sand, one part of leaf mould. Add DAP 30 grams per sq m and mix these thoroughly and pass through a narrow wire-mesh to remove lumps and have a fine nursery medium.

Drench the nursery medium with 0.2% Bavistin to take care of soil born fungal diseases.

Buying seeds

Prefer buying hybrid seeds of long-duration flowering annuals. Seeds should be sown in shallow lines 4-6 cm apart in pits made with fingers. Sow seeds to a depth of 0.5-1 cm depending on the size and then cover these with a thin layer of nursery medium.

Immediately moisten the nursery bed with a mist of water and cover with a news paper or ‘sarkanda’. Uncover the seeds as soon as they germinate.

Thereafter maintain the moisture level and never allow waterlogging.

Thinning of seedling lumps should be done which are replanted in the gaps.

The seedlings are ready for transplantation within 3-4 weeks when 3-5 leaves appear.

Hardening of seedlings is done by withholding water and maintaining minimum moisture just prior to transplanting.

While the seedlings are germinating in the nursery, prepare the soil beds. The flower bed should be made free of weeds and leveled so that nutrients are not carried to low lying areas. Take 5-6 kg of mature farmyard manure and add DAP 500 grams in a hundred square feet area (10’X10’). Mix these thoroughly so that no lumps exist. The soil should be moist prior to transplantation. Seedlings should be transplanted during evening hours. Use a narrow blade ‘krupe’ to loosen the soil, and then gently pull the seedling so that the soil still remains attached to the delicate roots.

Growing tips

Tiny seeds could be sown in a plug tray also.

Large seeds are generally sown directly in the flower beds – sweet pea, nasturtium and hollyhock.

Early flowering annuals include marigold, brachycome, candytuft and sweet alyssum

For fragrance in the garden sow, sweet alyssum, antirrhinum, petunia, stock, sweet pea, sweet sultan and wall flower.

Annuals in pots have the advantage of mobility and can be rearranged to suit your needs. Bellis perennis, brachycome, carnation, cineraria, dahlia, gazania, ice plant, kale, lupin, matricaria, nasturtium, nemesia, pansy, petunia, dianthus salvia and sweet william are successfully grown in pots.

Trailing varieties of annuals like, germanium, verbena, nasturtium, and petunia give floral beauty at an eye level in hanging baskets.

Shade-loving annuals are salvia and cineraria.

Tall annuals for backgrounds are ammi majus, antirrhinum, cornflower, lupin, hollyhock, larkspur, sweet william and annual chrysanthemum.

These flowers add an extra edge to your garden landscape if planted intelligently. For example annuals on edges of walkways soften the harsh and straight lines in the garden. Dwarf varieties of antirrhinum and dianthus, brachycome, candytuft, sweet alyssum, ice plant, verbena, and pansy are ideal as edge plants.

Annuals used as dry flowers are acroclinum, ammi majus (lady’ lace), bellis perennis, helichryson, bells of ireland, nigella,

Cut flowers annuals are acroclinium (Paper flower), ammi majus (Lady’ lace), antirrhinum (Dog flower ) , calendula (pot marigold.or gulsarf), callistephus (aster), centaurea (corn flower), delphinium larkspur), dianthius caryophyllus (carnation), dianthius barbatus (sweet william), gerbera, gypsophila, helichrysum, iberis amara (candytuft), mathhiola incana (stock), molucella laevis ( bells of Ireland)

Hollyhock takes a long time to bloom so it is among the first to be sown directly in the flower bed. Its roots grow in a short span and so it can’t take the shock of transplantation.

Low-growing annuals virtually tie the garden while large flower beds add interest in big lawns and along paths and makes small area look bigger.

Seeds which are difficult to transplant are california poppy and linaria. These are sown directly in the small poly bags and then transplanted when there is enough foliage

Seeds of pansy germinate only when the weather becomes cool.