4 Easy-to-Grow Flowers to Spruce Up Your Landscape

Do you love seeing bright happy flowers by your front door when you get home, or around your patio/yard/landscape… but get a little tired of shelling out for pre potted flowers that look exactly the same as everybody else who went to the big box garden center? I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking Knockout roses, hot pink petunias, mums, and the like. Nothing against these plants - they have their benefits, but it’s fun to have something unique that you grow yourself. Especially when it’s just as easy. Below I’ll give you some tips on four of my favorite easy to grow flowers.

1) Zinnias. These summer loving plants come in many different colors and sizes, and if you snip off the blooms as they die (or cut some to bring inside!), they will keep blooming for most of the summer. Butterflies love them too. Around here, zinnia nectar seems to be the main course of the local butterflies’ diet.

You can easily plant the seeds directly in the ground once it’s warm enough - in our area of Virginia, usually after the dogwood trees are blooming. The only real con is that zinnias can be prone to getting a bit of white powdery mildew on the foliage, but it usually doesn’t bother the blooms.

There are so many varieties of zinnias seeds available online. Some places to check are Baker Creek Seeds, The Gardener’s Workshop, or Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

2) Nicotiana or Flowering Tobacco. I discovered this plant last year and I think it will always have a place in my garden now. It’s a fast growing plant with big leaves that easily crowd out weeds, and it tolerates both heat and a little bit of frost, so you can plant it pretty much anytime during spring or summer. It will send up multiple spikes of trumpet shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds and smell like jasmine, particularly in the evening as they're pollinated by moths.

It might seem counterintuitive, but don’t cover the tiny seeds when you plant them because they actually need light to sprout. Just sprinkle them onto damp soil and press them in. After they pop up, you can pull out the extras to give them space to expand.

My favorite place to get nicotiana is Select Seeds. They have a lovely range of colors in addition to the classic white. I don't have a photo of mine on hand, but there are lots of pics there.

3) Shirley Poppies. These beauties will make your jaw drop, and they are quite resilient even though they look delicate and the seeds are about as tiny as specks of pepper. They do not appreciate summer heat, so you’ll want plant them either in fall or winter to give them a chance to build their root systems while it’s cold out, then bloom freely for about 6 weeks from May to June.

All you need to do is sprinkle them out over the soil - don’t cover - and wait! The natural rain/snow of winter and spring will take care of their watering needs until they get big. You can thin them out to about 6-12” spacing if you want larger plants. Also, if you let them go to seed after they stop blooming, you can shake out the little pods and they will grow again next year (same for the nicotiana, by the way). Seeds are easy to find online - try any of the above recommendations.

4) Fancy Daffodils. I LOVE that moment in late winter when all the daffodils start showing their cheerful yellow faces and I know that spring is coming. But did you know that there are literally dozens of gorgeous varieties of daffodils? They come in white, peach, pink, orange and yellow, with different shapes from the popular trumpet to daisy shaped or layers of ruffles. Some varieties have an amazing scent, and they aren’t bothered by critters of any sort. For a small up front investment to buy and plant them in the fall, they come back every spring, slowly growing over the years. Honestly, I can’t think of anything not to like about this wonderful group of flowers.

After you get your bulbs in the fall (they look a little like onions), you want to dig down about 4-6 inches, pop them in pointy side up, cover, water once and voila. Give them at least a few inches in between so they can expand over time. A couple of sources to check out are Brent and Becky’s (located in Virginia!) and John Scheepers.

I hope this list inspires you to try something new in your landscape or garden this year! Have fun and happy gardening.