From Seeds to Flowers

Have you ever wished you could grow flowers from seed? How about poppies and larkspur?

What does a seed need for germination?

Blue cornflowers are an easy-to -grow flower seed.

Direct seed sowing – straight into the garden

I think that one of the reasons that gardeners give up on seed starting is that they have had a failure at some point in their past. Don’t give up. Have another go. Some of the easiest are seeds that you sow straight out into the garden – it is called direct sowing. Cornflower and larkspur are two simple flowers to grow from directly sown seeds.

How to grow poppies from seed

Poppies are easy to grow from seed by direct sowing onto a layer of gravel over soil.

I have lots of different annual poppies that I grow here at Northview. They are easy to sow directly out into the garden. The old advice was to sprinkle the seeds out onto melting snow. You may not have snow or may have missed that window of time – so my way is to sprinkle the seeds onto soil covered with a thin layer of gravel or grit. the tiny stones trap moisture into the soil and stop the seeds from being washed away in rain. Choose a site in full sun (six or more hours of sunlight). Sow the seeds thinly because each seedling needs its own space. poppies will grow in poor soil – they are an annual plant that is seen in fields, roadsides, and other disturbed landscapes.

The popular Ladybird Poppy is bright red with black blotches at the base.

Try direct sowing marigolds out into your garden

Another easy group to grow from seed are annual marigolds. Remember that there are several different types of marigolds that can be divided into two main sowing groups. The first group are the cool season annuals like Calendula (sometimes called pot marigolds). These can be sown directly outside, two or three weeks before your last frost.

Sow Calendula Marigolds outside two to three weeks before the last frost.

Calendula is frost hardy but will stop flowering in hot weather. Keep on deadheading.
Use petals in salads.

The second group of annual marigolds are the warm season ones. These marigolds come from warm and hot areas of the world so they should not be sown outside until after your last frost. Make sure that the soil has warmed up and choose a sunny place to grow them. These marigolds will keep going all summer long if you keep deadheading them and picking the blooms for bouquets.

Try growing the simple to grow warm season marigolds from seed sown after your last frost.

Not all marigolds are orange or yellow. Try this pinwheel patterned marigold called ‘Jolly Jester’.

I hope that these suggestions will encourage you to sow a few flower seeds directly into your garden. Read the instructions on the back of the seed packet carefully. Sow thinly so that the seedlings do not compete with each other. Keep the seedlings watered gently while they are growing and enjoy your flowers. A final tip – keep on sowing more seeds of various annual flowers throughout the season. In that way when one batch reaches the end of their life – there are more following along.

Sweet William flowers seen here at my garden at Northview were grown from seed.

Bye for now gardening friends. Wishing you success with seeds.

Cheers, Jenny Rose Carey