<p>I would really like to annotate a method with a reference to a single property in a property file for injection.</p>

<pre><code>@Resource("${my.service.url}")
private String myServiceUrl;
</code></pre>

<p>Of course, this syntax does not work ;) Thats why I'm asking here.</p>

<p>I am aware that I can inject the full properties file, but that just seems excessive, I dont want the property file - I want the configured value.</p>

<p>Edit: I can only see PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer examples where XML is used to wire the property to the given field. I still cannot figure out how this can be achieved with an annotation ? </p>

You could try injecting value of property "my.service.url" to a filed in your bean.
Take a look at:
http://static.springframework.org/spring/docs/2.5.x/reference/beans.html#beans-factory-placeholderconfigurer
HTH.