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 You’ll jump-start the season and enjoy earlier
blooms by starting some of the seeds indoors to transfer into the
garden after the danger of frost has passed. If you’re not in a
hurry, want to stretch your budget and extend your garden’s bloom
time, sow some seeds directly in the garden. Just follow the
directions on the seed packet.
Annual flowers like these are known for season long bloom and a long
vase life. You’ll need to plant annuals each year, but you may
decide the continuous bloom is well worth the effort. Supplementing
them with perennial flowers and bulbs means you need to plant fewer
annuals each year for a season filled with colorful garden-fresh
bouquets.
Here are a few easy-care annual flowers that you can start from seed
indoors or directly in the garden. These beauties will brighten
those sunny spots in the landscape and bouquets in your home.
Start zinnia seeds indoors four weeks before the last spring frost
or sow them directly in the garden. Either way, you’ll have flowers
about eight weeks after planting the seeds. Grow taller varieties
like Benary’s Giant for long stems, Queeny Lime Orange or Zowie!
Yellow Flame for eye-catching color or Profusion and Zahara for
small daisy-like flowers on compact mildew resistant plants in your
low maintenance cut flower garden.
Like zinnias, cosmos make a great cut flower and both are heat and
drought tolerant in the garden. Start cosmos seeds indoors four to
six weeks before the last spring frost or directly in the garden.
The fine foliage adds texture to the garden and the white, pink,
lavender blooms light up the mid-summer through fall garden. Plant
tall varieties en mass to eliminate the need for staking. Or grow
shorter varieties like Sonata and Cosmic. Once you plant cosmos in
the garden, you may be rewarded with volunteer seedlings in
subsequent years. Marigolds have long been
favorites in the garden, but they also make great cut flowers. Like
zinnias, you can start them indoors or directly in the garden and
have flowers in about eight weeks. Include a variety of single,
double, large and small flowers to create a marigold only
arrangement or mix with other flowers. The Gem series of marigolds
have lacy leaves with a citrusy scent and small single flowers all
summer long. Not only are these 12” tall plants great in
arrangements, but the flowers are also edible and attract beneficial
insects to your garden.
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Include calendula, another edible flower, in your
garden and arrangements. Plant seeds directly in the garden in fall
through spring when growing in the Deep South, Gulf and Pacific
Coast areas. Those in other regions can plant seeds directly in the
garden after the danger of heavy frost has passed. Also known as pot
marigolds, these plants thrive in cooler temperatures. If plants
fade as temperatures rise, cut them back, continue to water as
needed and watch for new flowers when the weather cools. These will
reseed readily so watch for welcome seedlings the following year.
Sunflowers make dramatic statements in the garden and in the flower
vase. The 2022 All-America Selections winner, Concert Bell grows 10
to 12 flowers on each stem. You’ll have a ready-made bouquet with
each stem removed. Suncredible® Yellow sunflower produces four-inch
flowers on two to three feet tall plants. The plants continue to
bloom throughout the season even if you don’t remove the faded
flowers.
Keep the flowers coming to enjoy in the garden and arrangements with
regular picking. The more you pick, the more flowers you’ll have.
Share extras with friends, neighbors, or senior centers. Studies at
Rutgers University found cut flowers immediately increased happiness
and had a long-term positive impact on the recipient’s mood.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including
The Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space
Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD
series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV &
radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for
Birds & Blooms magazine. Her web site is www.melindamyers.com.
[Photo courtesy of All-America
Selections] |
