How to Choose Flowering Annuals for Cold Climates

24.02.2024 - 16:32 / gardenerspath.com / Heather Buckner

How to Choose Flowering Annuals for Cold Climates

Living in a cold climate doesn’t mean you have to miss out on colorful flowers in your garden.

While the growing season may be shorter, by selecting cold hardy annuals you can stretch those vibrant displays from early spring late into autumn.

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Keep reading to learn how to choose flowering annuals that are best suited to colder growing zones.

Cold season annuals are easy-to-grow flowers that thrive in the cooler temperatures of early spring or late fall, adding weeks or sometimes months of vibrant color to the garden.

They are often frost tolerant and some can even survive a light snowfall or two.

Not to be confused with hardy perennials, which die back each winter and resume growth the following season, annual flowers will not survive when temperatures drop too low.

While all will eventually die in winter, some are hardier than others and can withstand cool temperatures and frosts for longer periods.

By selecting hardy species, you can fill your garden with color earlier in the spring, and later into the fall.

The summer season is short in cooler climates.

When choosing annuals to plant, you can get the most bang for your buck by selecting those that can be started early in the spring, or that are resilient enough to survive well into autumn.

Look for seed packets or transplants that say things like “frost tolerant,” “plant in early spring,” “hardy,” or “cold tolerant.”

My Zone 4 garden is bursting with cool weather blooms of calendula, marigolds, and sunflowers that really come to life when temperatures begin to