Growing Flowers from Seed

Even if you're a veggie gardener whose main objective is to grow the ingredients for homemade pesto and salsa, flowers should figure into your plan. There's a reason fruits and veggies form their own flowers - they attract pollinators.

You've probably picked up flower plugs from a local nursery or hardware store, but starting flowers from seed has some major advantages.

You'll learn a lot more

Starting flowers from seed is like Christmas morning every day. Even the tiniest bit of progress is exciting, but more importantly, growing something from seed gives you a whole new understanding of the plant and helps you grow as a gardener - pun intended.

You'll learn to recognize plants by their cotyledons

The first thing you'll see with most seedlings is the cotyledons, and as you grow from seed, you'll learn to recognize the variety of plant by them. These are the first two "leaves" that come out of the seed. I say "leaves" because they're not really. The purpose of these cotyledons, or cots, as many seasoned gardeners say, is to allow the plant to begin the process of photosynthesis.

Not all plants produce cots, but those that do can be broken into two categories: dicots (two leaves) and monocots (one leaf).

You'll see the dicot type on many of the plants you grow from seed whether they produce veggies or flowers. Some examples are cucumbers, anything in the squash family, tomatoes (they're skinnier though), anything in the melon family,. You'll also see them on flowers like zinnias, sunflowers, and echinacea. You'll know brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower) and nasturtiums by the unusual shape of the cots.

I love the giant cots produced by giant pumpkins because of the deep green color and the sheer surface area.

You'll become much better at watering

This is just a theory - and please share your stories in dissent, but I think overwatering is the single biggest mistake people make that causes them to quit gardening or to think they just don't have a green thumb, BUT...many of those same people think the biggest mistake they'll make is underwatering.

I love growing seedlings with my classes, it's one of my favorite things to teach (and just about the only science I like), but whenever we grow them my students are constantly asking if they should or can water their seedlings. They are extremely concerned with not getting the plants enough water.

However, there's a lot of issues with overwatering, and I'd argue they're worse and more catastrophic than under-watering. Here's why:

When you under-water a plant you'll start to notice it turning brown, perhaps shriveling. But, if you're being at least somewhat attentive, a good soak will fix it pretty quickly.

When you overwater a plant, you can cause root rot or fungus to grow, both of which are hard, if not impossible to fix in some cases. Because seedlings are so small, they'll react quicker to small changes, like when you add a bit of water. If you're starting your seedlings indoors, they're typically easier to monitor.

You'll have a greater variety to choose from

Buying annuals and perennials from the local hardware store is fine, but your options can be limited. Some flowers are so easy to grow from seed that stores don't even bother selling them as plants. For example, you'll rarely see a sunflower, nasturtium, or zinnia plant. Other flowers, like echinacea, may be sold as plants, but the varieties may be limited. Growing from seed gives you the flexibility to search the seed catalogues and pick your palette.

I've always had the best germination rates from Burpee seeds, but I also love Park Seed.

Here's some of the lowest maintenance flowers to start from seed, and they can all be direct sowed in the ground after the last risk of frost.

Nasturtiums

These little flowers are a triple threat. They're beautiful, easy to grow, edible, and can work as a pest trap. Nasturtiums are easy to grow from seed, so much so that I've never seen them available as plants. They come in a variety of colors from yellow to purple. Nasturtium seeds may benefit from a quick file with some sandpaper to help them germinate, but I've found they germinate pretty easily either way.

Zinnias

The best part about zinnias is how many different varieties they come in. From greens like tequila lime to traditional pinks and reds. I love how voluminous some varieties are. My hands-down favorite last year was Queen Lime Red. Almost every bloom was a perfect bloom.

Cosmos

Like zinnias, cosmos have feather weight seeds that are long and airy and can be somewhat hard to hang onto, but they grow easily just like zinnias.

Sunflowers

My favorite by far is sunflowers. Sunflowers are as versatile as you need them to be. They're drought tolerant, easy to grow, and available in more than just traditional sunny yellow. You can find varieties bred to be placed in containers or giants that grow taller than your roof. I have a sunflower series coming soon. Subscribers will get email notifications so you don't miss a thing.