I would appreciate suggestions for some hardy annuals that will bloom all spring and summer in Maryland Climate zone 7B
They will be planted in large flower pots getting morning sun

Thanks for your help

Many annuals that can be germinated by wintersowing, can be given the same treatment, but just call it "spring" sowing. (Or if procrastination further delays this kind of sowing, you can just sow baggies of moist sand or small pots and do the same with the freezer/refrigerator.) Some, like cleome and sweet alyssum germinate fine wintersown any time between winter solstice and spring equinox, while zinnias germinate/survive better if sown closer to the spring equinox.

I'll come back and answer at greater depth, but for now of the top of my pointy head, the following have flowered into or beyond summer with winter and/or spring sowing for me:

Ageratum
Anchusa capensis
Antirrhinum (Snapdragon) (This might sulk thru Md. summers, but makes quite a show in Fall. Sow now so you'll have mature plants to flower once fall temps come. Antirrhinum majus sometimes overwinters in z7 Maryland.)
Browallia
Cleome (germinates best w/oscillating winter temps - I might try in/out from freezer/frig)
Cosmos blooms quickly from seed, but might do best sown w/warm temps
Delphinium/Larkspur (low viability so sow now or toss, best germ/growth w/cool temps. Flowering stops with summer temps, but what a show around here. Years ago on our hillside, larkspur self-sowed every year and gave a wave of blue followed waves of yellow coreopsis - great if you have no funds with which to garden)
Ipomoea purpurea (doubles (aka hige) like Sunrise Serenade look like mini-roses. Usually not I. nil)
Linaria maroccana
Malva sp. (probably best treated as biennial in Maryland - I got germination but the pot of seedlings was stolen. Anyhoo, if we don't know if it'll flower sown this late, worth a try.)
Pentas (mentioned because it has self-sown late, but too late for much flowering)
Poppies (including Papaver, Eschscholzia, Argemone; great spring show, but following with heat lovers)
Portulaca
Lobularia maritima (Sweet Alyssum)
Salvia coccinea (Some sages hardy to z8 flower all summer and worth wintering over in pots - dormant. For example, Salvia coerulea (syn S. guaranitica) have tuberous roots like dahlias and flower all summer.)
Verbena bonariensis - grow as annual w/early sowing, but often self-sows and/or returns from roots
Zinnia - renowned for ability to flower generously from late sowing up until July 1 here in Maryland. warm temps probably best, but has been known to germinate when wintersown around here.

Hope this helps. I'll try to post in greater depth this evening. For a list of woodchuck etck resistant flowers, I've published a blog with that list (crediting U of Penn as source)

karen

The above is from my own experience before 2014, when vandalism became too destructive for my erstwhile garden. For the record, many folks in Oella don't see any problem - there certainly are many different ways to maintain a property and garden.

Are you asking for hearty, stalwart entities that bloom at that time in your location? Or hardy plants that are just not able to survive winter outside where you are but can be saved over winter?

Hello idreos,

" I would appreciate suggestions for some hardy annuals that will bloom all spring and summer in Maryland "

As Tiffany has suggested, your term "hardy annuals" requires some further definition. In many contexts, "hardy annuals" refers to frost tolerant or cold weather tolerant plants. Some people use the term "hardy" to refer simply to plants that are capable of surviving unfavorable conditions. If you mean "frost tolerance" then you probably should eliminate zinnias from your list of candidates. Zinnias are "tender annuals" and are not frost or freeze tolerant. They are considered to be "easy to grow" and are relatively rapid performers. They can produce blooms in as quickly as 6 weeks from planting the seed, and they can continue blooming right up until the first killing frost in the Fall. So they are good performers in that regard. But if you are looking for cold tolerance, zinnias will probably disappoint you. I grow and breed zinnias as a fun hobby.

This is a photo of one of my zinnia blooms not surviving an early frost.

I will have to be careful not to set any of my indoor zinnia seedlings out into one of my gardens too soon. We can have a snowstorm in April. Although that is considered to be very unusual. But unusual can happen.

ZM

Idreos, I did not list zinnias the way I did for any frost tolerance, once they are in leaf, and agree with Zenman to that extent. But as counterintuitive as it may seem, some gardeners have sown seeds of tender plants like zinnias and tomatoes outdoors while temps still go below freezing using the wintersowing method. It just works better if you time sowing seeds like this later in spring. This technique has worked for me, not only with zinnias and tomatoes, but also with browallia, ageratum, Salvia coccinea and portulaca to name a few.

I learned the technique from www.wintersown.org , and there are winter sowing forums on this website and others, as well as face book. Closed containers that are slit for drainage of air and water both from above and below are involved in the technique. I have used recycled milk jugs, but variations on the technique are endless.

We have a member on this website that wrote an article on daves garden on spring sowing - Critterologist - which is a great introduction to spring sowing that would easily get you started.

Zenman thank you for giving the subject of hardy annuals greater depth. Personally, I've always thought of hardy annuals as annual flowers, herbs, vegetables that germinate and grow best when sown early in the spring, while there are still frosts, but not so late that they can't mature and bloom before summer temps fry them.

And you're right - zinnias are not considered to be "hardy annuals" as are poppies and larkspur - and that is what makes winter sowing so amazing - who would have thought plants whose leaves could not survive frost would still germinate with their seeds exposed to winter temps? But if done right, and if certain precautions are taken, many modern gardeners have found it works for a wider range of plants than previously thought.

- - - - -
edited to add April 4, 2021 9:25 am -

Zenman, I am not as skilled as you are with regard to germinating seeds indoors in warm temps. Your and my circumstances might be different in some respects, also. But personally I find winter - or spring - sowing easier, because I do not encounter as many problems with pathogens with cold temps as I do with warm temps - although I 've used both ways among others. And then not as much indoor space is required as with warm-temp sowing, and while the containers are still frozen, I can generally ignore them, albeit not totally. But isn't it great to have alternatives to try, if one way doesn't work out?

Ironically, until the vandal and his/her drones let up, indoor gardening might be my only hope for the time being, although I plan to keep trying in what's left of my late dh's and my garden. You'd think we'd get a break during this pandemic. Evidently, drones are used in utility break maintenance, so a human vandal posing for a camera is no longer required for skeptics.

www.wintersown.org has some great lists of flowers etc., and here is their list for hardy annuals that can be wintersown. As it happens many of these flowers can still be sown with freezing temps in the spring, as well as sown with warmer temps later on. It amazes me that however particular requirements for germination of any given plant may be, that still there often are many other alternative ways to germinate those seeds.

http://www.wintersown.org/Seed... -

Hardy Annuals Suggested for Winter Sowing

(tender annuals are recommended for sowing a few weeks
before your winter season ends)

Abronia umbellata (sand-verbena)
Adonis aestivalis (pheasant's eye)
Ageratum houstonianum (floss flower)
Agrostemma githago (corn cockle)
Alonsoa acutifolia (maskflower)
Amaranthus caudatus (love-lies-bleeding)
Amberboa moschata (sweet sultan)
Anagallis indica (blue pimpernel)
Anchusa (bugloss)
Alyssum maritimum (sweet alyssum)
Antirrhinum majus (snapdragons)
Argemone mexicana (prickly poppy)
Asperula azurea (woodruff)
Brachycome iberidifolia (swan river daisy)
Browallia demissa (bush violet)
Bupleurum rotundifolium (ox-eye daisy)
Calandrinia grandiflora (red-maids)
Calendula (pot marigold)
Callistephus (China aster)
Campanula (annual Canterbury bells)
Celosia (cockscomb)
Centaurea (cornflower)
Centranthus macrosiphon (valerian)
Chrysanthemum paludosum (mini-marguerite)
Clarkia elegans
Collinsia bicolor (Chinese-houses)
Collomia coccinea (mountain-trumpet)
Consolida ajacis (Larkspur)
Convolvulus (dwarf/bush morning glory)
Coreopsis tintoria (calliopsis)
Cosmos bipinnatus (tall cosmos)
Cosmos sulphureus (sulphur cosmos)
Crepis rubra (hawks-beard)
Cuphea ignea (fiery cuphea)
Cynoglossum (Chinese forget-me-not)
Datura species (thorn-apple)
Delphinium (larkspur)
Dianthus chinensis (China pinks)
Diascia barberm (twinspur)
Dicranostigma franchetianum (bright-yellow poppy)
Dimorphotheca aurantiaca (Cape marigold)
Dracocephalum moldavica (Moldavian dragonhead)

Echium creticurn (bugloss)
Emilia javanica (tassel flower)
Eschschlotzia californica (California poppy)
Fagopyrum esculentum (buckwheat)
Felicia bergeriana (kingfisher daisy)
Gaillardia pulchella (blanket flower)
Gilia (bird's-eye)
Godetia (fairyfan, farewell-to-spring)
Gypsophila (baby's breath)
Helianthus (sunflowers)
Helichrysum (strawflower)
Helipterum (paper daisy)
Hunnemannia fumariifolia (Mexican tulip poppy)
Iberis (candytuft)
Ionopsidium acaule (false diamond-flower)
Lathyrus odoratus (sweet peas)
Lavatera (annual mallow)
Leonorus (lion's paws)
Limnanthes douglasii (poached-egg plant)
Limonium sinuatum (statice)
Linaria bipartita (toadflax)
Linum (flax)
Lobularia (alyssum)
Lupinus (lupine)
Lychnis (catchfly)
Malcomia maritima (Virginian stock)
Malope trifida (malope)
Malva (mallow)
Matthiola bicornis (night-scented stock)
Myosotis dissitiflora (forget-me-not)
Nemesia strumosa (Cape jewels)
Nemophila (baby blue-eyes)
Nicandra (shoo-fly)
Nicotiana (flowering tobacco)
Nigella (love-in-the-mist)
Osteospermum (Star of the Veldt)
Papaver (poppy)
Petunia hybrida (petunias)
Phacelia (scorpion weed)
Phlox drummondii (drummon phlox)
Rehmannia angulata (Chinese foxgloves)
Reseda odorata (mignonette)
Rudbeckia bicolor (gloriosa daisy)
Salpiglossis sinuata (painted tongue)
Salvia splendens (scarlet sage)
Sanvitalia procumbens (creeping zinnia)
Saponaria vaccaria (soapwort)
Scabiosa (pincushion flower)

Schizanthus pinnatus (butterfly flower)
Senecio elegans (ragwort)
Silene armeria (none-so-pretty)
Specularia speculum (Venus' looking glass)
Thunbergia alata (clockvine)
Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican sunflower)
Torenia fournieri (wishbone flower)
Trachymene caerulea (laceflower)
Tropaeolum (nasturtiums)
Ursinia anethoides (dill-leaf ursinia)
Vaccaria (cow soapwort)
Venidium fastuosum (Cape daisy)
Viola tricolor (pansy)
Viscaria (rose-of-heaven)
Xeranthemum (everlasting flower)

If this violates copy rights of www.wintersown.org, let me know and I'll delete this list. Y'all will still have the link.

Another table for germinating seeds more conventionally - outside of winter sowing:

https://tomclothier.hort.net/i...

Zenman, I just discovered keithp2012's thread about wax begonias' self-sowing outdoors after winter, so crossed this discussion with that one - The thread "Wax Begonias return year after year" in Annuals forum .

Another thing that might clarify this riddle about germinating flowers with temps that would kill said flower when leafed out has to do with a characteristic of flowers known to be wintersowable: they are known self-sowers, which is also often true of "hardy annuals.". If anyone knows how Mother Nature does this, I'd love to be clued in.

Idreos and All,

I apologize if I overwhelmed and monopolized this thread, and hope everyone enjoys their flowers this summer.

karen

I was in awe of the unbridled enthusiasm! When suggestions are not very numerous, and none of those few suggested plants can be found by the person who asked, it can get frustrating. That is all very informative! Never know what will actually be @ a store when one goes. (So go to all of them...? Yes! :+)

My question was to determine if we are looking for plants that have a really long period of bloom to be used one time, or commonly potted entities that can be saved over winter because they are not truly annuals, like wax Begonias, Coleus, Alternanthera, Portulaca, sweet potato vines, zonal Geraniums (Pelaragoniums,) Impatiens, and so many others that are sold as annuals when they are sold where they can not survive being outside all winter.

My favorite plants that flower non-stop until autumn frost are Angelonia and pentas. I haven't had any luck in wintering them over though. In my experience, these two flowers have never been bothered by any disease, bug or critter. Hummingbirds especially love the pentas, which by the way, has self-sowed in my garden, but late in summer, like the fibrous begonia I mentioned.

I could write another book on the subject, but ... well all right - one last remark -

Plectranthus argentatus - silvery, pebbled leaves with enormous candelabras of tiny ice-blue flowers at the end of summer. Usually they don't survive outside in z7 winter here, but when we have winter temps typical of z8, they winter over outside okay with no protection. One winter after bringing in some plants to overwinter indoors, I crushed a few plectranthus stalks that had gone to seed and sprinkled them over a pot in which another plant had not survived. How uncouth is that for sowing seeds? Anyhoo, tons of baby seedlings appeared and they all did well in the garden the next year - and note that this is a plant that does equally well in sun or shade - for me - and is highly drought tolerant.

Thanks everyone for an enjoyable thread - may your gardens all flourish.

karen