Plants of the Month: The annuals (September 2025)

If your own space is looking ‘a bit green’ at the moment, think about adding annuals to liven up your garden in 2026.  Here are a few I highly recommend:

Zinnia

This year I’ve grown Zinnia elegans SPRITE MIXED at my allotment and they are looking good – tall, healthy, robust, colourful and bee-friendly. I am very pleased with them, as the flowers themselves are a mixture of vibrant and subtle shades, and, as an added bonus, no signs of stem rot (fungi/bacteria more prevalent in warm, wetter summers that attack the stems).

I sowed the seed straight into the soil in two rows.  Two or three weeks later, I thinned the seedlings and replanted those thinnings into a third row. So, they are tightly packed and they don’t seem to mind that and I don’t need to stake them.  Flowering from July to October, this robust variety is perfect for displaying in gaps in borders or containers. And ideal for picking, although I don’t have the heart to do that yet!

Heliotropium arborescens ‘Marine’ (heliotrope)

This plant was a gift and one that I really had no knowledge of before receiving it.  I planted it in a white bucket that sits on a garden table.  It came into flower – a deep violet cluster – and fragrant, growing beside a climber (morning glory), a self-seeded lime-green Patrinia and a soft-orange Agastache.  Behind, growing on the trellis is light-mauve Clematis ‘John Treasure’ flowering for the second time this year. All the colours blend well, with the lime-green and soft-orange as the contrasting colours.  This half-hardy annual has been flowering continuously, its compact growth a definite bonus in a small space.

Cleome houtteana ‘Violet Queen’ (spider flower)

This cerise-magenta-flowered annual variety was kindly given to me in late spring. Known as ‘spider flowers’, it’s growing happily in a galvanised tub with a mixture of other plants and has been a feature in the garden all summer. Now four foot tall, with three flowering stems, it looks stunning with neighbouring deep-red and lime-green tobacco flowers.

The Cleome is now part of the Brassica family and when I checked today I could definitely detect a ‘cabbage-like’ perfume! Maybe it’s just me, but see what you think when you find one. I suspect this is due to the fact that the flowers are past their peak.

The seed pods are also much to be admired – slender and handsome in shades of green-purple, which protrude from around the stems below the flower clusters.

Nicotiana sylvestris (woodland tobacco plant):

Once you’ve got one, they will appear year after year. Tall, handsome and stately, this is a plant everyone should grow in their garden, preferably in a cluster though they look elegant alone as well. Trumpet-shaped flower clusters which are sweetly scented, especially in the evenings, often appear from July onwards. 

They are usually classed as biennial but can be short-lived perennials or even annuals. Try sowing just a few seeds in a pot, covered in grit or fine gravel and see what happens!

Anna L