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Easy flowers?| Member | Message |
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Posted: May/31/2009 6:15 PM PST
I know I say this a lot, but to who all that do not know, I am very new to the garden game. I love it & am trying to learn while experiencing the pro's & con's of some of it. I was wondering what were some of the easiest flowers to plant were? I am looking for something I can plant from seed, or just buy at a nursery and/or store & transplant it into my garden. Except for the basics like watering, & sunlight.... I'd like to find a flowering plant of some sort that will pretty much take on a life of it's own (no pun intended, lol) & not need a whole lot of work on my end. I've had friends that have some beautiful flowers. When I ask them what they had to do, they replied w/ a laugh & said hardly a thing! Now maybe they were exaggerating, but I'm sure there are some flowers/plants out there that seem to not need as much care as others, right? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks! |
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Posted: May/31/2009 7:33 PM PST
Are you wanting annuals or perennials? For annuals, Marigolds are always very easy and take very little care. They also come in a huge variety of colors, heights etc. For perennials, Day Lilies and Salvia are always good bets. |
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Posted: Jun/01/2009 6:42 AM PST
Zinnias and cosmos get by with little care also. Pentas might be good for perennials (well, they're perennials here, anyway) |
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Posted: Jun/02/2009 2:13 AM PST
Petunias always put on a big show with not much care. Buy the plants, of course, not seed. |
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Posted: Jun/02/2009 2:55 PM PST
One of my favorites is melampodium. Tons of yellow bloom all season until frost. No deadheading. Puts on a great show. For a lower grower, fan flower is easy. Let's see: dragon wing begonias (can take part shade to full sun!, euphorbia 'Diamond Frost', blanket petunias, solar coleus....lots and lots of fun stuff that doean't require dead heading or alot of watering! This is me next to the melampodium in our display beds at work. Attachments:   |
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Posted: Jun/04/2009 11:47 PM PST
How big a yard are we talking, here? Some very overlooked flowering plants are not small, but once established, need very little care. I also listed flowering bushes and smaller perennials which I've grown myself. BIG flowering tree: the Tuliptree, or Tulip Poplar. Starts flowering at 30' or so in height, gets over 100' tall x potentially 4' in diameter. Covered in tulip-like (in both size and shape) yellow blooms in May. If you own the house and are going to be around for the next 30 years, have a 15-20' tuliptree planted. I have these wild in the woods and creek on my property and they grow FAST for a big hardwood. typical yard-sized trees: (1-3 years to bloom after transplant) Dogwood--white or pink flowers in spring, red berries by fall that the winter birds will eat. Redbud--bright purplish (small) flowers in spring, heart-shaped leaves, and there is a cultivar with dark purplish leaves. Both of these grow wild at my place as well, so very little care would be needed for one in the yard. Crabapple--white to pink flowers, usually lots of them; 10-20' tall and across, some with fruit sweet enough to eat out of hand. Large shrubs: (usually bloom the year following planting, but some will do it the first year) Lilacs--white, pink, or purple, and smell lovely--mine are 3.5' tall and bloomed for me this year. Will get to 6-10' tall and across. Forsythia--bright yellow flowers bloom before the plant leafs out. to 6'. Rose of Sharon--white, pink, mauve or lavendar blooms (some with a dark red center)-- to 8'; another tough plant that grows wild along my creek so is pretty care free. I have a hedge started of seedlings and rooted cuttings that is taking off well now; the plants are 2-4' and some have already bloomed. Can be allowed to be bushy or can be pruned to a more treelike form. big perennial flowers: perennial hibiscus--white, pink, red, or even blue, usually with a red center;4-8' depending on variety--these die back to the roots every winter, and resprout each spring. Swamp mallow, 4', white with red center, is a wildflower--I gathered seed from some in a swampy ditch and sprouted several plants, as well as swapped for seeds from a big red (8' tall with 6-8" flowers). They bloomed their second year. Hollyhocks--I planted some black hollyhocks year before last, saved seeds, sprouted several more plants last year...which are now 6' tall and blooming PINK up and down their tall stems. Lots of other colors to choose from tho'. Medium to small: bulb types--daylilies, blackberry lily, irises, lilies, calla lilies, daffodils, lily of the valley, grape hyacinth. perennials--columbine, mums, pinks (also come in red, white, as well as shades of pink). I also have a couple of stonecrops, one sage green and one variegated with yellow, 15" tall, that add color and come back year after year. Plus I'm trying to establish vinca minor (evergreen groundcover vine, does well in shade, has blue flowers in spring) under my trees and bushes. |
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