I don’t know about you, but this time of year I read a lot of articles written by gardeners who are stuck between seasons when it seems like no flowers are blooming. Our spring flowers have come and gone with great excitement, and our summer blooms show promise but just aren’t there yet. For me, this is an ongoing challenge because 1) I have a shade garden and my summer flowers take forever to blossom because they don’t get as much sun as other beds, and 2) because of the shade I’ve tried to introduce color in many of my beds by installing plants with beautiful foliage, which is nice, but isn’t the same as a burst of summer color to replace my spring blossoms.
A few suggestions for annuals for folks like us with a heavy deer population: for shade, begonias of any variety and for sun, Vinca.