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The Homestead Gardens Annuals Department offers the region’s finest selection of flowers, herbs, and vegetables. If you can’t find it here, odds are that you won’t find it anywhere else! Fresh, flowering plants are being delivered daily from our nearby farm, ready to enhance your beds and containers. Our Annuals sales associates are always ready and willing to help you choose the right plant for the right place.
Minimato  Minimato is a "grow-at-home" miniature tomato plant producing delicious and ready-to-eat cherry tomatoes!Want to do something really unique with your family? Now you can! Bring the nature into your home! Minimato allows persons of all ages to experience the magic of growing tomatoes at home. Growing your own minimato tomatoes lets you be certain that every tomato you pick contains all of the vitamins, minerals, fibers and antioxidants provided by nature... without any genetic engineering. Click here to vist the minimato website. Garden Club Special: Minimato indoor tomato plant: $19.99 (reg. $24.99) Annuals Month-by-Month Calendar January Check indoor herbs weekly through winter for insects and powdery mildew. Keep herbs in a sunny, fairly cool spot, and on the dry side. Don’t let basil sit on a cold, drafty windowsill! Purchase a grow light to supplement the less intense winter sun. If herbs are actively growing, fertilize with a water soluble fertilizer at half strength once a month. February Great time to bring a bit of spring indoors with potted flowering bulbs and primrose, which can be planted outside later in spring. March When ground is workable, begin planting cold-hardy vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, and broccoli, under row covers to ward off frost. Begin planting pansies and violas for the spring season, in the ground and in containers. April Repot and cut back over-wintered tropicals, such as hibiscus. Last frost date for Annapolis is April 15, according to the Cooperative Extension Service. Date is later the farther you are from the Bay. Begin to plant cool-weather annuals like ranunculus, osteospermum, nemesia, and also the primrose and potted flowering bulbs as night temperatures remain around 45 degrees. May During first few weeks, begin to acclimate over-wintered tropicals by placing outside in successively less and less shade, for longer and longer periods each day, before moving to their proper sunny spot permanently later in the month. Begin to plant annuals & most tropicals by mid-May. Tomatoes, peppers, and basil should be planted when soil temperatures have reached 80 degrees, usually a little later in the month, but may be planted earlier with adequate protection. Pinch mums halfway when 6 inches tall. Cut back perennial herbs like thyme, lavender and sage to keep them from becoming too woody. If spring weather is cool and rainy, keep annuals like petunias and pansies cleaned of dead foliage and flowers to discourage botrytis (gray mold). June Check container gardens and hanging baskets for watering needs daily through hot summer months, and fertilize every 2 weeks. Remove and replace fading pansies in the ground and in containers with long-blooming summer annuals. Spring container gardens should now be ready for a summer makeover. Pinch mums again. Keep annuals deadheaded regularly to promote blooming. July Stop pinching mums by July 4 so they will have time to set bud for fall blooming. Cut back any overgrown annuals (especially petunias and impatiens) to promote fullness. Check annuals, especially in hanging baskets and containers, for signs of insects or disease. Yellowing leaves may be over-watering, or may possibly be a sign of insect damage. Lack of blooms may be a sign of improper lighting conditions or inadequate or incorrect fertilization or watering. Call your Homestead Annuals Department with any concerns you may have immediately—we can solve many problems before it results in a premature parting. Harvest lavender flowers just as buds open, hang upside down in cool, dark place to dry; use in dried floral arrangements and potpourri. August Water, water, water. Amaryllis should begin dormancy now for December bloom. September Summer container gardens can benefit from a fall makeover by removing tired or overgrown plants and adding fresh flowering annuals, mums, and foliage plants in exciting autumn hues. By mid-September poinsettias you wish to “re-bloom” must begin a 4-6 week regimen of total darkness between sunset and sunrise, in a room not above 70 degrees. Make your last harvest of perennial herbs this month, so that plants may harden off before first frost. Start planting pansies, mums, and cool-weather veggies like lettuce and chard this month. October Great time to plant ornamental cabbage and kale as weather cools. Dig and acclimate the tropicals and annuals you plan to over-winter indoors by placing them in a semi-shaded position for two weeks before you bring them inside, and spray for insects if necessary. Don’t forget that impatiens, geraniums, and begonias, among others, make fantastic houseplants! Cannas, calla lilies, dahlias, and caladiums should be dug before first frost if you plan to store the bulbs or tubers to plant again next year. Make a final harvest of annual herbs like basil, dill, and cilantro. Freeze or dry to preserve for the winter. November Average first frost for Annapolis is November 15, according to Cooperative Extension Service, earlier the farther you are from the Bay. December Check over-wintered annuals for pests on a weekly basis.
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