Most advice I’ve read about gardening advises to plant perennials. That seems to be based on the assumption that annuals will only last one year. If that is true then perennials would be the better value not just for the dollar spent but for the labor of putting them in. They get bigger and better each year.

But if you plant the right annuals they return each year, and if they don’t get bigger they multiply so that you get more and more plants. What’s more they have this interesting habit of moving around in your yard.

These larkspurs originally were part of a wildflower seed mix that planted in a corner of the yard three or four years back. There are a few still in that location but they wanted a sunnier spot. I’ve found them here and there in various beds. There was even one that came up in a crack in the driveway. But this year the best display is right here alongside the walk across from the vegetable garden.

They look good here and they will have spend themselves by the time the other plants here are ready to show off.

Salvia coccinea is another annual that moves around and shows itself in different places each year. Neither of these is invasive, and if you don’t like them somewhere they are easy to pull up. But you have to give up a little bit of control over your garden to really appreciate them