I saw this picture on the other forum, and personally, I think it's lovely! But, of course, I also see that once the coreopsis and lavenders get done blooming, there's not going to be too much to look at. I think you have a couple of options. If it was my bed, I would consider extending the planting area forward from the rocks, widening the bed. That way, you can plant in drifts of color and avoid the look of a row of flowers standing like soldiers at attention in front of your rocks. I would extend it several feet, but if you don't want that much bed to care for, you could just extend it two or three feet and plant annuals in front of the perennials you already have and which are established for you. You could also plant some spring (and summer too) flowering bulbs in between your perennials to add another season of bloom to that area.

As far as annuals are concerned, decide on a color scheme. Then when the seed catalogs begin arriving in January, make a list of everything that catches your eye that is in your scheme. Then narrow the list down to the ones that you know grow well in your area without alot of maintenance and are the right height (lower than the perennials behind them). Choose 2 to 6 kinds, (depending on the measurements of your beds) and plan to put them along the front of your perennials in drifts of no fewer than five plants, but different numbers of each kind. (5 plants, then 9, 7, 11, etc.) As you evaluate them, choose some that have a "spiky" form (like Victoria Salvia, for instance), some that make low mounds (profusion zinnias, maybe), some that make daisy shaped flowers (rudbeckias would do), some that make trumpets (nicotinia would be one), etc. In other words, think about different shapes and sizes, as well as colors. If you still have trouble narrowing down the selection, look at the foliage. Any plant that has good looking leaves throughout the season, in addition to nice form, texture, and color, is THE one to go with.

As far as your row of perennials go, you might want to rearrange them a little so that you don't have a polka dotted look. Group your blues together. Group your whites together, etc. But then, don't be afraid to repeat colors down through the border either. Just make the "dots" bigger.
If you decide that you don't want to extend the bed, and you do want to ditch the perennials, use the same technique I described and just do the annuals.
It's not that hard! You have all winter to dream and think. Good luck!

Thanks, Donna. We have decided on color, and we're going to remove the yellows and go with lavender, purple, pink, and red. I think for the coming year, we're pretty well set on keeping the dimensions of the flowerbed as is, but maybe we'll expand it someday in the future. If I lived in a rainy state and didn't need an automatic sprinkler system, it would be easier to expand the bed. But here, I have to think about changing all my sprinkler pipes and stuff.

We do have other flowerbeds around the house, especially in the front yard, that are much, much deeper and have a nice assortment of perennials and bulbs. But I've been a little stumped about how to make this long, narrow bed look good.

I think this narrow bed calls for some different design principles than I've successfully used in the deeper beds. But I do think it's possible to make it look really cool if I can figure out the right principles to use. You've provided some good ideas with the alternating numbers of plants in groupings.

Any other suggestions of great annuals in that red-pink-lavender-purple range would be appreciated. I'm looking for a variety of flowers from very short to maybe two feet tall, but not a lot of the tall stuff. I've overdone it with height in the past.

Any thoughts about how many plants should be in my palette for this design to work well? Do I need to limit the selection and have more repetition to create the unity needed for such a narrow space? From the perennials I have, I know I'll be keeping some purple coneflowers and three large clumps of lavender. I'll probably keep some small clumps of shasta daisies for a few white "sparkle" highlights, but everything else will be new and in that color range I described. And I think annuals for the rest will suit us fine to be sure we get a long color season.

Like you idea of keeping coneflowers, lavender and Shasta daisies. The white daisies will make the other colors pop. Some annuals which might fit: Celosia Fresh Look (red one), Dianthus Amazon Neon, Pentas, Statice, and Vinca. There are a few of the less rambuctious zinnias which would fit this space. They also have a range of heights which could be used to your advantage.

Really appreciated your garden as is. Can understand what you mean about the floppy plants, but I liked the carefree look , too.

Went back and looked at the other posting. That made me think of a non-annual if roses do OK for you. The Blushing Knock Out is a lovely soft pink and blooms and blooms. (Mine would have been excellent this year if the Japanese beetles hadn't taken a liking to it.)

For a dash of height & color, one plant of Jester millet would fit in you color scheme. Nice foliage all season, too.

I also think the bed is quite lovely, but again can understand your thoughts and criticisms.

I HAD a 18" border along a retaining wall. I put 2 rows of impatiens in them -

This is the two rows when I put them in -
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Then I realized the flowers would grow into the grass - so I extended the bed another 6 or so inches - this is the middle of the season, the retaining wall is starting to be covered:

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This was the end of the season - in October. I DID extend the bed a little further to accommodate the flowers - and the retaining wall is completely coverd.

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This is another long narrow bed - 110' X 4' I have perennials behind - but they're early spring perennials and are again hidden:

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In a sunnier spot I put dragon wing begonias:

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This is about 30' X 4' again - 4 feet (just 2 feet more than what you have) is more managable... I too just had a sprinkler system put in... I think long narrow beds are perfect for annuals and can put on a great display.

Good luck -

Tom-

I always hesitate somewhat to recommend annuals to someone who lives so far north of me, because your climate is so different, but here is a list of some that I really like and that ought to do well for you. Ask around and research in your area before jumping in with both feet.

Zinnia Profusion, Pink and white tones: These are fabulous for the front of a border. They bloom non-stop, and probably will do better for you than they do for me. Our intense sun causes the pink shades to fade.

Mexican Zinnia (Zinnia angustifolia) in Crystal White is a truly outstanding plant for us. It will be at its very best in late summer when everything else is pooping out.

Salvia farinacea, Victoria is my very favorite blue and it's spiky too. It's about eighteen inches high.

Delphiniums or larkspur would probably do well for you, and again, they provide spiky form that is so valuable. If they bloom all summer in your mild climate, I'd definitely include them. The larkspur will reseed. They are tall, but the foliage isn't, so they don't seem so tall, if you know what I mean.

Sweet Alyssum will bloom all summer (for you, not me), comes in whites, lavenders, and pinks. It's great at the front of a border and provides nice fine texture. It will also reseed if happy.

helichrysum is a splendid foliage plant that would provide silvery blue color with its fuzzy leaves all summer. Lambs Ears would do the same and provide some bolder forms. You could also consider stachys grandiflora. It's blooms are rose pink. Very attractive plant and if you have good luck with lavender, you should do well with it.

Alternanthera is another wonderful low growing spreader. It has purple/silver/green leaves that are metallic looking, but not garish. It weaves through other plants well. It will spread 3 feet by summer's end, so set it back in the border, to avoid having it all over your grass.

I second the motion for pentas. They are splendid annuals that look great the whole season with absolutely no care. red, pink, rose, lavender, and white. I personally like the full sized ones (about 18 inches) better than the dwarfs. The blooms are in scale better with the larger plant size. The whole plant is neat and elegant.

Blue Lobelia, crystal palace is a great front of the border mounder that provides fine texture and really really blue flowers. (I'm so jealous to think of all these lovely plants you can have all summer that I can only have in late fall and early spring! :)

pansies!

snapdragons

heliotrope

Vincas are hard to beat in the heat of summer. They come in a wide range of pinks, reds, whites, and even lavenders. They have beautiful dark glossy foliage, make neat mounds, and never say die till frost. They reseed.

Wave petunias

Some begonias and dahlias would fill the bill too.

Celosia, gomphrena, Amaranthus, nicotiana and statice would all be possibilities too. Oh, and browallia (blue).

As you vary the number of plants you use, also stagger them in your bed. In other words, for a drift of seven, say, plant 3 across the very front of the bed, then plant 4 more right behind them. Then begin the next drift of plants in that odd space in front, so that the flowers blend together and don't seem to be rowed up. Make some of your drifts go deeper back into the bed, and other drifts spread out wider. (I hope this makes sense! It's easy to do, hard to explain!)

There are, of course, more, but these should get you started. Post a picture next year and let us see how it turns out!

Hi, Steve
I had a couple of other thoughts, and realized I didn't answer all your questions. (Not that others won't have more and even better answers to the same questions. Many heads are better than one.)

I believe there are three ways to look at the important element of repetition, especially when working with annuals. You can repeat the same plants down the line, you can repeat patterns of plants down the line, or you can repeat colors.

I am an avowed plant nut. If it grows, I want it. This can make repetition more difficult because of space limitations for all the varieties I want. So, I have learned to repeat color masses. In other words, I might repeat red by a drift of pentas, and then petunias, and then dahlias. All red, but I get to feed my plant habit. See? It works rather well, I think, and also allows you to repeat colors from deep in the border to the front, and then to the middle, which, I think makes for an an interesting sight line. (Note on reds: use blue/reds, or orange based reds, but not both. With your color scheme, I'd advise you go with blue reds.)

To see how you like this, draw your border up on graph paper (one square per square foot). Now, take crayons or colored pencils and draw in colors, repeating different colors or combinations through the border. You will fairly quickly get an idea of the look you like, and of how big you want your different color drifts to be. Some colors reach out and grab you by the throat (yellow, for instance), therefore, you might not need such large drifts or as many drifts of that color to make a good impact. Other colors are shyer (pink, for instance). You may want larger groups or more frequent groups of those colors.

Another note about pink. It's a complicated color to work with in mixed borders. There are the lavender blue based pinks and there are the yellow based pinks and there are the coral (orange based) pinks. They're all pink, but they may not always play well together. You can either stick to one shade, which may mean one kind of plant, OR you may want to give them a good bit of separation in your border and make sure they play nicely with their neighbors. I did a pink border last year, and then dug it all up this year and started again, so this advise is from recent experience. To be safe, choose all your pinks on the same day and hold those plants next to each other and see if they sing or squabble with each other.

The lovely thing about annuals is you get to start completely over every year! Take lots of pictures from year to year so you can see what you liked and what you didn't. Make changes next year accordingly. (You can even have a brand new color scheme each year!)

You guys are great! I'm loving the ideas I'm getting. Thanks for the photos, Tom -- you've done some great work! I'm sure your neighbors really appreciate the color you bring to the streetscape!

Donnabaskets -- do you have any photos to post of your beds showing that kind of repetition?

Any other suggestions of cool annuals that aren't just the run-of-the-mill big box garden center plants? It's time to order some seeds for things that are a little uncommon.

I am getting some seeds in trade from my friends at the Rocky Mountain Gardening forum here on GW. And I took some cuttings from some wave-style petunias before the freezes and have them growing in my basement. I have a lavender-pink kind, a very pale pink, and a brighter purple kind. I also have some annual geraniums outside that I need to get cuttings from before they die for the winter, and they're a basic bright pink. Oh yeah, and I have a cutting of the 'Blackie' sweet potato vine, too. So, I already have some plants I'll be putting into the garden next spring. I suppose they're all fairly short heights, and I should start looking at the medium-height stuff now.

Any more ideas?

Sorry, I don't. I have been very very slow to get into all this wonderful technology, but I have put a digital camera on my Christmas wish list. I really regret that I have not taken pictures of my gardens over the years as they have grown and developed. Maybe next year!

One other annual that I HIGHLY recommend is the new Euphorbia, Diamond Frost. What a huge stunner it is! It's about 18 inches high and wide, making a perfect mound of what looks like a solid mass of snowflakes. It bloomed all summer here right through the three weeks of 100 Plus temps without ever looking wilted, dried out or brown. It is similar to baby's breath, but a much better plant. It's sold by Proven Winners. I used it in my white border among broadleaved evergreens, white amaryllis, and white daylilies.
Speaking of which, the Proven Winners website is great and you can see good pictures of lots of great things. My problem is I don't have much availability to their products in my area. I bought my Diamond Frost 90 miles away.

For such a narrow area and to showcase the boulders (which I really like) I think I would limit the number of colors. For instance like a bright red and a purple or pink and lavender. But I would use a variety of plants in my two colors. The green plant leaves would set off and frame the boulders, the variety of foliage types would add interest, and the two colors would add some color without drawing as much attention away from the boulders.
I would also probably put the taller ones in the middle of the bed and gradually get shorter ones to the side in order to mimic the curves of the the little hill.

Steve,

Are you still looking for ideas? I love your horseshoe!!! I agree, it would be nice to highlight those boulders more.

I was thinking more mounding stuff, too. What about Impatiens? anniesannuals has a lot of photos of them. I had 2 last year - one was drought tol and recumbent in sort of a blue-purple, the other was balfourii and I really liked it, pink and white, which might not be the colors you're going for, but I heard there is a variety called 'Wine Cups' (?) They talked about it reseeding, but I didn't see any seeds from the single one plant I had.

The perennial geranium 'Rozanne' is one I think you should be looking at -- I know, I know it isn't annual, but the growth is the kind you need for on top of those boulders. 'Jolly Joker' is another, but I don't have first hand information from growing it.

Also I think you need a trailing or semi-trailing rose, ruby, or pink Nasturtium. BUT BEWARE they are all orange, so you really need to look. LOL! Look at 'Caribbean Cocktail', I forget what the growth habit is, but you can also hit up some of the obscure seed houses. Keep in mind Nasturtiums want to be orange, so look at the photos, read the text and look at the name of the variety. If all three pass as "orangeless", you're probably good to go LOL! Plant 4/5 seeds for every one plant you need. AS SOON AS THEY BLOOM, cut the 3/4 colors you mostly don't want and leave one plant. CC does not look like the pictures in the catalog. They must have forgotten all the reds, oranges and yellow and creams that come in the mix in their group shot. If you get Nasties you like the color of, save the seed from them. These varieties can be dropped the following year, never to be seen again. Actually, that advice is good for a lot of annuals.

You've got the Petunia, so the other thing I would suggest you look at is Verbena 'Imagination'. The color will recede to invisible in the night, so don't start or put in too many.

One of the hardest things is for the area on the ground in FRONT of the boulders. It's hard to find annuals that are tall enough, not too tall, but don't lean away from the wall like that to reach for the sun and then get too big & kill the grass.

A nice regular mounding Nastie? 'Dwarf Pink Jewel'. No, not uncommon, but it sort of is, and those leaves in summer will make you glad you put some in!

I had trouble with decent sized edgers myself last year, but two did really well: Profusion Zinnias in Cherry. Dwarf snapdragon in cherry, carmine, whatever. Both Avail from Stoke's. (they are having a free shipping sale on $50.00 orders until Dec 22 -- otherwise their shipping is $6.50, but Park's is $6.95, so still a "bargain".)

Not an edger, but don't forget purple leaved plants like 'Red Rubin' Basil and 'Purple Ruffles' Basil. I grew both this year and they actually added a lot, I thought.

Well, those are my ideas...

Lime