Unusual Annuals For Summer Cover

Are you a Weekend Gardener that would like color in your garden all through the summer season?

But you'd like something more than just the great standby's marigolds and petunias?

Well, the good news is that there is no dearth of flowers that bloom all summer. The Mexican tulip poppy, or golden cup (Hunnemannia fumariifolia), has finely cut blue-green leaves on nearly 2-foot stems, and yellow poppylike flowers. Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) grows 18-24 inches tall and has fluffy blue, white, or bicolored blooms nestled in finely cut leaves.

Finally, Painted tongue (Salpiglossis sinuata), a bit over 2 feet tall, has trumpet-like purple, blue, yellow or red summer flowers streaked with veins. Heat can blast it out of bloom, but its ideal for regions where the summers are relatively cool.