My Ten Favorite Annuals For the Flowerbed

As part of a writing challenge I'm doing, I've been writing a bunch of online articles on gardening and sharing my garden photos from over the years. Seeing all those lovely photos and sharing my gardening tips has made me happy in a way I never expected. My newest article is about annuals for your flower bed. Enjoy. And then go plant some seeds if you can.
Annuals

Pink Ice Plant

I've been dying to show you the pink ice plant. I planted it last summer so it was pretty small, but it's fabulous this year. Up till now, the landlord kept turning down the sprinklers and everything I planted in that hot spot died. Then I remembered ice plant from my hot summers in Riverside County and knew it would be the perfect plant. Plus it's a perennial so I don't have to keep buying it again each year.

Of the snapdragons I planted last year, only one made it to this year. And it's white. I'm not sure if it came up from seed or overwintered. But the way the gardeners go nuts with their weed whips, it's amazing any seedling survives long enough to bloom. The landlord wants me to let those vipers into the backyard, but there's no way if I can help it. I don't want everything trimmed to within an inch of it's life. I can't do much about the front yard because it's a common area, but the backyard has a locking gate and I hope he continues to respect that.

Beets

I recently planted some beets in my garden. They should be sprouting in a day or two.

One of my snapdragons survived over winter and is now covered with snow white flowers. I'm not sure if it's the same plant or came up from seed.

The ice plant I put in last year in the hottest spot in the yard spread like crazy and will keep the ground underneath it a lot cooler now. I'm looking forward to it's next bloom cycle. It will be a carpet of ice pink flowers.

I have a friend that is really into praying mantises. So I'm looking forward to seeing if they really do hang out underneath rose buds. I'm hoping to find a pink one like she did last year. She brought it inside and it has babies. How exciting!

Planting the garden

Today I got up at a quarter to 8 and got all my seedlings in the ground except the snapdragons. I'm out of space so those may have to go in the front yard and be at the mercy of the clowns that do the apt. complex gardening.

I meant to get three varieties of tomatoes but when I read the tags this morning I had two Big Boys and one Mr. Stripey. Oh well, I planted them anyway. I planted 6 yellow banana peppers, 2 lemon cucumbers, and and assortment of sunflower seeds.

This year I'm working smart and not hard and covering between rows with black plastic to keep the weeds down and conserve moisture. After an hour and a half of gardening this morning I was pretty much melted and hungry for breakfast. It doesn't take long for that CA sun to heat things up.

I still have to lay out another row of plastic and put up strings for the beans to climb on, but that can wait for another day.