ANNUAL FLOWERS 1-year wonders In their short life cycles, annuals bring beauty and brilliant color.

By REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
With their flashy colors and bold, busy blossoms, annuals can transform the plainest, palest corner of a garden into a vibrant patch of earth to be proud of.
Mid-May is the time to purchase and plant these bright summer wonders; all you need is a little know-how and a plan of action.
First of all, for those of you who are confused, unlike their perennial cousins, annuals last for just one growing season.
In other words, they will not return on their own next spring unless you buy more plants and stick them in the ground or get some seeds and start them indoors during late winter or early spring.
Perks: Although some gardeners may prefer the reliable return of a perennial to the intensely brilliant but brief life cycle of an annual, annuals have perks that ensure their popularity time and again.
First of all, unlike perennials, most annuals are in bloom from the moment you purchase them to the moment fall frosts bring their demise. Most varieties of perennials, however, will not continually produce flowers all summer long, but will bloom only for a few weeks or a month at the most.
Perennials can also cost more than annuals, and each year perennials might need to be dug up and thinned out depending on how fast they've spread.
"Perennials can really get out of control after a few years. You start with one plant and pretty soon you have a million," said Jeanine Adgate of Adgate's Garden Center in Cortland. "Annuals spread quickly but since they are only around for one summer, they do not get out of control. They require less care than perennials do."
Favorites: Adgate said she sells more annuals than perennials. Some of her best-selling annuals are begonias, impatiens, geraniums, marigolds, petunias and portulacas.
Impatiens and begonias crave shade, while petunias, marigolds, geraniums and portulaca need lots of sunshine.
Petunias and impatiens are also favorites for hanging baskets and window boxes, but marigolds and portulaca are ideal for borders.
"We sell a lot of petunia hanging baskets around Mother's Day," Adgate said.
There is a kind and color of annual for every heart's desire. For example, if you long for intoxicating fragrance, try some tiny, delicate alyssum. Alyssum are especially beautiful in borders and rock gardens since they spread rapidly and create a dense, low-growing purple and white carpet that smells like heaven.
If it's a tall flower you want, the sort that's perfect when cut and put into a pretty vase, then opt for the slender, reaching stems of cosmos and salvia. Cosmos, for example, come in a rainbow of colors and can grow to heights of four or five feet.
Things to know: These are just some of the many types of annuals on the market, but before you buy, there are a few things you need to know.
First of all, what's your soil like? If your soil is mostly clay, Adgate advises adding peat, compost or humus to loosen things up a bit. And no matter what type of soil you have, you should always add fertilizer before planting and make sure the ground is thoroughly tilled before chucking the plants into the earth.
Next, before you plant your annuals, make sure the threat of frost is over.
"Mid-May is the best time to put in your annual garden," Adgate said. "If you do it any earlier in this part of the country, you run the risk of having the thermometer dip below freezing."
Once you plant your annuals in soil that has been well-tilled and fertilized, Adgate recommends feeding the plants a basic fertilizer mix every few weeks.
"Just keep them watered and fertilize them every so often. That's really all you need to do. They are low-maintenance," she said.
Adgate also suggests mulching.
"If you mulch around the plants, then you won't have to weed all the time. That makes them really low maintenance," she said.
Although annuals are not supposed to return in the spring, sometimes a few wayward seeds will germinate and you'll get a bonus plant or two smiling back at you next year.
"Pansies are considered annuals, but they often come back again. Cosmos will also often re-seed themselves," Adgate said.