Potted Annual Flowers

Care

• The soil in pots dries out more quickly than soil in the garden. Check the pots once a day during summer and every few days in spring and fall. Use your finger as a dipstick. If the soil is dry, water the plant. Don't water if the soil is moist. Annuals require good drainage so the pot must have drainage holes. If it's a decorative container with no drainage, plant the annual in a pot that does have drainage holes, then put that pot in the decorative container. Remove the pot when watering. Return it to the decorative container when water is no longer leaking out of the drainage holes.

Growing Conditions

• Choose annuals for the same pot that require the same growing conditions. Plant drought-tolerant flowers such as four o'clock, lantana and cleome together. Plant shade-loving annuals such as begonias and impatiens together, not with sun-loving annuals.

Cool Season

• Spring-blooming annual flowers include pansy, viola, nasturtium and sweet pea. They do not need warm temperatures to germinate and prefer cool temperatures to bloom. Their season is finished by the time the weather gets warm in early summer. Plant nasturtiums near the edges of the container so they trail down. Insert a small trellis, no more than 24 inches high in the back of the container, for dwarf sweet peas to climb. Add ready-to-bloom spring bulbs, such as crocus and miniature daffodils. Finish by planting pansies and violas in the center of the container. Larkspur, stock and dianthus are other cool season annuals.

Warm Season

• Summer-blooming flowers require warm temperatures, preferably above 80 F during the day with nighttime temperatures above 70 F. The soil should be above 70 F for germination to take place. Orange zinnias, yellow marigolds and blue daze are warm season annuals that would make a striking color combination in a pot. Celebrate the Fourth of July with a pot edged in white sweet alyssum and blue lobelia with red petunias in the middle.