cottage garden plants/ garden files

Self-seeding cottage garden wonder plants

If you’ve purchased any flowers from a local garden center, a home improvement store like Home Depot, Menards, Lowes, or even your hardware store this spring, you know that plants–annuals or perennials–can add up quickly.  Two hanging baskets can set you back 50 bucks, and a 6 pack of whatever, 2-3 bucks.   You bring your purchases home and plop them into their new homes in the ground and oftentimes the end result can look woefully inadequate and underwhelming.  Not at all the lush, gorgeous space you envisioned in your mind.  Instant deflation.

So to save that hard-earned cash, maybe you’ve gone the seed route and attempted to grow everything from seed.  A noble endeavor to be sure.  I’ve also been lured in by seed packets, especially those that picture flowering, mature plants (and they all do!)–never mind that the pictured flowers sometimes take 3-4 months to establish. Here’s my line of reasoning: Sweet!  I’ll grow my own Sweet Alyssum, Snapdragons, Petunias, and Geraniums, save some dough, and be generally awesome at everything!

Sweet Alyssum
Source
"Sweet alyssum". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sweet_alyssum.jpg#/media/File:Sweet_alyssum.jpg

This can be equally frustrating as spending too much money in the pretty penny scenario outlined above. For example, if I want to start geraniums and have them ready to be in the ground in the spring, then, at least for my growing season, I had better start them in January. Unfortunately, I have neither the time or the space for such an endeavor. In short, I am just not that awesome.

However, during the course of my gardening adventures, I’ve discovered and come to love self-seeding annuals/biennials.  Not be technical–sometimes I’m put off by overly technical explanations–but a self-seeding annual dies, as a regular annual plant would, but sows its seed in the fall; these seeds then produce plants that create flowers in the following spring/summer.  Awesomeness.  A biennial plant (some hollyhocks are biennials) flowers for two consecutive years, but also self-seeds so that when the original flower has lived out its flower days, a plant or plants are there to replace the original.  The enthusiasm/success of various plants often depends on the soil, the site, and the plant itself.

So, not that one needs to forego the hanging basket (though I usually do!), but you can experience lovely success in the garden and leave the garden center with some extra cash in the wallet if you embrace self-seeding wonder plants.

Here are some of my favorites, where if you want beautiful blooms but don’t want to spend fifteen dollars on 1 plant, consider trying them.  Know that you can either purchase the seeds-I’ve had good to great luck with the plants outlined below from seed-or purchase a plant and allow it to seed itself in the fall.  Either works.

California-Type Poppies
Source
poppy_bridal boquet

Love-in-a-Mist (a personal favorite of mine!)
Sourcenigella_pink


Calendula
Source
calendula

Feverfew
Source
feverfew

Johnny Jump-ups
Sourceviola, johnny jump up

Hollyhock
Source
hollyhocks

The best thing about these beauties? You plant or seed the original location, but the following year the flowers show up where they want: in a gravel path, nestled under a hydrangea bush, or anywhere else that seems hospitable.  The result? Complete loveliness.

To the wonderful mystery that is plants!

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