Seasonal Color / Annuals – Goffle Brook Farms

Strictly speaking, an annual plant is one that completes its growing cycle (grows from seed, flowers and produces seed) in the course of a single growing season. In other words, annuals pack a lot of living into a short span of time. One of the best things about annuals is their incredible diversity and versatility. Using them allows you to compose really exciting combinations of color, form and texture that will last all season long. Colors range from bright midsummer favorites such as zinnias and Mexican sunflowers, to the subtler pastel shades of stock or lavatera.

You can also select annuals for your garden based on characteristics other than flower color. There are annuals that are tall, medium, short or climbing; ones that prefer either full sun or partial shade; and those with special virtues, such as delightful fragrance (stock, mignonette, nicotiana) or attractive foliage (caladium, coleus, dusty miller).

seasonal color annuals - Goffle Brook Farms

Whether it be a small garden bed beside a patio table where you take your morning java or a full blown forma landscape; annuals fit wonderfully into the scheme. As you design, bear in mind that bright and exuberant colors make a garden appear smaller than it is in actuality. Cooler subdued tones will have the opposite effect. A mixed spring border pops with bright tones or yellows, reds, blue and orange.

Garden Design with Annuals - Goffle Brook FarmsUse them in interesting ways to create focal points; an example of which is this old “country style farmhouse window” framed and accented with cascading petunias in containers, accenting the shutters and the stone structure of the home. Annuals with their different shapes, sizes and growing habits make ideal container plantings. Just be sure they have the same feeding and watering requirements and you’re good to go.

If you like a vivid color scheme, try marigolds, salvia, snapdragons, or celosia. For subtler tones, select the blues and violets of pansies, ageratums, or lobelias for a cooler, more tranquil effect. A mixture of Shirley poppies, annual chrysanthemums, and California poppies gives an informal, country look to a suburban garden. Cosmos and spider flower, with an edging of sweet alyssum, would also look lovely.

If you’d like a more formal look, stick with beds of one variety of annual. Good choices include geraniums, marigolds, and petunias. For contrast, add a silvery dusty-miller edging. Flower beds should be geared to the existing climate and soil conditions. In a dry-soil area, a garden could include statice, ice plant, daisies, portulaca, and California poppies. Sweet alyssum, zinnia, and vinca also do well in dry soil. Adding organic matter prior to planting helps conserve soil moisture in areas where water is scarce. Cooler, moister annual beds are best planted with flowers such as browallia, lobelia, pansies, and salpiglossis. A mulch helps keep the soil cool and moist all season long.

When selecting annuals for your flower beds, remember that the most interesting combinations come from mixing plant sizes and shapes. For example, tall, spiked African marigolds look good behind bushy plants of cosmos, which taper down to mounds of dahlias or celosia. In the foreground, you can use ground-hugging gazania, annual phlox, dianthus, or verbena. Flowers and foliage also offer a variety of sizes, shapes, and textures, and are effective when mixed. The daisy-like blossoms of gaillardia, spikes of salvia, and puffs of ageratum go well together. Foliage can be fine-textured, like the leaves on cosmos, or coarse, like those on the sunflower. Consider, too, the silver leaves of dusty-miller, the bronze of some begonias, the patterns of coleus, or the scalloping of nasturtium leaves.

The Annuals of Goffle Brook Farms

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

~Margaret Atwood

It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.

Kate Morton, unknown

“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that ‘she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow’.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Alyssum - Goffle Brook Farms

Alyssum

Cineraria - Goffle Brook Farms

Cineraria

Dusty Miller - Goffle Brook Farms

Dusty Miller

Impatiens - Goffle Brook Farms

Impatiens

Pansies - Goffle Brook Farms

Pansies

Salvia - Goffle Brook Farms

Salvia

Sweet Potato Vine in Container

Sweet Potato Vine

Annual Bed - Goffle Brook Farms

Annual Bed

Cockscomb - Goffle Brook Farms

Cockscomb

Field of Cosmos - Goffle Brook Farms

Cosmos

Lobelia and Zinnia - Goffle Brook Farms

Lobelia and Zinnia

Petunia Wagon Wheel - Goffle Brook Farms

Petunia Wagon Wheel

Dusty Millers

Dusty Millers

Tri-Color Pansy - Goffle Brook Farms

Tri-Color Pansy

Begonias - Goffle Brook Farms

Begonias

Coleus - Goffle Brook Farms

Coleus

Fuchsia - Goffle Brook Farms

Fuchsia

Marigolds - Goffle Brook Farms

Marigolds

Portulaca - Goffle Brook Farms

Portulaca

Snap Dragons - Goffle Brook Farms

Snap Dragons

Zinnia - Goffle Brook Farms

Zinnia

Canna Lilies - Goffle Brook Farms

Canna Lilies

Alyssum - Goffle Brook Farms

Alyssum

Gerbera Daisy - Goffle Brook Farms

Gerbera Daisy

Million Bell Petunias - Goffle Brook Farms

Million Bell Petunias

Purple Petunias - Goffle Brook Farms

Purple Petunias

Sweet Potato Vine - Goffle Brook Farms

Sweet Potato Vine

Ageratum Hawaii Blue

Ageratum Hawaii Blue

Annuals Tips and Care

Seasonal Color at Goffle Brook Farms

Why Shop at Goffle Brook Farms

  • Courteous, knowledgeable and professional staff
  • Locally Grown Fresh Seasonal Produce
  • Quality Perennials – Annuals – Herbs and Garden Plants
  • Full-scale Garden Center on Premises
  • Conveniently located in Ridgewood, New Jersey
  • Open 7 days a week from March 15th through Christmas Eve
  • Family owned and operated since May 1st, 1968
  • Serving Bergen County for over FIFTY years

What Our Customer’s Say

Really cute garden center. My boyfriend and I stopped by to get some pumpkins. They had a great variety of both small and large pumpkins. They also have a small petting zoo with goats, sheep, and a pig. They have a small variety of  produce for purchase inside. We wound up sampling cider they were selling and bought that as well as it was delicious. We may go back to get more. Employees were very helpful and friendly.

Highly recommend this garden center.

Jessica, Gardener

This is such a great place. Goffle Brook Farm & Garden Center has friendly and helpful staff that seem to really appreciate your business.  They have a great selection of plants, flowers, gardening supplies, great FRESH local produce and I am sure tons of stuff I have yet to discover.  The staff is very knowledgeable and always takes the time to walk me through any garden problem or question I have.
I’ve been going to Goffle Brook Farm & Garden Center regularly for the past year since my family moved to the area and every time I go I leave happy.  What more can you ask for?

They will have my loyal business.  I think they deserve your business too.

Joe N., Landscaper

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