Quick Biology Lesson

Annuals are those species that go through an entire life cycle, from birth to flower to seed production to death, in one season. In California, that means that they germinate with the rains in the fall and winter, make good root growth through the rainy season, then begin bloom with the sun in the early spring to mid and late summer. Wildflowers go to seed through the summer,which waits for the fall rains to begin the cycle again. The gardener can go along with this ancient pattern, or choose "horticultural play," manipulating bloom time by manipulating the time of sowing.