Annual bedding planting design

Annual plants complete their life cycle in a single growing season: they germinate, flower and die. Often, they are easy to grow, gay and colourful. This makes them well suited to growing in large blocks and thus to the creation of elaborate and eye-catching patterns. To make them flower earlier in the year, the plants are often raised in hot-houses and planted out in specially prepared soil. This approach to planting design would not be classified as sustainable - but it is popular. Tourists like to photograph each other in front of colourful bedding schemes.

See also: history of planting design.