What are your favorite perennial flowers?

[Blueberry Acres]

My all time favorite late winter perennial flowers are Hellebores.

Gorgeous!
I've never grown them, but I hope to. Where did you purchase?

 

[Blueberry Acres]

For years I have had hollyhocks, bee balm, daisies and coneflowers reseeding after I had started them years ago. I noticed the hollyhocks were getting fewer and fewer, so last year I started tons of them. I gave some to DD and I can't wait for the snow to melt to see what I have.

Last year for the first time ever I planted Cosmos and I was amazed by them and they might be my favorite. I also decided to put morning glory seeds in the ground and I did not think they would really do much. They grew so much they covered up other things I had planted close by. I also planted Grandpa Ott which will come back.

DD and I went to plant sales and her father-in-law gave her a lot of different flowers. We both had Bachelor Buttons and poppies. I had Delphinium planted and they were getting in the way of the garden, so they would get tilled under and they quit spreading. My flowers were getting over taken with weeds. DD's FIL had huge big bue Delphinium and she went and bought one, so I went out and pulled weeks and found a couple that had grown up next to a wild plum tree that had sprouted from a seed and I pulled all the weeds and tied the Delphiniums to stakes and I went to a plant sale and bought a couple more. They did put on a show. I spread compost all around the flowers and pulled weeds, so I am hoping my bee balm and other flowers spread and will come back.

DD likes blacked-eyed Susan and we bought several of those last year. We also bought baby breath plants that are supposed to be perennial. Her plant grew really well, but I think mine had too much water. I also bought a lot of stock flower seeds and planted. I had 5 I started late in the greenhouse and they were growing even in October and one of them had purple flowers on it after we had frosts. They stayed green even until December and I still see them standing out there. I am not sure how to grow them or if they will come back.

We also had wildflower seeds. We bought a huge big sack and divided between us and we had tons of flowers. We both had Zinnias and I am not sure if they will reseed and come back. I have a lot of I do not know about flowers, but this year is going to be very interesting.

Your garden sounds awesome....I would love to see photos sometime

 

[Blueberry Acres]

Dahlias are expensive for color

Growing dahlias from seed is not as spendy as a tuber purchase. Start seeds inside 45 days before planting outside. It takes 100-120 days once seed starts to flower. They will need to be hardened off and planted outside or in the garden or pots.

@Lichnus, dahlias can get expensive, especially if you order online. Buying tubers locally is a better option, since they are usually cheaper and better quality.
For example, the Eden Brothers website is expensive, the tubers are imported and diseased, and they're rarely the variety you ordered (from both my experience and countless other dahlia growers).
You don't have to buy the rare or popular varieties that are often over $20 per tuber....the classics are cheap and will offer the lovely color you want without all the fuss.
Your tubers will multiply underground, and you can divide them to get dozens more plants. I also trade tubers with other local gardeners to get some new varieties. You will soon get your money back!

As @Shades-of-Oregon mentioned, you can grow from seed, but about 95% of these will grow to be "duds," with wonky flowers, few petals, etc. This doesn't matter to me, since I'm not growing to make new, popular varieties or find perfect "keepers"....I'm just trying to enjoy my garden

 

[flowerbug]

... We both had Zinnias and I am not sure if they will reseed and come back. I have a lot of I do not know about flowers, but this year is going to be very interesting.

yes, they will come back, but you can always go out at the end of the season and snip off some flowers before they completely dry out and then finish drying them inside, put them in a paper bag and write on the bag what they are. in the spring take them outside and mush them up a bit and scatter the mushings on some freshly tilled dirt. stir them in a little bit and water.

 

[Lichnus]

I was over on the east side of the house (briefly), today. It is a very good location for hydrangeas. The north side has one that grows bigger every year but doesn't usually have many blooms. A full sun location nearly killed a hydrangea! One thing is the "Winter Interest" factor with keeping the blooms, which is recommended, I guess. Certainly not as attractive after the growing season.

Since DW likes dahlias so well, we have had a lot of them. They require quite a bit of care and I'm not really talking about digging and replanting each year. If it was an annual flower bed, it would be just about the same amount of work and it's not really all that much. Lots of things like to chew on them and that means monitoring what's going on with them and spraying when necessary.


This afternoon, the neighbor's cat jumped over the fence into another neighbor's yard. It sorta "crashed" into the cosmos detritus. This neighbor likes a landscaped yard but seems mostly interested in paying for her projects, so, I guess, she will have someone in to clean up the cosmos mess. (Fun watching the cat because her response was to "attack" the stalks . She may have been mostly playing because, after batting them around a little, she tried to bite one.)

Anyway, I suspect that there will be lots of cosmos volunteers. Well, they grow quickly and tall. That means that they can fill in where taller perennials are spaced apart. This is also true with larkspur. They aren't nearly as beautiful as their perennial cousins the delphiniums but will volunteer and do their part after being transplanted to where they are needed.

Steve

Steve do you have any experience with spiderwort? I'm going for purples and oranges forboverall landscape color, low maintenance-- so when I saw the blue-ish varieties of spiderwort I thought I'd look into it.